Polo revives Hurlingham (Events)
City entrepreneur Daniel Fox-Davies is adept at spotting underperforming assets. And now the self-made CEO of Fox Davies Capital, and chairman of The World Polo Association, has turned his acumen- and wallet -to the fledgling sport of polo. The first round of his plan, "Polo In The Park", was recently brought to life by Hype Party Planning at Hurlingham Park where London (pic above) beat York. Sat Bal (29 Jun'09)
The Vision
To take polo out of its esoteric confines and bring it to the masses. The venerable Hurlingham Park was chosen as the host venue for Polo In The Party; maybe a natural choice but not a practical one since the event represented Hurlingham's first polo fixture for 70 years. Logistically, this meant the installation of a new pitch along with a cosmetic revamp of the venue.
"Polo has been due a makeover for a number of years," said Daniel Fox-Davies.
"It wasn’t a question of ‘when’, but a question of ‘how long’ before
one of the polo organisations took steps to rejuvenate the game and
bring it in keeping with modern technology and changing social
interests. The World Polo Association has spent the last three years
developing the World Polo Series and we are delighted to open the
series with Polo In The Park."
Initiatives included a new
level of technology to give polo parity with other mass-spectator
sports. The televising of Polo In The Park made it the first time that
polo had been broadcast on terrestrial television in the UK.
The Event Organiser
Marcus Rendle, MD - Hype Party Planning:
"Daniel
Fox-Davies's ambition is to build a world polo team around him and he
approached us about creating the event with Steve Tait who project
managed it through Ironmonger Events. I was Steve’s second in command.
They knew that Hype had a strong base of suppliers. We provided a crew
to build the site and handled everything from event power to finishing
touches like the candelabra.
"It’s a different dynamic with these 'big beast' events. Having done events such as Chinawhite Polo and the huge Carphone Warehouse ball we know that there's no substitute for experience.
"Other
challenges were the location. Hurlingham Park is a residential area so
vehicles of certain sizes had to go through specified gates. There were
some 25-30
artic lorries over the build and we worked with TPA's MD40 portable
roadway to protect the site. This saved a lot of time because the
roadway is installed as a roll rather than individual panels.
"Daniel
was keen to get locals involved and donated 8,000 complimentary tickets
to people in Hammersmith and Fulham which promoted the family
atmosphere. The filming was an important element and Steve used a TV
company called 021. This company used 16 camera points where usually
around four are used in polo. (Above) The Worx party revellers
"A wirecam and steadycams were used by 021 and the remote control cameras gave great aerial views and zooms of the playing.
The Result
Tickets for the event sold out in the final week. A total of 24,000
tickets sold out over six months following a strong PR and marketing
campaign from Captive Minds Communications. An independently audited
campaign reached over 77 million consumers, across three continents.
Special projects director at Captive Minds, Alex Rayner commented: "A
week prior to the event we unveilved the trophy on BBC News and
followed
(Above) A selection of "Stick Chicks" welcome guests in
up with everything from ITV News throughto CNN, The Telegraph, Express and almost every national newspaper. Polo has seen its day of reckoning, the traditional sport will never recover from the new Twentification of the sport."
Suppliers included:
Peppermint Bars - Bars at Hurlingham
Sweet and Chilli - Cocktails, VIP & staffing
South West Group - Power & production
TPA - Portable roadway
Taste the Food - Catering
Arena - Seating
Dyson Airblades
RK _________________________________________