Brick Statue of Aston Villa’s Iconic Lion Projection-Mapped At Football Club’s Reimagined Stadium Store

August 16, 2024 by Dave Haynes

Aston Villa is one of the bigger clubs in English football – with a history in Birmingham tracing back roughly 150 years, and a huge fan base that includes Prince William and American actor Tom Hanks.

The club has had its ups and downs in top-flight footy, but the last couple of years have been great, and Villa is in the Champions League this fall. If that means nothing to you, the short description is European teams that finish at or very near the top of their domestic leagues then play in a super league against teams from other countries. There’s a lot of prestige in that, but also a lot of extra money from broadcast revenue shares, extra games, merchandise and on and on.

Extra money may have had a role in Villa including digital in its plan to “reimagine” its main fan store at the club’s Birmingham stadium, Villa Park. The first phase of a “new and improved” store opened today, and I mention all this because there are video walls but also a feature I have not seen before – projection mapping of animations on a brick statue in the center of the shop.

Among the new features is a stunning statue to help celebrate Aston Villa’s 150th anniversary. The club have had a lion crafted from brick and engraved with the names of every player to captain the club, with the statue set to be permanently on display in the new Villa Store.

This video has glimpses of how the mapping is done, and lots of looks at shirts …