SONY Pictures Television Crackle Digital NewFront

April 2014. New York, NY

Crackle, a SONY Pictures Television digital entertainment network, partnered with Empire to produce their 2014 Digital NewFront— an annual presentation to advertisers and media covering the digital entertainment sector.

With an exciting lineup of both new, original programs and returning series, presenters such as Bryan Cranston ("The Tightrope"), Chad Michael Murray ("Chosen”), Emmanuelle Chriqui (“Cleaners”) and sportscaster Dan Patrick (“Sports Jeopardy”) were on-hand alongside Crackle executives Eric Berger and James Smith.

The NewFront was held inside Chelsea’s Cedar Lake Center, whose elegant brick walls, high ceiling and flown lighting grid, which are reminiscent of a soundstage, helped to drive home the message that Crackle is an integrated part of the SONY production operations and is actively engaged in producing the content it distributes. The venue featured a main theater as well as an adjoining reception space where guests took photos with Crackle on-air talent.

Within the concise, 60-minute program, Crackle showcased their extensive original programming in the sports, comedy, thrillers, and music categories, featuring the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, John Legend, Robert Downey Jr. and Jeremy Renner. Crackle presented itself as a dynamic and far-reaching network, actively building upon its past success and firmly focused on future growth.

In addition to securing the venue, designing the spaces, managing event logistics, catering and stage managing the complex program, Empire provided all staging and technical production support. The presentation seamlessly fused a large, main LED screen with content shown on a series of six flown plasma screens flanking the set. The stage design served as a perfect vehicle for Crackle to showcase its content for the advertisers and media in attendance.

MediaBizBlogger’s, an online blog that cover the Upfronts and NewFronts each year, gave Crackle’s NewFront a 4.5 out of 5 “Jacks” adding that the NewFront had “great attitude, flow and fun.” Cynopsis’ NewFront Poll declared Crackle’s NewFront as the winner with 65% of readers polled saying that Crackle’s NewFront was the best of this year’s presentations.

Empire continues to set the industry standard for producing outstanding presentations for clients seeking to communicate their mission, motivations and value proposition to key customers. Empire is proud to have served SONY Pictures Television and Crackle for their Digital NewFront.