Eskadra

Assignment

To deliver visual identity, visual design, stage design and run marketing communications for the first edition of the innovative international economy forum.

EXECUTION

Open Eyes Economy is a new business philosophy and a better way to address the nexus between business, society and public space.

The idea has been developed since 2014 under the guidance by Professor Jerzy Hausner and Mateusz Zmyślony.

In 2015, a decision was made to mount the first edition of the economic and social forum dedicated to the Open Eyes Economy. The event was supported by the Mayor of the City of Kraków and the Marshal of the Region of Małopolska.

The scale and the international reach of the event and its eminent guests and, most importantly, the ambitious themes of the new economy, new societies, social values as business goals, brands promoting the arts, and a new generation of cities posed quite a challenge to us. The event itself and related communications were conducted in English and Polish.

Following yearlong preparations, the OPEN ECONOMY SUMMIT 2016, or OEES for short, was held in the Kraków ICE Congress Centre. Despite the short time at the hands of organizers, the low budget and obvious limitations that come with a debut, OEES proved hugely successful. Over 1,500 participants listened to and posed questions to over 100 speakers from around the world, including from Japan, Mexico, Canada, Australia, USA, Spain, Germany, Netherlands and Sweden. The media referred to the Open Eyes Economy as ‘blue revolution’ or ‘wave of optimism at the difficult time’.  The congress stirred huge enthusiasm among many participants and pointed to a positive, constructive and realistic way out of the ideological crisis that, as many observers argue, has affected the free-market economy and democratic society.

Among those co-creating the Open Eyes Economy were many famous names, eminent figures of the academia and experts. The congress involved cooperation between prime ministers and governmental ministers, CEOs of large Polish and international corporations as well as many students, social activists, representatives of NGOs and start-up community, analysts, journalists and scientists. This colourful variety made OEES stand out from other economic conferences and fora, by rule bleak and sad.

The optimistic and open-minded nature of Open Eyes was highlighted and defined by the visual design of the event. The Brand Hero was a fictitious character of a businessman with African roots, the Open Eyes Man wearing the typical blue glasses. The communications of Open Eyes Economy also featured such eminent OEES speakers as Professor Akiko Okabe of the University of Tokyo, Professor Danuta Hübner; the Mayor of Słupsk Robert Biedroń; Professor Jerzy Hausner; and Natalia Hahn, the head of the Global Department for Sustainable Development at IKEA.

The visual design of the event was dominated by the hugely popular blue glasses worn by hundreds of people. The communications was brightened up by the colourful graphic extras. Many elements of the visual design were ecological, including the grass in the Main Hall, the eco-marked boxes used in the stage design and the recycling paper (the FSC certificate) of the Open Eyes Book.

All of the factors combined to mount the Open Eyes Economy Summit 2016 made an event with a truly unique feel. This was, in fact, one of the most precious compliments we would hear from many. Well, we might have been even more smitten with the claim that OEES was Poland’s most beautiful congress. After all, we love visual aspects.

ESKADRA delivered 360° communications for OEES, including: social media, PR, ATL, BTL, publications, books, stage design in the ICE building and producing an exhibition entitled “Firmy – Idee / Idee-w firmach,” involving the participation of IKEA, KOKO World, SKANSKA and VOX. We want to extend our gratitude to those companies! We also want to thank our partner the Foundation of Economy and Public Administration of the Cracow University of Economics for their broad commitment and professional organizational efforts. Our work would be fruitless without your contribution to this success. We also want to thank all other people involved in OEES. We would love to see you again at the next edition! We are proud to have been part of this important project and believe that Open Eyes Economy will make our world at least a bit better.