Branding 2015 Pan American Games – What Went Wrong?
What is the one thing you remember of the Pan Am Games in summer 2015? Was it the temporary HOV or Kanye West?
By ticket sales Pan Am 2015 sold over a million out of 1.4 million tickets available. Whether it’s a sold out event or not is subject to opinions. As far as the event brand is concerned, there was a serious lack in the effectiveness of crucial brand execution and communication to give the event a distinct personality, never mind invigorating the event spirit to promulgate a meaningful experience.
Is Toronto 2015 a successful brand?
We see “Toronto 2015” everywhere. Is it clearly about the Pan Am Games? The theme “Toronto 2015” is detached from the event logo – not leveraging the brand of Pan Am Games. Of the 4,500 street banners* throughout the city of Toronto, half of them feature like a city theme – Toronto 2015; the other half has the Pan Am Games logo in 10% of the banner size. The Pan Am Games title is in a mouse type – for what purpose? It is a disconnection between their brand guide and the actual design execution.
Colourful display but is it visible?
Designed with light colours on a white background, the brand is colourful; however, only 20–30% colour contrast in the design is barely readable. Unlike the Olympics or some major international games, the Pan Am Games logo doesn’t standout, nor is it distinct compared to other international sporting events.
“Do you feel the Pan Am Games in the city?” I asked my friends in the first few days of the games. “When does it start?” was the common reply.
5,000 no name highway signs in need of encryption
NPS, EXC, OPW… the meaningless codes on signs have us scratch our heads and they don’t mean anything to the general public. To decode them? Look them up online. These signs are not helping to engage for an enjoyable experience. How can we get excited about the games?
Many elements. No priority.
The Pan Am mix of communications includes their motto “United We Play”, the mascot “PACHI”, plus the arts and culture program “PANAMANIA”. These elements add to the experience mix but they don’t blend well together with the overall Pan Am experience. The absence of connectedness is obvious.
Points to ponder:
Be it well coordinated or not, a brand is an opinion from your audience based on their personal experience. There is no memorable brand personality if communications elements are not coherent like an ecosystem.
Philip Yan / Chief Experience Designer / GenesisXD
www.genesisxd.com/blog/brandingto2015
Real Estate Sales Representative
9 年It is so true! I went to Michigan during the Pan Am game season for a Wedding. When I asked the American whether they would come to Toronto to see the Pan Am game, they all did not know about the game was happening in Toronto. Few of them has never heard about the terms "Pan Am Game". If it is supposed to be a World Class Event, Toronto has done a pretty bad job promoting it to our neighbor and the world!!!
Completely agree. There wasn't very much engagement and they weren't successful at generating buzz. There was no cohesion among all the creative or messages and didn't highlight the spirit of the games and connect that to the general public.
Performance Improvement Leader at Advanced Solutions International, Inc.
9 年I couldn't agree with you more, Philip. Very second rate branding and design. Too bad for such a world-class event in world-class city.
illustration, motion design, art direction, UX, Brand Strategy
9 年Well said. Wish their online ticket sales system was better thought out. I gave up after being unable to find availability for reasonably priced events. The CN tower fireworks were awesome though.
Well said Phillip, however it seems one of the major challenges still not met is to get some media cheerleaders who will pick up the chant without the negative undertone. Our media in this town are excessively opinionated and negative until they hear someone from outside this market with a fresh viewpoint. Until New York media report it it is as if it isn't real--no independent positive thinkers--was a great event inspite of all negative vibes--lets hope they build on that.