Recently, Technically Creative, an immersive experience expert and It-Attractions, a creator of award-winning edutainment and visitor attractions, announced their formal merger, creating a unique offer called TC-IT.
TC-IT brings together a team of skilled professionals from across the attractions industry and will be led by Marc Broadbent, founder of Technically Creative.
The company’s HQ in York, UK, is home to creative concept and design departments, 3D modelling and animation teams, AV and electrical workshops, fit-out joinery, R&D prototyping, and engineering departments. This is alongside theming capabilities, project management and an expansive interactive demonstration area.
To find out more about the merger, blooloop spoke to Marc Broadbent and Tim North.
Technically Creative
Technically Creative was launched in 2019 by Broadbent, who originally trained in the field of laser technology and electronics. The company delivers innovative digital mixed media and interactive immersive features for museums, FECs, theme parks and retail environments.
Speaking about his journey so far, Broadbent says:
“My first business, which was the manufacture, fabrication and hire of lasers and show projection equipment, led on to lighting for hire, which then led on to theme park maintenance for their dark rides and technical effects. This then took me into electronics programming, and additional work with exploratoriums; places like Ripley’s Believe It or Not.
“When I joined my last company, where I worked for 15 years, I started as an electronics engineer and interactive installation engineer. Over time, I worked up to the role of electronics manager. And then as the company grew, that enabled me to bring other services in-house and other departments, such as audio-visual, lighting, and audio installations.
“To complement the work that we were doing for museums, we also then brought on board development programmers, to work on the kind of animations and games which you see in exploratorium-type museums. For instance, touchscreen games and projection animations for explanation points.
“All of a sudden, we’d found we’d grown from a simple electronics delivery department to full in-house AV, electrical design and installation.”
A passion for the job
When that company stopped trading in 2019, Broadbent and his team were looking for the next chapter.
“For myself and my old team, this work was our lives. We loved doing it and we were looking around for where to go and what to do next. That’s when Technically Creative was born. I originally started the company with myself and six of my previous colleagues. Over time, and now with Tim’s team coming on board, there are 22 of us.”
We realised we could make a one-stop attraction shop, with all the bases covered. It just made no sense to not do it together.
It was under this previous employer that the pair first met.
“I ran one division, and Marc ran another,” says North. “And then, with the new business, Marc was probably my biggest supplier for all the technical and AV elements. The partnership developed from there, we just both thought: ‘Why have two sets of resources when you can have one?’
“We realised we could make a one-stop attraction shop, with all the bases covered. It just made no sense to not do it together.”
It-Attractions
It-Attractions is the specialist behind several popular children’s edutainment attractions. It’s also working with brands from the Hasbro stable among other IP owners.
“It-Attractions started with a brand called Dig It,” says North, explaining the company’s beginnings. “This is something that we designed as a full turnkey package, as a standalone attraction for operators.”
While he tends to avoid the word edutainment, this was the premise behind the product:
“We wanted to make this a fun attraction that allows kids to operate in a grown-up world. Dig It was the first of the pre-packaged attractions that we came up with to achieve that goal.
“We noticed landlords in leading venues had spaces to fill in their malls, and they were looking for attractions, for ways to get people off their phones and iPads. So, we went away, and we created something that landlords or operators could just put straight into an empty space. It’s all designed to be modular, so they could fill anything from 5,000 to 50,000 square feet”
A full-package product
With this full-package product, operators could be safe in the knowledge that everything was taken care of:
“We help with training the staff, with health and safety documentation including operations manuals. It is a visitor attraction that is completely ready to go and can either be operated by the mall owners or by an attraction operator, or we could operate it for them.”
“As well as Dig It, we have since designed Farm It, Discover It, and Explore It. We’re also now designing Save It, which is an eco-based attraction. We have delivered our attractions to the Middle East and Europe, and we’ve just done a deal with a company in the US to open 10 across the United States over the next five years, with the first site opening this year in LA.
“You give us the details of your space. Then, in six months, you’ll have a full attraction ready to go.”
TC-IT brings together complementary strengths
Essentially, Broadbent and North realised that Technically Creative and It-Attractions brought complementary strengths to the table:
“Marc’s team functions almost as an R&D department. They are coming up with crazy new stuff, and this enables us to put bigger and better attractions together. We couldn’t make the attractions as good as we possibly could without them.”
“We were already partnering with It-Attractions as a preferred supplier. But with the team that we’ve got now, we can now offer a more ingenious creative product than any single agency could come up with.
“Attractions need to have playability, for the target audience and the operator. You certainly want operators to feel like they are getting value for money in their products and services. And with the 3D modellers and designers, and everybody who works closely with the design team, I think we are achieving a more thoughtfully engineered product.”
A different approach
One of the secrets of why TC-IT’s projects are already proving successful is the way they approach projects from the start, says North.
“The original It-Attractions team, come from an operations background in visitor attractions. So, we start the master plan of each product or project from the eyes that our customers are going to be seeing it through, as opposed to designers just coming up with things that look fancy, but that might not actually work when you’ve got 300 kids running around at 150 miles an hour!”
“Again, this is where the two companies are complementary. We knew what we wanted to achieve. But we didn’t always have that knowledge of the intricate technical development to make it a reality. If you put those two processes together, you get to the end product far quicker and in a much more cost-effective way for the operator.”
This theory seems to have worked out well for TC-IT so far, as it has won some big contracts. This includes projects with internationally recognised brands such as Nerf and projects for Warner Brothers.
