ING NIGHT: WHEN ING GIVES ITS CLIENTS A PRIVATE FESTIVAL

Two editions, eight artists, an entire arena dedicated to the clients of one brand.

Many brands think about offering their clients a concert evening. Privatising ING Arena in Brussels for a tailor-made festival is a different level of ambition entirely. That is the project Shadow to Live brought to ING at the moment Palais 12 was becoming ING Arena in 2024: turning a rebrand into an annual cultural moment, and making each edition something ING clients would look forward to year after year.

The central challenge was as artistic as it was strategic. ING serves the whole of Belgium, French-speaking and Flemish, young professionals and established families. The lineup had to speak to all of them at once, without compromising on quality or on the genuine excitement each artist generates. For the first edition, Shadow to Live assembled Puggy, Henri PFR, K's Choice and Portland: four distinct worlds, one coherent evening, with K's Choice crossing the Atlantic specifically for the occasion. The second edition, built on the same principle, brought together Average Rob and Omdat Het Kan, Loïc Nottet, Berre, Charles and Maro, with an expanded stage and a thrust extension bringing artists physically closer to the audience.

Behind that apparent fluidity lay a demanding production operation. Transitioning between multiple live acts in a 15,000-capacity arena, with full stage changeovers in a matter of minutes, requires precise coordination across sound, lighting, video and artistic teams. Shadow to Live took ownership of everything the audience sees and hears inside the venue: artistic and technical direction of the show, talent booking, bilingual host scripts and formats, video direction, giant screen content, intro and outro videos, voiceover. Bénédicte Deprez and Sean Dhondt for the first edition, Clara Laureys and Maksim Stojanac for the second hosted the evening in both languages using formats entirely created by Shadow to Live. Between 50 and 100 people were mobilised per edition to deliver the full production.

The enthusiasm of ING clients was clear from the first edition, with tens of thousands of competition entries for invitations. The second edition saw that enthusiasm grow further, supported by a significantly expanded communication campaign across digital and outdoor channels.

In two editions, ING Night has established itself as the annual cultural flagship of ING Arena. From concept to stage, Shadow to Live handled everything: artistic direction, talent booking, full technical production. Because the best collaborations do not start from a brief: they start from an idea brought to the right partner.