Avolites Pearl consoles used in audacious promotion

Four Avolites Pearl lighting consoles have been used in a spectacular 'guerrilla-style projection and lighting assault' on the landmark BT Tower in central London, marking the UK launch of rival phone directory service 11 88 88.
The 625 ft high BT Tower was bombarded with massive, piercing shafts of green light (the colours of Irish-based 11 88 88 Conduit), while the number was projected vertically in white up its side. The spectacle was clearly visible from over 10 miles away.
PR company PR21 approached Laser Grafix to supply the hardware and technical expertise to co-ordinate the projection and lighting project, who, in turn, asked Darren Parker of Essex-based DPL Lighting Production to provide lighting crew, trucking and power (from Vince Maddix of Phase Hire) for this audacious campaign.
Laser Grafix specified four 7.5 tonne flatbed trucks, and loaded each with six 7Kw Space Cannons, an Avolites Pearl 2000 and DMX distribution. Each truck also towed a 100 KVA generator. Laser Grafix in addition loaded their hardware for xenon projectors onto four separate trucks.
The sixteen crew tested all their lighting gear, patched and part-programmed the desks before leaving the warehouse. Parker chose Avolites Pearls because he needed a lighting desk that was reliable and very easy to use ‘live’, on the fly, under intense pressure.
The Space Cannons were de-lamped for the road journey, and both lighting and projection trucks drove to central London, keeping in close contact to co-ordinate their arrival.
Everything moved at lightning quick speed once they reached site. The eight trucks pulled up in the streets, two at each of the four corners of the block housing the BT Tower’s base. Gennies roared, the crew leapt into action, lamped up and fired up the Space Cannons, using the Avolites desks in live mode to focus and direct the beams onto the tower.
An extra frission of excitement permeated the project, as those involved knew that the whole thing could be scuppered by the police or security services at any time, with the country on a knife edge on the eve of war with Iraq and several tonnes of strange looking hardware being moved suddenly into the centre of the city.
The whole stunt ran for a minute - just enough time to allow the amassed press and media to get their shots.
(GB)