“Combine the intelligence of the Internet with the power of Broadcasting”
Founded 1999. Sold to Servecast 2003. D&AD Best of British Design.
Gavin founded Tornado Productions in 1999, bringing together exceptional creative and technology people. Tornado helped pioneer many of the common formats now seen in internet broadcasting: from multi-format video/audio slidecasts and chatrooms, to 1-minute daily short-form content predating YouTube and TikTok by years.
Working across music, sport, lifestyle, documentary, education, advertising and corporate communications, Tornado provided end-to-end creative and technical support – design, video, sound, production, coding, hosting and network. Clients included Shell, Rolls Royce, Cisco, Yahoo!, Channel Four, BBC and Tate Modern.
Tornado raised £750K in March 2000, grew revenue year-on-year by ~50%, and sold to Servecast Ltd in 2003. Servecast was subsequently acquired by Level 3 in 2007 for £22M in cash. Its branding and design, led by Adrian Philpott, won D&AD recognition as “Best of British Design”. See also the webcasting history.
Most important work included webcasting the UK Prime Minister’s Iraq war announcement for Number 10 (before media release), and Morgan Stanley’s disaster recovery webcasts after 9/11.
Channel Four, Sky Sports & Arena Leisure – attheraces
A £300M venture between Channel Four, Sky Sports and Arena Leisure. Tornado created all visual branding materials across all platforms – TV, print, PDAs, mobiles and web. The brand mark won D&AD recognition for “Best of British Design”.
BT OpenWorld
Commission to “demonstrate the potential of broadband.” Tornado branded, designed, filmed, edited, coded and delivered an interactive music fanzine – codenamed Zinestream.
Logica CMG – merger announcement
Having webcast all CMG’s AGM and interim announcements, Tornado was chosen to deliver their merger with Logica – providing the complete end-to-end solution: design, staging, sound, lighting, filming, satellite links, webcast production, streaming hosting, website creation and registration management.
Tate Modern
A method for presenting and cross-linking hundreds of hours of interview footage. Tornado created the format, added cutting-edge voice recognition and natural language search to make video content fully searchable, then designed and built the solution.
Shell Group – corporate communications
Annual General Meeting webcast linking multiple territories, satellite feeds, phone-in and live audience questions. Audiences ranged from investors and shareholders to the general public. Ongoing commission for all major corporate communications.
Number 10
Working closely with Westminster Digital, Tornado provided webcast hosting, delivery and reporting for Number 10 during critical announcements – including the Iraq war announcement, delivered before it was released to the media.
Penguin
An innovative interactive format – filmed, designed, built and delivered – for marketing books, including defining a business model to support ongoing production. Commission included a production featuring Nick Hornby.
Tornado webcast: Eminem in concert and backstage
“Yahoo! has found Tornado’s services to be top-notch. Tornado is a professional, experienced entity and a valued partner.”Yahoo! Broadcast
“I would recommend them to anyone undertaking a project involving streaming media of any size.”Emap Plc
“Tornado processes, staff, technology and above all customer focus all operate at the highest level.”Loral Cyberstar
Tornado’s branding and design, led by Adrian Philpott, won D&AD recognition as “Best of British Design” – a distinction shared with the attheraces brand mark created for the Channel Four / Sky Sports / Arena Leisure venture.
Tornado always broke new ground in combining design and technology into usable communication – winning business from companies 100× its size, and keeping it.
See also: the full history of webcasting and streaming media