Drone photography helps showcase large multi-use venue

“The drone footage adds a sparkle to our marketing collateral,” said Louise Merritt, operations director at Ignite Sport UK. 

“It really highlights the full scope of the space, facilities and pitches which is invaluable for prospects.” 

Multi-purpose venue

The Velocity Stadium is the home of Oxford City FC, plus its community and youth teams. It is operated by apprenticeship training provider Ignite Sport UK. The venue has two 3G full-size football pitches, plus six multi-sport community all-weather pitches and a car park. It is also home to FitFest Oxford and education programme Velocity Football. 

The complex regularly hosts netball and football, including University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes tournaments. The sports complex is set just off the A40 and is surrounded by beautiful green landscaping. 

Collectively Oxford City FC, Ignite Sport UK and Fitfest Oxford wanted an eye-catching way to showcase the scope of the venue. The solution was drone aerial photography and video. 

“We have developed the leisure complex a lot in recent years and needed a powerful way to showcase our facilities and the fact we have so much to offer,” said Louise. ​“Achieving that via one clear image and a short video was fantastic.”

Repurposing content

The drone aerial photos and video can be used in various ways to promote the venue and its events to different audiences. 

FitFest Oxford is the city’s largest fitness and wellness festival and is held every July. The aerial photos help organisers showcase the size and the location to potential partners and clients who may want to book a stand or perform. It also helps the organisers to visualise and communicate how the space will be used for the event. 

Ignite Sport UK will use the images to help promote pitch-hire, community-based activities and educational training. While Oxford City FC will use the fly-through video to help promote tickets to its fixtures. 

“The beauty of the content Fortitude created is we can use it across each of the businesses and use it in multiple ways across the year,” said Louise. 

“Communicating what our venue has to offer is something we have to do on an on-going basis to maintain awareness. A lot of people know there is a football club at the venue. However, not everyone realises there are eight pitches available for hire, plus a suite of classrooms and a social club. 

“Utilising drone technology helps us provide an insight into the scale of our venue and attract more interest in it.”

Accessible content

Obtaining the aerial photography and video was done without impacting on our client’s business activity. 

Our Civil Aviation Authority registered drone operator Thom Airs conducted a site survey and planned our activity in advance of the practical work. The venue is located next to a dual carriageway and an A‑road. Our assessment factored in the risk associated with operating a drone near people. 

The footage was obtained during a break in use of the venue by the public, with Fortitude providing full flexibility to film at the desired time. Thom created a safe zone to operate the drone in and obtained the footage in accordance with up-to-date legislation to ensure the health and safety of everyone within 50m of the drone. 

The footage was secured in one visit and edited within 24 hours to provide our client with the content on time and on budget. 

“The content we received was fantastic and readily affordable,” said Louise. ​“I was impressed with how Fortitude handled the whole process and how quickly we received the content. 

“I’d encourage any venue to invest in aerial imagery, it is accessible and really makes a difference to your marketing.” 

For us it now means we can streamline our customer journey and ensure their experience of the Velocity Stadium starts before they have committed to a booking.” 

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