We were approached by Vindico to help activate their sponsorship of Ice Arena Wales, home of the Cardiff Devils ice hockey team.
The 5-year sponsorship deal gives the tech company naming rights of the Vindico Arena, and our team were brought in to help deliver a signage solution that helped showcase the Vindico brand, while ensuring the Cardiff Devils supporters still felt at home in the 3500 seater arena.
The Space
The Vindico Arena is in the heart of the Cardiff International Sports Village, in a high footfall, and high traffic area of Cardiff Bay. Development continues, with plans for more sports offerings in the area in the near future.
The arena is visible from multiple A roads, attracts thousands of Cardiff Devils supporters weekly, and is a popular location for recreational ice skating and events throughout the week. Vindico have been tech partner for the Devils for years, and became arena sponsor in August 2023.
We knew the building well, having supplied signage and branding for the site when it was first built, under its previous name, Ice Arena Wales.
The Brief
We love these sorts of briefs, where we’re given plenty of scope to recommend the most appropriate solutions after listening to the aspirations of our client. In this case, the client knew what they wanted to achieve, to build a relationship with the site users, and to get people talking about Vindico; who they are and what they do.
“It was quite a touchy feely brief. We didn’t want to get too bogged down with the technical details, but wanted a solution that engaged the Devils crowd, while making the venue, and Vindico, much more visible.” Jo Polson, Vindico Managing Director explains.
“I think the response to the brief from Morgans Consult was without a doubt the most considered that we received. It was the one that we felt actually captured what it was we wanted to achieve.”
The Solution
Being adjacent to multiple high-traffic roads gave us an opportunity to engage passers by, commuters, often travelling at night. We created high-impact LED illuminated 3D branding, visible from all viewing angles, to ensure passers by were aware of Vindico and their news sponsorship of the arena.
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What was more of a challenge was ingratiating Vindico with the ice hockey team, its fans, and the third party site users. A challenge that often arises with sports partnerships is the sponsor brand and the club brand clashing visually. Vindico is a bold brand, very very purple. The Cardiff Devils are very, very red! To help Vindico align with the Devils, we built in a colour changing LED system, allowing the branding to match that of the Devils on match days.
“It’s a massive responsibility we’ve got with the Devils particularly. We’re very purple they’re not. The fact that Morgans Consult can make a sign that lights up red completely on a match night helps us win over the fans, they’re taken care of.
“Equally, what if someone wants to run a corporate event here and turn it blue? Well, they can! We needed that versatility as well to appeal to kind of draw in more events now to make it that multifunction environment.”
The Challenge
This was a complicated project, the architecture of the building posing some challenges. The structure has a large overhang, meaning our signage had to be installed on a steep angle. To ensure peace of mind for the client we ensured all designs and fixing methods were approved by a structural engineer.
The illuminated lettering is fixed to an external wall, the rear of which is directly behind the arena seating, and so accessible to the public. We needed to find a way of running all cabling and controls into a void making it impossible for the public to access… and tricky for our fitting team to access! But we made it happen, with the electrical controls secured safely within the walls.
The Impact
The branding looks incredible. It catches the eye of anyone in the area, and looks so good it has already generated value for Vindico. We know branding works, but it’s great to hear examples of tangible results
“The day after the image of this Vindico Arena sign and the press release went out we were contracted by one of the largest toy manufacturers in the world, and we’ve got a workshop with them at the end of the month. So it shows it works, it really does work.”
We loved working on this one with Jo and the team, and we’re so glad to see it achieving tangible results for Vindico.
Find out more about who we are, our previous projects and don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’d like to discuss how anything mentioned in this article could help your business.
