The recent Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games saw 42 Westfield destinations across Australia and New Zealand transformed into official Live Sites, offering customers the chance to experience the Games through livestreams, themed activities, and meet-and-greets with athletes. This initiative has brought communities together, celebrating athletic achievements while creating memorable experiences for visitors of all ages and abilities.
It’s been an incredibly exciting time at our Westfield destinations. Earlier this year, we proudly announced Westfield as the official partner of the Australian Olympic and Paralympic teams, the official partner of the New Zealand team, and team supporter partner of the New Zealand Paralympic Team at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
This strategic partnership has seen all 42 of our Westfield destinations across Australia and New Zealand transform into official Live Sites for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Customers were able to experience the thrill of the Games at their local Westfield, tuning into key events in Paris via dedicated livestreams and enjoy themed events, activities, and ‘Welcome Home’ meet-and-greets with some of our most celebrated athletes.
Creating spaces to connect
Celebrating the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in our destinations has been part of our strategy to create the places and experiences more people come to more often and for longer. It has been about community and creating more reasons for customers to visit and spend their time with us.
It has been a wonderfully rewarding experience for our teams, seeing our community come together and cheer on their Olympic heroes at Westfield, participate in meet-and-greets and leverage our social channels to tell athletes’ stories.
Our official Westfield Live Sites also offered extended trading hours and a free, fun and weather-proof space for customers to enjoy the celebrations.
More broadly, observing how our customers have interacted with these activations has been invaluable, whether they have chosen our Live Sites as their destination of choice to watch a key event, grabbed lunch or dinner and extended their visit, or even come across an activity in-centre and stopped to participate.
Fun for all abilities
The positive impact sport can have on social connection is well documented, and is just one way we continue to be important local hubs for our communities. Throughout the Paralympic Games, we engaged Disability Sports Australia alongside Paralympics Australia who connected us with 35 community groups, hosting all-abilities sporting activities in our destinations ranging from wheelchair rugby demonstrations to mini para-sports workshops. It was fantastic to see familiar faces and newcomers of all ages taking part in the fun; meeting athletes in our destinations and connecting with community groups advocating for inclusivity in sports.
Celebrating our athletes
It’s near impossible to pick a highlight, but hosting a series of ‘Welcome Home’ events in our destinations certainly makes the podium. Coming together in our Westfield destinations to celebrate our athletes’ achievements has been a brilliant way to round out activity and offer customers a chance to meet the Olympians they’ve been cheering for.
The events invited customers to join Olympians in Westfield destinations for a Q&A and meet-and-greet, offering plenty of opportunities to have posters, t-shirts and sports equipment signed.
Australia’s first ever women’s medallist in BMX Freestyle, Natalya Diehm, was the first Olympian to make an appearance with her bronze medal at Westfield Mt Gravatt in Brisbane, with a special demonstration from Queensland Academy of Sport youth BMX team, ‘The Daredevils’.
Westfield Newmarket hosted one of New Zealand’s only public celebrations for Olympians, with Finn Butcher, Michaela Blyde, Lucy Spoors, Brooke Francis, Emma Twigg, Isaac McHardie, William McKenzie and David Liti, welcomed to the stage with a roar of applause from proud Kiwis.
At Westfield Coomera on the Gold Coast, Australia’s youngest Olympic gold medallist at just 14 years of age, skateboarder Arisa Trew thrilled customers and aspiring skateboarders, even allowing fans to try on her historic gold medal for themselves.
Wrapping up the ‘Welcome Home’ series, swimmer and silver and bronze medallist, Kyle Chalmers paid a special visit to his local centre, Adelaide’s Westfield Marion. A stone’s throw from the pool where he began his swimming journey and now returns to train, the local pride was felt by everyone who joined in the celebrations.
We’re just warming up
Our customers tell us what they want to see in our destinations, and we knew that celebrating the Olympic and Paralympic Games with them was going to be a priority in 2024. Continuing to ensure that our offering reflects the interests and needs of our customers and encourages them to spend more time with us is at the heart of what we do and is what made this partnership so successful. Excitingly, our long-term partnership with the Australian Olympic Committee and Paralympics Australia marks the start of more to come, including the 2026 Milan Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Not long to go!
This article by Jacqui Waine, General Manager, Marketing & Community, Scentre Group is featured in the latest edition of SCN magazine.
Add comment