Case Study 1 - Fusing Man and Machine

Dancing JCBs are everywhere, from industry expos to local farming shows, and they are able to perform some logic-defying moves

However amazing a dancing JCB show might be, JCB still needed to push the boundaries to move things up a gear.

That’s when the company turned to The Business Creative with a brief to bring the show up to date and incorporate modern dance disciplines whilst simultaneously showcasing the technology.

“The brief explicitly stated that the company wanted to create a world first,” says Ben O’Hara, creative director at The Business Creative.

“JCB had already wowed audiences with the original concept of getting seemingly cumbersome and heavy machinery to perform deft and graceful movements in the context of a dance performance. But once audiences were used to seeing this, we had to move things on.”

The creative team working with O’Hara and Jane Maguire, the founders of The Business Creative, has no set system for devising new concepts. According to O’Hara, it’s more often a combination of years of entertainment industry know-how, solid research and investigation and a “wow” provided by some “crazy, out-of-the-box thinking.”

“The quality of JCB machinery is the result of expert and innovative engineering. We brought the same ingredients into our concept for updating the dancing diggers show.

“We knew from the off that we wanted to include parkour in the show. In the same way the machines are strong yet capable of fine manoeuvres, parkour runners are strong athletes capable of making precision movements.

“Nature is a highly skilled, talented engineer so we wanted to demonstrate these similarities with JCB equipment,” says O’Hara.

The show was built around construction and industrial themes, so core street dance sequences allowed us to showcase further acrobatics.

“Of course, it’s the details that accompany a show that make a big difference,” O’Hara says. “For JCB we built in graffiti and a sound track, for example, that enabled us to weave a story arc through the dance sequence. And it worked in conjunction with the machinery movement to accentuate and emphasise what the vehicles were capable of doing.”

The show has run for three years at Intermat, Paris and the Bauma, Munich show and also in Las Vegas. Specifically it has helped increase sales and generated record audience attendance figures as well as going viral online.

The World Famous JCB Dancing Diggers with an Urban Twist

Fusing Man and Machine

Case Study 2 - Mission Ferrari

The Business Creative developed the Mission Ferrari Show in Abu Dhabi, which recently won IAAPA’s Brass Ring Award in the category of sports show performance

Ferrari is one of the world’s most powerful brands and its DNA is centred on elegance, speed, power, precision, agility and balance. All of these elements are expressed in Mission Ferrari through the mediums of aerial performance, dance, 4D projection mapping, mechanical engineering and a bespoke composition to accompany the show” says Ferrari World general manager, Jesse Vargas.

“Ferrari World Abu Dhabi wanted us to create a temporary concept that promoted a forthcoming attraction, whilst at the same time using the show itself to take attention away from the construction zone,” says Jane Maguire, co-founder of The Business Creative.

This led the team to devise a visually dramatic show that actually utilised the huge vertical space provided by the hoarding, which was screening the construction, as a stage.

The team then took the unprecedented decision to use the stage to showcase a rotating replica Ferrari F430 and then threw in a team of world-class acrobats performing gravity-defying stunts for good measure.

“We decided to embrace rather than hide the construction,” says Maguire. “Ferrari World Abu Dhabi insists on the very highest production standards in everything it does, and the show had to meet those standards.

“We decided to use cutting-edge projection technology to create mapping with aerial artists, a dramatic sound track and jaw-dropping special effects.

“We knew we needed to collaborate with specialists in concept development, projection mapping, aerial choreography, set design and Ferrari World’s own operational teams, if we were going to pull it off,” Maguire says.

“It all came together and worked brilliantly and the show won an industry award. What more could we ask for?”

Jaw Dropping skills demonstrated by the Mission Ferrari Performers

Jaw Dropping skills demonstrated by the Mission Ferrari Performers

Cutting Edge projection mapping fused with live performance

ABOUT iDEA

The Business Creative’s newest addition to their portfolio of innovative, technology-based concepts is iDEA (Interactive Digital Entertainment Activities). The seed of the idea for a low cost, on-trend daytime activity solution was borne from a wealth of experience gained within the holiday and leisure attraction industry. Firmly aimed at the family market, iDEA activities are all about getting people active physically, mentally and socially, whilst having fun. Having only launched in September 2015, iDEA is already providing to be an extremely popular addition to holiday parks, hotels and leisure attractions worldwide.

For more information go to www.ideagetactive.com