It’s All About the Wrap
The NFL is known for its legendary Super Bowl décor and entertainment that takes over the host city for at least a week prior to the game. The NFL requires that every year is different from all the years prior – with fresh ideas, new technology and new creative. For Super Bowl LIII the NFL partnered with bluemedia and GMR Marketing to tackle the project in Atlanta, Georgia.
Starting in early 2018, the three teams began discussions with the host committee to come up with the plan for 2019. GMR would design and bluemedia would execute stadium graphics, several high-rise building wraps with projection mapping to light up downtown Atlanta, along with graphics throughout the city.
The greatest challenge of Super Bowl LIII was the wrap and projection mapping on the exterior of Mercedez-Benz Stadium. The new state-of-the-art stadium had never been wrapped before, so there were no previous printing patterns or measurements available to use. In order for the wrap to be perfectly executed, bluemedia worked with the stadium and GMR for months to prepare GMR’s designs for printing and installation. Our technology team then worked for weeks to prepare the projection mapping portion of the project.
Another challenge was the Bud Light Knight building wrap. This wrap, designed by Wasserman, was about 50,000 square feet and was oddly shaped, wrapping around a corner of the building. Multiple large-format spotlights were programmed by our team to light up the Knight, so he could be seen for miles.
A never-been-done-before highlight of Super Bowl LIII was the Atlanta SkyView Ferris Wheel gondola wraps. bluemedia wrapped a gondola to represent the helmet of each team in the NFL, complete with the team colors, name and logo. The Ferris wheel is part of Centennial Park and stands right between the two tallest buildings wrapped for Super Bowl.
bluemedia also executed the Atlanta Streetcar wraps, interior and exterior stadium graphics, airport graphics, light pole banners, projection mapping at the Westin, hotel décor for both teams and the NFL headquarters, and graphics for several other event locations.
After the 40-person bluemedia team worked in Atlanta for more than a month to install everything and Make it Perfect™, the excitement around the city was palpable. Starting the second visitors walked into the Atlanta airport, they knew they were in Super Bowl territory. Graphics donned walls and were wrapped around poles. On the drive into the city, day or night, the stadium projection flashed brilliantly, with a colorful rendition of the Vince Lombardi trophy standing tall in the center. Also, in the downtown area, the Bud Light Knight with his huge sword hovered over the city streets, and on the tall, round Omni Hotel building another projection of the trophy shined and moved with colorful perfection. Atlanta streetcars covered with Super Bowl reminders transported people around downtown. And, all the social media posts and shares from residents and visitors, along with photos and stories in the news and online showed that people were thrilled by the transformation of Atlanta into the host city of Super Bowl LIII.
You and your team were awesome partners for the Championship Campus and CFP related events, and I wanted to thank you and let you know I really appreciated all you did.
