Frontier Developments partners with Circle Agency and Chester Zoo for Zoological Summit
Circle Agency created a two-day brand experience to build buzz ahead of Planet Zoo 2’s official launch. The event was designed for influencers and Planet Zoo’s highly engaged in-person and virtual fans.
Frontier Developments, the British video game developer and publisher behind much-loved creative management simulation games including Planet Coaster and Jurassic World Evolution, teamed-up with Chester Zoo and Circle Agency to create a two-day immersive event to offer fans the chance to get hands-on with Planet Zoo 2 for the first time.
Taking place at Chester Zoo across 11 and 12 September, Planet Zoo 2’s Zoological Summit invited over 50 influencers and hundreds of fans who donated to Chester Zoo in order to enjoy a pre-release sneak peek of Planet Zoo 2, exclusive showcases and world-first gameplay ahead of its official release on 13 October 2026. Ten lucky creators also got to stay at Chester Zoo’s overnight lodges for an exclusive twilight zoo tour.
Alongside gameplay, attendees were immersed in the world of Planet Zoo 2 and its connections to real zoos via the ‘Zoological Summit’: a learning experience delivered by both zoo experts and Planet Zoo developers, which tied back to the game’s new animals, habitat builds and conservation themes. The event also featured a gallery displaying artwork from various stages of the new game’s development and daytime zoo tours. For Frontier’s global fanbase, the summit was livestreamed from Chester Zoo on YouTube alongside live gameplay and competition opportunities.
To bring the game to life in the real world, Circle Agency transformed Chester Zoo’s existing kiosks into Planet Zoo 2 themed food and drink stations, including Perky Panda Coffee, Pipshot Juices and Toucan Eat Pizza. Additionally, photo opportunities and education stations from inside the game were built to scale for guests to grab a selfie. Plus, exclusive Planet Zoo 2 merchandise was available to purchase through the ‘Trunk of Trinkets' shop. As a charity partner, Chester Zoo received a proportion of the funds raised over the two-day event, which goes toward supporting their inspiring work in rebuilding the Javan Green Magpie population.
Circle Agency was awarded the business after a competitive pitch process, which included globally recognisable agencies across film and entertainment.
Dan Lazarides, Chief Marketing Officer at Frontier Developments, said: “The Planet Zoo 2 Zoological Summit blended the opportunity for world-first gameplay with a moment to bring together zoos, charities and conservation groups to deepen our players’ understanding of the key themes from the game. Planet Zoo 2 has an incredible community behind it, who are all passionate and knowledgeable, who love sharing tips and advice, and highlighting where Planet Zoo and the real world intersect. This event allowed us to elevate and celebrate that community, while creating the perfect moment as we head into launch.”
Claire Grecian, Founder and CEO of Circle Agency, said: “This campaign was complex because it had to appeal to influencers, in-person consumers, and streamers in ways that were appropriate for each audience while delivering the same experience. Fortunately, our gaming event and technical broadcast experience meant that we had the basics covered and could concentrate on creating the perfect immersive and educational experience for every audience group. The game is incredible. Bringing its world to life has been an absolute joy.”
The Strata Group acquires 100 percent stake in We Are Collider
The Strata Group, the leading independent integrated brand experience agency group, has acquired a 100% stake in brand experience agency, We Are Collider; a leading specialist in experience-led marketing for esports, gaming and consumer engagement.
“Bringing We Are Collider into The Strata Group is a significant step in building an experiential network for brands and people on a mission,” explains The Strata Group’s CEO, Simon Hambley. “Delivering more than 70% of their work internationally, they will strengthen our global delivery capability while complementing the work our teams are already delivering around the world.
“Their expertise in AI, innovation and behavioural science through Arq and MARVELs, combined with The Strata Group’s existing tools, accelerates our move into a more intelligent, tech-enabled era of experience. Together, we are creating a fully integrated offering that enables clients to move faster in a rapidly changing world.”
We Are Collider’s Founder and CEO, Anton Jerges, adds: “For me, it was the culture fit first. I’ve known Simon and the team for a while and knew that we have shared values; something that’s always important to me and the team. I also know that The Strata Group shares our drive to deliver outstanding work to brilliant clients. I'm excited to turbocharge this by working with Wonderland, Strata and the rest of the companies in the group. The entire management team and I are super excited about this next step in our evolution.”
The news follows The Strata Group’s January 2026 acquisition of Wonderland – the creative global event agency currently delivering Cannes Lions events for high-profile tech and entertainment brands – and marks the next step in The Strata Group’s mission to unite all live communications and experiential skills under one network.
With other businesses in the group including strategic global experience agency Strata; venue sourcing agency, Trinity; event production company ON; and incentive, rewards and promotions specialists Element and Sherbet; The Strata Group’s aim is to provide clients with a seamless end-to-end audience engagement service that is both faster and more cost efficient.
