Qantas’ Christmas wish was to surprise and delight families traveling nationally in December. I proposed they “wrap” the terminals in Qantas wrapping paper. Five ports were adorned with larger than life sculptures of presents with activities to explore inside. Qantas Club & Business lounges were wrapped from floor to ceiling to deliver the true presents, the passengers, home for Christmas.

I worked with Team Event over 6 months to pitch, plan & produce the original concept through to the entire collection of graphic assets made for the “Wrapped” Christmas event in the Qantas terminals.

This event was a monumental project. With custom assets designed for application in 5 different terminals across Australia. After winning the project with my original concept, I worked alongside designers & event managers from Team Event and a wider production crew of builders, printers and manufacturers to bring the enormous presents wrapped terminals to life.

Right: Jumbo gift sculptures at Concourse B in Melbourne Domestic Terminal.

Client Qantas

Agency Team Event

Year 2023-24

Scope Pitching, Brand Strategy, Graphic Design

Time 8 Months

Assets

Original Concept Design & Pitch, Event Logo Lockup, Wrapping Paper Direction, Signage (Promotional, Wayfinding, Operational,) Sculpture Wrapping, Copywriting & Storytelling, Kids Activities, Floor Decals, Wall Decals, Decorative Brand Elements, Gifting (Postcards, Temporary Tattoos, Tote Bags) Reporting Decks, Event Uniforms, Post Event Report.

I collaborated with the internal design team at Qantas to develop the wrapping paper patterns used across the event. These illustrations would be the backbone of the experience - decorating walls, floors, sculptures and gifts for passengers.

CRITICAL ELEMENTS

A project this size has an enormous margin for error and a lot of moving parts. These were the elements I had my focus on to ensure we did great work and delivered a memorable experience to the passengers traveling during the holidays.

Ultimately, this project was more than just another brand activation. Christmas is an important time for many and bringing joy to families traveling over the holiday period was our main focus. It was critical that even in the most stressful moments of bringing this project together - we didn’t lose sight of who we were doing it for: kids and families.
Qantas is one of the most trusted and recognisable brands in Australia. We had to ensure all the proposed design was up to par with strict brand guidelines.
Being a national company with many chains of command, we needed to present our work rapidly to ensure we could obtain approval from all internal stakeholders incl. CMO & Marketing Department, Events Department, Operations Team Members, Brand Team Members, Head of Lounges, Individual Port Lounge Managers, as well as individual Airports & Domestic Airport stakeholders from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth & Adelaide.
We worked with one printer on a national scale to produce and install over 200 unique decals across 5 major airport terminals and Qantas Club & Business lounges.
For the event builds, each port required a different builder & installer due to the scale of the sculptures. I had to work closely with the builders to map out how the “wrap” would be applied to each unique shape.
Every port, every wall and every sculpture had a unique wrap applied to it, no two design files were the same. Each port and sculpture also had unique signage and wayfinding applied as decals or standalone signage to ensure guests could explore and discover everything the activation had to offer. Managing this level of complexity and unique application across 5 different locations mean constant communication and project management with the production teams. I was responsible for every graphic produced and applied - as well as the spreadsheets to manage it all.