With his strong marketing background, Aztec Event Services MD, John Robson, immediately seized the opportunity to fill a gap in his company’s rental fleet after seeing the Christie MicroTiles™ launch at February’s ISE Show in Amsterdam.
“I surround myself with good technical people, but my strength is seeing opportunities — that’s my niche,” he says. “There was clearly a buzz surrounding MicroTiles, and I could see immediately it was the product I had been looking for.”
Aztec was originally formed in 1989 but Robson took over one of its divisions following a successful MBO in 2006. Around half their work is in the exhibition sector and while they see huge opportunities for MicroTiles in this area, last year they also set up a creative arm, Aztec Digital, enabling them to develop their own media.
These two factors presented a compelling argument for investing in 70 of the new MicroTiles.
“It came at the right time as we had been considering investing in seamless LCD/plasma,” admits Robson. “We get a fair bit of demand for display walls in the exhibition sector, but I held off because of brightness and resolution issues, and the fact that they are big and bulky, making handling very difficult.” There were other technical factors — such as colour balancing, matrix mounting on a grid, and limited lifetime — that counted against seamless technology.
“I had hoped something would come along … and guess what! MicroTiles not only look fantastic but they have been really well thought through — how they lock together, talk to each other, and their constant colour balancing.” Aztec’s initial order is based on having sufficient tiles to replicate a 4 x 4 seamless plasma wall although they also will use them in many other shapes and configurations at corporate events.
Robson consulted his senior technical personnel, and having decided on the strength of the display media, Aztec turned their attention to creating high-quality media. “This was the challenge, and we knew with this knowledge we could provide an end-to-end solution.”
Aztec developed a business plan — acknowledging the cutbacks in exhibition stand budgets, but instead recognising MicroTiles’ potential at corporate events on stage, complementing projection to create different shapes. “We have also done a lot of work in museums like the V&A, where there are issues with footprint. The MicroTiles modules are relatively small (408mm x 306mm) and without much need for bracing.
“They are also robust, can be assembled very quickly, and the front screen of each tile is easy to replace in situ should we ever need to.”
On the basis that MicroTiles are also simple to lock together and to construct on a small footprint, Aztec also envisage a vibrant dry hire market.
Robson couldn’t be more optimistic as he prepares a product showcase at the Emirates Stadium in the autumn. “We already have orders and are itching to get our hands on MicroTiles,” he says.