Upstage Video, a recognized leader in live video support and permanent video installations, has expanded its offerings to include professional lighting, audio services, and event staging. And it is rebranding to ChoiceLIVE to reflect those changes.
ChoiceLIVE will continue to provide world-class LED, projection, and camera systems that the company built its reputation on but will now be a full-service company. These additional services aren’t new to the 15-year-old company.
ChoiceLIVE is methodically building those new departments, purchasing the best equipment available and hiring people with years of experience in those disciplines. Owner Doug Murray says, “One thing I want to make clear is we’re not adding these departments casually. We intend to deliver the same level of world-class service in these departments as we do in video.
“To use a piloting analogy, we’re not going to overshoot the runway and hope we hit water. That’s not an option,” Murray added. “We’re going to stick with the mantras that got us here. We’re going to continue to innovate and hire the best talent and surround them with the best tools and resources to ensure their success.”
The New Name
Murray and his team also took time to develop the company’s new name — ChoiceLIVE. “With Upstage Video, it was twofold,” explains Murray. “It was a location on stage where video was starting to show up regularly, back when we started 15 years ago; and secondly, we were going to ‘upstage’ the competition. We were going to be better.”
When creating a new name, the team asked themselves the same intentional question: What do we want this name to say about our company? In an environment of consolidations, where large corporations seem to rule the market by default, this small-but-mighty company (whose former tag line boasts being “better, not bigger”) wants buyers to know that they do have a choice.
“As one brilliant spokesperson once said, ‘Choice is everything,’” Murray remarks. “As we move away from specialty into ‘everything,’ we thought it was a great fit — ‘ChoiceLIVE: Choice is Everything.’”
The History
After touring with a band for the better part of his 20s, Murray admitted that he “had this inaccurate belief” that he understood production and became a minority-owner of a digital signage company called iPort Media. After a few years, he felt he had a pretty good grip on how to create and manipulate content on screens and was ready to strike out on his own.
He started Upstage Video in 2005 as the sole employee in a 12-by-12-foot office in Pottstown, PA, just outside of Philadelphia. Striving to offer innovative solutions — the kind that makes customers say, “Wow, that’s cool!” — he designed and purchased the bedrock of his new business (the mobile LED truck/trailer concept would evolve and become a pillar of Upstage Video’s offerings for years to come). Murray intended to keep the truck in the parking lot and conduct business — sales, accounting, and marketing — in the small office space.
“People kept asking me where my shop was, and I kept pretending I knew what that meant. A few months into starting the business, I walked into my office and couldn’t find my desk underneath all of the cable,” Murray says. “Right there and then, I discovered what a shop was.”
It wasn’t long before Murray hired his first employee, part-time driver Curtis Detwiler (a.k.a., The Preacher), who is still with the company today. “It was completely serendipitous because I could not have hired a better individual, and he couldn’t have found a better gig for his life situation at the time.”
With a very different approach that put clients’ needs first, Upstage Video grew quickly. “I answered the phone. I had a proper website. I showed up when I said I would show up. My clients got proper quotes and invoices.” Murray said. “It wasn’t a radical formula…just an approach to a sector with some professional business practices that was traditionally a s*** show.”
The Talent
Finding the right employees is one of Murray’s biggest challenges. With the rebranding and addition of new services, Murray says, “I am using a new title in this next rendition of the company — recruiter. It’s so obvious that when you hire the right people you inject a huge amount of energy and expertise into a company. That’s so much more effective than just buying gear.”
Today, Upstage has a team of more than 30 talented individuals. “Employee turnover used to be absurdly low, but as we grew, we ran into some growth ceilings with some really talented individuals.”
Murray tells everyone who works at Upstage Video, “If we can’t provide the career path that you’re yearning for, and someone else can, then yes… I’m going to hate it when you leave, and it’s going to hurt, but I’m going to give you a hug and thank you for the hard work that you’ve given us. People first, company second… easy rule.”
One thing that Murray says has changed is the company’s use of freelancers. When he first started in the business, he saw many freelancers put their individual priorities before the company’s and the client’s. “I promised myself that I would never put the fate of my company and the welfare of all its employees in the hands of someone who has no understanding of the role they play when representing our company.”
The Location
As Upstage Video continued to grow, it partnered with a company in California who would do work for them when they had clients in California, and Upstage would do the same for them when they had clients on the East Coast. Sadly, the owner of that company, David Mann, was killed while moving a screen from an install to a trailer.
Murray reached out to Mann’s wife to offer his assistance while she dealt with the death of her husband. “I knew it was her family’s livelihood, and I couldn’t imagine having to run the business while I was going through that stuff. So, I told her that we would sort of manage the team while she sorted through the grief,” Murray says.