In addition:
“Having those different income streams, with the attractions side of the business and the high-tech side of the business, means we are not restricted to just one marketplace,” says Broadbent.
TC-IT will meet the needs of operators
The merger will also mean that TC-IT is well placed to move with the trends and react to the needs of the attractions industry.
“Everything starts from an operational view,” says North. “We look at everything from the perspective of how it looks as an operations day. Before we even start designing anything, we do a full feasibility study. We have quite a complex feasibility study for any attraction in any space, pretty much anywhere in the world. That’s formulated through our operations expertise and the information that we’re provided by the real estate companies.
Even before pen goes to paper, we’re making sure that it works for that specific location. The project will be designed with that space in mind.
“This means that even before pen goes to paper, we’re making sure that it works for that specific location. The project will then be designed with that space in mind. We are not coming up with a design and then figuring out how to shoehorn it in afterwards.
“Essentially, we do everything backwards. Usually, people do a concept design and then they need to redo it to fit into the space. However, we start from the end and work backwards. We start from when the doors open on that first day at 10 o’clock. We are reverse-engineering the design to make sure they have everything they need for it to work. And to make sure that it delivers a fantastic customer journey.”
Going the extra mile
“That’s the master plan phase, which we do with our operations side, the It-Attractions teams,” continues North. “From that, we have our concept design, which will then go into the detailed design stage with the Technically Creative team. Following this, we work on R&D and the actual design development and fabrication of both interactives and theming.
“Finally, the fourth phase is a joint one, where we install it and open it together with the operators. We work hand in hand with the operators to deliver everything they need for that first opening date.
“We go that little bit further. Other companies will be given a design, they’ll fabricate it, install it, and then they will be off-site once they’ve done the snagging. But everything that we do is a partnership with the operator.”
Broadbent adds: “What we find is that we can always deliver above and beyond. That’s because we don’t have any external costs. It’s all handled internally. We end up with a more intelligent design by having all those services in house.”
Whatever the theme and eventual attraction installation, the key to the success of the TC-IT brand and the interest it is currently generating lies in the project’s crucial points of difference, compared to other traditional adventure play provisions currently available.
The Dig-It and associated title attractions are designed to embrace core educational values whilst having fun, subconsciously learning skills and knowledge that is relevant in today’s world. This is a new form of role-play immersive experiences, housed within a themed layout full of interactive elements that keep children engaged and active.
The concept is a breath of fresh air for young audiences and family attractions alike.
The power of brands
On the topic of current trends in the industry, North says:
“Between 50 and 75% of our customers are based in a retail or mall environments. We have been saying for years that shopping malls need a lot more entertainment space. And shopping malls agreed with us, but lots of them didn’t do anything. Now, they’re all scrambling to invest. Some countries are a year or two ahead of each other in terms of what they’re doing in malls.”
“One major trend that we’re noticing at the minute though, across all territories, is that everybody understands the huge added value with IP & brands.
“IP is a huge trend at the minute. That’s regardless of whether it’s in malls, theme parks, tiny standalone FECs or industrial parks. TC-IT has a good stable of brands under our belt, and we’ve been working on new projects behind the scenes over the last two years.”
TC-IT’s mission
As the two companies merge, they remain on the same page in terms of their mission and goals, says North:
“If we were to put it in one sentence, we want to be the go-to D&B business for the best operating partners and brands.
“We don’t want to build lots of things. We want to build some amazing things and establish long-standing partnerships. I don’t think there’s been anybody who we’ve done a job for that’s been a one-off, for instance. That tells its own story of what we want to do. It’s harder to find those partnerships and get them going but they last a lot longer. It allows you to develop as a team together, offering a far superior end product.”
The keyword for us is entertainment…whether we are working on an audio-visual experience, on an FEC project, or a theme park or retail project, entertainment is the main goal.
“Some of the things that Marc and the design team are inventing are incredible. Some of the gameplay that’s coming out is absolutely mind-blowing.”
“The keyword for us is entertainment,” adds Broadbent. “Whether we are working on an audio-visual experience, on an FEC project, or a theme park or retail project, entertainment is the main goal.
“We deliver entertainment. So, to get the team going, a project needs to entertain us. In this industry, you need to believe in what you’re doing.”
Early successes for TC-IT and a bright future
While it is early days for this new chapter, TC-IT already has some impressive projects under its belt. For example, the previously mentioned work with Warner Brothers, working on The Harry Potter Flagship Store in New York as the lead interactive and AV company. This is an immersive three-storey retail experience, with the world’s largest collection of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts products.
Visitors can enjoy a range of interactive experiences and photo opportunities, as well as authentic props from the films and fifteen different themed areas.
“Our greatest achievement to date has to be the Harry Potter New York store,” says Broadbent. “It was an honour to be able to be to deliver that project, especially as a fairly new company. To be awarded that contract was a dream come true.
For North, another highlight is the work the company has been doing with popular toy brand Nerf, owned by Hasbro.
“The Nerf project that we have been working on for the last 18 months has been exciting. There will be two sites opening this year, one of which will be in Manchester in the UK. It’s a 30,000 square foot immersive attraction that is going to be so much fun for guests.”
TC-IT will also continue to roll out the Dig It brand, as well as the follow-up concepts of Farm It, Discover It, Explore It and Save It.
“That is something that we have created completely in-house and we’re really proud of it,” says North. “And now, a worldwide firm has enough faith in us to want to roll 10 of those out across America. To do something from scratch and to build our own brand to this level is quite an achievement.”
