ICON exhibits its own skills to a world audience as it provides full event branding and wayfinding at the 42nd WorldSkills Competition in Leipzig
Branding and event production specialist ICON has just completed the full design, install and breakdown for the 42nd WorldSkills competition, held in Leipzig Trade Fair and Exhibition Centre earlier this month. The bi-annual event brings together hundreds of young skilled people, accompanied by their teachers and trainers, from around the world to compete before the public in the skills of their various trades and test themselves against demanding international standards. The project was led by Rainer Sprechert, from ICON's German office.
The skills being assessed ranged from architectural stonemasonry and aircraft maintenance through to web design and window dressing. "Obviously with such a diverse range of skills being displayed the internal configuration of the hall space was not straightforward. Allowances had to be made for practical aspects such as power supplies and lighting but also issues such as noise, dust and sound levels had to be considered," explained ICON's project leader, Rainer Sprechert.
ICON included a detailed 3D fly through, showing how the halls would appear as part of their tender. "It was a new approach to include this type of material in our presentation but it reflected how important we felt this opportunity was and it obviously worked," said Andrew Hodson, Sales and Marketing Director at ICON.
In addition to the truly international nature of the competitors there are a significant number of high profile, international brands involved in sponsoring the event. ICON's team was pivotal in ensuring that the appropriate branding and logos appeared correctly across the site. As well as the internal work across the various competition halls and general areas, the company also installed all external wayfinding and building dressing, and flags from the 67 countries represented were also sourced and flown.
The event is viewed as the equivalent of the Olympics for many of the skills being assessed and the participants are as serious and dedicated as any athlete. ICON's Olympic experience was reflected in the high quality of the work they produced for this event which helped to generate a real feeling of excitement and anticipation amongst both competitors and supporters.
To find out more about the event and how the British representatives performed visit www.worldskills.org The next competition in 2015 is being hosted in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
About ICON
ICON boasts over 65 years of experience in branding implementation.
Seventy full time staff populate Icon’s headquarters in southeast England. The company offers a turnkey menu of design, production and project management across its extensive range of services. These include both permanent and temporary solutions at many major international sporting events and venues, corporate and cultural programmes as well as retail and broadcast applications.
ICON was acquired by Chime Communications PLC in April 2011 and is part of its CSM Sport & Entertainment division, the fourth largest sports marketing agency in the world. CSM is headed by Lord Coe as Executive Chairman, Group CEO Jim Glover, Group COO Bart Campbell, and Deputy Chairman Edward Leask . Being part of this Group has helped to strengthen ICON’s capabilities outside the UK and given the company additional financial stability and opportunities for investment in improved technology and resources, resulting in greater capacity and diversity.
ICON’s event production and experiential division works around the world bringing clients' face-to-face communication strategies to life with a unique combination of truly creative thinking and the very latest presentation technologies.
The company also operates a specialist overlay and fit out division, formerly known as SLS, that is recognised in the events industry for its delivery and implementation of city dressing, event branding and overlay projects, both in the UK and overseas.
This comprehensive mix of skills and expertise has enabled ICON to work on global events such as The Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations and the 'Look' programme for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Its brand implementation work on UEFA Euro 2012TM recently won gold in the Event Look Category at the recent 2012 ISEM Awards. Other clients include LOCOG, The Open, Samsung, adidas and the Premier League.
The CSM team comprises 575 employees worldwide across 19 offices in 13 countries; Abu Dhabi, Adelaide, Auckland, Cape Town, Dunedin, Doha, Dubai, Glasgow, Hong Kong, London, Madrid, Melbourne, Moscow, Paris, Shanghai, Sochi, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.
Visit www.icon-world.com for more information on ICON services or to see images of recent projects please go to http://pinterest.com/iconworld
For marketing enquiries please contact:
Andrew Hodson, Sales & Marketing Director, Icon
Tel: + 44 (0) 208 269 6213 Mobile: + 44 (0) 7931 382262
Email:andrew.hodson@icon-world.com
For media enquiries please contact: Avril Chaffey, PR Consultant
Tel : +44 (0) 1488 608898 Tel: + 44 (0)7765 343565
Email: avril@avrilchaffeypr.co.uk
For more information about any aspect of the company’s business please telephone +44 208 269 6213 or email enquiries@icon-world.com
If you no longer wish to receive news and information from Icon please contact Avril Chaffey at avril@avrilchaffeypr.co.uk or tel +44 (0) 7765 343565