What’s up?
As we head into the second half of the year, it’s time to set another mark in time. The entertainment business is going through some serious changes. Success is not always a good thing for shows. The success of large scale immersive exhibitions like The Last Days of Pompeii in London, resulted in the creation of more and more shows and exhibitions, basically targeting the same type of audiences. This resulted in a choice between over 50 (yes, fifty) different experiences in London earlier this year. Too much of a good thing is never great. A lot of projects had to close earlier than expected. And I’m not even going down the Andrew Lloyd Webber road discussing the difficult state of shows on Broadway. Entertainment has always been a rocky road and it’s up to us, the so-called entertainment professionals, to navigate our way through the adventures and challenges. We’ll be OK. In the end.
That said … There are exciting projects coming up in the rest of 2026. The return of OVO to Brussels, the first ever Cirque du Soleil theatre show in Antwerp (‘Twas the night before …) and a new tour of the flamenco ballet show Carmen by the Antonia Gades Company. Among other things, of course.
On the book front, my Mad Marketing book is getting a new title to reach a wider audience and should be out early 2027. It has been in the making for over 10 years and last year I decided to not just write about entertainment marketing but add a specific dimension that sheds a light on the importance of treating people with respect. Respect is actually the last value in the original Mad Marketing presentation. I stress the importance of treating every contact with respect: clients, suppliers and yourself. The second part of the book will focus on Steve Job’s vision of “Connecting the dots”. I have connected some of the dots backwards from people I still work with today and some of the trajectories are really kind of spectacular.
Meanwhile, I still hope to connect with some of you in person this year. That sounds like a good goal to have. Feel free to reach out anytime in you are in Belgium or abouts.
Have a great Summer and rest of the year!
Peter.
Last update: 30 July 2026
Photo below by Daniel Farò Photos - DTS
Calendar
In 2011 I worked together with Manu Braff to bring MAMMA MIA! to Kursaal Oostende. The rest, as we say, is history. I joined MB Presents (now Stage Magic) from the very beginning, became a partner and still promote and produce shows with Manu and the rest of the team. Here are some of the projects I’m working on right now. The full calendar of all Stage Magic shows is here.