In 2012, Upstage purchased the company, eventually hiring Mark Haney as VP of Touring in 2016. “He has certainly changed the flavor of what’s going on out of our L.A. shop,” Murray says. Recently, Terry Broadbent from Encore Global came on board to grow the company’s corporate event business in the California and Las Vegas markets.
In Dec. 2016, Upstage Video moved its East Coast location to Rock Lititz in Lititz, PA, a small town about 60 minutes west of the company’s existing location. Called the “Backstage of the World,” the 96-acre community is a live event production campus bringing together the most innovative players in the industry. With nearly 30 individual companies under one roof, the 250,000 square-foot, multi-tenant facility promotes collaboration and creativity. “The decision to move to Rock Lititz was easy. Our clients look to us as a creative resource, not just as screen providers. Rock Lititz drives that mission to the next level.” Murray says. “The collaboration between all of the live event companies on campus and the resources that we offer one another creates a community not found anywhere else in the world. For instance, our lighting department will complement our touring video capabilities quite nicely. However, it’s no secret that we aren’t going to provide arena-level touring audio. We’re really excited about putting packages together with our neighbors at Clair.”
ChoiceLIVE Today
ChoiceLIVE continues to offer the company’s core service — video rental systems in all forms: mobile, modular, rigged, ground-supported, and all of the peripherals used to put an image on those displays — along with professional lighting, audio services, and event staging.
ChoiceLIVE is still focused on the things that matter — people and service — and getting the job done right the first time. Murray adds, “Innovation is a core ingredient in our success thus far. That’s not going anywhere.”
Completing about 600 projects around the globe every year, ChoiceLIVE now offers full-service production for sports, entertainment, corporate, education, exhibitions, experiential marketing, installations, touring, and special events.
“One of the things I enjoy most about what we do is that it never gets stale,” Murray says. “One day we could be providing a screen for a national morning TV show; the next, we could be in Singapore providing a massive video rig in a stadium for one of the world’s biggest pop music acts.”
From the beginning, Upstage Video has been involved in sporting events, including golfing tournaments, horse racing, and auto racing. They’ve worked with NBC, ESPN, the NFL, and the PGA tour. In 2016, Upstage provided all the video displays for the Fan Energy Zones at Super Bowl 50.
The company also helps businesses — including giants like Google, Apple, Samsung, Ford, and Bombardier — with product launches, press events, experiential marketing events, and trade shows. Upstage has provided screens for university graduations and all of the presidential inaugurations since the company has existed. They’ve also worked with well-known musical performers such as Pearl Jam, Eric Clapton, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Florence + The Machine.
In 2015, Upstage Video provided screens for the Pope’s visit to Philadelphia at the World Meeting of Families. “Normally, one of the conglomerate companies wins those larger opportunities based on politics and their lack of need to make a profit,” Murray says. “In this case, we were the perfect company for the job at the perfect time. We were big enough to execute it flawlessly, but small enough that it wasn’t just one of the long list of ‘big shows’ on the schedule that month. It got our full attention, and we executed it beautifully.”
One unique project was building a 60-foot LED floor from scratch for a client selling private aircraft at a trade show in Geneva. “The work and logistics that went into pulling that off were insane. To see less than ten customers walk through that room all week just blew my mind,” Murray says. They must have gotten some good business from it, because the president of the company called out Upstage Video’s efforts and contribution in making that week such a success for them. “That was satisfying. Nothing is better than having your client tell you that they notice what you’re doing,” Murray says. “But it isn’t all bright lights and big city. We still do church fairs and movie nights for the cub scouts.”
A Message from ChoiceLIVE
In closing, Murray had a few more points to emphasize to PLSN readers: “To the production companies that have hired us in the past as a video partner, we respect and value our relationships. We pledge to never steal your clients and to act with integrity. We know there are some that won’t want us on their shows. We’re prepared for that, but for those of you who know us, you know that we operate within your guardrails.
“We’re not motivated by the dollar,” Murray continued. “The dollar is a necessary means to an end, but the end game is to grow meaningful relationships with people, and to enjoy life by being successful at delivering on our promises. Lazy, disorganized, underpriced, unsafe, incumbent comfortable lighting and audio companies, you are officially on notice.
“The evolution of the company from an outdoor video solutions provider to what we are today was slow and steady,” Murray added. “Today our focus is providing the top brands in the world with experiences that help them tell their story in an awe-inspiring way.
Summing things up, Murray underscored ChoiceLIVE’s commitment to service. “Our clients will continue to receive the service they have come to expect from Upstage Video, only now, they get it in all disciplines.”
For more information, visit www.choice.live
