The MLS All-Star build in the Loews Minneapolis lobby, the crest at center and the display mirrored in the floor

MLS All-Star 2022 · Minneapolis

MLS All-Star, Minneapolis: Two Hotel Activations, Finished and Empty

Two MLS All-Star retail activations in downtown Minneapolis, photographed finished and empty for the people who designed and built them.

ClientBrand Activation Services
Event2022 MLS All-Star activations
DateAugust 8, 2022
LocationLoews Minneapolis Hotel · W Minneapolis
ScopeFinished activation photography
Brands photographedTarget · Audi · adidas · ESPN · Univision · Liga MX · Minnesota United FC · New Era · Fanatics

The build

The build is the subject

I think of an activation like this as temporary art. Talented people design it, skilled crews fabricate and install it for one specific place and one specific week, and then it comes down. What they want back is clean, beautiful photography of the thing they made.

That was the job here. No crowd, no talent, no event to work around. Let the finished work stand on its own.

The 2022 MLS All-Star assortment tower with the Target presenting mark at the W Minneapolis The 2022 MLS All-Star assortment display beside the graffiti W sculpture in the W Minneapolis lobby

W Minneapolis

Same fixtures, two completely different rooms

The same blue-neon lightbox system went into both hotels. At the W it lands in an Art Deco room, against pink marble, terrazzo and leather wing chairs, and it reads as nightlife.

So I photographed it that way, letting the room stay in the frame instead of isolating the installation from the place it was built for. The MLS versus Liga MX panel set into the marble doorway is the whole argument in one picture.

A Minnesota outline cap on a plinth above the ALL-STAR MINNESOTA 2022 lightbox at the W Minneapolis An MLS versus Liga MX All-Star Minnesota 2022 tee on a mannequin inside a lit case at the W Minneapolis The ALL-STAR GAME PRESENTED BY Target sign at a raking angle at the W Minneapolis, warm pendants behind The LAND OF ALL-STARS poster wall above a sofa between two gold sconces at the W Minneapolis An MLS versus Liga MX panel set into the marble doorway at the W Minneapolis, leather wing chairs either side

Loews Minneapolis Hotel

The same system, in daylight

At the Loews the identical fixtures sit in a bright, wood-floored lobby with the street coming through the glass, and the neon becomes the brightest thing in a daylit room. It stops reading as nightlife and starts reading as retail.

That is the frame at the top of this page: the crest at center, the player card wall above it, the whole display mirrored across the floor. It shows the build in a room rather than a detail of the build, which is why I chose it.

The last two frames are outside: the Audi e-tron in MLS livery at the kerb under the hotel canopy, then the hotel’s own sign with the wrapped columns behind it. That is where the activation meets downtown Minneapolis, and both are still photographs of the build, with the city around it.

The MLS All-Star build through the bronze lobby doorway at the Loews Minneapolis, mirrored in the wood floor A cap mannequin beside the lit MLS crest in the Loews Minneapolis lobby, the street through the glass The ALL-STAR MINNESOTA 2022 lightbox above the star-cut plinth skirt at the Loews Minneapolis Hotel MINNESOTA All-Star Game 2022 script across the shoulder of a blue jersey at the Loews Minneapolis Hotel The whole MLS All-Star activation in the Loews Minneapolis lobby, fringe chandeliers above, mirrored in the floor The Audi e-tron in MLS livery parked beneath the Loews Minneapolis Hotel entrance canopy The Loews Minneapolis Hotel monument sign in daylight, the MLS All-Star star-wrapped columns and window graphics behind it

Common questions

Frequently asked questions

What did you photograph for MLS All-Star 2022 in Minneapolis?

I photographed the finished MLS All-Star retail activations at the Loews Minneapolis Hotel and the W Minneapolis on August 8, 2022. The work is the build itself: the environments, the merchandise displays, the signage, the product details and the exterior activation at Loews.

Who photographed the 2022 MLS All-Star activations in Minneapolis?

Jackson Tyler Eddy photographed them. I was hired by Brand Activation Services for the assignment.

Which brands appear in the photographs?

Brand Activation Services was my client. Brands photographed include Target, Audi, adidas, ESPN, Univision, Liga MX, Minnesota United FC, New Era and Fanatics.

Let’s work together

Have a build coming up?

Send the dates, the city and what is going in. I’ll get back to you within a day. Brand activation photography or see full services on the service page.

Get in Touch or email directly: jackson@jacksontylereddy.com