When wedding planners, JOWY Productions, received the request from a bride-to-be to surprise her future husband with his favorite musician, they turned to Empire Entertainment to deliver Elvis Costello for the occasion.Taking place outdoors, amongst the mountains of Park City, UT the intimate wedding reception called for a solo performance by the Grammy award winning, and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member.After an introduction by the bride, Elvis took to the stage, as the groom, (whose family describes at the worlds biggest Elvis Costello fan) nearly dropped to the floor. After the initial shock wore off, the groom joined his bride on the dance floor, directly in front of Elvis as he began to perform his 6-song set. The crown sang along as he performed his hits including “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes,” “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding,” and “Every Day I Write the Book.” Songs that made a huge splash included the jazz classic, “Makin’ Whoopee!” and “Alison,” where Elvis changed the lyrics to include the bride’s name. Towards the end of the set, Elvis got the entire wedding party up on the dance floor as he performed an exciting version of “Pump it Up.”Following his performance, Elvis participated in an intimate meet & greet with the bride, groom, and their immediate family. Elvis also signed their wedding guest book, as well as a drum skin for the groom, who drums along to the Elvis Costello classics at home.Empire was responsible for negotiating, contracting and arranging travel and accommodations for Elvis Costello, as well as working with the wedding planner to coordinate all schedules, logistical and technical aspects of his performance, while keeping the performance a secret.Empire Entertainment is a leading producer of private and corporate events in the U.S. and around the world.

When a longtime Empire client and notable Russian family sought to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary in New York City, they turned to Empire to serve as their producer. The event at the historic Metropolitan Club on Fifth Avenue and 60th Street was attended by an audience of over 200 Russian oligarchs, political figures and celebrities, and included over a dozen performances by many of Russia's and the world's biggest stars.

The evening began with an elegant cocktail reception in the Metropolitan Club's Great Hall with its marble walls, imposing staircase and lavish ornamentation. The anniversary couple greeted and posed for photos with arriving guests in a receiving line while a team of Russian hostesses received gifts from the attendees. At the center of the Great Hall, a large bar stood with giant ice sculptures formed to create ice buckets for magnums of champagne. After the cocktail reception, guests moved upstairs into the President's Ballroom where Empire had created an elegant dinner setting. Guests were seated at the lavish tables, each set with custom-made gold and salmon-colored damask linens and chair covers, gold plates, glassware & flatware, hemstitched napkins embroidered with the family crest and ornate floral displays of peach, yellow and pink roses.

The program began with welcome remarks by emcee and Russian television star Yana Churikova who conducted the entire evening's program in Russian. Yana then introduced a video about the couple that set the theme for the evening. Since the couple met at a train station, the video and the segments of the evening would each reflect a different 'station' of their lives including periods in Tajikistan, Europe, Israel the the United States. Performances included a 45 minute set by International superstar Julio Iglesias and his full band, Russian crooner Alexander Kogan, Lev Leshchenko, hockey player Vladislav Tretiak and ethnic performers from Tajikistan. At the conclusion of the dinner, a surprise performance by a real Gipsy orchestra of singers and dancers got the guests on their feet and led them to the extraordinary, historic West Lounge that Empire had transformed into a nightclub cabaret.

On one end of the room Empire had created a huge proscenium stage finished with architectural details that perfectly matched the room, a large custom dance floor featuring the family crest and cabaret seating at tables appointed with burgundy and gold linens and chair covers and, red flowers with red, Baccarat-style cut glass votives. The candle and pinspot-lit tables gave off a gorgeous red & gold glow beneath the gorgeous ceiling frescoes. Yana Churikova then introduced the last surprise performance of the evening, the legendary Diana Ross, who performed a 45-minute set of her greatest hits including "I'm Coming Up," "Mr. Postman," and "You Can't Hurry Love," that had the entire audience dancing.

For this ambitious program, Empire was responsible for overseeing every detail from event design and decor to production, staging, talent logistics, stage management, catering planning, staffing and flow. Joining the project was decor partner Colin Cowie Lifestyle and the Metropolitan Club provided extraordinary service.Empire is a leading producer of private events, parties and milestone celebrations and has worked extensively for many of Russia's most prominent families.

