Icon Appointed For Fifa World Cup Branding
Event branding specialists ICON, the company responsible for the entire London 2012 Look and Feel programme, has been appointed by FIFA to deliver the signage programme for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
The contract covers branding and wayfinding at all 12 stadiums, the International Broadcast Centre, Football For Hope Festival, airports and selected host city decoration and official hotels.
The project will be run by a team based in Brazil, with production services being delivered by a network of partners in all of the host cities.
ICON managing director, John Francis, said: ‘One of the greatest legacy stories of such a momentous year for us is that the Olympics and Paralympics have given us a fantastic and probably unique platform to build our business around the world with new business such as FIFA contract in Brazil. There is a natural curiosity about who delivered the distinctive look and feel which was a central part of what made the Games so memorable.’
‘Our ability in the marketplace to tender for some of the world’s greatest events over the next five years and beyond has been boosted tremendously by our successful implementation of London 2012, especially with a city dressing campaign that saw high streets and town centres across the UK dressed with the London 2012 design.’
The appointment follows a largely successful FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil, for which ICON also provided the signage.
ICON, which is now part of the recently formed Chime Sports & Entertainment (CSM) group, provides a wide range of branding-related services from signage to high-profile sponsor activation projects and the explosion of new business in this specialised sector has strengthened their operations in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and South Africa, and spawned new offices in Brazil – the venue for the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics – and Russia, the venue for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup in 2018.
Francis added: ‘Through experienced project management, training and development of our partners we have passed on the knowledge and skills we have learned in over 65 years of working in major branding programmes; this ensures that our sister companies in overseas markets can continue to work successfully under the ICON brand in every location.’
‘At the same time as dressing every competition and non-competition venue for LOCOG, streets and live sites in London and throughout the UK, plus every stadium hosting UEFA Euro 2012, we managed to deliver business as usual for our regular clients on the UEFA Champions and Europa Leagues, Golf’s Open Championship, BMW PGA Championship and Scottish Open, the Boat Race, Queen’s Jubilee Festival, Wimbledon and all first-class cricket in the UK.’
‘We effectively treated London 2012 and Euro 2012 as independent businesses and put in place supply chains using trusted partners based in the UK, Poland and the Ukraine. Under our programme management they were able to deliver to the highest standards without affecting our regular business. Using this model and the results we achieved for our customers, we have the confidence and qualifications to pitch for the major events coming up such as Sochi, Glasgow, Brazil and beyond.’
