10 minute read
ILLUMINATING
Trail finders
Culture Creative’s Zoe Bottrell, IMG’s Kathryn Stafford, and DEAG’s Stuart Galbraith discuss light trails; the challenges, the changes, and the opportunities to grow
Illuminated light trails have grown in popularity in the last decade, with many attractions and estates now offering them as part of a growing events programme. Their appeal is understandable, with thousands of people paying to walk beneath a web of festoon lighting and through kilometres of intricate and imaginative light installations. However, event professionals have recognised that competition has increased, and this has prompted many organisers to develop their events in a bid to “stand out”.
BIGGER IMPACT
Windsor Great Park Illuminated launched in 2021 and confirmed its return in August 2022. Produced by IMG and DEAG Entertainment AG/Christmas Garden Deutschland, the trail opened its gates in November and featured a new trail design and re-imagined installations.
“Windsor Great Park is an idyllic site, but it takes an awful lot of lights to fill a forest,” explained Kathryn Stafford, event manager at IMG. “This year, we went all guns’ blazing. The trail needed a bigger impact and needed new intelligent installations; we needed to bring the standards up to compete with other light trails.”
Stafford’s honesty is refreshing. Improvements needed to be made and these were the catalyst for this year’s “new and improved” experience.
IMG worked with the Crown Estate to install hard-core access and hard-standing areas, because when you have 130,000 people walking through a forest, there is inevitably mud. Plus, the trail team learned that the event could operate over a shorter period; demand for the festive light trail tailed off after the New Year. In year one, the trail ran until January 8, 2022; now, the trail will finish on January 2, 2023.
“We looked at what we had delivered in 2021 and the areas of the trail that hadn’t worked,” Stafford continued. “We knew there were some fan favourites that we had to keep, such as our ‘hedge of lights’ as we call it.”
CREATING SUSPENSE
IMG went out to tender and appointed LCI Productions to produce this year’s 2.2-kilometre trail, which consisted of six large-scale flood-lit water fountains, a 30-metre tunnel of light, a bespoke 10m x 5m light installation of Windsor Castle, interactive fireflies, a fairy disco, and holographic deer, birds, and wildlife.
Rob Paul, design director of LCI Productions, worked with IMG and DEAG to create the trail, which included 60,000 lumens of projection, 100,000 fairy lights, 60,000 pixels, 120 speakers, 400 universes of DMX, 20,000 metres of cable, and 19 fairies. He worked alongside Stafford, Amelia Young, operations co-ordinator at IMG, Libby McLellan, event co-ordinator at IMG, and Showsmiths’ Mike Herbert, health and safety officer, to deliver the festive event. Plus, Bunkabin, Project Power, and Alpha Traffic Solutions were also appointed to provide infrastructure and vital services.
“Our brief was to look at what had worked and what hadn’t,” explained Paul. “We had to bear in mind the location and geography of the site, drawing guests to the next experience and making them wonder, what’s around the corner?”
STUART GALBRAITH
CHRISTMAS AT BLENHEIM PALACE
Creating suspense helped with dwell time issues and encouraged visitors to move on from popular spots. IMG and LCI chose not to run with a particular IP or narrative. Instead, the storytelling related to the park and the forest surroundings. For example, carefully curated and thoughtfully composed “woodland tracks” encouraged contemplation whilst animated fairies which hopped through the trees encouraged guests to have a “winged selfie” moment.
RETURN TO “NORMAL”
IMG has a five-year deal with Windsor Great Park and is looking forward to establishing Windsor Great Park Illuminated as one of the leading light trails in the UK. The problem that Stafford now faces is that because the trail “is so much better”, dwell time has increased which has impacted on traffic management and car parking.
This is a nice problem to have and demonstrates that IMG and DEAG have taken on board feedback and developed the event. But the trail is not the only festive event that DEAG is involved with.
DEAG has a track record of operating successful Christmas light trail events at locations across Europe, including Berlin, Paris, and Barcelona. In 2020, Stuart Galbraith, founder and CEO of Kilimanjaro Live, and executive vice president of parent company DEAG, brought the concept over to the UK, and now has three light trails at heritage halls and landscaped gardens in London, Nottingham, and Staffordshire attracting hundreds of thousands of people.
