By Bret McCormick
Elevate has acquired Downstream and GA, boosting Elevate Creative’s ranks to more than 250 designers, technologists and strategists operating in North America, Europe and Asia.
The newly combined creative studio dissolves traditional built environment boundaries between interior architecture, immersive technology and experiential design, while serving a combined 400 clients globally.
“Big picture, we’re big believers in what everybody is calling the experiential economy,” said Chris Allphin, who was made president of Elevate Creative in tandem with the acquisitions. “We’ve seen the trends; spending on luxury goods is way down; spending on luxury experiences is way up.
“The same customer who goes to a stadium we design is staying in a world-class hotel in that same city. We want to touch the entire experience.”
Terms of the acquisition -- Downstream and GA were owned by the same holding company -- weren’t disclosed. Inner Circle Sports served as Elevate’s financial advisor on the Downstream and GA deals.
Allphin will oversee the newly expanded Elevate Creative’s pure business aspects, including the folding in of Downstream and GA. Drew Bryant will remain Elevate’s Chief Creative Officer, reporting to Allphin and focused solely on the division’s creative output. The entire Downstream and GA teams are joining Elevate, with their leadership reporting to Bryant.
“We want Drew where he is the best in the world,” Allphin said, “in front of clients and drawing concepts.”
Since its 2018 founding, Elevate has grown through a steady flow of acqusitions, including Infinite Scale in 2021 and Slate Shepherd in 2023. The combination of those two entities produced Elevate Creative, which has since been involved in various kinds of creative design projects with the Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens, Monumental Sports & Entertainment, Chicago Fire and Anaheim Ducks, to name a few.
The addition of Downstream and GA’s teams means roughly 250 of Elevate’s 625 employees are focused on creative design. It’s not clear how long that ratio will remain, but it illustrates the importance Elevate places on the business vertical. Bringing Downstream and GA into the fold has at least two key impacts:
“They are fired up to come here, they knew about us, they feel very embraced. We’re going to really focus on continuing the fantastic culture that all three of these companies had,” Allphin said. “That’s something I’m going to fall asleep and wake up to thinking about. We are not a private equity shop trying to roll them up. This is everybody under the same tent, rowing the same direction.”
