BAE project with M sees Farnborough highlight

M created a showstopper in every sense of the word at the Farnborough Air Show (FIA) to highlight BAE Systems capability in air and air technologies. Placing a full size flown aircraft form at the heart of the exhibition space, M took 3-D projection mapping to new heights with a 5-minute visually stimulating and engaging display that demonstrated capabilities currently on offer from BAE Systems whilst igniting imagination and creating an appetite for the future.

Creating a compelling narrative of a heritage-rich past and a technology-rich present, M took the BAE Systems ‘Inspired Work’ philosophy to the next level, fuelling the imagination with a tantalising glimpse into an exciting future.

Using every available inch of a vast, semi-permanent aircraft hangar, they created a futuristic world of technology. The multi-screen environment with 150m of moving images on multiple call-out and image slip screens revealed stories of capability and expertise in air and air technologies, partnership and training, innovation and development with video footage, photography and graphics.

Andrew Bolton, M’s Account Director for BAE Systems confirms: “We were appointed by BAE Systems as their tier one events company in October 2012 and the first event was in January 2013. Since then we have undertaken four events in the United States, 19 events throughout the rest of the world and 15 events that were not included in our original remit. Out of all these events there is one flagship event each year and, for 2014, this was it.”

Heather Beeby, events director for BAE Systems said: “As an events delivery team it is important that we are challenged as to how we do things. Team M acts as an integral part of the BAE Systems team and is very important to our success. It’s a joined up partnership – much more than a supplier – we work very closely together so that the project management journey is absolutely shared. We feed M hard information and they create the concepts. That approach enables us to get the very best from a creative partnership.”

As one of the largest air exhibitions in the world, the Farnborough Air Show attracts delegates from governments and corporations with a vested interested in the global aerospace industry. Meetings are a vital component of the show and, to facilitate these, M converted half of the aircraft hangar into an exceptional hospitality suite comprising formal and informal spaces. Beeby confirms: “Throughout the airshow, BAE Systems fully utilised the purpose built meeting suites and hospitality areas, with an average of 500 covers per day in the open dining facility. The BAE Systems team met and hosted hundreds of customers, delegations, and VIP visitors over the course of five trade days culminating in an even busier weekend when the exhibition area was kept open to share our story with aviation enthusiasts and members of the general public”

Importantly, M was able to develop and deliver the concept for BAE Systems without having to source everything from new. A growing bank of knowledge accrued from previous events meant M could repurpose and reposition existing resources to complement the exciting new material developed specifically for the Farnborough Air Show.

According to the FIA’s organisers, FIA 2014 was the most successful to date. A show record of US$201bn worth of confirmed orders and commitments were achieved during the trade show. There were 81 military delegations from 50 countries and 13 commercial and civil delegations from 9 countries.