INTERVIEW
GAME.AE’S ISAAC KUMER Notwithstanding a global pandemic, the Mondiale Media team enlist Game.ae to devise the first ever virtual TPMEA Awards ceremony – broadcast to over 600 event professionals and viewers – live from lockdown. TPi’s Jacob Waite speaks to Creative Director, Isaac Kumer to find out more…
Since its inception in 2018, the TPMEA Awards, typically held in Dubai, has celebrated the amazing projects and the individuals responsible for the flourishing Middle East events market. Following two successful renditions of the awards, this year’s plans came to an abrupt halt due to the unforeseen arrival of COVID-19. The solution was equal parts daunting and exciting: the birth of the first-ever virtual TPMEA Awards ceremony, produced by GAME Commercial Photography Production LLC (Game.ae) – the Dubai based multimedia, full-service production house that successfully supported the events industry and some of the most prestigious projects and creative content throughout the region over the past 10 years. On the evening of the TPMEA Awards, over 600 event professionals and viewers tuned in to watch the virtual ceremony on 21 April 2020, which was broadcast live on the TPMEA Awards website and Facebook page. A familiar face to TPMEA Awards faithful, Stuee Kennedy reassumed the role of compère extraordinaire, hosting the one-of-a-kind celebrations with a special preshow segment from Event Industry Night Out’s (EINO) Stefan Wieland. Harnessing their technical capabilities to make a livestreamed awards ceremony a possibility was Game’s Isaac Kumer. TPi sat down
with the Creative Director to reflect on the feat. “The Middle East’s live events sector has developed exponentially over the years.” He began. “Dubai is often characterised as the go-to events capital of the world. With highly talented and skilled professionals within the region as well as the imagination, creativity and strong budgets to support these initiatives, it’s no wonder why. Consequently, the UAE has attracted some of the world’s biggest names in the live events industry over the past decade.” Following the adverse effects of COVID-19, resulting in the widespread lockdown of live events spaces across the Middle East, Kumer was happy to allocate his company’s resources to create the first-ever virtual TPMEA Awards. “It’s a tragedy to see how the live event industry has suffered during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis,” he reported. “We have all endured an unbelievably difficult time, so I was happy to get the call to produce the first ever virtual TPMEA Awards ceremony.” Kennedy contacted Kumer several weeks before the date to arrange a meeting of minds with the visionary behind the operation, Mondiale Media CEO, Justin Gawne. Kumer then called upon the expertise of James Glanville to design a set based on two parts. “The core design for the virtual event came from Glanville, who then passed the project on to our 54
