Inflatable Soccer Ball reappears for FIFA Woman’s World Cup 2023.

Background

Kojo is a creative studio working across film, television, marketing, brand experience, and sports marketing.

Their mission is to captivate and inspire audiences globally, and they have been increasingly involved in major sporting events across Australia, gaining a reputation for high-quality work.

The Design and Fabrication

In June 2022, Kojo reached out to Giant Inflatables in collaboration to create a four-meter inflatable soccer ball for the upcoming Premier League exhibition matches in Perth.

Kojo works across many sporting events, and part of their brief to the Giant Inflatables design team was to ensure the ball could be rebranded for use at different events, allowing them to alternate sponsors to maximize the return on the investment of their new marketing asset.

The client also requested that the inflatable soccer ball have a colour-alternating LED lighting system installed on the ball’s interior to use at night.

The four-meter inflatable soccer ball was initially designed with an official match soccer ball skin, stood almost five-meters high, and set on an inflatable plinth.

The match ball artwork selected for the first event was a unique patented Nike design, a replica of the ball used in the upcoming exhibition matches.

The square inflatable plinth added stability to the display and plenty of extra branding area.

All supporting weight (ballast) to anchor the ball was positioned inside the base, hiding it from view and creating a tidy, unencumbered aesthetic.

Immediately after Kojo first displayed the ball for the initial soccer event, they called on Giant Inflatables to create a new set of skins to transform the ball from a soccer ball into a cricket ball to promote the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup.

The ability to re-skin the ball was a priority when considering the design, so Giant Inflatables engineered a ball “bladder.”

This simple white sphere acts as the base onto which Kojo could add the suitable branded skin transforming the ball to reflect the appropriate sponsor. The skin zips on and off around the bladder creating an efficient rebranding procedure.

The plinth section of the inflatable soccer ball was also quickly rebranded by creating a new skin. The new plinth skin can be added with its appropriate, revised branding, much like a fitted bedsheet to the original base.

The Results

After the success of the first installation, Kojo quickly understood the potential for the inflatables to be efficiently rebranded for use at other events.

Kojo complimented Giant Inflatables on the ease of setup when following the detailed instructions.

After the first round of rebranding, Kojo commented, “The rebranding procedure was super straightforward and didn’t take long at all.”

Future event and sponsorship plans are already in motion to rebrand the ball again for upcoming events.