We Are Collider will operate as a standalone agency from its existing office in Borough and will continue to service its clients including Amazon Games, John Lewis and Red Bull. Anton Jerges will remain CEO but will also work closely with Strata Group President, Michael Wyrley-Birch, on developing group-wide growth and collaboration.
Subway® and Circle Agency bring the inaugural "Subtopia Games" to Bournemouth 7s festival
Subway® has partnered with Bournemouth 7s, the three-day festival often described as the ‘sporting Glastonbury’, as part of its Fresh Moves programme to promote physical activity and support up-and-coming sports.
To amplify the partnership, Subway® tasked Circle Agency, its brand experience agency of record, with a brief to design and deliver fun sport competitions that get delicious subs into the hands of sports fans while increasing brand love and acquisitions for the Subway Rewards® app.
Taking place in Christchurch between Friday 22 and Sunday 24 May, Circle Agency designed all activations to dovetail with the festival’s reputation for being fun, young and sporty. Hence the 2026 Sports Village will see the introduction of the ‘Subtopia Games’. This competition comprises the Subway Sauce Squeeze, a grip strength competition; the Sub-spending challenge, a long-hanging endurance game; and the Footlong Leap, a vertical jump test. Participants’ results across all three challenges will be recorded on an online leaderboard, with the overall Subtopia King and Queen being revealed on Sunday afternoon.
As Subway has exclusive sponsorship of one of the event’s highlights, Saturday’s Dodge Ball game which sees teams compete while wearing fancy dress linked to this year’s theme of ‘Far Far Away’, Circle Agency also designed an olde worlde tug of war competition. In keeping with the 2026 theme, all art direction includes fairytale touches like castles, shields, fire torches, scrolls and phoenixes.
Subway will additionally have a presence backstage with artist product placement in the form of Subway platters and cookies boxes, plus VIP camper goodie bags containing branded eye-masks and earplugs to ensure festivalgoers get a great night’s sleep and stay on their A-game.
This year's activation reflects a longer-term, data-driven shift in Subway and Circle Agency's approach. Years of partnership data show that events where audiences are in the right mindset, relaxed, engaged and spending real time with the brand, consistently deliver strong results, including NPS gains. That insight has shaped a more event-led strategy this year, with Bournemouth 7s offering an ideal fit: an audience whose passion points around sport, friendly competition and music create exactly the kind of environment where great brand experiences thrive.
Subway’s Campaign Marketing Manager, Indy Flora, said,: “This year, we want to have a bigger presence at festivals. As soon as Circle suggested Bournemouth 7s, we knew it would be a perfect fit with our Fresh Moves initiative. Their fun games, like the Subway Sauce Squeeze, absolutely nail our brief of providing engaging experiences that increase acquisitions.”
Circle Agency’s Account Lead, Ella Bell, added, “Bournemouth 7s attracts an audience who opt into having fun, trying new things and being part of something bigger, and the Subtopia Games were built to match that energy. Every element was crafted with purpose: competitive, playful and shareable in equal measure, designed to enable festival-goers to connect with Subway and maximise every moment of engagement."
Red Bull creates its biggest ever Wololo esports tournament with a themed London takeover
Experience agency We Are Collider staged Red Bull’s global Wololo esports tournament across four iconic London venues with a narrative theme that echoed a Roman journey to Londinium
The annual Red Bull Wololo esports tournament has just made its London debut with help from brand experience agency We Are Collider. The 2026 Wololo edition – a pinnacle of the diehard gamer’s year – was the biggest yet, and included a bespoke musical rearrangement of the Age of Empires soundtrack, as played at The Royal Albert Hall by a 63-piece orchestra that included a 9,999 pipe organ.
Red Bull Wololo is the leading esports tournament for Age of Empires, Microsoft’s legendary series of historical real-time strategy (RTS) video games. To create a never-before-experienced feel and seal the tournament’s reputation as a major gaming event, We Are Collider devised the unusual strategy of deploying a narrative theme for this year’s event: every part of the tournament was reimagined as a nautical voyage in the style of a Roman journey to Londinium.
The competition opened on 1 April with filming of qualifying rounds at Shoreditch’s White Rabbit Studio. The next stage of quarter and semi-finals comprised a live audience event at Leicester Square’s Luxe Cinema (home of the British film premiere) with Red Bull’s Soho offices doubling as player lounges. The all-important final entertained a sell-out audience of thousands at the iconic Royal Albert Hall.
The opening qualifiers featured a 360° immersive set that simulated the interior of the game’s ancient ship hull. The ship’s bridge provided the backdrop to the quarter and semi-finals. And the Royal Albert Hall was transformed into a cinematic Londinium set for the final that featured the exclusive orchestral rearrangement.
