What’s going on… with LED wristbands?
The proliferation of LED wristbands at mass events has never been more obvious than now. Broadcast coverage of Coldplay’s headline performance at Glastonbury Festival in June was seen by millions of viewers around the world, while the use of the wristbands during the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics on 11 August, showcased the technology to an estimated audience of 1bn people.
The company supplying the wristbands at both events was market leader PixMob, which is enjoying its strongest year to date, with CCO Jean-Olivier Dalphond informing IQ that the numbers of wristband it has delivered to clients this year is in the millions; “eight digits, not seven.”
“We’ve done Coldplay, we’ve done the Paris 2024 closing ceremony, we’ve done the Taylor Swift tour, we’ve done the Karol G tour, we do a lot of one-offs in pro sports in North America, the New York Rangers, for example, so yes, we’re busy,” says Dalphond.
It’s a remarkable story for a company that in its first year did not manufacture a single wristband. “When we started, wristbands were not even possible because we hadn’t miniaturised the technology enough,” explains Dalphond. “In the first year, 2010, we did ponchos with giant shoulder pads that lit up for the launch of Microsoft Kinect. The year after, we made it a bit smaller, and they were able to fit into LED balls thrown at Coachella for Arcade Fire. And the first wristband really came around 2013. So it took three years to get there. And now we’re manufacturing millions per year.”
That growth has seen the company grow from its original two employees to a current roll-call of 150.
With the technology initially gaining interest among electronic music acts, the evolution has been intriguing. “Our first known client would have been Tiësto in 2013, then we moved into pop with more Shawn Mendes-type artists, and now we’re progressing into hip-hop with Missy Elliott this year, Morgan Wallen in country, and even the OG George Strait is doing a show with us,” reports Dalphond. “Everybody is realising these lights are about connecting with fans – it appeals to people who want to be together.”
“We’re seeing demand especially in markets that are trying to invent the venues of the future, so that’s something that we are excited about”
Of course, with such a huge potential business, PixMob is not without its competitors. Companies such as Xylobands, Flash Bands, and CrowdLED are doing healthy business, while operators in the Far East have also been quick to cash in.
“The general trend that you have when an innovative company invents something is that you have copycats that emerge out of Asia, but these copycats do an inferior product that has limited effects. That’s then our work to explain how richer light, richer effects make for a much more heightened emotion and collective experience. One thing to understand, and that’s very important to PixMob, is that we are a manufacturer from A to Z. We design the wristbands. We design the code that’s on the wristbands. Every single electronic part is sourced by PixMob and assembled under our very detailed orders, from the transmitters to the wristbands. We have a hardware obsession similar to how Apple is obsessed with its hardware.”
With PixMob wristbands now becoming a ubiquitous sight on many stadium and arena tours, the growth in the market is inevitable, but Dalphond and his colleagues are casting the net wider.
“We just installed a permanent LED fixture into the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, so every day there’s going to be a PixMob show, whether it’s a basketball game or a touring artist,” reveals Dalphond.
“We’re seeing demand especially in markets that are trying to invent the venues of the future, so that’s something that we are excited about. And we’re also continuing to develop other markets: we’re strong in North America, and we just opened an office in Europe, where we’re getting market traction.”
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