Wingstop Launch Event - Dundonald
When global chicken brand Wingstop brought its viral flavours to Dundonald, AXL was appointed by Smarts Agency to deliver the full audio, lighting and DJ booth production for a VIP and influencer preview night ahead of the public opening.
The Dundonald site is Wingstop's second Northern Ireland restaurant, following its Boucher Crescent debut in March 2026, and the third location on the island of Ireland. With queues of fans expected to line up for the public opening on Monday 11th May, the preview event four nights earlier was designed to do one job — set the tone. Build the social momentum and brand storytelling that would translate into real-world demand on launch day.
Planning a brand launch, restaurant opening or influencer preview event in Belfast or anywhere in Northern Ireland? Get in touch with Team AXL.
The Brief
Smarts Agency briefed AXL to deliver a launch event that felt elevated and on-brand for Wingstop — bold, fun and shareable — for an audience of around 100 to 200 invited guests, including influencers, content creators, media and key partners.
The technical setup needed to do three things:
Create a high-energy atmosphere worth filming and posting
Provide professional audio for a DJ-led party feel and hosted brand moments
Transform a retail interior into an event space without overpowering it
This was a working restaurant about to open its doors to the public days later, so every piece of equipment had to integrate cleanly into the space, set up and de-rig efficiently, and deliver impact without taking the venue offline.
Our Solution
Sound — Clean, Punchy, Right-Sized for the Room
For a 100–200 person guest list inside a casual dining venue, scale matters as much as power. We built the PA system around two Electro-Voice active loudspeakers paired with two subwoofers for low-end weight, all controlled via a digital mixing console.
The result was a system loud enough to drive a DJ set and dancing, controlled enough to hold a conversation at the bar, and clean enough to capture well on camera — which, for an influencer event, is non-negotiable.
A Sennheiser EW100 G3 wireless system with handheld microphone supported hosted segments, brand announcements and Wingstop team moments throughout the evening.
Lighting — Transforming a Restaurant Into an Event Space
This is where the room came alive. We deployed 15 LED PAR uplighters (18x18W RGBWA+UV) placed around the perimeter to wash the space in colour, programmed to sit comfortably with Wingstop's red, black and white brand palette and shift through scenes as the night progressed. Behind the DJ, we installed a Beamz Zeus Tubes 8-pack — vertical LED tube fixtures that create the kind of clean, columnar pixel-mapped looks that anchor a DJ booth visually and look fantastic on camera. The whole lighting rig was programmed and operated live on an Avolites T3 console, giving us full control to escalate energy as the night built.
Planning a brand launch, restaurant opening or influencer preview event in Belfast or anywhere in Northern Ireland? Get in touch with Team AXL.
DJ Booth — Built for the Photo
A black foldable DJ booth system anchored the activation point, dressed cleanly and framed by the Zeus tubes behind. The booth gave the DJ a defined performance space and gave guests an obvious focal point for content capture — which, on an influencer night, ends up doing more brand work than almost anything else in the room.
Delivery & Technical Support
The full setup, operation and de-rig was delivered in a single half-day window on Thursday 7th May. Two AXL technicians handled the entire build — load-in, programming, sound check, live operation through the event and post-event de-rig — leaving the restaurant ready to trade in the days immediately after.
The Result
The Wingstop Dundonald preview night gave Smarts Agency and Wingstop UK & Ireland exactly what a strong launch event should deliver — a packed, energetic room with the lighting, audio and visual impact to generate strong content across guest channels and brand social. Four days later, queues formed outside East Point Entertainment Village ahead of the public opening, with the first 100 guests in line scoring eight free wings. The preview did its job: set the tone, built the buzz, and helped position Dundonald as a destination from day one. A great brief to work on with Smarts Agency, and another solid example of why a well-considered AV and lighting setup is one of the highest-leverage spends on a brand launch — especially when the goal is content, atmosphere, and the kind of word-of-mouth that brings a queue on opening day.
