Winning more clients with AV vendors

At a recent C-Suite Talk at ITB Asia, Adam Piperdy, founder and chief experience officer, Unearthed Productions, shared why venues who work with AV vendors to pitch for events create a winning outcome for both parties.

Unearthed Productions’ venue partners include Pan Pacific Singapore, Carlton Hotel Singapore, Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre, Grand Copthorne Waterfront, Orchard Hotel, and Garden Pavilion @ The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore.

Key takeaways

· The AV company can provide a blend of technical, AV, digital, and show production intelligence.

· It can provide extended support without CAPEX and OPEX, offer diagnostic tools and recommendations, and provide upgrades on the latest tech. Said Piperdy : “So for us AV companies, instead of going out to set up show by show, we can then park ourselves (at venues) to equip them. We also win, because we don’t have to deploy so much manpower to set up and tear down. If you ever see a quotation from an AV company, the majority of the cost is not the equipment because the equipment is amortised over a few years. The majority of the cost goes into the setup cost which goes into thousands of dollars and the transport. Imagine if the AV guys can leave their equipment in a venue and come back the following week for another event, all you need to pay for is the manpower cost and for the maintenance. It is a win-win for everyone.”

· Venue, audio, and video costs are the biggest expenses in hybrid events for 38% of planners (source: Markletic 2022).

· Hybrid events constitute 70% of all events (source: Market Splash 2023).

· Clients love the latest technology. Partnerships provide key upgrades to a venue’s event technology. Said Piperdy : “You get constant upgrades to the latest technology, and because it doesn’t belong to you, you can always say, ‘take it out and get a new one’. As a venue, you cannot afford to keep buying new things all the time, but for an AV company, we can (rent to other companies). This is a business model we have been trying out with some of the Singapore hotels with fantastic success.”

· AV experts have local knowledge and expertise at their fingertips.

· AV experts also help to recommend more clients to venues through their business contacts from other events.

Case study of Suntec Singapore

Unearthed Productions has worked with Suntec Singapore to create the Engage Theatres which is a semi-permanent structure. It set up a LED wall spanning 45m x 5m; this was an investment from Unearthed Productions for 5,000 pax. For this product alone, the venue has secured over 80 events in 2023.

“Because there is no setup/moving time, when clients are running the event, all event planners need to do is at 7am, they pass the AV guy the thumb drive, load in the content and they are ready to rock-n-roll. The lights have already been pre-set, the sound system is already there - they can run the event with just one hour of setup time. Which means that Suntec Singapore can sell it for a Dinner & Dance event at night, and do a conference in the morning with just a change of the F&B and tables,” added Piperdy.

It was at Suntec that Unearthed Productions deployed 120 AV specialists for the World Congress of Dermatology Singapore 2023 where more than 5km of cables were laid for more than 30 concurrent sessions, and 200 sqm of P2.5mm LED video wall panels were set up.

Originally, Suntec only had projectors and screens, but because they engaged Unearthed Productions early in the bidding process, Suntec was able to assure the organisers that they could install LED walls in all their meeting rooms - this sealed the deal because it was important for attendees to view skin blemishes on a P2.5 LED wall, said Piperdy.