As one of the world’s leading suppliers of specialist audio-visual equipment to the corporate, exhibition, sports, and entertainment applications, Creative Technology’s (CT) bespoke event production services brings together advice, support, and equipment of the highest quality, providing everything from large-screen displays to content delivery systems. With over 32 offices in 17 countries around the world, including Europe, USA, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific regions; CT offers true global reach with a local touch by leveraging its strong relationships among its international offices.

It is a well-known fact that the Asia-Pacific region has been a pivotal area of business for CT, with the company experiencing exponential growth over the past decade, both in terms of market reach and revenue. And at the centre of CT’s augmented regional presence is Chris Burke, Managing Director of Creative Technology Asia Pacific; who is responsible for overseeing all work in the Asia Pacific locations, with offices in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul and Singapore.

Boasting a unique career experience of delivering projects from both the agency and technical production/contractor sides, Chris has been with the company for over a decade – first joining CT as Project Director of Asia in 2009, and later being promoted to the position of Managing Director of the Hong Kong & Singapore offices in 2015. In 2017, Chris helmed the position of Managing Director of CT Asia Pacific – a role that he serves to this day with great enthusiasm and gusto.

The following are excerpts of Entertainment Technology Asia’s candid interview with Chris Burke, where he delves into the details of CT’s brand-new premise in Singapore, the company’s assessment of the ever-fluid market dynamic in
Asia, CT’s vision for the foreseeable future and strategic business moves to achieve its goals; and more.

ETA: When was the Singapore office established, and which countries does this office serve? Also, what exactly motivated the establishment of the Singapore office?
Chris: Established in 2009, from Singapore, we deliver projects across SEA but mainly in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia and India. CT entered the Asian market in 2007 opening offices in China and Hong Kong and Singapore was the next logical location to have a presence in the region at that time.

ETA: Could you provide a brief overview of the Singapore office?
Chris: We have 21 full-time employees and growing with more people joining us in the coming months. We provide AV services covering the following specialities – Audio, Lighting, Rigging, LED, Projection, Media Servers/Playback Systems, 4k/HD Camera Systems. Our warehouse and office is 2000+sqm where we have our main equipment storage with system prep areas for our projects, in house repair and servicing and of course the main operations hub for our technical and project management teams.

ETA: What prompted the move to the new space?
Chris: We needed to expand from our previous location as our business has grown significantly in the last 2 years. Our focus has been to bolster our technical teams and project management support so far this year.

ETA: How has CT Asia performed from a business perspective? Perhaps we can discuss the periods before and after COVID-19 separately.
Chris: CT Asia was on a steady growth curve pre-Covid having seen growth in all our offices – China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan in the years leading up to the pandemic. But of course, Covid interrupted everybody’s plans in the Live Event Industry and we took the decision to invest into building studios in HK & SG to offer high-end Virtual Production solutions which was very successful and we also opened an office in Seoul to service the needs of a new client in the Virtual Production space during Covid. Since the end of the Pandemic our business in Asia has rapidly come back, albeit at different speeds in different countries, but Singapore experienced the fastest return to the new norm from Q1 2022.

ETA: What is your perspective on the opportunities available in the region for CT Asia?
Chris: I see opportunities all across the Asia Region, I think the key event market is still Singapore, but soaring costs and venue availability are forcing clients to move their projects to other countries in the region with Thailand and Hong Kong becoming more popular.

Macau is making significant efforts to change the landscape from a gambling destination to an entertainment hub, which I’m sure will bring back some of their pre Covid events from the corporate space. Japan has made a resurgence after the Olympics and with the weakening of the Yen and World Expo happening in Osaka in 2025, I think more clients will consider Japan as their event destination.

ETA: What challenges are you currently facing, and what do you anticipate in the near future? What are your plans to overcome these challenges?
Chris: The main challenges we face are around the lack of labour in the market since the pandemic. I see this in all the countries we work in and there is no easy or quick fix to this problem. Finding keen people with less experience and offering them training and a career path is the only way to solve this problem and that is what we are trying to do.

ETA: How does CT Asia plan to stay competitive in the market?
Chris: We strive to offer the highest quality of service combined with the best people and equipment in the market. That’s what we do in all offices around the world and that is what we will continue to do in this market.

ETA: What are some of the most significant milestones or achievements for CT Asia in the past few years?
Chris: I think most of the key milestones and achievements we have experienced that have been key to our growth and development in Asia in recent years have come from decisions made by our people behind the scenes, whether that
was buying a particular piece of kit or investing into a new service area or recommending a technician or project manager to join our team.

All of these have had a significant effect on our growth and most importantly came from within the business. I must say I’m really proud of my teams that got us through Covid and how strong we came out of it but let’s not forget CT also
delivered on two Olympics in Tokyo 2021 and Beijing in 2022 during this period, and those were probably some of the most difficult times given all the Covid restrictions in play.

ETA: What is your perspective on sustainability within this field? Are clients increasingly requesting sustainable practices in your approach? How is CT Asia integrating sustainability into its organizational values and operations?
Chris: In technical production I don’t see much happening in the Sustainability Field. We have seen a lot of lighting fixtures moving to LED engines which is much better from a performance and power consumption standpoint. All of our
technical kit is reusable, so has a life span of multiple years when maintained properly.

ETA: On a personal level, what drew you to CT, and what has been your journey here?
Chris: I’ve worked in the Audio-Visual industry since 1989, where I started my career as a trainee Audio Technician at an audio company in London. I was aware of CT once I entered the industry as CT was founded in 1986 in London, although I didn’t have first-hand experience working with CT until many years later when I was a TD at an agency that used CT for their AV event support.

The first half of my career was spent based in the UK and working on projects around the globe in technical and production roles at large event agencies. I moved to Hong Kong in 2005 to head up production for a well-known US event marketing agency and eventually joined CT in 2009. In 2021, I relocated with my family to Singapore just in
time to catch the re-opening of Singapore and the extremely busy period in the live events space that followed.

At the centre of CT’s DNA is providing the best service, with the best equipment and the best people and, after 15 years with CT Asia, I can honestly say that this drives everything that we do. I think this is what drew me to CT all those years ago and what continues to draw people to us, be they clients or new talent looking for opportunities.

Creative Technology Asia Pacific