Grey Celebrates 100 Years
Global advertising and powerhouse marketing agency, Grey, launched its year-long centennial celebration with a kick-off week featuring a mix of business meetings as well as celebratory social events. Grey called upon Empire to produce three of their biggest events for the week.
Grey welcomed agency leaders from around the world with a reception and seated dinner in the Whitney Museum of American Art. After remarks by Debby Reiner, CEO of Grey New York, Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer of P&G, and Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, guests had the chance to explore the Whitney. During dinner, Jim Heekin, Chairman and CEO of Grey Global, unveiled the gorgeous, warm red coffee table book profiling Grey’s first 100 years. These books were also showcased on bookshelves spanning the Whitney lobby. Michael Houston, Grey Global President, revealed the commemorative Grey centennial logo – one that celebrates the colorful, diverse minds of Grey's 5,000 global employees by turning scans of their brainwaves into art. A video also introduced Grey's Rising Stars, recognizing young talent and their worldwide contributions to the agency.
The 68th floor of 4 World Trade Center was the perfect setting for the Global Meetings. Floor-to-ceiling windows provided an expansive 360° backdrop of skyline views while executives attended keynotes and breakout sessions. To balance the sun-filled venue, window tints were customized with elements of the Grey centennial logo to add another layer of branding and dimension to the space. Similar vinyls also subtly called out iconic New York City landmarks for newcomers.
The Centennial Gala dinner at Madison Square Park concluded the week of events. Guests enjoyed cocktails inside elegant tents surrounding the main bar set up in the central fountain, while DJ Lina provided music throughout the evening. The clear expansive dinner tent featured a stunning ceiling installation of sheer fabric panels printed with Centennial graphics. The dinner program featured comedic throwbacks to some of Grey's most famous ads, and presented awards to teams behind iconic campaigns featuring Volvo, Gillette, the E*TRADE baby, the Swedish Number, and more. As part of the future-facing announcements, Houston introduced the UNICEF + Grey Global Kids Council, vowing to drive social change by working together with the next generation to solve cultural challenges with creative solutions.
Additional visual aesthetics and brand messaging were creatively integrated into the event. Floral arrangements in the warm red tones found in theGrey logo were displayed in modern vessels to offset and match the monochromatic, minimal, and geometric designs of furniture and table settings. Red colors were also featured in the custom-designed "brainwave" barback drop and sculptural dinner centerpieces cut from acrylic panels.
Empire is proud to collaborate with Grey to celebrate their monumental achievement and reveal a commemorative visual identity for the 2017 Centennial year – highlighting Grey’s global range of creative perspectives and solutions in creating Famously Effective work.
Guests received their first taste of technological innovation at registration, where they were welcomed by name on a reactive LED screen installation covering the full width of the entry wall. A large lunch café was created with a décor scheme that incorporated custom-built, ceiling-high steel LED frames draped with foliage to create smaller, intimate restaurant-style spaces that displayed both technology and nature.
A series of breakout sessions presented content targeted to attendees’ varied interests, while imagery displayed throughout the venue showcased real-life applications of how products designed to empower developers help to unleash the power of data and reimagine possibilities that will improve our world.
Every element of Microsoft Connect(); from registration, breakfast and keynote, to lunch and evening cocktails, were custom-designed to communicate exacting brand messaging and to deliver a high-touch guest experience to this important audience. The keynote and breakout sessions were livestreamed through an onsite studio built for this purpose and content was watched online by millions around the world.
Empire is proud to collaborate with Microsoft on this annual, top-tier business communication event.
To view excerpts of Connect(); 2017, please visit https://www.microsoft.com/connectevent