When a powerful headline performer was needed for the closing night of a week-long meeting, Benchmarc360, Inc. worked with their strategic entertainment partner, Empire to contract and deliver the legendary Sammy Hagar for a high-energy hard rock show. With his backing band The Wabos, the former Van Halen frontman performed a surprise 60-minute set at the Gaylord Palms convention center for the client's 1,500 guests. The performance included all of his greatest hits, such as "I Can't Drive 55", "Right Now", "Why Can't This Be Love", "Mas Tequila", "(There's Only) One Way To Rock", "Finish What Ya Started", as well as a medley of Montrose songs. Sammy Hagar and the audience were having so much fun that he added an impromptu second encore, covering the Beastie Boys' "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)". Following the extraordinary concert, Sammy Hagar participated in a Meet & Greet and photo-op with approximately 30 of client’s VIPs, including the CEO of the company. Empire has been recommending, securing, and producing headline entertainment for private events since its inception in 1993. We pride ourselves on suggesting the best possible entertainers for our clients based on their attendees, budgets, and event objectives.

Bravo’s new series, Around the World in 80 Plates, took the culinary competition across the globe, with layovers in exotic destinations that included Morocco, Thailand and Argentina.

To celebrate its debut season and to provide a sneak peek into the highly-anticipated finalé episode, Bravo engaged Empire to design and produce an original event to transport guests around the world.

In response to the client's brief to create an event that would transport guests throughout the evening to different locations around the world, Empire developed a plan to transform the cocktail party space by building three large circular turntable stages—each decorated with three foreign vignettes—that rotated on cue with dancers, live musicians and of course, delicious food from around the world.

The first hour featured a scene of the French countryside set with cheese & charcuterie boards, a “fiery” brick pizza oven in Italy and live flamenco guitarists in Barcelona’s Plaza Real. Speciality cocktails, peach prosecco bellinis & Spanish tapas-inspired hors d’oeuvres were also passed to guests.

A duet by flamenco dancers focused the crowd as the lead-in to executive remarks and a sneak peek reel for the show’s upcoming finale. Hosts Curtis Stone & Cat Cora took the stage to unveil the “journey” around the world, commencing with a spirited Chinese lion dance that wove through the crowd. Guests were then delighted as the French vignette rotated to reveal a Hong Kong dumpling stand. Italy turned into a tropical beach serving Thai satay & noodles and Barcelona simultaneously transformed into India, complete with the sounds from sitar and tabla musicians. By the time guests were onto their 2nd helping of cocktail-of-the-hour Mango Mumbai, DJ Aaron James began to drop in Punjabi beats and a troupe of Bhangra dancers poured into the room for a choreographed Bollywood routine.

For the third act, Brazilian samba percussionists emerged from the back of the room as the stages rotated once more, this time revealing Morocco dishing up savory falafel and Buenos Aires serving assorted spicy empanadas. A duo of capoeira dancers tumbled & sparred by the stage -- now a lively street scene from Brazil set with shimmering streamers and bistro lights. To continue to spice up the evening, a pair of alluring dancers, dazzling in sparkles & feathered headdresses, took to the floor to top off the grand Carnival finale.

In addition to all of the live entertainment, Empire designed interactive games for adventurous guests. At the “Guess & Flip” game, contestants were presented with a wall of photos from foreign locales visited on the show and were asked to guess the country. At “Taste the Exceptional Ingredient,” blindfolded participants had to touch, smell or taste mystery ingredients to test whether their palate knew its exotic flavors.

All of the evening’s vignettes were fully designed with a mix of prop scenery, authentic furniture, and fresh cut flora & foliage. While France featured a floor of live grass, the beaches of Thailand were powdery white sand. Guests even jumped onto the vignettes as the evening progressed, enjoying the spirit of the evening that only comes from great food and music.Every component of the evening contributed to a completely immersive and international experience, as guests were able to taste the cuisine, touch the vignettes, hear live musicians, and see vibrant dance performances.Empire Entertainment provided full event production services including concept development, décor design and renderings, event layout, live entertainment, run-of-show development, graphic design, catering coordination, audio/visual management, logistics, and onsite management.