During the pandemic, the appetite for these kinds of outdoor COVID-safe events grew exponentially, creating some of the UK’s most popular Christmas attractions. But now, as the UK returns to “normal”, Galbraith says that it will be interesting to see what impact “normal” has on ticket sales, consumer behaviour, and crowd flows.
“In 2020, the light trails were a lifesaver,” Galbraith said. “They kept staff occupied and we sold 107,000 tickets. Now, we’ve sold 300,000 across three sites, it’s our first ‘normal’ year, and there is no COVID or Omicron looming or getting bigger. So, it will be interesting to see the sales patterns and I am looking forward to seeing how ‘normal’ turns out.”
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
According to Galbraith, commercially, trails “make sense” – staff that produce concerts and festivals in the summer months have “less to do” in the winter months. Therefore, staff expertise and a trusted contractor base can be utilised.
“What makes a good light trail? Quality of installation, artistic integrity, and customer appeal. I have also realised what represents good value for money. You can spend £50,000 on brilliant video mapping but if it doesn’t capture an audience’s attention it’s no good. The key is to ensure quality and have customers say that was value for money. And that could be spending £3,500 on a good photo opportunity. You must have balance, be creative, and be different every year.”
Galbraith is honest in his appraisal. He says that he has not yet nailed the model but every single year, improvements are being made and there is room for improvement. Unlike previous years, he is now happy to think about Christmas in October, and DEAG does have plans to expand, but that is dependent on the quality of the venue.
CHRISTMAS AT LEEDS CASTLE WINDSOR GREAT PARK ILLUMINATED
CHRISTMAS AT BLENHEIM PALACE
NEW TRAILS
Sony Music and Raymond Gubbay launched light trails at three new locations this year; Leeds Castle, near Maidstone; Roundhay Park, in Leeds; and Hatfield Park, near Hertford. They join established trails at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, Dunham Massey, Cheshire, and Kew Gardens, London.
Each trail showcases the “natural and unique environment” of its individual location. The curated trails feature installations from internationally and locally renowned artists and soundtracks include classical and contemporary festive favourites that move guests as they walk through millions of lights.
Zoe Bottrell, director of Culture Creative, is responsible for delivering the trails, alongside a vast team of experienced operational and production professionals.
“I feel very privileged to be in the situation we are in considering the position the world is in right now,” she commented, explaining that Sony Masterworks acquired 75 per cent of Culture Creative Ltd this summer.
For years, Bottrell has delivered the Christmas at… light trail series. The success of the partnership resulted in Sony Music/Raymond Gubbay investing in Culture Creative. Together, they now curate seven trails in the USA, one in Melbourne, one in Paris, and 12 in the UK. With expansion in the pipeline.
However, trails only work if there is a “collective desire” between promoter and venue to want to create something special, Bottrell said.
She continued: “This year, we have launched a trail at Leeds Castle. We already have a light trail in Kent. But Bedgebury and Leeds Castle are very different venues so we can deliver different shows. When you have a portfolio of landscapes, you can deliver site-specific shows, which is fun for us when we’re programming.”
CHALLENGES
Bottrell confirmed that the market is more competitive, as she reflected on Christmas at Kew Gardens’ tenth anniversary.
“We’re still delivering high-quality experiences,” she added. “It’s not just about pea lights. At Kew, we’re putting 300,000 people through the gardens and that’s because we’re changing 80 to 95 per cent of the content each year.”
Bottrell said that the supply chain and finding personnel remained a challenge and at some venues, they have had to change some installations because there were issues getting hold of materials. But it’s a worldwide issue; there are event personnel and materials shortages across the globe, including in USA and Australia.
“The market is challenging, especially for ticketed events,” Bottrell continued. “There are more challenges, there is more competition, fuel bills are up, production costs are up, there’s less furlough money in the pot, and people are now wondering what to do with themselves because there are no COVID restrictions. There are multiple reasons why things are harder. For example, my trucking bill to get stuff out will be totally different to the one to get stuff in. Nothing is staying still.”
Yet, despite the challenges, Bottrell is pleased with where the business is at, which she describes as being “in a good position”. Bottrell concluded: “We’re planning our shows 18 months in advance. In 2023, there will be up to four shows in Australia. We dipped our toe into Europe with Paris, we’ll expand in the States, and there are two or three venues that are on our radar in the UK. But the UK market is not our focus for 2023.”
CHRISTMAS AT TRENTHAM
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