The Organising Committee for the Commonwealth Games has appointed London-based strategic communications company Unspun as creative lead for the Flag handover ceremony.

Glasgow 2014 appointed the agency following a procurement exercise to handle the delivery of the Handover Ceremony, which will be led by the company’s co-founder Sara Donaldson alongside independent executive producer Catherine Ugwu and Mark Fisher an independent Production Designer who will collaborate to develop and deliver the Ceremony at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The appointment process saw 24 agencies complete a Pre Qualification Questionnaire, before the 10 highest marked suppliers were selected to tender for the contract.  Those successful agencies were invited to a Clarification Day on the 4 August which gave them the opportunity to ask questions on the procurement process, budgets, the values of Glasgow 2014, and the operational conditions to be experienced by putting on a ceremony within Delhi.

On 28 August written submissions were uploaded on Glasgow City Council’s eTendering portal and all 10 agencies were then invited to present their creative concepts in front of a panel of experts on the 4 September.  
Following this process, Unspun was appointed.

Bridget McConnell, chief executive of Culture and Sport Glasgow, explained: “The Flag Handover Ceremony is a significant milestone in the Organising Committee’s preparations. This incredible team has the proven passion and talent to develop a magnificent event that will showcase the best of Glasgow and Scotland, providing a flavour of what people can expect in the run up to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.”

Fisher added: “Our goal is to create a spectacular handover ceremony which will make all Scotland proud. The Handover Ceremony will capture both the spirit of Scotland and Glasgow’s unique personality. Sara, Catherine & I are extremely excited by this wonderful opportunity.”

The Flag Handover Ceremony is held as part of the closing ceremony at each games which will staged next year in Delhi before coming to Glasgow in 2014.

Unspun’s creative team will work with the OC and Culture and Sport Glasgow to create the overall creative concept for the Handover Ceremony, as well as artistic direction for the delivery of the event.