09 Oct 2015
Exclusive: Forrec planning Top Gear, CBeebies attractions for BBC Worldwide
BY Alice Davis
Global design firm Forrec is collaborating with BBC Worldwide on plans for fixed attractions based on some of the British broadcaster's most famous brands.
Top Gear, CBeebies, Earth and Walking With Dinosaurs – among the BBC's most recognised IPs – have been proposed as candidates for permanent attractions, it was revealed at the Euro Attractions Show (EAS) in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Forrec has been hired to deliver a series of prototypes for each of the four TV series. The prototype visitor experiences are being designed for BBC Worldwide, a commercial arm of the BBC, which is seeking to enter the attractions market.
No designs have been officially released, but it's believed the CBeebies IP could be an FEC-style, resident-focused, educational attraction that could be situated in larger shopping malls and similar sites, while Walking With Dinosaurs could be a bigger-budget attraction which would be replicated only a few times.
"One of the main differences between watching TV and the attractions business is that it's a group experience," said Matt Dawson, a director at Forrec. "We want to take the essence of those brands and connect that with what an attraction can deliver."
A Top Gear attraction would capture the personality of the show, a hands-on experience-driven concept that would enable visitors to interact and compete with one another.
"We do our own analysis, looking at the touchpoints for people who experience the IP in its current form, and what the touchpoints could be in the attractions world, that are unique to the attractions business," Dawson added.
"Each attraction design for the four brands is completely different, with different audiences and different markets."
All the ideas are being developed with the aim of finding partners and investors, in particular in China, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Forrec is also working with the WWE on an attraction built around the popular wrestling brand.
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