Christopher BarrettStar Live has launched a new website as part of a company repositioning as a specialist production agency that “delivers creative solutions to the world of live”. The company’s chief commercial officer Simon Broyd explains what the changes mean for the company, which has supplied huge bespoke structures to numerous events and festivals including BST Hyde Park, Parklife and stadium tours by acts such as Adele.
What has led to the repositioning?
Star Live was born in summer 2019 out of the merger of four respected and innovative event industry businesses. Very shortly after that Star Live announced the appointment of Grahame Muir, former Arena Group CEO – UK & Europe, as chief executive officer. The streamlining and re-focusing of Star Live was always planned, but understandably put on hold as we entered the pandemic in early 2020. This combined with the 20+ years of leadership experience and knowledge of the events, sport and experiential markets that Grahame brought with him to Star Live led to a process whereby we are now ready to build on the solid foundation that we’ve established over the last three years. This re-positioning will support our ambitious growth plans both in the UK and internationally.
What does it mean in terms of the evolution of your offering – what are the big changes?
Star Live has redefined its proposition to more accurately reflect the unrivalled in-house expertise and unique solutions the team deliver; moving forward Star Live will position itself as a specialist production agency that delivers creative solutions to the world of live. This will allow Star Live to capitalise on its current exponential growth and develop new markets alongside its core business. Star Live will focus on four key pillars:
Design & Build – the turnkey delivery of temporary, semi-permanent and permanent structures including entertainment venues, aircraft hangars, film studios and event spaces through to temporary offices, schools and sports arenas.
Sport – from event overlay and temporary seating to complex ceremony requirements and bespoke hospitality facilities, Star Live’s turnkey solutions are regularly deployed around the world at the biggest sporting events.
Entertainment – stages, structures and venue consultancy for the world’s biggest festivals, concerts and tours. Star Live’s stages and structures have hosted the world’s biggest artists for the last 40 years. This pillar also includes Star Live’s rapidly growing temporary ice rink business.
Brands – Star Live’s vibrant and creative brand activation division is a key part of the proposition. The brands team work with agencies to conceive, design and build activations that deliver on brand objectives; Star Live cuts through the noise to create impact and results.
What new markets are a priority?
Sport, entertainment and brands have always been part of the Star Live story. The newest part is design & build. To date we have enjoyed success in entertainment, temporary medical and exhibition event spaces but the addressable market beyond these sectors is significant. We are currently developing multiple opportunities across a range of sectors including aviation, industrial warehousing, sports facilities, film/tv studios and meanwhile/placemaking to name but a few.
How has the company managed to have such a hugely successful year despite many events not being able to take place until late July?
During the height of the pandemic in 2020 Star Live was fortunate in that we had just delivered 17,000 brand new seats in Tokyo, were part of the team that transformed the Principality Stadium into Wales’ biggest hospital and designed and built all the main structures for a major e-sports event in China.
The first part of 2021 involved designing and building three bespoke entertainment venues for our client Bourne Leisure. Star Live managed to deliver more than 8,200m2 of purpose-built space including bespoke stages and rigging grids designed by our in-house experts with enhanced HVAC systems and specially designed state-of-the-art AV systems.
Despite the 2021 traditional summer season not really starting until July, we were incredibly busy this summer and worked on multiple events delivering a range of creative and technical solutions: projects included Manchester International Festival, Royal Windsor Horse Show, British Grand Prix, Classic Ibiza, Tramlines, All Points East, Wireless, Parklife, South Facing, Creamfields, Kids’ Summer Splash, Barclaycard at Latitude and Isle of Wight festival via our client Iris, and various activations for our brand clients including Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Piaggio and Williams Racing.
What are the key projects the company is involved in 2022.
This year has been one of our busiest years to date and 2022 is set to be even bigger with multiple entertainment, sporting, design & build and brand projects already confirmed. In design & build we are looking at several major projects in the UK, these include brand new event spaces and new music venues alongside several film studio projects. Entertainment will see us once again deliver BST Hyde Park as the event returns for its most ambitious run of artists so far. We are also working with major one-off entertainment events that will see Star Live deliver a range of structural solutions from bespoke staging to temporary grandstand seating. In the world of sport we will be delivering event overlay at a number of major golf and equestrian events as well as continuing to develop opportunities in Qatar for the World Cup. Brands is looking particularly exciting in 2022. Most projects are still confidential, but one of them involves sport and marine engineering…watch this space!