The Hobart Hurricanes’ Inflatable Jumping Castle in pirate ship theme is a fan favourite.

Background

Hobart Hurricanes are Tasmania’s entry into Australia’s national T20 Cricket Big-Bash League. Following an increase in viewership across the Big Bash League, the Hobart Hurricanes sought to capitalize on the trend, increase memberships, and add value to home-game match day festivities.

Going into the 2017-18 season, the Hobart Hurricanes identified a need for an interactive engagement at their home games at Blundstone arena in Hobart to add value to match-day activities and promote attendance.

As the overall objective is to target families, the brief was to create a brand activation within a given budget to draw families to home games.

The final brand activation inflatable product was to have a unique design, strongly reflect the hurricanes’ brand identity and be visible at a distance to draw attendees to the membership area.

The Design and Fabrication

Stretching 16m from bow to stern, the Hobart Hurricanes Pirate Ship Inflatable Jumping Castle would stand a mighty 6.5m High with branded sails proudly displayed upon the masts.

The unmissable sight of the inflatable jumping castle would draw curious spectators to the activation, and children would have the opportunity to come aboard and play within the walls of the space.

Inside the ship, children would enjoy many exciting activities featuring a slide, target hoop, jump test, and plenty of obstacles.

While their children were playing inside the ship, parents could view the activities through the portholes spread around the ship’s perimeter.

Cricket-themed targets, diving and catching games and cricket nets were considered. Still, the ability to have a larger-than-life all-encompassing activity in a single coherent product was regarded as the best option.

The stakeholders selected the theme of the pirate ship thought to create a strong brand identity.

It would have a large area for an inflatable jumping castle deck, maximizing the activation space and allowing room for plenty of activities inside.

As the Pirate ship would be a sizeable inflatable, special consideration was given to set up logistics. The inflatable was split into two modules, the bow and stern—this configuration allowed the overall weight to be divided into easier-to-manage sections. The unique modular design allowed for easier logistics surrounding the activation.

The Results

Following the inflatable’s debut at the Hurricane’s first home game of the 2017-18 season, it was clear that the inflatable was attracting many attendees to the member area.

The Hurricanes reported strong membership sales into the next season, which would be their first league win.

Following the success of the inflatable pirate ship, Hobart Hurricanes have worked with Giant Inflatables again to create additional exciting inflatable activations, furthering their fan engagement while targeting new audiences.