Everton’s marketing team have worked closely with global sports and entertainment design and build specialist Populous to develop a distinctive visual narrative for the club’s new home, the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
The club says that the project will help “ensure the brick and steel of the stadium feels like a home for all Evertonians.”
It’s always a challenge to make sure fans feel at home when a football club relocates, so to do this, the club engaged Populous’ EMEA brand activation team to undertake an intensive heritage study of the club itself and the local area, as well as player stories and feedback following surveys with Everton fans, to create a unified visual language and identity. This design strategy reinforces a conceptual narrative of ‘The New Authentic,’ with bespoke branding prominent throughout exterior, interior and transitional spaces across the stadium, including player, GA fan and premium areas.
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“We are extremely proud to have worked with Everton Football Club on this exciting project around the Hill Dickinson Stadium,” said Simon Borg, Populous EMEA brand activation lead.
“Each stand has been given a distinct personality, rooted in location and history, while the players’ journey from arrival to pitch is designed as an emotional arc, going from energised empowerment to calm focus. The graphics and activation unify different elements across Everton’s heritage and the stadium itself. The result creates both an enhanced fan experience and sense of identity with their club, as well as operational flexibility for year-round activation across the ground.”
Steph Hughes, Everton’s director of marketing, added: “From the very beginning, our ambition has been to ensure Hill Dickinson Stadium feels unmistakably Everton. Working with Populous, we’ve been able to capture the spirit of our history, our fans, and our city in a way that is both authentic and modern. Every space – from the concourses to the players’ tunnel – has been designed to tell our story, creating a home that supporters will instantly recognise as their own.”
Specific elements include referecnes to fan stories, quotes, songs, moments and memories to maximise fan engagement, references to iconic moments in the club’s history, and dynamic branding using lighting systems and LEDs to enable flexible mood-setting depending on matchday or non-matchday event.
Reflecting elements of Everton’s history, the dock heritage of the city and the stadium’s unique riverside location, each stand has been given a unique personality and the result sees fan stories, chants and journeys “woven in with the club’s DNA” across the stadium: The North stand focuses on ship preparation and curation of sails, rope, shipping containers; East adds “layer of urban diversity reflective of the city”; South focuses on fan quotes, layered in heritage, while West celebrates “the pulse of the Mersey” and Everton’s return to its banks.
A further element is the branding and creation of a visual narrative throughout the player areas, with their journey from arrival to pitch designed as an emotional arc, going from calm focus to energised empowerment.
Although each stand has its own personality, there is brand consistency through colour and typography, as well as the use of textured materials (brick, steel, concrete) tied interiors to the site’s maritime heritage and individual stand personalities, while the lighting and surface flexibility ensures branding is adaptable for 365-day operations.
The Populous brand activation team also helped the club create an identity and a clear narrative for ‘The Arch’, a private, invitation only space within Everton’s portfolio of ‘Bars, Restaurants and Experiences.’
Making the space more relatable for the wide variety of guests that will pass through the lounge across the season allowed the Populous brand activation team and the club’s marketing team to “explore a clear visual identity in a different way that respected the Club’s heritage and former home.”
The result, The Arch, was inspired by the iconic criss-cross steel hallmark that features across Bullens Road, Gwladys Street and the former Main Stands at Goodison Park, all by celebrated stadium engineer and designer, Archibald Leitch.