The pandemic has severely disrupted the events industry, with live events brought to a standstill. The turmoil continued until 2021 in many countries.
Kyiv. Ukraine. Ukraine Gate – June 12, 2021 – Entrepreneurs
In a bleak time for the industry, entrepreneur Dan Bolton saw an opportunity to create a new type of event agency, BE Experiential, which aims to offer an “experimental” and “people first” approach to event organization.
Bolton launched his first company, Dan Bolton Creative Management Agency, in October 2015 in the United Arab Emirates. Covering all entertainment matters, the agency is responsible for “talent management, show design, and production, which includes choreography, costume and prop design as well as selection services for a select group of clients now looking to secure the regional performance-related talent for live shows, productions, and increasingly digital content.” Bolton said.
The new agency, BE Experiential, is set up on the background of the existing agency, offering “different but complementary services”, catering to the broader event experience through services such as “event design and production, set-up, technology, acoustics, guest experience, decor, augmented reality and guest list management.”.
“We started finding out throughout 2019 that brands and customers wanted us to handle the full production and creativity of certain projects, something we didn’t necessarily do at the time if it wasn’t focused on pure entertainment,” Bolton said, explaining the rationale behind the launch of BE Experiential.
The entertainment and general experience of the event became increasingly intertwined, resulting in a natural progression of sorts as the agency supported clients through the entire process.
“It made sense for our clients to partner with us to develop and deliver the full narrative of the event and experience from the ground up,” he said.
The pandemic has changed everything. Bolton had to suspend the launch of his new agency. Customers were canceling events.
“A lot of people believed that we were permanently living in a ‘new normal’ and that live events, entertainment, and music couldn’t come back,” Bolton said.
This frustration led to the birth of Breakout DXB, a live community event supporting indie musicians and artists, held in November 2020. “It was the brainchild of Lobito Brigante and I mostly born out of frustration at a time when the events industry was coming to a complete halt and this affected Especially entertainment. Many of our friends and colleagues were unemployed and struggling mentally and financially.
After discussions with entities such as the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, event partners, and health and safety professionals such as GallowGlass, Bolton and Brigante made the decision to host Breakout DXB.
But not everyone was comfortable with the live events.
For example, the agency has worked with Procter & Gamble on a series of hybrid activation spaces using local artists who have created artwork in JBR and City Walk that can be viewed through an augmented reality app.
“Digital technologies and the virtual world have been encroaching on the live experience space for some time, and in the past year they have forced it to ramp up and accelerate,” Bolton said.
However, he said live events are not going anywhere. In fact, the desire to attend live events together will only increase in the coming months.
Even when the pandemic began and everything from meetings to gyms was turning into virtual reality, Bolton said, “We made a strong decision to stay committed to living and personal events no matter how difficult it was.”
“We live for the ability to be on stage and bring people together face to face. If we suddenly turned towards all things digital, it would be completely contrary to what we believe in and the authenticity with which we strive to live as a company.
However, he acknowledged that digital technologies will have an increasingly important role to play.
“As we can see from the discussions we have with brands and customers, there is a desire to balance and integrate the two worlds into an overall experience where the end consumer has the choice and ability to come in person or broadcast live and follow from afar,” he said.
BE Experiential is currently based in the UAE with operations in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
“That’s definitely our focus at the moment as we rebuild from the madness of the past 15 months.
“However, I would be lying if I said we haven’t discussed some great opportunities in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the rest of the region, and Europe,” Bolton said.
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Source: Ukrgate