The tournament saw famous players such as Hera (the reigning champion), Liereyy, and ACCM gather from across the globe. In keeping with the theme, each player dressed in a period costume. The near-week-long event was presented to a global livestream audience by gaming personalities including MembTV, Nili, and Soe. The entire tournament was filmed across all venues, with over 60-hours of content being livestreamed in multiple languages.
As the official event organiser, We Are Collider was responsible for developing creative concepts, brand identity, player and crew management, production across all venues, broadcast facilitation, and all set design. The agency has previously collaborated with Red Bull on the brand’s League of Its Own event in Munich, Home Kumite in New York, and Wololo Heidelberg.
We Are Collider’s CEO and Founder, Anton Jerges, said: “It’s not easy to deliver on a ‘make it even bigger and better’ brief when the previous events have already pushed the envelope. But we love a challenge and relished the opportunity to turn this year’s Wololo into a hybrid cultural moment that saw gaming enter establishment institutions like the Royal Albert Hall. There’s something very magical about mixing different worlds while retaining gaming authenticity.”
Costa Coffee launches matcha range with nationwide "Catch-a-Matcha" brand tour
Costa Coffee is, with help from its rostered experience agency The Circle Agency, bringing matcha to the nation through a UK-wide experience campaign. Centred around a giant cup of iced matcha that doubles as a vending machine and branded plushie bag charms, the tour runs until 29 March 2026.
The experience tours market squares across 10 locations, including Caerphilly, Bury St Edmunds, Carlisle, Market Harborough and Perth. Each location was selected to target consumers who likely work in metropolitan areas where matcha is readily available but struggle to find their new favourite drink at weekends.
The awareness-driven experience is open to members of the brand’s app-based loyalty programme, Costa Club; both existing members and on-the-spot sign-ups. It encourages people to play an interactive game in return for prizes: a newly launched Costa matcha plushie called Matchilda or a crocheted takeaway cosy. Plus, a £50 voucher for one lucky winner in each location and matcha samples for people passing by.
By capitalising on the recent success of Costa plushies, which became a viral sensation over Christmas, each location’s activation is being teased through a social, PR and CRM campaign that features the brand new matcha-green plushie. Five-thousand especially-commissioned plushies have been created for the campaign.
As Circle Agency is Costa Coffee’s rostered experience agency, Catch-a-Matcha is the first of several seasonal brand experience collaborations that will take place throughout 2026.
Costa Coffee’s Senior Marketing Manager, Brand & Equity, Charlotte Comber, said: “Thanks to having the largest coffee shop estate in the country, we can ensure that matcha is no longer solely for the privileged few. By creating an incredibly engaging activation that leans heavily into the wild success of our plushies range, Circle is playing a huge role in our mission to bring matcha to the masses.”
Circle Agency’s account director, Craig MacFarlane, added: “Not only is this a big piece of visual theatre, it also entails an incredibly specific location strategy. We were tasked with bringing to life the fact that Costa Coffee has the unique ability to make matcha accessible to everyone, everywhere. So we ended-up targeting smaller cities and towns, the type of places that aren’t used to receiving big brand activations. We can’t wait to see how they respond.”
Subway Women’s League Cup turns to Circle for an even bigger and better Cup Final fan zone
Subway has tasked its dedicated experience agency – Circle – with evolving its fan zone experience for the Subway Women’s League Cup Final, with this year’s activation featuring a Sub competition and an all-female foosball tournament.
Subway – the title sponsor of the Women’s League Cup football tournament – is marking the Cup Final on Sunday 15 March with a fan experience that echoes the competitive spirit of the pitch… in sandwich form.
As Subway’s dedicated experience agency, Circle, which also delivered the brand’s 2025 partnership amplification, devised this year’s activation to last longer, have more engagement mechanisms and distribute even more sampling.
Taking place at Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol, the 40m x 6m fan zone will be transformed into a Subway-branded haven of activity featuring all-female foosball tables, photo opportunities, face painting and kick-to-win games, with prizes comprising branded socks, key rings, sports bags and signed footballs. The zone also features a competition that pits two Subway recipes against each other, each one created by the Women’s League Cup Final teams themselves.
The Red Sub features rotisserie chicken with pepperoni, lettuce, cucumber, tomato and chipotle sauce. The Blue Sub includes meatballs, pepperoni, peppers, jalapenos, garlic and herbs. Fans can vote for their favourite sandwich through a digital interface that connects to a real-time leaderboard. They will also be encouraged to photograph their preferred Sub build so it can be ordered during their next visit to a Subway restaurant.
As always, sustainability was a key consideration, with most assets being repurposed from previous activations and new assets being recyclable or reusable where possible. In place of vinyl floor graphics, a local graffiti artist will mark out game areas and floor branding in eco-friendly chalk paint. In addition, all unused food will be donated to local food banks.
