Absen LD scores at Guinness Six Nations
- Details
The 2023 Guinness Six Nations Championship saw Ireland take the ‘Grand Slam’ champions title. Absen brought 8.3m viewers onto the side-line to watch the Championship Trophy Presentation at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
Spanning six weeks, the 2023 Six Nations Championship was the 24th annual international men's rugby union competition, contested by England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. UK based events production company, Catalyst Event Production Services was enlisted to deliver results for the trophy presentation ceremony, working alongside its client, live events agency, EVENT360 who specialise in the design and delivery of global sport events.
The deciding games, played on the same day, meant that Catalyst’s teams needed to be on site at both Stade de France, Paris and Aviva Stadium, Dublin, ready to install the trophy presentation screens at the winning game’s stadium - and it could have been at either venue. Once the final whistle had blown, there was just a brief window of seven minutes for the crew to assemble the screens - and it was at the Aviva Stadium, where Ireland won 29 - 16 to England.
Due to the time constraints, the screen installation needed to be quick and simple, allowing the team to assemble efficiently and in time for over 51,700 stadium spectators and over 8m broadcast viewers to watch the trophy presentation.
The ceremony set up consisted of a large curved front footer LED, as well as LED banners left and right behind the winning team, to clearly display the Guinness Six Nations branding and name of the winning team.
Under these intense conditions, the Catalyst team not only needed a familiar product, but one that was reliable, easy and fast to assemble, ensuring the presentation stage was set within the allotted time. Because of this, the Absen PL 3.9 PRO outdoor screen was specified. Catalyst was an early adopter of this product, purchasing the first batch in 2018. Catalyst is now the main UK rental house stocking PL3.9 Pro with over 75sqm.
A total of 28 LED panels were pre-assembled in three separate sections, attached and carried onto the pitch on a bespoke frame, 7.5m wide. The client’s design included a 7° curve in the front footer, another function of this product.
“Our teams were really up against the clock, faced with the challenge of needing to provide a high-quality and reliable product in one of two locations,” comments Ronnie MacLennan, Catalyst Event production services managing director. “The short installation time made a fairly standard installation massively challenging. Needing a durable, decent pitch and curved LED product, there was nothing else on the market that quite fits the bill like the Absen PL3.9. So much so, Catalyst now has the largest outdoor stock of this product, totally at over 280 panels.”
The video content for the panels was supplied directly by the client, boldly displaying the Guinness Six Nations branding, winning team’s showreels and the winning team ‘stings’. With the install and display working seamlessly, the trophy presentation ceremony was a resounding success.
“The Absen PL3.9 screens are designed for live events, particularly within a large stadium environment. The excellent pixel pitch, simple installation and product flexibility means customers can rely on Absen to deliver outstanding results time and time again.” explains Jessica Golding, European brand and marketing director at Absen.
