ANTONY
SHEPHERD
The Challenge
The DP World Tour’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, a flagship Rolex Series event, wanted to transform its four-day tournament at Yas Links into more than a sporting spectacle. With over 40,000 attendees, global partners, and multiple audience segments including families, golf enthusiasts, and casual visitors, the challenge was to create a seamless brand experience that connected people, partners, and purpose.
They needed an environment that not only entertained but also provided real-time audience insights, a first for the event. The goal was to prove measurable ROI and strengthen brand affinity through experience-led design.
The Plan
As Creative Director, I led the full creative vision and execution for the fan experience from spatial layout and activation design to live programming and on-site delivery. Working closely with Inicio as the lead agency, we developed a range of tailored experiences including:
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Future Falcons Kids Zone, an interactive space designed for families and young fans
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Branded activation zones for HSBC and DP World Tour that blended entertainment with subtle data capture points
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F&B and hospitality areas strategically integrated into the flow to maximise dwell time and engagement
We built an audience-first experience that respected brand guidelines while introducing new ways to collect fan insights. Through GDPR-compliant data integration, the event captured demographic, dwell-time, and behavioural data, providing actionable analytics for the first time in the tournament’s history.
The Execution
The project delivered a fully integrated brand experience that achieved:
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40,000+ fans engaged across four days
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The first-ever data-backed audience insights for the DP World Tour, including dwell times and engagement rates
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A seamless creative-to-delivery pipeline between client, agency, and on-ground teams
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A measurable uplift in brand affinity and partner visibility, reinforcing the event’s status as a flagship Rolex Series experience
From Identity to Activation and Campaign Rollouts with Heart
Case Studies
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UNMISSABLE
The Success
40,000+
Attendees
Over 40,000 attendees explored the fan village, transforming Yas Links into a four-day festival of sport, music, and culture.
Product & Packaging Design
GDPR
First GDPR-compliant data capture
The event achieved the first GDPR-compliant data capture in its history, unlocking actionable insights into audience behaviour and dwell time.
Product & Packaging Design
10,000+ sqm
Multi-zone experiential layout
Spanning over 10,000 square meters, the fan village balanced entertainment, hospitality, and brand activations to create seamless visitor flow and longer dwell times.
Product & Packaging Design
3x
audience engagement vs prior year
Engagement tripled through well-placed activations, interactive digital experiences, and data-driven design that encouraged repeat participation.
Product & Packaging Design