Behind the tech: webdna’s Craft CMS work at MWC Barcelona
Mobile World Congress (MWC) is the world's largest connectivity event. Held annually in Barcelona, Spain, since 2006, this year’s event brought together key members of the industry including device manufacturers, the press and equipment providers to name a few. Attendees can expect insights into cutting-edge developments, product previews and launches along with live demonstrations.
webdna partner Sport Science Agency (SSA) was invited to be part of Vodafone’s 2025 exhibition stand, and we were proud to support them with Craft CMS development and design which allowed them to deliver a unique interactive event experience.
As part of the exhibition, the team demonstrated Vodafone PLAYER.Connect, an athlete monitoring system that has been developed with Vodafone to support athletes of all levels. For MWC, the tool was adapted to provide an experience that pitched participants against elite rugby players. Essentially, this was a strength comparison experience which used advanced sport science equipment to allow participants to test their performance against professional athletes.
The team used the opportunity to showcase data-driven athlete monitoring and the impact it has on performance. SSA developed a competitive, interactive experience that measured lower-body power, power-to-weight ratio, grip strength and participant well-being. This was achieved using a jump test, grip test and wellness analysis with participants ranking on a leaderboard.
We developed the system behind the experience and ensured that it collected and processed data such as privacy policy information. As well as the development requirements, SSA needed a suite of digital assets to support their exhibition. Our design team created real-time digital displays and videos to be shown on three displays surrounding the experience area. This included a live results leaderboard, a looped promotional film and an individual results dashboard. Each of these was fully optimised for the devices they’d be displayed on and enabled SSA to turn up, plug-in and be ready to go. As those involved in trade shows will know, this is a virtually unheard of phenomenon when it comes to events and tech!
The dashboard itself was a particularly interesting piece of work. It created and sent a digital memento for every participant. This gave them their results and it was also something that they could share with their own networks, enabling Vodafone to benefit from powerful, branded user-generated content. All of the 415 participants received this, which included Vodafone global staff, key guests and stakeholders, an Olympian, elite-level track athletes, volleyball players, and football players.
The exhibit is a great example of how we can use Craft CMS to create something innovative and visually striking that remains representative of our client’s brand. Exhibitions remain a lucrative marketing channel for a number of our clients, and we often support them with successful promotional campaigns, graphic design and pre-event content marketing. But this project is the perfect example of how businesses can do things a little differently and create an interactive, competitive and engaging atmosphere on the exhibition floor. Something that delegates are certain to remember for a long time to come.
At SSA, we don’t just tell performance stories; we create experiences that make them real. Working with the webdna team we were able to design and create an experience that immersed delegates in the work that we do, experiencing the impact first-hand. That’s incredibly powerful from a brand's perspective.
If you’d like to talk to a Craft CMS development expert about how we can help you achieve your goals, or how great design can make your brand stand out at events, get in touch for a chat.