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David Walley creates events biz Star Live

David Walley-owned events businesses Mobile Promotions, Star Events, Bluepeg and Beautiful Minds have merged to become Star Live, a full-service live event and brand experience company.

All business were acquired by Walley, chief executive of corporate event organiser Mobile Promotions, in the last 18 months. The founders of the four businesses will form part of the Star Live senior management team.

Star Live offer a wide range of event services, including staging, crewing, creative sponsorship management, event production and brand activation.

UK-based stage and event structure supplier Star Events was the latest addition to the Walley portfolio, acquired last week.

“We have brought together four companies with a clear vision: to be the full-service live event and brand experience partner for all our clients”

Walley bought up Bluepeg, a brand partnership agency working predominantly with music festivals, in October 2018, along with staffing company Beautiful Minds.

“This is a logical and exciting step for us,” says Walley. “We have brought together four market-leading companies with a clear vision: to be the full-service live event and brand experience partner for all our clients.

“Our new brand identity reflects our heritage combined with a contemporary mindset, fully focussed on creating world-class experiences for our clients and their audiences.”

The new name and brand identity will be adopted by all businesses with immediate effect.

 


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Star Events sells to David Walley

Star Events, one of the UK’s best-known suppliers of stages, support structures, rigging and design services, has been acquired by David Walley, CEO of corporate event organiser Mobile Promotions.

Walley also owns brand partnership agency BluePeg and staffing firm Beautiful Minds, and was previously CEO of event infrastructure supplier Arena Group and marketing agency the Freeman Company.

“Star is one of the great names of the UK events industry,” he comments. “They have an inspiring legacy and are both trusted and innovative. We are looking forward to integrating them into the business and adding value to all of our clients.”

“The whole Star team is excited about this move”

Star Events has been supplying equipment and services to the events industry for 40 years. The company, based in Thurleigh, Bedfordshire, has designed and delivered stages, structures, seating and rigging for high-profile events including British Summer Time Hyde Park, Download festival, shows by Adele and the Spice Girls, the Royal Windsor Horse Show and the UK visit of Pope Benedict XVI.

Star Events director Roger Barrett says: “I’ve known and worked alongside David on some major projects for more than 20 years. The whole Star team is excited about this move, which will significantly increase the services we can offer to our clients”.

The ILMC Production Meeting (IPM) will once again welcome all major players in the international production sector to London next March. Click here to read a full report from IPM 12, held on 5 March 2019.

 


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Star Events turns 40

Star Events, the UK’s largest supplier of stages, bespoke temporary structures and high-level rigging services for the live industry, today turns 40.

Founded as touring sound supplier Star Hire by Roger Barrett and Maddy Sheals in 1976, the Bedfordshire-based company’s first contract was with singer-songwriter Carol Crimes. It later went on to supply audio equipment for Split Enz, Miles Davis and the Rock Against Racism tour of 1979.

Star Hire’s staging business made its debut at the 1983 Notting Hill Carnival after Barrett and Sheals, the latter of whom retired in 2014, determined they could do better than the platforms then available to them as a PA supplier.

Other highlights from Star’s four-decade career in live entertainment include supplying its VerTech stage system for The Stones Roses’ legendary show on Spike Island in 1990 and Live 8 in Hyde Park in 2005, providing over 1,000 tons of equipment for Pope Benedict’s visit to the UK in 2010 and designing and building the Park Live venue for the 2012 London Olympic games.

“It feels brilliant to still be as motivated and up-for-it as I was 40 years ago”

Recent projects include Airbnb’s Floating House on the Thames, and the Samsung Hypercube – as used by Biffy Clyro for their groundbreaking virtual-reality show at Reading this weekend – currently touring UK festivals.

The company opened an office in China in 2007, later acquired the Orbit Flexidome brand and was in June 2014 itself acquired by the French Altrad Group.

“It feels brilliant to still be as motivated and up-for-it as I was 40 years ago, while our ever growing team continues to make us the first choice for so many small, medium and large festivals and other events,” says Barrett. “A huge thank you to everyone who has played a part. Here’s to the next 40.”

 


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Instagram debuts Events feature for concert video

Instagram is taking the fight to chief rival Snapchat with the launch of a new ‘Events’ channel, which collects user-created photos and video clips captured from live events – including “concerts, sporting events and more” – tailored towards individual app users.

The new functionality is similar to Snapchat’s ‘Live Stories’ feature, which has won the support of AEG Live and Live Nation, both of which have signed agreements to promote their festivals via the popular video-sharing service.

Events – currently available only in the US – uses an algorithm to curate media from live events based on users’ preferences and habits, “so you can feel like you’re in the front row”, says the launch blurb.

It’s likely the similarity to Snapchat’s Live Stories isn’t purely coincidental: Earlier this month Instagram CEO Kevin Systro, demonstrating the app’s new ‘Stories’ feature for TechCrunch, said Snapchat “deserve[s] all the credit” for its genesis. Stories let users create a collection of photos and videos which disappear after being live for 24 hours.

According to AdWeek, Instagram has 400 million active users; Snapchat is believed to have around 150m.

 


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