Openaire Float-in Cinema

In late July, we met with Openaire, Jones Lang LaSalle and GoBoat Paddington at their site in Merchant Square to discuss the concept of bringing a float-in cinema to life. All welcomed the exciting proposition, and we quickly established a strong working relationship between all parties. With a proposed window for the event to run throughout September, we waited patiently for site approval and the green light on licensing… 

While waiting for the green light, our in-house design and engineering team worked hard, getting a brand ready for the Openaire team. Once branding had completed, our designers set about producing realistic render for a concept to present and promote. 

Whilst our design team had been working on the Openaire cinema branding, one of our project managers had been developing a fully bespoke website for us to market the event. It was fully integrated with Google Analytics to target specific customers with adverts for the event. 

On the 6th of August, we made Openaire public to the world. 

As interest had been building, we worked closely with Openaire’s ticketing partner to further promote the event and prepare for the launch of ticket sales. We had focused heavily on our email marketing; when tickets were released on the 13th of August, customers flooded to Openaire’s site with excitement! With three days to go before the build, Openaire signed a headline sponsor deal with Häagen-Dazs. This meant that all event graphics and branding had to be re-designed overnight to ensure they were ready to be installed on time. 

On Sunday morning our talented technical team were on-site, starting the build for the event. We liaised consistently with Merchant Square management to ensure everyone was on the same page with the build process. #SafetyFirst! We manufactured and installed graphics to our truss structure that we had produced in-house. This created selfie ops and further promoted the Openaire brand. 

On Monday afternoon, the build came to a close; we had installed a fully functional cinema in Merchant Square! Complete with kitchen, bar and box office facilities. All operations on an off-site were managed and executed by our talented in-house teams. 

Openaire was set in challenging times with COVID-19 being a constant concern. We worked directly with the EHO to ensure that Openaire was a fully COVID secure and safe event. We implemented the use of a state-of-the-art food ordering system; all customers had to do was scan the QR code located on their chair/boat, place an order using our web app and their food/drink would be delivered directly to them by one of our servers. 

Openaire ran throughout September and bought joy to countless faces. We saw laughter and smiles as friends and families from all walks of life joined us for this unforgettable experience. It gave many the hope and escape they needed in the trying times of COVID-19. The event had worldwide media coverage from the likes of the BBC, Timeout magazine and the Evening Standard to name but a few. 

We designed, planned, promoted, managed and engineered the project in-house from start to finish. Openaire is just one of our signature projects.