Subway’s partnership with the Women’s League is part of its ‘Fresh Moves’ campaign, a long-term commitment to promote physical activity and support up-and-coming sports. As part of this initiative, Circle is also working on several Subway experiences that amplify the brand’s other sports partnerships. In February, students in Sheffield received a three-day activation featuring competitions like the Footlong Leap. In late March, Loughborough University will play host to a sampling campaign that includes games and free merchandise. In April, Subway will be supporting the opening of a skatepark in Derby with another activation devised by Circle.
Subway’s Senior Marketing Manager (Media, Sporting Partnerships and Loyalty), Matt Flint, said: “After seeing how popular our fan zone was at last year’s final, we wanted to activate both in and outside the stadium, while also opening up for a longer period before kick-off. Circle has helped us capitalise on this opportunity for deeper engagement with a fan zone experience that will drive fans into restaurants after the event.”
Circle’s Subway Account Lead, Ella Bell, added: “This year’s activation needed to authentically connect with football culture while driving fan engagement and new acquisitions for Subway Rewards®. We delivered this through football-themed engagement mechanics and a team-inspired sampling menu from the finalists, designed to spark competition and ultimately encourage fans to visit Subway restaurants after the event.”
Waitrose Food and Drink Festival returns, bigger and better
The Waitrose Winter Food and Drink Festival is returning between 22 and 24 November 2024, taking place at London’s Tobacco Dock. Boasting more food and drink suppliers than ever before, star attractions include sessions with Michelin-starred chef Angela Hartnett and broadcaster Nick Grimshaw, plus expert chefs including Richard Corrigan, Paul Ainsworth and Ruby Bhogal. For the third consecutive year, Waitrose has teamed up with experience agency We Are Collider to deliver the festival.
The 2024 festival is a sell-out event with over 250 exhibitors, with sessions and attractions for 2024 tripling. With such growth, the festival has expanded from solely the ground floor of Tobacco Dock to both the ground floor and now also the vaults. The theme has also expanded beyond Christmas to encompass non-festive Waitrose sub brands including their No.1 range and Leckford Estate products.
In line with the event’s increasing popularity - tickets sold out six-weeks ahead of its opening - We Are Collider has introduced and built a new festival app to help enhance the consumer journey. The agency was additionally responsible for securing the venue, all creative development and spatial planning as well as production and coordination of around 250 supplier exhibitors, each with their own branded stands.
In this year’s iteration of the festival, what was last year’s ‘Waitrose Christmas Room’ has broadened out into the all new ‘Waitrose Experience Room’ to showcase a selection of Waitrose sub-brands, not only festive lines. The new room features an activation that will bring-to-life the Waitrose Christmas advert; a ‘From Our Kitchen Stage’ with drop-in sessions from experts including the brand’s innovation chefs and product developers; a horticultural area running pre-bookable wreath making workshops; a gift shop selling sampled Waitrose products; and a Waitrose No.1 bar where customers can sample canapes made with products from the No.1 range.
The ‘Waitrose Experience Room’ additionally showcases the brand’s CSR initiatives, for example: an area promoting products from Waitrose’s own farm, Leckford, including its new loaf made using regenerative farming techniques; a floral Instagram wall promoting the Floral Foundation – Waitrose’s charity supporting Kenyan flower-growing communities; and a chocolate stand promoting the brand’s partnership with Tony’s Chocolonely and Open Chain Sourcing.
Additional activities beyond the Experience Room include table-scaping, William Morris screen printing and tree decorating in the John Lewis Room, a dedicated cheese room, an entire Masterclass Village with different rooms offering masterclasses such as the Waitrose Cookery School and a food court offering hot meals using Waitrose stocked products.
Hannah Barker, Waitrose’s Events & Experiences Senior Manager, said: “This festival just keeps growing which is brilliant to see. This year sees a stronger spotlight on Waitrose own brand products in the Waitrose Experience Room across festive lines, our No. 1 and Leckford as well as CSR initiatives like the Floral Foundation and an Open Chain Sourcing partnership. Plus, we are bringing customers closer to our innovation chefs and product developers on the ‘From Our Kitchen’ stage. On top of this, we have a whopping 250 suppliers sampling, as well as returning favourites like the Cheese Room and the Meet The Experts stage.”
Tracy Sorgiovanni, We Are Collider’s Managing Director, added: “Word has got out to customers and suppliers alike that the Waitrose Winter Food & Drink Festival has become the place to go. This year we had unprecedented interest from suppliers wanting to showcase their products; and it was the hottest ticket in town, selling out six-weeks before the event. Expanding into a second floor means we can create a real destination space for Waitrose.”