Intel staged its most ambitious drone light show to date to illuminate the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. Over 1,200 Intel Shooting Star drones flew in formation, setting a Guinness World Record in the process.

A fleet of 1,200 Intel Shooting Star drones took flight to illuminate the Opening Ceremony, creating mesmerizing, volumetric formations - like a dove, a snowboarder, and the iconic Olympic Rings. Post-ceremony, smaller light shows decorated a half-dozen medal ceremonies throughout the games, culminating with a grand finale flight during the Closing Ceremony featuring the 2018 mascot and the PyeongChang 2018 logo.

Each lightweight drone is equipped with LEDs capable of emitting 4 billion color combinations. Geographic landscapes are reconstructed in Autodesk to visualize the design and scale of animations against target topography. The drones are controlled by a single pilot using Intel’s proprietary flight-planning software.

Multiple tests and shoots were completed over eleven nights to complete all animations. Harsh weather conditions impacted battery life and high winds grounded flight attempts, but the Intel Drone Team persevered to deliver an innovative entertainment experience, setting a Guinness World Record in the process.

The Opening Ceremony drone light show and additional coverage garnered over 12 billion earned media impressions in under 12 hours, including credit from Mike Tirico and Katie Couric during the live broadcast, interviews with key Drone Team members on NBC and Good Morning America, and the front page of the New York Post. It helped Intel garner more than double the social mentions during the Olympics than any other sponsor, shifting the world’s perception of Intel from the maker of chips to the enabler of experiences.

Long known for being “Intel inside,” the brand has never been one to truly experience. The Intel Shooting Star drone has enabled the brand to create innovative entertainment experiences for some of the world’s biggest cultural entities. Being invited to showcase the Shooting Star technology at the Winter Olympics, in conditions that had never been attempted, flying three times the number of drones in a typical show, viewers were left in awe.

Intel’s primary target for this light show was Olympic fans and drone enthusiasts. Through a record-breaking light show, the team had aspired to create an Olympic headline heard around the world, well before the actual games began.

Beyond consumers, the story was the perfect intersection between sport, technology, and creativity. Our secondary audience was potential brand partners for the Intel drone light show service who would come across the Olympics performance and want to potentially collaborate with Intel for future activations. These could be marketing teams, agencies, brand partners, event organizers, and other technology companies who may want to purchase a drone light show for their own events or campaigns.

As a first-time Top Olympic Partner (TOP), Intel wanted to stand out amongst other tech giants like Samsung, Panasonic, and GE. But instead of just making ads, Intel brought its own technology to the games. Using its Shooting Star drones, Intel created a tangible way to experience the power of technology and innovation.

Drones are more known for commercial applications for industries such as Film, Agriculture, Construction, Energy, and Utilities. Intel’s drone light show service utilizes lightweight Shooting Star drones outfitted with LEDs to create a new entertainment experience that we provide as a service to partners. Each show is a custom undertaking: new animations, fleet counts, and piloting challenges are just a few details that our in-house team manages from beginning to end.