Innovator Profiles: Special Recognition

Dave Crump sits at his temporary desk in Paris reflecting on the last few months, as he prepares to retire following a career of innovation

Later this year, Dave Crump, SVP of sports and entertainment for the Creative Technology Group, will be stepping away from the world he knows and loves, having left his thumbprint on the global AV industry every step of the way. LIVE sat down with him to discuss his career in live events and the developments and changes along the way.

First of all, Dave, how does it feel to be retiring?

In a word: bittersweet. I have been immersed in this industry for around 45 years and in many ways it is my life. I will miss every element of it, but I also have so many other dreams and things I want to do while I am still young enough to do them. The business we have built is in great hands and there are so many talented people that support me and will now have greater opportunities to grow and develop themselves.

You started your career in London in the eighties. What made this time so interesting for live events?

The early and mid-eighties really saw the birth of events as we know them today, especially in the corporate space. Prior to this period, there was obviously theatrical production – and concerts happened – but in a rudimentary and basic fashion.

I was lucky to join an industry experiencing a revolution in technology, in production values and in the scale and frequency of shows. That revolution was happening in every sector we operate in today: corporate events, entertainment and sports.

Creative Technology (CT) started around this time. Who, how and why did CT come about?

A great question with a somewhat complex answer. I had been working very closely with Graham Andrews (now global president of NEP Live Events, the parent company of CT – more on that later). We both worked for different companies but often on the same shows; Graham doing the video production systems and me specialising in video projection. Graham introduced me to an amazing entrepreneur who wanted to start a business renting giant outdoor screens. ‘Starvisions’ were a quantum leap forward in technology compared to the ‘Diamond Visions’ installed in stadiums across the US.

I got hired (as a 23 year-old) to start a company called Screenco. In our first year of existence we did a Ryder Cup, a Commonwealth Games, British Grand Prix and, for me, the real highlight was Queen’s final shows with Freddie Mercury at Wembley and Knebworth. We have continued to tour with them ever since.

A year later in 1986, Graham wanted to make a similar move, so he started a second company for the same entrepreneur and Creative Technology was born.

We grew our respective businesses in parallel for 15 years. Screenco focused on giant screens, Starvisions being replaced by Jumbotron and eventually LED screens, with Creative Technology focusing on AV with camera/graphic systems and specialist video projection.

We continually worked together, but as technology evolved further and further, we saw the lines of differentiation become increasingly blurred. We were working together across every sector, including major touring work for numerous international artists.

Then the 9/11 attacks happened, which was arguably the first global event to really impact our industry. By that point, both CT and Screenco had international offices, and saw the work evaporate overnight.

The decision was taken to rationalise, and we put the two businesses together into one site. While we traded for a while as CT/Screenco, we always knew we needed to be one brand. Creative Technology perfectly describes what we do. That was in 2002, and we have been one CT ever since.

What made you focus on global expansion and delivery?

We had always been an international business. From the very beginning, we had partners or distributors throughout most European countries and regularly shipped equipment to the United States, Australia and even post-apartheid (and pre-Gearhouse) South Africa for the major events.

Both businesses had investments in the US, and once we came fully together in 2002 these were also restructured and consolidated under the single Creative Technology brand. Graham moved permanently to the US around this time to lead the US business and I moved into running the European operations and our developing Middle Eastern business.

As you moved into the 21st century, the pace of consolidation quickened for suppliers. What opportunities did you see and how did CT capitalise?

The big driver in the first decade of this century was the development of the US business. We effectively consolidated four US businesses into one CT, and at the same time divested ourselves of a fifth business (Screenworks), who are now ironically a key part of our NEP Live Events business.

The growth opportunities in the US were immense and we quickly became the leading high-end AV staging supplier.

Elsewhere, as the technology evolved and the demand increased, we saw increasing challenges in our regional distributor model and consolidated our businesses into specific regions where we could acquire and/or organically grow a business.

By the second decade, we had a permanent CT presence in Holland, Spain, Dubai, Doha and China, with our ambitions set on more locations as and when people and resources allowed.

These same years also marked our genuine transformation into a global specialist in the multi-sport world, and indeed the building or our amazing sporting portfolio.

We were already working closely with Wimbledon and the European PGA, however in 2002 we then added the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, marking our first foray into Games-wide AV delivery as an official provider. Shortly after this, London was seriously bidding for and ultimately won the right to host the 2012 Olympic Games.

I was determined we would use the opportunity to build a position as a leader in this incredible,

growing space, something that would be a catalyst for ongoing future investment and a reliable future revenue stream.

I guess the stars aligned – we were in the right place at the right time, with a supportive investor. We won everything we went for in London and started an amazing relationship with Panasonic (as the Olympics AV sponsor) which survives to this day.

Twenty years on, we are here in Paris, our seventh full-service Olympic Games, and have delivered another half-dozen global multi-sport events.

This all happened alongside a similar and no-less-dramatic evolution across the other sectors of our business, with the corporate world becoming increasingly international and our clients wanting our services in increasingly far-flung locations.

In 2017, Creative Technology became part of NEP. What effect did this have on your career and the company?

Richard Murray (our incredibly supportive original investor) had been saying for some time he would like to exit when the right opportunity came up. A number of our best friends (albeit also competitors) had joined the NEP Group and we could see numerous synergies and opportunities.

I met the then CEO in Brazil during the 2016 Olympics and one thing led to another, resulting in CT being acquired by the NEP Group in early 2017.

This marked another massive evolution for the company; we again consolidated some business units but, more importantly, our growth was kickstarted again alongside a strategy to re-brand some of the other group businesses CT.

Despite the very significant hiccup of Covid-19 in the early 2020s (a time when NEP were incredibly supportive), the period since joining NEP has arguably seen CT transform into the truly global business we are today.

In your current role, you are leading the strategy on the business of sport, regional and global competitions, festivals, concert touring and entertainment. What can you tell us about your experience and trends?

How long have you got? Many of our relationships go back to the eighties and nineties. Corporate production clients such as Imagination, Jack Morton and many others have evolved, merged, restructured and – of course – grown, but many of the same people are there. We did our first Ryder Cup in 1985 and have done every European event ever since. That marked the beginning of our incredible relationship with the European PGA (now DP World Tour). We started with Wimbledon in the late nineties and by then had toured the world with the likes of Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Elton John and the Eurythmics.

That legacy continues to this day. Across NEP Live Events we deliver most, if not all, of the major festivals: Coachella, Glastonbury, Roskilde and North Sea Jazz to name a few of the most iconic.

Our sports portfolio (outside of the Olympics) includes most of the tennis Grand Slams, World Athletics, Nascar, Uefa, PGA and LIV Golf – again to name but a few.

We have built these relationships by continuing to innovate and working with clients to develop the audience experience. This journey will continue to accelerate, as being creative with technology becomes increasingly fundamental to the way events are delivered and consumed.

You have been involved in leading businesses, managing teams, building relationships and overseeing projects. Which part will you miss the most?

I’ll miss every element. The thrill of the chase, the buzz and excitement of doing a live show, irrespective of the size/scale. I’ll miss the technology and interaction with world-class designers and engineers. Above all, I’ll miss the people, our staff, our clients and everyone we interact with to do what we do.

That said, many of these people are my friends and I’ll be staying in touch with them and the industry. It’s been my life for 45 years and I’ll still be around in some capacities for a while to come.

This feature was first published in the Autumn 2024 issue of LIVE.