While not yet an open house, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) is already selling tickets to its la Maison Olympique du Canada, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games edition of Canada Olympic House.

Located inside Cité des sciences et de l’industrie in Parc de la Villette, the structure is the vision of the COC and agency partner Mosaic, whose ability to create big projects at an international scale helped secure the project RFP in March 2023, says Colin Freeman, senior director of brand & digital marketing at the COC.

“At a high level it [had] to feel like a Team Canada space, so naturally that means a lot of red and white and needs to feel familiar… a home away from home and a little taste of Canada,” Freeman says.

Freeman tells strategy it took great care not to be too kitschy or cliché, and to offer up a certain level of premium for the large-scale industry space to cohesively accommodate different brands, colours and logos, in addition to appealing to locals, international visitors and dignitaries.

The House will also feature a roster of Canadian marketing partner activations, the most COC has had according to Freeman. These are larger and more integrated than before, with retail and merchandising a much bigger part this time around.

This year, the COC boasts a “full blown retail environment,” with the official Team Canada x Lululemon pop-up store. The venue includes Bell Connect booths and charging stations; The Canadian Tire Celebration Arena, home to athlete celebrations and Team Canada viewing experiences; the RBC Olympic Games Morning Show on CBC, broadcast live from the RBC Spotlight studio set; and the Sobeys Family and Friends lounge. There is a “taste of home” from notable CPGs like Kraft Heinz, Mondelez, Molson and others.

Greg Wamsley, Mosaic North America’s VP of production, says the aesthetic approach was designed to avoid a trade show look, while making sure brands are still well integrated into the space and adding value to the visitor experience. That means, not just a pop-up handing out flyers. All CPGs will be doing activations in some form, but programming is still being finalized, Wamsley says.

Wamsley tells strategy for the last few years, Mosaic North America has been doing increasingly bigger experiential activations but that this project is pretty big, as the facility will attract around 4,000 visitors per day.

There will also be experiential events taking place in Canada to connect to those happening in France.

Paris 2024 will mark the first time CBC/Radio-Canada, Canada’s Olympic Network, will broadcast live daily directly from Canada Olympic House, which is adding to the “high-stakes” aspect of the design, Wamsley notes, as daily broadcasts are effectively a window into the Olympic House for millions of Canadian viewers.

The Canadian Olympic Committee just launched its own brand campaign with agency partner The Hive, “Brave is Unbeatable,” marking the first time the organization and CBC were out with shared creative and consolidating media assets.

Canada Olympic House will be open to the public daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. starting July 27 and running throughout the Games.