What does the courtside lounge of a professional basketball team in Washington, D.C., have in common with a high-end restaurant in Saudi Arabia and singer Rihanna?
Lancaster County Corporation: Tait.
Tate, a privately held company based in Warwick Township, is in its 46th year of business, and its creativity and technology are as relevant to Washington Wizards basketball as Rihanna's high-flying halftime performance at last year's Super Bowl. games and courtside VIP seating at Saudi Arabian restaurants. performance.
With over 600 employees in Lancaster County and more than 1,400 employees in 20 offices worldwide, Tait is best known for creating stages, sets and show control systems for live events around the world. and growing location-based businesses.
Tait Group CEO Adam Davis recently said that about 50% of Tait's business is in placemaking and brand experiences. The company's concerts aren't decreasing, but its business in other areas is increasing. Mr. Davis declined to disclose his income.
Half of Tait's business comes from live events such as Rihanna's performances, concert tours such as Taylor Swift's record-breaking Elas tour, and brand experiences such as festivals, award shows and product launches. The other half is placemaking and location-based experiences, like the Washington Wizards loft.
Here are four location-based experiences created by Tait.
With a new office due to open this month in London's cultural district of King's Cross, Tate is poised for continued growth, particularly in the brand experience and placemaking sectors.
Tate was on all 10 of Pollstar's top world tours in 2023, including Taylor Swift's tour.
When Tait announced its new London office in early December, chief commercial officer Gemma Hodgson said being based in London was important as Tait's business continued to expand across live experience markets around the world. He said that.
wonderful year
Last year was one of Tate's biggest years, with over 500 projects and more shows than any other year. This represents a 20% increase compared to 2022.
“2023 has been a thrilling year,” said Brian Levine, President of Global Projects. “…we experienced unprecedented scale and unprecedented challenges (supply chain, schedules, etc.), but everyone at Tait rose to the occasion and supported our customers. Our team is the best in the industry and we are very grateful for that.”
From 2019 onwards, When a private equity firm makes a large investment, Tait has acquired four live event-related companies. It is unclear what stake Providence Equity Partners has in Tate. At the time, the company announced that Mr. Davis and longtime company executive James “Winky” Fairoth would become major shareholders along with Providence. The company said in 2019 that the investment was aimed at taking the company into its next phase of growth. The injection is expected to accelerate growth and strengthen its market position. And it happened.
Davis credits Tate's growth to the values it shares with the Lititz community where it was founded: a work ethic and a mindset of doing the right thing and doing what you say you're going to do. I believe.
Davis said Tate's work ethic and culture of innovation opened doors to other fields, including casinos, theaters, cruise ships and opera houses.
Tait was founded in 1978 by Michael Tait, an innovator in lighting and staging who was then working with British rock supergroup Yes. He discovered the Lititz area when Yes visited Clare Brothers, an audio company there, to rehearse for his upcoming tour.
“But the other reason he came here is because of the work ethic, and a lot of that work ethic comes from the agriculture industry, and the agriculture industry still has to meet deadlines,” Tate said. said Fairoth, a Millersville University graduate who started working at . 1982 established Tait's fundamental roots in the live touring market. “You know, we had Amish contractors work for us many times. Our first laser cutter – we couldn’t afford a laser cutter. But Paul B. Zimmerman, a hardware store in Clay Township, ) had a laser cutter, so I took my thumb drive and had them make things for me.”
Tait holds over 50 patents. Fairoth called these patents a “festival of innovation.” Davis said patents are only part of the picture.
“Everything we do is intellectual property,” Davis said. “And what I'm saying is, there are people who come to us because they know what to do[to implement an idea]even though there's no book that tells them how to do it. , we have designed projects to be carried out all over the world. One of our claims to fame is that we have projects on seven continents and in space, and have probably sailed every ocean. It means that there is.
In 2011, through Fairows' long association with U2, Tait made 22 paper words Space Shuttle Endeavor Captain Mark Kelly performed the lyrics to U2's “Beautiful Day” in a video shot during the flight in May.
Davis said company culture leads to innovation.
“There's no book written about it, so what we've done is continue to ask ourselves every year how we can get better and go into new territory and learn from it. And that intellectual property We have patented parts of it. But really, we look at the entire operating machine as an R&D (research and development) engine, and every day we're looking for new ways to do things.”
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future
Davis said the challenges facing the company heading into 2024 are geopolitical.
“Interestingly, I wouldn't have mentioned this in 2015, but as you know, the changing geopolitical landscape is a big challenge for us, because we We're a global company that operates in the United States, and we have to constantly be on the lookout for both situations.''Not only to make sure we're compliant, but also to ensure the safety of our team.'' said Davis. “Also, and I think this is a challenge for everyone, globally, inflation is unbalanced, so staying competitive while serving a global market is a big challenge. Those are things we don’t have much control over.”
Davis said one of Tate's areas of focus is talent acquisition and developing future leadership.
As for what kind of work can be expected from Tate, Davis could only hint at it.
Davis said that in the future, places will be more connected and experiences more personalized, and the company has been in a position to lead that innovation over the past 15 years. Davis declined to elaborate, but said Tate is involved in planning the city of the future, including what the visitor experience will be like through architecture, engineering and construction. These projects take decades to complete.