Empire Delivers Sumo Grand Champion and Others for Global Computer Company Incentive Program
March 2002
When a multinational computer company needed to find a special speaker with unique criteria for an incentive program in Hawaii, Empire worked with the company's chosen production company to identify an out-of-the ordinary choice that would far exceed the client's expectations. The speaker needed to appeal to employees throughout Asia but, if possible, would also have an American or Hawaiian connection. The client wanted the speaker to deliver a wow! factor but they also wanted a compelling and inspiring life story. Leveraging our connections in Japan, Empire was able to identify and deliver the highly respected, just-retired Sumo wrestling Yokozuna (Grand Champion), Akebono, to appear at the program. Akebono, an American (a Hawaiian native) and a sports celebrity in Japan on par with Michael Jordan in America, was a knockout with the hundreds of attendees, almost all of whom waited to greet the star personally after his speech. Empire is the industry's leading one-stop-shop for speakers of every genre and is the ideal resource when you are looking for 'Out-of-the-box' ideas that are hard to find on the 'usual suspects' speaker bureau lists.