Empire was thrilled to once again work with Bravo, who constantly pushes event-innovation to deliver memorable experiences for clients and fans.

One of the toughest challenges when selecting a business speaker is finding someone with truly global appeal. Empire was presented with such a challenge by a global technology company, who looked to present a speaker that would appeal to an audience comprised of attendees from over 140 countries. To answer this challenge, Empire recommended a speaker that Time magazine heralds as one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century, the founder of The Chopra Foundation and the Chopra Center for Wellbeing, Dr. Deepak Chopra. As an author of more than 65 books, that have been translated into 35 languages and sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, Dr. Chopra’s international recognition and profile as “one of the pre-eminent leaders of the mind-body-spirit movement” were the perfect fit. In the center of an audience of over 12,000 people at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada, Deepak Chopra circled the stage as he delivered a 15-minute keynote and participated in a 10-minute moderated Q&A discussion with a company executive, where he covered the topics of Leadership, Spiritual Solutions: Answers to life’s great challenges, and The Future of Wellbeing . The Future of wellbeing speaks to the world as it is today and the importance of wellbeing in all aspects of life: Spiritual, Physical, Economic, Career and Social. One of the highlights of the presentation was when Dr. Chopra spoke on the impact of digital and social media and the impact it is having on our wellbeing, which really rang true to the global technology audience that surrounded him. Following his presentation, Dr. Chopra participated in a meet & greet session with VIP guests and client senior management. Empire handled the negotiation and contracting of Dr. Deepak Chopra’s services, coordination of all logistics, including precision international arrival and departure planning between Dr. Chopra’s teaching schedule in Chicago, and his radio show in New York, as well as all onsite management.Empire is proud to present many of the world’s leading speakers and is a leading source for keynote speakers of global stature.

Following a successful installation in Los Angeles, renowned advertising firm Crispin Porter & Bogusky turned to Empire to recreate a unique consumer promotion for their client Old Navy in New York City & Tokyo. With well-established offices in both cities and a strong background in producing consumer-facing stunt activity in high traffic areas, Empire was the perfect activation partner for this project.

The purpose of the 3-city event was to generate public awareness of the Old Navy brand as the trendsetter in summer fashion and footwear.

The concept for the project was to create a giant, 10 ton ice cube with hundreds of colorful Old Navy flip-flops frozen inside. Through the course of the hot summer day, the ice would melt, thus freeing the flip-flops for the public to take. In New York, Empire took over the north side of East 17th Street at Union Square to install the mammoth 7' square block of ice. During the course of the day, thousands of passersby interacted with the ice block and got into the spirit of summer by participating in hula hoop competitions for prizes.In New York Empire assisted provided all onsite production supervision and staffing. Empire also assisted with venue selection, coordinated with the ice vendor, staffed and trained a team of brand ambassadors, produced custom 4-sided signage and provided onsite management of the event.In Tokyo, the event coincided with the grand opening of the first Old Navy store in Japan -- at Odaiba's premier shopping mall DiverCity Tokyo Plaza. Building the ice block at this prime location garnered an thousands of interactions and brand impressions over the course of the day. Empire's New York City and Tokyo offices oversaw every aspect of the Tokyo event including venue selection & acquisition, sourcing of and coordination with the local ice vendor, staffing and training a team of brand ambassadors, production of custom 4-sided signage, event budgeting, translation, cultural consulting, and onsite management of the event. Empire also worked closely with the Old Navy and Gap Japan clients to ensure effective communication amongst all parties in the United States and Japan.With abundant international resources, Empire Entertainment is a proven leader of executing innovative, consumer-face brand marketing projects across worldwide markets.

2012 marked the second year of Empire's partnership with Games for Change, and the ninth year of the G4C festival, itself. This year, festival-goers enjoyed more than 50 presentations — over three days and in four different venues — staged by the game industry's best and brightest. Outside the various conference rooms and auditoriums, presenters and attendees mingled and matched. Highlights of the 2012 Games For Change Festival included an awards ceremony honoring the best socially-conscious games of the year, an arcade where attendees could play the nominated games, and a keynote presentation by Atari founder and one of "The 50 Men Who Changed America", Nolan Bushnell.Games for Change is the leading global advocate for the development of games that contain and promote educational and social messaging. The Games For Change Festival is the cornerstone in the organization's event calendar.Empire is a leading producer of festival and not-for-profit programs.

