Stuart WoodTo draw attention to the lack of openness regarding homosexuality in the Premier League, Paddy Power chose Brighton Pride for their activation involving an open top bus in the parade, and ‘Paddy’s Angels’ in Preston Park.
PR agency Officer and Gentleman approached Confetti Magic to provide t-shirt cannons and two big confetti moments – one as the bus passed by Paddy Power’s Brighton shop, and another when it arrived in Preston Park.
At the shop, remote control cannons fired shots of confetti from the balcony as the bus unleashed a torrent of rainbow confetti from the top deck.
Ian Woodroof, Managing Director of Confetti Magic, explained: “to highlight that none of the 500 players in the Premier League openly identify as gay or bisexual, the bus will appear to be empty.”
This posed the problem of who would operate the cannon, as not one could be seen. With the help of Commbus, the bus’s operator, a stadium confetti blaster was lifted into position with a fork lift truck.
“We could then operate the auto-feed cannon remotely from the lower deck’, Ian added, ‘And as the bus arrived at the end of the parade, a second, bigger blast was released to make sure everyone knew we’d arrived.”
Throughout the day, four green-winged male models, armed with Confetti Magic’s t-shirt cannons, launched 5000 pairs of rainbow pants around the festival site.