Amplify: A 25-year story in the making

In this piece, Nick Howe – co-founder alongside Nick Bentley – reflects on the 25 year history that led to the making of the 3D-first, immersive storytelling platform built for property and place

In the mid-90s, Liverpool was at the start of a remarkable transformation.

After the decline of the '80s, it was being reshaped by its architecture, amplified through its creativity, and carried by its spirit of innovation.

City-centre living was on the rise, and Concert Square had just been transformed, bringing European-style cafe and bar culture to the city. There was an energy and vibrancy here, with culture, music, art and creativity all playing a part.

This was the moment Nick Bentley and I arrived in Liverpool. We fell in love with the city and knew we wanted to stay.

We founded the business straight out of uni in 1998. Strategy, creativity and technology were at the heart of what we did back then, and are still part of our DNA today.

We spent the first 10 years finding our feet and growing up as a business, working with the likes of Beetham Davos Ltd, Urban Splash, Baa Bar Group and Wade Smith – many of whom joined us for Amplify’s launch event. Great people we’re proud to continue working with today.

They were like-minded clients; ambitious, driven, creative; trying to do something bigger, better and more impactful. We grew up with the city and with our clients.

Capital of Culture came in 2008, continuing to raise the profile of the city as a hotbed of creativity. And we contributed to that story. We went on to deliver the Liverpool presence at MIPIM for five years, evolving the Its Liverpool brand and helping the city tell its story in Shanghai at the World Expo, where we won numerous awards, including Best City Pavilion, whilst working on projects like Liverpool ONE as it became a reality.

We've been going about our business, very much under the radar in Liverpool, but working on a global scale. Today, we are the partner of choice for ambitious clients who are shaping the places people will live, work and invest in.

We've helped bring architectural visions to life for projects in the US, like Chicago O’Hare Airport and Penn Station in New York.

We've told complex and ambitious regeneration stories across the Middle East, and in particular the Gulf states, working on numerous giga-projects like Qiddiya, NEOM and Diriyah Gate in Saudi Arabia, and The Palm in Dubai.

We've helped high-profile clients in London successfully bring their projects to market, from The Shard to Greenwich Peninsula, the Canary Wharf estate to the Landsec portfolio.

And outside of our property and place work, we support a group of ambitious clients across Europe, like Primark, WKD Drinks, Ideal Standard / Villeroy & Boch and Amtico, with their brand positioning and communications.

In the last two years, we’ve taken everything we’ve learned globally and distilled it into Amplify. It started as an R&D process exploring storytelling within place branding through immersive technology, before growing into something much bigger – a way to create story-driven experiences no longer confined by physical limitations.

The first iteration of Amplify was created in partnership with Landsec for their Bankside project. Since then, the platform has continued to evolve through collaborations with major global clients, with several new projects set to be announced soon.

Amplify embodies the standard we set ourselves as creatives. We believe the most powerful work stops people in their tracks, moves them emotionally, and connects them to something bigger. Seeing those ideas reflected back in the response to the launch event – and feeling that atmosphere move through the room in real time – was incredibly rewarding for our team.

We’re excited to see the next generation of projects go live, and to see how Amplify continues to shape the future of storytelling within this space.

Visit the Amplify website to book a demo or email enquiries@wearesomewhere.net.