Reflecting on three years in business with VAST
I can’t quite believe that last month marks three years since I officially launched VAST - a specialist audio visual technology rental company for the retail sector. You may remember that I last shared some thoughts about how VAST came to be back in 2021 when I was just four months in so I thought it was about time I sat down and looked back at how far we’ve come.
When I started VAST it was literally me and my laptop in a front room, while renting a big yellow self-storage unit. I had a website and a vision, plus the connections I’d made from many years in the industry, and that was pretty much it!
Fast forward to today we have three warehouses where we house our rental fleet, with dedicated office space for the VAST team to work from.
We’ve also gone from just me, to seven full time staff members working for VAST! Below, you can see some of the team celebrating recently at the Visual Merchandising and Display Awards which was a great moment and really showed how far we’d come as a company.
Here are a couple of other personal highlights from the past three years in business:
Becoming Harrods’ recommended digital screen supplier
Making a conscious choice to specialise in, and be the expert for, the retail sector means that we’ve naturally spent a lot of time in the UK’s major retail stores over the past three years, with Harrods being one of them. This is why becoming an official recommended digital screen supplier for Harrods was an incredible moment for us and has led to us working on even more projects with the Harrods team.
This included Harrods’ recent 175th anniversary project where we installed 94 screens using the latest 2mm LED from our hire stock in all 24 windows across Hans Crescent and Brompton Road.
The screens were brought to life with filmed scenes of Harrods' inner workings from shoppers, to the famous green door men and even ballerinas, with all screens synchronising together wirelessly - a first in the store's 175 years!
Working on projects like this and being recognised as the leading AV rental supplier for the retail sector in the UK is just amazing.
£1 million+ of kit investment
As mentioned we’ve gone from having a big yellow storage unit to three warehouses full of our owned rental fleet. This has meant over £1 million invested in the latest LED, screens and other retail-applicable technologies.
We have a dedicated LED space and plenty of room for kit prep and to create pre-builds for clients so that we can see and explore exactly how a solution looks before we get onsite.
Winner of “Best Use of Technology” - two years in a row
In 2023 we won our first industry award for “Best Use of Technology” at the annual VM & Display Awards which is an awards body that has been running for 30 years, celebrating excellence and innovation in the retail visual merchandising and display sector.
The award was for our work on Meta’s interactive store fronts campaign. We were delighted to win the best use of technology award again in 2024 for our work on Dior’s immersive launch event at Saatchi Gallery.
The other finalists were amazing projects for the likes of Adidas, Flannels & Pandora, so to be chosen as the winner was a huge moment for us as a team and testament to the hard work that goes into each and every project.
Iconic and creative work for some of the world’s biggest brands
Over the past three years I’m amazed to think we’ve worked with some of the world’s biggest brands. From Dior, to Next, the White Company, Viktor & Rolf and more. Many of which have involved completely unique and innovative uses of technology. For example, creating a YSL fragrance bottle made of LED in the middle of Westfield London using a total of more than 200 panels of high-resolution 1.9mm and 2.5mm LED.
To creating Christmas present “cubes” for Harrods’ Christmas 2023 displays:
So what’s next for VAST?
We have already started the year well with more kit investments and exciting projects to be announced - sign up to our newsletter to be kept up to date with all things new technology and VAST.
Huge thank you to everyone who has supported us on this journey over the past three years.
To discuss your upcoming events, activations or to receive personalised advice for your retail window or site get in touch with the VAST team today.