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Sunaina Rana/ Emirates Business
Envie Events produces, organises and promotes some of the most spectacular, immersive and innovative Dance Music Events in the Middle East.
With over 25 years of combined experience in the entertainment, hospitality, and nightlife industry, the company’s events captivate tour senses and inspire a unique level of fan interaction being enhanced by state-of-the-art lighting, pyrotechnics and sound design, large-scale art installations and theatrical performers.
Having hosted the first world exclusive open-air edition of Sensation in Dubai, two Mega Night Club operations in Europe and various annual partnerships with globally-renowned concepts such as Sensation, Tomorrowland, WMC Miami, and Summer Clubbing Ibiza, Envie Events aspires to become the ultimate destination of choice for events and concerts in Dubai — attracting the entire MENA region and beyond.
Emirates Business talks to Nicolas Vandenabeele, Director, Envie Events about the art of event planning.
Being in events field for over 15 years, how has the journey been so far? What inspired you to explore entertainment industry?
At a very early age, I realised that I would be active in the entertainment industry. It’s something you do out of passion. I have only one goal and that is putting smiles on faces through the events we bring. I want everyone to return home with a fulfilled feeling. That is where I get my satisfaction. We made the move from Europe to Dubai 4-5 years ago. It took us 2 years to announce our first event in UAE. Sensation was our first event in this market. We sold out, with 15000 people attending from across the globe. We made a statement but we were far from where we wanted to be. We have been working hard and fine tuning our operations. We have organised 4 EDM shows until now with a total of 45000 visitors.
What made you venture into the UAE market? Can you share your opinion on the market scenario here?
We were active in Europe in nightclub operations and part of Tomorrowland for 8 years. We had the feeling it was time to explore something else. My business partner had been following the rise of the UAE market closely. The time was right to move and start working on entertainment projects. There is a lot of entertainment provided in this city; every single night you will find something to do. UAE being a regional hub and a tourist destination, adds to the popularity of such events. I see DJs and singers perform in clubs here, who fill up main stages and stadiums across the globe. We try to give the artists the platform they deserve to connect with their fans. The dynamic is changing; artist managements not only want to work with us, but also seek our advice specific to their UAE plans. I’m glad to be finally doing what we know is the right thing to do and not just pursue short-term business objectives.
What kind of challenges does one face being in this industry?
Entertainment is a high-risk industry, investment wise. It involves massive investments for a 6 or lesser hour performanceand most businesses think it is outrageous to take such risks. But, as I stated before,we do this out of passion and the drive to bring happiness to our visitors. We have a long term plan to achieve so many beautiful events here. On the other hand, UAE is a very late buyers’ market, so for event organisers there are some sleepless nights. In Europe, events get sold out months in advance, which make the approach to the event day in UAE very different compared to rest of the globe.
How did ‘Armin Only Embrace’ happen?
There’s a history between Envie Events and Alda events (the company responsible fororganising the world tours of Armin &Hardwell). My partner has been working with them for 15 years. We discussed about the Dubai market and found mutual goals and decided to work together. Bringing DJ Hardwell here through his ‘United We Are’ tour in February was a great success and we signed the contract for Armin immediately after that event. The fact that we speak the same language and we maintain a European way of handling things makes it a lot easier for both parties. Let’s say they feel very comfortable with us as the local promotor.
Armin Van Buuren is one of the most significant and most popular artist across the globe. What kind of revenue are you expecting from this event?
Our passion is to deliver good entertainment and give wonderful experience to our visitors! So, we are looking at 8000 to 10000 happy people and that is our revenue. We are anticipating about 40 % of our visitors to fly in from markets outside UAE. I’m very happy that we can convince so many people to fly in to UAE to attend our shows. Our visitors stay in the city for atleast 3 to 4 daysand we are happy that we are able to play a small part in promoting this wonderful country.
When do you start planning your strategy for such massive events?
That depends on the event and artist. For DJ world tours we normally plan a 3 month campaign. For Sensation, we do a 6 month campaign. There are many other factors involved like the kind ofexperience, stage settings and so on that needs to be planned in advance.
Do you hire extra staff to execute the plan?
Yes, it’s impossible to do this without extra staff. Over the course of our events we have been able to create partnerships with Al Laith, Gearhouse, Creative Technology, Meydan, Foodcraft, Gulf Events Solutions, Gulf Show Power, MMI, Platinumlist to name a few. They know exactly what and how we want it, which makes life so much easier. They provide us with the best service and staff in the business. Without them it wouldn’t be possible.
Also, there are a lot of volunteers who want to be part of our events
and help us. We can’t thank them enough.
Any other similar project lined up for this year?
The next season will start for us post Ramadan. We are already working on some good projects and we are sure our guests will enjoy the upcoming season. Our next big event would be
Sensation Dubai 2016.
