At a glittering awards ceremony held at the iconic OVO Wembley Arena in London, the team that operates Aberdeen’s P&J Live won the coveted Innovation Champion Award, recognising an exceptional year of creativity, commercial thinking and bold new event development in 2025.
The Legends Awards are hosted annually to celebrate the venues, teams and individuals at Legends Global’s diverse range of European operations across stadia, arenas, concert halls and conference centres. The Innovation Champion award celebrates teams that challenge convention, create new opportunities and deliver meaningful results through innovation – and P&J Live was recognised for doing exactly that in 2025.
Operating one of the UK’s largest venues in the north of Scotland presents a unique challenge, with geography sometimes limiting the volume of content available each year. Rather than accept that constraint, the P&J Live team took a fresh and entrepreneurial approach by creating, acquiring and partnering on a series of events designed to diversify programming, grow revenues and bring new audiences through the doors.
Among the standout successes recognised by the judges were:
- The Getaway Show – P&J Live’s own caravan and motorhome exhibition, created entirely in-house from concept to launch, which delivered a profitable first year and will return in 2026.
- Dons Live – a celebratory arena event marking Aberdeen FC’s 2025 Scottish Cup triumph, which proved hugely popular with supporters.
- The successful acquisition and relaunch of a major safety exhibition, delivering a profitable first year under venue management.
- Bringing Aberdeen’s first immersive exhibition, Beyond Van Gogh, to the venue, attracting 20,000 visitors over a month-long run.
- Securing a multi-year joint venture for the Scottish Masters football tournament, broadcast live on the BBC.
- Delivering the world premiere of the Hot Wheels Stunt Show, a complex but commercially successful production.
Collectively, these initiatives generated new revenues and helped broaden the range of content available at the venue.
Rob Wicks, Managing Director of P&J Live, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to receive this award. It is fantastic recognition for a team that has shown real ambition, creativity and resilience over the past year.
“We have challenged ourselves to think differently about how we programme the venue, create new commercial opportunities and bring fresh experiences to the North East.
“Most importantly, this award reflects the hard work of colleagues across every part of the business who have embraced innovation and delivered these events so successfully. I couldn’t be prouder of the team, and they fully deserve the recognition.”
The award win comes as P&J Live continues to build momentum with a growing pipeline of concerts, exhibitions, conferences and original event concepts for 2026 and beyond, including acting as the host venue for Scotland’s round of the World Rally Championship from 2027.