Esports Fan Event
Experiential Design
Marketing & Advertising
Apparel Design
In winter of 2023, Spacestation Gaming was selected to host and operate the Global Invitational; an international esports competition in professional Halo Infinite. The event would draw fans and players from across the globe to Salt Lake City, Utah. As a rising presence in the competitive Halo scene, Spacestation Gaming (SSG) turned to my team with hopes of setting a new standard for events in the league.
Halo Championship Series:
Global Invitational
THe Audience
Esports skews predominantly male but Halo esports' fans are unique in their age range. While most other esports audiences range from 14-24, Halo Championship Series' average fan age is closer to 30, owing to the franchise's long lifespan and tenure in esports.
Historically, the belief had been that this audience was relatively conservative in taste and purchase preference. For that reason, previous licensed merch offerings and events had catered to that conservative expectation.
Fortunately, in a partnered merch release in 2022, we had experimented with some more maximalist pieces that had been well received. Knowing that, we felt prepared to take a big swing.
The
Look
We started by simply taking inventory of the game and its environments. What kind of spaces feel familiar to these fans? We honed in on one in-game space in particular. The popular multiplayer map 'Streets.' It's an urban environment set at night and full of neon light, traffic signs, and graffiti.
That tied in well with the SSG brand which has a strong connection to skate culture and often leans on graffiti as a visual motif. From there, it was just a matter of combining the neon and graffiti elements to create vibrant, luminescent scenery. 'Neon Street' became our shorthand for the style. Our next challenges were fleshing out the style and figuring out how to transform 40,000 square feet of venue on budget.
Refining Style
In exploring how to expand the Neon Street direction into something broad enough to guide all design for the event, we expanded our inspiration search even further, bringing in sources like Jet Set Radio and even the oft over-hated Batman Forever.
With these new sources, we were able to build our core mark for the event, a supporting pattern asset, and we even found a solution to our biggest problem. Empty wallspace.
A crucial piece of reference depicting neon posters paired with the idea of traditional wheat paste poster bombing gave us a solution would allow us to create the immersion we'd been looking for without breaking the bank.
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Environmental
We knew we'd hit gold when we found the wheat paste poster idea. In total, we printed off about 5000 sheets of 8.5x11 and 11x17 in single color black on astrobright neon paper. By varying the color and size of our stock, we were able to make 12 incredibly simple poster designs feel like near infinite variation.
Posters
While vinyl banners are much simpler for blanket coverage, the budget simply didn't allow it to be our primary option for square footage coverage.
That said, we were able to deploy it as a resource in key areas like photo op backdrops, window coverage as decor and light control, and for our mainstage backdrop.
Banners
The final leg of our environment building, we used this to create points of interest, character cutouts, signage, and activations. With sheets as large as 4'x8', we were able to be incredibly versatile with how we implemented these assets, even intricate laser cuts for our mainstage player desks.
Foam Core
Environmental
We knew we'd hit gold when we found the wheat paste poster idea. In total, we printed off about 5000 sheets of 8.5x11 and 11x17 in single color black on astrobright neon paper. By varying the color and size of our stock, we were able to make 12 incredibly simple poster designs feel like near infinite variation.
Posters
While vinyl banners are much simpler for blanket coverage, the budget simply didn't allow it to be our primary option for square footage coverage.
That said, we were able to deploy it as a resource in key areas like photo op backdrops, window coverage as decor and light control, and for our mainstage backdrop.
Banners
The final leg of our environment building, we used this to create points of interest, character cutouts, signage, and activations. With sheets as large as 4'x8', we were able to be incredibly versatile with how we implemented these assets, even intricate laser cuts for our mainstage player desks.
Foam Core
Advertising
With this being the first event of its kind in the state, we took a broad approach to get the word out. We ran a targeted social media and digital ad campaign, we plastered downtown SLC with posters, and we even purchased a billboard to help get the word out. It worked like a dream, drawing more attendees than any event that season at over 4000.
Merchandise
While ticket sales did generate revenue, merchandise is the primary avenue for profit with these sorts of events. Our previous year's collaboration merch with the Halo IP had generated a huge response and with this year's collaboration launching at the event, we had high hopes for a strong reception. Fortunately, we more than doubled projected revenue, with most of the line selling out before the event concluded.
Sadboi Chief
Y2 Hoodie
Deadshot Hoodie
SSG Hometown Jersey
Sadboi Chief
Y1 Limited Reprint
Sadboi Chief
Y2 Tee
2023 Halo Worlds Jersey
Merchandise
While ticket sales did generate revenue, merchandise is the primary avenue for profit with these sorts of events. Our previous year's collaboration merch with the Halo IP had generated a huge response and with this year's collaboration launching at the event, we had high hopes for a strong reception. Fortunately, we more than doubled projected revenue, with most of the line selling out before the event concluded.
Sadboi Chief
Y2 Hoodie
Deadshot Hoodie
SSG Hometown Jersey
Sadboi Chief
Y1 Limited Reprint
Sadboi Chief
Y2 Tee
2023 Halo Worlds Jersey
Fan Response
SSG’s content and art design are just so many levels above the competition.
u/enailcoilhelp
Even the artstyle for the event was extremely cool. This is an organization that understands Halo.
@jassem73
The heart and passion from this crew shone through in every aspect of this event, this was truly something special for our community.
@jmpSadow
SSG’s creative director needs a raise, this event looks great and the media stuff has been awesome.
u/Wayf4rer
Key Metrics
4000+ Attendees
1,000,000+ Unique Viewers
$40,000 Merch Sales
6,000,000+ Impressions
1,300,000+Hours Watched
Outcomes
For several years, SSG had been struggling to find its footing with Halo fans. They never had quite the right team. They never had quite the right connection with the audience. The previous year's merch drop had started to win fans over but this event was the turning point.
It was the first event that they won, with the team crediting the home field advantage. This event had record attendance. It blew away merch sales predictions. It showed the fans that SSG was serious about Halo and serious about providing unmatched fan experiences.
At the time, some fans called it the best Halo event of all time and it's still in that conversation. We had important metrics to meet and they were met and exceeded, but that's the metric that I'm the most proud of is that we gave the fans an unforgettable experience and what's more, we were given the opportunity to do it again the following year at three times the scale.