Exhibition Design for One Young World & Z Zurich Foundation
Supported by the Z Zurich Foundation, EqualReach exhibited at the One Young World Summit 2025 in Munich to showcase refugee-led professional talent to 2,200 delegates from 190+ countries. Challenges included creating scroll-stopping physical assets, shifting narratives to highlight skills like AI integration and web development, enabling real-time project inquiries, scaling a 3 m × 3 m exhibit wall, and delivering within two to three weeks.
EqualReach used its own platform to match with a refugee-led graphic design team, including a Gaza-based artist. The team produced Pokémon-inspired collectable trading cards with QR codes, nine custom character illustrations repurposed as posters, and a high-resolution 3 m × 3 m booth wall plus 1 m × 3 m panel—all aligned with branding standards through rapid iterative design cycles.
The booth became a photo destination; the Olympic Refugee Team filmed part of their documentary there. Gamified cards drove spot project inquiries, ensuring memorable brand recall. All assets delivered on schedule positioned EqualReach as a summit highlight, amplifying Z Zurich Foundation’s inclusive talent mission to 2,200+ global leaders.
Problem
Supported by the Z Zurich Foundation, EqualReach was invited to exhibit at the One Young World Summit 2025 in Munich. The objective was to showcase the skills of refugee Delivery Partner teams to over 2,200 young leaders from 190+ countries. The project faced several key challenges:
- Engagement in a High-Traffic Environment: The need to turn complex service offerings into accessible and "scroll-stopping" physical assets that stand out on a busy exhibition floor.
- Narrative Shift: Moving beyond traditional "lived experience" storytelling to focus on high-level professional skills such as AI integration, web development, and brand identity.
- Interactive Outreach: Creating a mechanism to capture project enquiries in real-time while providing a memorable takeaway for global delegates.
- Technical Scale: Designing a massive 3m x 3m high-resolution exhibit wall alongside intricate collectable merchandise under tight production timelines.
- Rapid Turnaround: Delivering everything from ideation to final production-ready assets within a 2 to 3 week window, without compromising on quality or detail.
Action Taken
What makes this project different: EqualReach used its own platform to source the team, modelling the exact behaviour we ask of our clients. We trusted our own project to a refugee-led delivery team, including an artist based in Gaza, because we believe in the quality of the talent on our platform.
Leveraging the EqualReach platform, the team mobilised a specialised creative strategy to transform the booth into a cohesive and interactive experience:
- Gamified Service Representation: Developed a Pokémon-inspired series of nine collectable trading cards, designed by an artist in Gaza. Each card featured a bespoke character persona representing a specific business skill, complete with stats, personality traits, and QR codes directing attendees to project submission pages.
- Human-Centred Illustrations: Produced nine custom character illustrations that embodied the professional excellence of refugee talent in light of their skills, not their circumstances. These designs were repurposed into modern art posters for daily summit giveaways.
- Large-Scale Exhibition Design: Architected a high-resolution 3m x 3m and 1m x 3m booth wall (front and back design) featuring a visual collage themed around global connectivity.
- Iterative Development: Managed a rapid design cycle with first drafts and mockups delivered within days. This ensured all assets aligned with both EqualReach’s branding and the Z Zurich Foundation’s exhibition standards.
Result
The collaboration resulted in an interactive and visually striking presence that successfully bridged the gap between social mission and professional service delivery:
- A Booth That Became a Destination: The exhibition design was so visually striking that delegates used it as a photo booth throughout the summit. Most notably, the Olympic Refugee Team chose to record part of their upcoming documentary in front of the booth, drawn by both the design and the mission it represented.
- Enhanced Lead Generation: The use of gamified skill cards and QR integration streamlined the process for attendees to explore and request refugee-led project services on the spot.
- Memorable Brand Recall: The character-driven strategy transformed complex offerings into playful and accessible visuals. This ensured EqualReach was one of the most talked-about exhibitors at the summit.
- Operational Success: All deliverables including the massive exhibit wall and the detailed trading cards were finalised on schedule. This provided a plug-and-play solution for the Munich event.
- Strategic Positioning: The project effectively positioned the Z Zurich Foundation as a key enabler of inclusive talent sourcing. It demonstrated how thoughtful design can amplify social impact on a global stage with 2,200+ attendees and the global media.
Watch the campaign in action: https://youtube.com/shorts/xoJlYMRjRzM?feature=share
The Social lmpact
Behind every deliverable is a data point that matters beyond the dashboard. When you source through EqualReach, the numbers tell two stories at once.
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