London Motor Show
Spectacular product launches and slick exhibition stands are all part of the motor industry’s trademark. This summer Avesco Group companies Creative Technology (CT) and Dimension Audio pulled out all the stops to produce stunning results for a number of high profile marques.
Two days before the second British International Motor Show, held at London’s ExCel Exhibition Centre from July 23 to August 3, CT and Dimension’s services were called upon for the jaw-dropping launch of the new Opel/Vauxhall Insignia.
A pod suspended from a crane above iconic London landmark Tower Bridge opens. Out drops the Insignia and, in just six seconds, it plummets from a height of 12 stories into Potters Field for its world debut where, flanked by classical girl band Bond, Vauxhall’s new baby brought the crowds to a standstill.
Working for production services company Silent Associates and marketing agency C4 Communications, formerly known as Clear!Blue, CT provided two 4.48 x 3.36m Barco OLite 612 LED screens controlled via a Screen Pro II, plus four weather resistant plasmas (two measuring 55 inches and two 42 inches), as well as four Sony DC398P hot head cameras positioned inside the pod, to relay the action.
Dimension, meanwhile, supplied an EV XLC line array system to ensure complete coverage of the ‘crash’ site, whilst containing the sound to avoid it spilling into neighbouring residential buildings. For Bond, Dimension used a small, but discreet monitoring system.
“We weren’t allowed to put anything on the stage,” says Dimension production manager, James Loveless. “So we used d&b M4s - a wedge that is small but potent - controlled by d&b amps.
At Front of House there was a Yamaha PM5D digital mixing console. Bond’s own mics and in-ear-monitoring system were utilized, but a Yamaha M7CL was supplied as the monitor console.
At the Motor Show itself, CT supplied a plethora of equipment for production company Fitch Live for the Opel/Vauxhall stand, which complemented the drama of the Insignia launch. The stand was divided into a number of zones with its facia featuring 80m2 of G-Lec Phantom 60, a 60mm transparent, flexible LED product displaying ambient pattern footage.
Inside the stand, one of three black-faced Barco ILite 6BK LED screens sat above the Insignia with a total of 246 ILite 6BK tiles split across the screens, the other two being positioned above a second Insignia on the opposite side of the stand. Above this, 30 modules of MiTRIX screen, totalling 45m2, formed an LED ceiling
Both the G-Lec and ILite screens were driven by Watchout systems, whilst the MiTRIX was controlled via HD Hippotizer units.
At the opposite end of the hall, Ford’s stand, designed by long-standing CT client Imagination, launched the Fiesta and the new RS Focus, the latter sporting an eye-catching green paint job. It featured 252 panels of Barco ILite 6BK arrayed as two 12 x 7 screens, plus additional ‘fingers’, displaying live camera feeds and play ins from a Watchout system and GVG Turbo, all controlled via a Vista Spyder.
“This is the first opportunity we’ve had to use our new ILite 6BK on a motor show and the screens on both the Opel/Vauxhall and Ford stands looked stunning,” says CT London’s managing director, Dave Crump. “It is a very exacting market and our investment in a product that has such great colour reproduction and contrast ratios keeps us ahead of the competition.”
The Mazda stand, again designed by Imagination, saw an 8 x 6 panel Chromatek Hibino LVD 638B screen, with pre-recorded playback once again from a GVG Turbo, as an integral part of the backdrop to Mazda’s Furai race car.
Finally, Land Rover and Jaguar’s stands, designed by Keith Thomson, both featured 9 x 5 panel ILite6 LED screens. The Land Rover stand also included an exhibit entitled Our Planet by Imagination, which showed looped video footage of the company’s commitment to the environment via two Sanyo 10K projectors.
Dimension fulfilled audio requirements for the Jaguar Mazda and Land Rover stands.
“On top of this, we worked with brand experience agency Imagination at a pre-press event for the launch of the new Ford Focus RS,” adds Matthew Eve, production manager for Dimension at the Motor Show. “We provided audio for an ambient walk-through area, where 20 or so heritage RS vehicles were displayed, leading into the main area for the car’s release, which included entertainment from South London ska band The Dualers, for whom we supplied a d&b Q-Series loudspeaker system and Yamaha M7CL digital mixing desk.”
“CT has a wealth of experience working on motor shows around the world,’ concludes Crump. “We have very experienced crews and up-to-date equipment that production companies designing the stands know they can fully rely on.”