Project Summary:
- Client: GSMA
- Event: MWC19 – Barcelona
- Giant iTab Products: Giant Smartphones x 24
- Industry: Events
- Year: 2019
- Location: Fira de Barcelona, Barcelona
"It was a pleasure to work with such a professional and committed group of people as we experienced with the team from Giant iTab."
Sustainability world record
With the help of Giant iTab, MWC Barcelona 2019 received the Guinness Record for sustainability as the largest carbon neutral trade show in the world.
Over 250,000 touches
Across the four-day show, our Giant Smartphones recorded 250,000 touches. This equates to 2.3 touches per visitor.
Easy wayfinding
The Giant Smartphone solution effortlessly ran the GSMA app, making wayfinding easier than ever and removing the need for paper maps.
MWC Barcelona (formerly Mobile World Congress) is the largest mobile event in the world, bringing together the latest innovations and leading-edge technology from more than 2,400 leading companies. The event, organised by the GSMA, is held at the Fira Gran Via in Barcelona and attracted over 109,000 visitors in 2019.
The Goal
MWC Barcelona has been recognised as ‘The World’s Largest Carbon Neutral Trade Show’ by the Guinness World Records for the second year in a row and the GSMA is constantly working on new initiatives to generate the least waste possible by recycling or donating the majority of event material. In line with the GSMA’s sustainability initiatives it was decided that there would no longer be a printed event guide at the 2019 show. Instead, the GSMA was looking to find a replacement solution that would provide ease of use for attendees and help them more readily find the information they needed to get the most from their time at the event. The event organiser appointed Giant iTab its recommended ‘event technology supplier’ for the 2019 event.
The Solution
Giant iTab supplied 20 of its 43 inch giant smartphones for exhibitors and visitors to access the event guide information, saving the need to print. The event’s website was available directly on the giant smartphones, with all the relevant show information. Additionally attendee’s were able to download the event mobile app to their own devices from the giant smartphones by touching their IOS or Android mobile to the NFC ‘Tap for the App’ points located at the top of each giant smartphone.
The giant smartphones were strategically placed around the venue in areas where they would be most visible, such as the event entrances, boulevards and breakout areas. By reflecting the event website’s content, the giant smartphones gave visitors the same interactive experience – but on a giant scale. This made it easy for them to access all the event information, including exhibitor lists, floor plans, seminar, sponsor and speaker information at their fingertips. The giant smartphones provided the perfect solution for increasing adoption of the event website, delivering a better visitor experience, getting exhibitors and sponsors more exposure and additionally providing a greener alternative to the traditional printed event guides.
In addition, two of its 27 inch giant smartphones were presented on custom built podiums and deployed at each of the main entrances of the event. These were branded with a wheelchair design to offer Disability Discrimination Act 2005 compliant versions for wheelchair access. Six members of the Giant iTab team flew out to Barcelona for the event to cover build, set-up and installation and to offer full on-site support throughout the event.
The Results
Over a quarter of a million touches were recorded on the giant smartphones across the four-day show. The smartphones helped to increase visibility of, and access to, key event information and to drive attendes to where they wanted to go. They also helped to encourage more people to be more involved in the event. When asked, show attendees said the giant smartphones helped them to make the most of their day and locate what they were looking for more easily.
Show attendee Mario Amura, CEO of Emoticron, said: “I first spotted the giant smartphones in the boulevard area at MWC Barcelona and was instantly attracted. The giant smartphones allowed me to easily search for what I needed to know and helped me to find the exhibitors I wanted to see as well as review all the seminar sessions. I have not seen these before at MWC Barcelona, so this was a very valuable new experience for me.”
