The World Choir Games
Client: African Cultural Development Foundation, the Gauteng Provincial Government, the City of Tshwane and INTERKULTUR
Period: 2018
Multi-stakeholder partnerships
Awards & events
Arts, culture & heritage
01 — The sneak-peek
The choir of nations, in Africa for the first time
The World Choir Games — the Olympic Games of choral music — bring singers from across the world together to show what the arts can do to unify nations. For its tenth edition, hosted in Tshwane in 2018, BBA Liminal built the identity, ran the event branding and accreditation, and convened the stakeholders who made it happen.
02 — The liminal moment
In July 2018 the World Choir Games came to Tshwane — its tenth jubilee edition, and the first ever held on the African continent or in the Southern Hemisphere. The Games arrived in the same year as the centenary of Nelson Mandela, lending the event a once-only resonance: a global gathering of voices, in his country, in his centenary year.
BBA Liminal was tasked with the identity and the integrated marketing communications for the Games, and with managing the relationships that held the event together. The brief was an identity for a global event on home soil. The deeper task was synthesis: drawing the needs of the African Cultural Development Foundation, the Gauteng Provincial Government, the City of Tshwane, INTERKULTUR and the event's sponsors into one coherent whole, and running the systems that 16,500 participants would pass through.
03 — The transformation
A touch of Madiba magic. The Games coincided with Nelson Mandela's centenary, so we built the identity around him — Madiba as conductor, his open arms embracing cultures from across the world to the nation's capital, completed in the colours of the South African flag.
Synthesis as design. Holding a global event on home soil took immense perseverance from local organisers. We drew the needs of many diverse stakeholders into one coherent brand architecture, and helped secure sponsors for the Games — a brand of harmony arrived at in true South African style.
Designing while executing. Beyond collateral, we conceptualised and ran a production system with a broad group of stakeholders: personalised accreditation for each of 16,500 participants on arrival, and the right publicity material reaching every news channel on time. We produced the AV promos broadcast during the Games and the daily newspaper inserts that carried them.
04 — The craft
Hitting the high notes
Madiba as conductor in the colours of the flag; merchandise and collateral across three tiers; accreditation for 16,500; AV promos and daily newspaper inserts — one identity carrying a global event through its first African edition.
The event
05 — The validation of purpose
“The World Choir Games are always exciting and electrifying. I've been truly astounded by the talent I've seen during this tournament. All I can say is ‘wow!'”
— Ali Mpofu, Founder and CEO of the African Cultural Development Foundation
300 choirs
58 nations represented
16,500 received registration collateral
Partnership origination
Brand & communications strategy
Facilitation & convening
Audiovisual & motion
Event & convening design
Stakeholder strategy
Systems mapping
