Simon Borg: bringing brands to life in some of the world's greatest stadiums

In this episode, I talk with Simon Borg, Creative Director of Populous Activate. We discuss many of the projects Simon has worked on: from wayfinding in a zoo at the beginning of his career, to large projects such as the London O2 and the Tottenham Hotspur’s Stadium. Simon provides fascinating insights into what he's learnt, and what he thinks will be the key challenges in the future. 
Key topics covered in this episode:
Why architecture and wayfinding need to work together
How sponsorship can influence the experience of a building
Why should you make brand part of a building?
How to give sports fans a sense of home
The Populous approach - marrying brand and architecture

Simon Borg
Simon is the Creative Director of Populous Activate, the brand activation arm of Populous. His is a job many designers who are sports fans will envy, bringing brands (and teams) to life in some of the world's greatest stadiums. 
As a designer, Simon is passionate about exploring the relationship between environmental graphics and branding, and its influence on the customer experience within the built environment. He has worked for several multidisciplinary creative agencies in both Melbourne and London, where he has developed wayfinding signage programmes for cultural and entertainment venues in Australia through to branded environments and rights activation programmes for stadia and arenas in Europe and the Middle East before joining Populous as creative director of Populous Activate.

Simon was the lead designer of brand activation of The O2 arena in London and has since delivered a number of other major projects, including the London 2012 Olympic Games multi-venue wayfinding, and the Cadbury’s London 2012 Olympics brand activation. Simon also led the development of fan engagement programs for the Premier League and the naming rights activation programme for Olympique Lyonnais in France.