The Ambient Group has completed its transformation of The Britomart Country Club into the Matua Britomart Cricket Club (MBCC), and has finalised the Legends of Cricket Series function hosting three cricketing greats: English cricket royalty Sir Ian Botham, NZ cricket royalty Sir Richard Hadlee, and Australian fast bowling tearaway Jeff (Thommo) Thompson.
“We’ve been working closely with Matua, the official wine sponsor of the 2015 ICC World Cup in New Zealand, and the Britomart Hospitality Group to pull this idea together,” said Ambient Group director Chris Monaghan.
The team at Ambient Group are huge cricket fans and approached the Britomart Hospitality Group with the idea. The plan was to turn the Britomart Country Club into ‘a day on the cricket village green’ for the duration of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.
“There were a lot of moving parts, but we knew we had to start by getting the venue right,” Monaghan said.
Daniel Williams, the 2009 Weta Workshop Set Designer of the Year, handled the makeover. A 1950s-style cricket scoreboard was installed on the corner of Galway and Gore streets. Hung from the roof are a stylised array of over a hundred cricket bats.
The walls are draped with Matua-inspired artist tapestries in the winery’s signature teal colour. ountry and village green bunting frames the viewing area, which is furnished with Matua branded beanbags and deckchairs.
“We also knew we needed a high quality way to view the games, so we approached our client and the longest standing sponsor of the ICC – LG Electronics,” said Monaghan.
LG contributed a series of 65 inch curved and flat screen TVs to watch the games on. The total pack in time for rigging the TVs, cricket theming and sponsor pieces took less than 24 hours
However, watching the games in a great bar with wines from one of New Zealand’s most awarded wineries was only part of the plan.
Noting that cricket legends were descending on Auckland, Ambient utilised its experiential capabilities and manage an event for itself. It secured an A-list of talent, emceed by comedian, cricket fanatic, and star of 7 Days, Ben Hurley. And on Monday 23 March, a day before the Eden Park semi-final, Ambient will host this exclusive event, along with Botham, Hadlee and Thompson.
“The concept evolved quickly once we discovered the passion sponsors have for the games, and that the ICC was happy to name us (MBCC) as an affiliated location,” said Monaghan. “After we leveraged ICC, sponsor resources, and our current client base we started selling tickets, and I’m happy to say that tickets are selling fast.
“It’s also worth noting that we’re handling all the PR and Experiential for LG as well. From making sure the kids are in uniform to walk out players before the matches, to managing the facebook competitions – it’s all us.”
TIMELINE
Tickets: Available now at Ticketmaster
Event venue: Matua Britomart Cricket Club, Galway St, Auckland CBD (Britomart Country Club)
Social hashtag: #MatuaBCC
Cricket Legends: Monday 23 March, noon to 2.30pm with Sir Ian Botham, Sir Richard Hadlee, and Jeff Thompson
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