A Merseyside business loved by celebrities and local companies is celebrating 10 years.
Back in September 2013, managing director Dan Thompson, now 38, took his experience from a previous business venture to create events production and management company Icon Events, based in Knowsley. In the last decade, what started out as just an audio visual company has creatively expanded to offer events and private parties across the region and beyond.
Attracting the likes of football legends and music stars, as well as supporting local businesses and foundations, Dan said Icon Events first grew their extensive list of clients from word of mouth. Coming from a production background, Dan has now been in the industry for around 18 years and said a lot of the success of the business in the past decade has been down to having a strong team of "good people."
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Dan told the ECHO: "We were predominantly an AV company, but we had a real creative aspect to be able to put on events and private parties. As we owned all the equipment, we were a lot cheaper when it came to the event management side.
"That was 10 years ago and obviously things have changed since then. What we found was because we were doing less of the management side, other event managers were then approaching us to do their events for them and we realised we can't really be competing with these event managers, so we didn't promote ourselves as that anymore.
"We went down the AV and creativity route so we still do set builds and designs. That's pretty much shaped the business." In the last decade, Icon Events has gone from strength to strength and has gone on to work with many famous faces from Merseyside and beyond.
Icon have done events over the years with Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and his foundation, John Bishop, Dan T and more recently Olly Murs and wife Amelia Tank. Dan said: "We predominantly work with big businesses and people who want to put on these extravagant parties ,which has led me to some of the names we've done events for.
"I think that's one of the great things about working in this industry. You get to meet so many different people and so many successful people as well."
The son of Liverpool FC legend Phil Thompson, Dan said it was his dad who instilled the drive and determination he and his brothers have in all their different careers. Dan said: "My dad is a very successful guy, within his own right in his playing career - but he also had his own businesses.
"He had a fireplace business and he also had a DIY business, both which were successful. From that, I was always quite driven.
"My dad is a Kirkby lad who came from a humble background, so he always instilled in us that if you want something you've got to work for it and I'm really appreciative that he did that for us. That goes for all of us.
"My brother has a really successful business in energy, my other brother is a doctor, my other brother is becoming a really successful DJ now. Josh is getting his music played by some of the most successful DJs in the world, FISHER, CamelPhat. Each of us have done our own thing and I probably put it down to my dads drive."
For Dan, his biggest achievement came more recently in the pandemic. Back in 2021, Icon Events, partnered with Lord Derby, hosted Knowsley Social in the grounds of the Knowsley estate. The purposefully built big top tent comprised of 200 socially distanced pods for people to enjoy everything from Liverpool Disco Festival to Bongo's Bingo and Milkshake Live!.
He said: "We were all sat there going we’ve got no work. In events, were the very first line of business to be affected by the whole pandemic.
"People coming together - it just wasn't allowed and we were instantly shut down over night. Most other AV companies were going into online events and we did a little bit of it but I had no heart or drive in it.
"I sat down and my understanding of it when looking through the guidelines was they said not that you cant not doing anything, but that you had to do it within the guidelines. My thought was if we can pull a major event off, we would literally have a natural monopoly over the market which we would never had again and that's how the Knowsley Social was born.
"I ended up partnering up with Lord Derby who is a client but I class him and his family as a friend. It was a big risk and a big ask but we really did pull it off.
"I remember people coming out crying because it was the first event they'd been able to be a bit more normality in nearly two years. Even the artists that were playing came off the stage crying because theory hadn't played to an audience in two years."
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To mark Icon Events' 10 year anniversary, Dan said the team were undecided on how to celebrate. As they throw so many parties and events through the year, instead they opted for a group meal and night out.
Dan said if he was to give advice to any next generation entrepreneurs, it would be not to "be afraid of the risks." Dan said: "Don't be afraid of doing those small jobs - nothing is ever below you to take on.
"In this industry, it's hard work. It's gruelling long hours but eventually it does start to pay off, it just takes time and as long as you're willing to put in the time, effort and risk you'll exceed if your heart is in it enough."
To find out more about Icon Events, click here.
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