To support the fast-growing music subscription service, Spotify, Empire again worked the Spotify press team to produce an innovative event in Los Angeles at West Hollywood’s Andaz Hotel.Hosted by recording artist and Spotify Artist-in-Residence, D.A. Wallach, the event would draw attention to announce the release of Spotify's Artists Apps, allowing users to navigate through the extensive 16 million song library by choosing options hand-picked by artists and music experts.

One of the newly-released Artists Apps was curated by the multi-Grammy winning-producer, Quincy Jones. In attendance for the launch was the man himself. Bruno Mars led a discussion with the legendary Jones about his decades-in-the making catalog and creative processes. Quincy spoke to the intimate crowd of 200 about his upbringing and his illustrious career.Closing out the event was a performance from 10-year-old piano prodigy, Emily Bear, hand selected by Jones as a rising star in the music industry.

Empire is the leading producer of innovative product launches and announcements and is a leading event marketing agency to some of today’s fastest-growing Internet and media brands.

More than 1,000 people stopped by Openhouse Gallery in NoLIta, New York to check out “The 2012 Korea Cosmetic Bliss,” a pop-up event showcasing top Korean cosmetic brands and healthcare services. The Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), a Korean Government Agency based in New York City, partnered with Empire Entertainment to host this one-day event introducing Korea’s leading beauty products and services to the fashionable New Yorkers. The Korean companies that were introduced at this event were AMOREPACIFIC, LG Household & Healthcare Missha, and AIIN for cosmetics; and Seoul National University Hospital, Bliss Acupuncture Wellness Center, JK Plastic Surgery, Koreana Pacific, and Face Laser Clinic for healthcare. Vita 500 was the sponsored beverage of the day.The event was full of activities for the attendees to enjoy. 10 different companies had their own booth where the attendees received goodie bags, purchased select items for a special discount, and took complimentary health consultations. There were also makeup artists in the salon area who helped the attendees try out the featured cosmetics for free. Guests who wanted to find out more detail on the products and services were able to attend seminar programs in the video room conducted by the participating companies. A lounge with comfortable seating and pillows were provided for anyone who needed breaks in between.The promotional street team who were the beauty ambassadors of the event dressed up in Korean traditional outfits called “hanbok” and played a big part in attracting many weekend SoHo shoppers and a wide variety of New Yorkers. One of the most popular attractions was the crane machine filled with cosmetics which had a constant line of guests waiting to try out this game and win free gifts. At last, the most valuable products and gift cards were given out to 13 attendees who won the raffle.Empire Entertainment partnered with KHIDI on every creative and logistical aspect of the event, starting from concept, flyer design, venue rental, interior design, provision of staff and street team, crane machine, branding & signage, and more.

Gentlemen Jack put the BAR into BARbershop this June by taking over elite grooming lounges in Manhattan, Washington DC, Chicago, and Dallas. With a nod to an earlier era of Gentlemen's Lounges and Speakeasy culture, guests received gratis luxury grooming services, delicious southern bites, and an array of specialty cocktails featuring the Rare Tennessee Whiskey. Each BARbershop was custom-designed to suit each market and venue and presented a unique experience for the consumer. Gentleman Jack spread word of the event through a strategic social media campaign combined with well positioned and well appointed street teams in each market driving hundreds through each storefront in a matter of 5 hours.Unlike any other whiskey in the world, Gentleman Jack Rare Tennessee Whiskey is charcoal mellowed twice – once before it goes into the barrel and again after it fully matures. The result is an exceptionally smooth whiskey with a rich, rewarding taste. Jack Daniel’s is the maker of the world-famous Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 Tennessee Whiskey, Gentleman Jack Rare Tennessee Whiskey, Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Tennessee Whiskey, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey-based Ready-to-Drink Beverages and Jack Daniel’s Country Cocktails.