Branding The Open Championship

The Royal & Ancient has been a client of The PPL Group for over 60 years. For the last 42 years, PPL has been responsible for the branding of The Open Championship course. Below is a summary of our work at the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool in 2023.

Services

Bespoke build, Bespoke event installations, Design, Event branding, Hand finished, Large format printing, Management, Onsite Sales, Publishing, Signage, Vehicle Livery, Wayfinding
Client / Year

The Royal & Ancient / 1981 to present day
Lead Time

Annually

Branding The Open Championship 2023

Preparation for The Open Championship 2023 began as soon as the previous course in St Andrews was de-branded and the infrastructure kit returned to our facility in Liverpool. Over the autumn, winter and early spring we conduct site visits and planning sessions, assess the infrastructure kit’s condition and start printing thousands of branded items.

Approximately three months before the start of the Championship, our team are onsite for the course build. While back in Liverpool, the preparation of the programme, media guide and the printing of player names will continue until the qualifiers’ names are announced. Even then we have large-format-printers on-site at The Open to service last-minute print requirements.

The Open 2023 In Numbers

15,000 sqm internal fit-out of the media centre.
Event programmes are designed and printed; sold on-site or delivered to hospitality.
Pin flags designs, produced, used on the course or sold at retail.
Over 3,000 miscellaneous items including bag tags, hand-bats (inc. the fans favourite the Quiet signs) crossing post covers and finger posts.
1,560 names produced for scoreboards, caddie patches, and carry boards.
Over 100 official vehicles fitted with livery.
100-day on-site build.
30+ national flags.
20 sets of tee furniture and drinks units.
18 LED screens – one for each hole.
4 manual scoreboards.
2 iconic yellow leaderboards.
1 trophy plinth, including presenting the Claret Jug each day on the plinth at the first tee.
1 Sustainability Hub – designed and built only weeks before the Championship started

PPL are proud of our long association with The Open, during the last 42 Championships we have worked with The R&A on several innovations including in 2014 adding the LED Video Walls to each of the 18 holes; designed to withstand the most extreme of weather, they are now an essential part of the fan experience.

We are open to new branding opportunities and challenges; the new Sustainability Hub introduced in 2023 was designed and built in less than 3 weeks after The R&A gave us the concept.

At Royal Troon, we will introduce new tee furniture designed and bespoke built for The Open.

In the last couple of years, The PPL Group have dressed events including the World Gymnastics Championship 2022 for Liverpool City Council and for the R&A The Amateur Championship, The AGI Women’s Open, Walker Cup and the inaugural G4D Open in 2023. For Liverpool Football Club we’ve installed screens into the AXA Kirby Training Facility and signage/branding into the AXA Melwood Training Facility.

Updated April 2024

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