- Category Group:
- Marketing Categories
- Category:
- Award for Innovation in Branded Entertainment
- Organization Name:
- Leisure World
- Organization Description:
Founded in 2018, LEISURE has established itself as a leader in Qatar's entertainment sector. Backed by a $700M investment and managed by a 100% Qatari-owned company, LEISURE brings together over 300 experts from diverse fields. The company anchors its portfolio with three iconic theme parks at Doha Festival City: Angry Birds World Park; Snow Dunes Park & Virtuocity Esports Park.
Since July 2023, LEISURE has pioneered a transformative shift in branded entertainment, moving beyond episodic events to architect a continuous, always-on entertainment ecosystem. We identified a critical industry gap: while live experiences drive momentary buzz, their standalone nature creates fragmented engagement and limits repeat visitation. Entertainment remained an occasional occurrence, not a habitual part of audience lifestyles.
Our strategic solution was to reimagine entertainment as a living, scalable system. We developed a platform-based model focused on experiential progression, serialized narratives, and community development. This wasn't about hosting more events; it was about building a self-sustaining environment that grows, evolves, and retains audiences daily.
The cornerstone of this ecosystem is the structured development of competitive gaming at Virtuocity. We laid the groundwork in 2024 with community-focused VEL pre-season tournaments, designed to lower barriers to entry and foster grassroots skill development. This foundation enabled the successful launch in 2025 of the formal Virtuocity Esports League (VEL) Season 1, introducing consistent scheduling, live audiences, and compelling storylines. The progression culminated in the flagship Virtuocity Battleground (VBG), a premium competitive stage attracting elite teams.
This tiered pathway-from accessible community play to high-stakes spectacle-created clear goals for participants and continuous content for audiences. In 2025 alone, it generated 93 active tournament days at Virtuocity and contributed to an estimated 300 engagement days across the broader ecosystem. Its appeal became regional and international, drawing competitors from over 15 countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, India, the Philippines, and the United States, firmly establishing Virtuocity as a cross-border esports destination.
Crucially, our ecosystem extends beyond spectacle into development and education. Participants refine strategic, technical, and teamwork skills through structured competition. This commitment to long-term growth is underscored by narrative seasons planned through 2031.
We scaled this always-on philosophy across our theme park portfolio. At Angry Birds World, we transformed generic programming into the serialized Flock Fest (Season 1: 2024-25, Season 2: 2025-26), supported by fixed daily shows. At Snow Dunes, we pivoted participatory entertainment, engaging guests through immersive scavenger hunts, interactive challenges, and live competitions. Operationalizing this model requires systemic change. We introduced a unified annual marketing calendar and a dedicated entertainment schedule, eliminating programming gaps and strategically aligning activations with cultural moments like Eid Al Fitr and Eid Al Adha. This ensured cultural relevance while maintaining relentless daily momentum.
The impact is clear in sustained growth: Angry Birds World increased attendance from 360,000 visitors (2023/24) to 375,000 in 2025. Snow Dunes saw remarkable growth from 96,000 visitors in 2023 to 145,000 in 2025. By transforming entertainment into a 300-day branded ecosystem, we have created a scalable, future-proof model that drives loyalty, positions our venues as daily destinations, and sets a new benchmark for branded entertainment in the region.
Entry Sources & Additional Supporting Information
LEISURE's branded entertainment innovation lies in its transformation of entertainment from episodic programming into a sustained ecosystem designed for progression, participation, and habit formation. Rather than treating shows, tournaments, and activations as isolated moments, LEISURE engineered a system where each experience builds upon the last, encouraging repeat engagement and long-term loyalty.
The Virtuocity Esports League and Virtuocity Battleground exemplify this approach by creating a clear pathway from grassroots participation to elite competition. This structure reframed esports entertainment as both a spectator experience and a developmental journey, attracting regional and international audiences while supporting talent growth. Importantly, this ecosystem was designed to operate continuously, supported by strategic calendar planning that aligned entertainment with cultural moments such as Eid Al Fitr and Eid Al Adha.
By scaling this model across theme parks through daily shows, seasonal festivals, and interactive activations, LEISURE established branded entertainment as a core business engine rather than a marketing layer. The result is a future-ready system that blends live experiences, community storytelling, and cultural relevance into a sustainable platform capable of operating year-round and evolving through 2031.