How to Choose a Temporary Structure for a Branded or Sponsored Event
A branded or sponsored structure isn’t just a cover from the rain. It is one of the biggest things guests will actually experience of the brand all day, and for a lot of people it is the part of the sponsorship they remember once the event is over. Get it right and the structure becomes part of the story. Get it wrong and it is a hired tent with a logo stuck on the front, and guests can tell.
Booking a temporary structure is an easy job to hand off to whoever has time. Getting the structure right takes a bit more thought, and it is much easier to sort out before the design is locked in than after. Here is what is worth asking first.
Is the structure actually part of the sponsorship, or bolted on afterwards?
Sponsors expect more from a structure than a logo on the front these days, and fair enough. It is one of the only parts of a sponsorship guests actually walk into, sit inside and spend time in. That makes it one of the best places to build brand identity, but only if someone thinks about it that way from the start.
If a supplier only talks about square metres and PVC colour, they have not really thought about the brief. Ask how they would handle guest flow, where people are likely to stop and take photos, and how the space needs to work across the day. A vague answer usually means a vague structure.
Are they building to your brand, or adding a logo to something off the shelf?
Plenty of suppliers will happily print your branding onto a standard marquee. That is fine for a simple stand. It rarely works for a proper sponsorship activation, where custom coloured PVC, glazed windows, a different door layout and a fully branded interior tend to be part of the brief rather than an add-on.
That only really works if the supplier makes the structures themselves rather than ordering from a factory overseas. We manufacture our marquees at our own site in Christchurch, Dorset, which you can read more about here. Unusual colours and layouts are just part of the job for us, not a big costly ask, so if you want something a bit different we can usually say yes and work out how to build it, rather than steering you back to whatever is already sitting in the warehouse.
Before you brief anyone, it is worth knowing what you actually want a say over. On branded and sponsored jobs, that is usually:
- Bespoke coloured PVC to match your brand guidelines
- Glazed windows or feature facades for a more premium look
- A custom entrance and signage zones
- The interior fit-out, including flooring, lighting and branded furniture
- Multi-tier or double-deck layouts for viewing areas or VIP space
- A design that can be reconfigured for different sites if you are touring
Have they actually done a sponsor brief before?
Our work for Jägermeister is a decent test of what a bespoke brief really involves. Working with Peachy Productions and FRUKT, the brief was for a completely bespoke structure that could tour multiple festival sites and feel like a genuine part of the brand, not a hired marquee with a logo stuck on.
We built a double-deck 10m x 10m structure, over 7m tall, designed around an unearthed warehouse theme with four separate areas for festival-goers to explore. The PVC was manufactured in-house to stay on-brand, and it went from sign-off to first build in a matter of weeks. It then had to go up and come down cleanly across a full festival season without losing any quality, and it ended up winning a Music Marketing Award. A catalogue supplier could not have delivered that brief.
If you are working from an unusual brief, our bespoke structure work, including builds on shipping containers and other unusual footprints, gives a decent idea of what is possible once you start from the brand and work outward, rather than starting from a standard marquee.
Who is actually designing it?
The brief for a branded or sponsored structure tends to change more than once before build day, especially if the marketing team is still shaping the activation while the physical build is under way. New ideas get added, the guest flow gets rethought once the site plan is confirmed, or another brand gets added to the space at short notice. That is far easier to manage with an in-house design team who can talk it through directly, rather than a distributor waiting on a factory abroad to reissue a spec.
Our design team is with you from the first site visit right through to the finished build, so things like ground conditions, access and power get worked out before anything goes into production, not discovered halfway through the build. If you are touring the same structure to more than one site, it also means the same team who signed off the first build knows what needs to change, and what should stay exactly as it is, at the next one.
Does it stand up once the branding comes off?
A good-looking structure still has to perform like any other temporary building, and this is where the accreditation actually matters. We work out the structural calculations for your exact site and location, and hold ISO 9001, ISO 14001, MUTA full supplier status, CHAS, SafeContractor and BSI certification, all independently audited. You can see the details on our about us page. If a supplier cannot produce this on request, it is worth asking more questions before you commit.
We also offer flexible payment options, including phased payments and leasing, which tends to suit a sponsorship or campaign budget better than paying for everything upfront.
How far ahead should you start?
Bespoke work takes longer to design and build than a standard structure, and the more unusual the brief, the more time it needs. Custom PVC has to be sourced and made, unusual layouts need engineering sign-off, and a touring schedule needs to be built around confirmed dates at every site. None of that can be squeezed into the last few weeks before an event. If a sponsorship is confirmed months out, that is the point to start talking to us about the structure, even if the rest of the campaign is still being worked out.
Planning a branded structure for your next event
If your calendar includes festivals or sporting fixtures, our articles on temporary structures for summer festivals and temporary structures for sporting events cover the wider planning side, including ground conditions, lead times and working alongside other suppliers on site.
Have a look through our events range, read what past clients say on our testimonials page, or browse our case studies to see the kind of bespoke work we get up to. If you have a branded or sponsored event coming up, get in touch. The earlier we talk, the more we can do with the brief.