Empire is keeping up by creating yet another live event, this time partnering with E!. The second weekend of March marked the drive-in premiere screening of the final season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians in Los Angeles.

Going out with a bang, the early screening of season 20 of the reigning reality television show hosted hundreds of their biggest fans at the Rose Bowl for a very exciting evening filled with glam, good food, and fun. Never-before-seen messages from Kim and Kris were aired to the very lucky audience before the premiere episode began.

Guest cars entered the event along a runway lined with huge neon gold glowing Ks. At contactless check-in points, guests were given an info flyer with a map and vouchers to pick up their complimentary KUWTK snack & swag kits filled with branded items including a steel wine tumbler, a You’re Doing Amazing Sweetie hat, and Bible mask, as well as other treats like Champagne Rosé gummy bears, popcorn, and water.

After check-in, cars headed to a drive-thru step & repeat where they could get their photos texted to their phone within seconds. Once parked, guests could access the menus of local food trucks brought in specially for the event and place orders via an app which would notify them when their food was ready for pickup.

After settling back in their cars with their snacks, swag, and food, guests played KUWTK trivia with their friends as a slideshow of fun facts from 20 seasons of this iconic show looped on the giant 50' screens.

Compliant with COVID-19 safety precautions and CDC guidelines, the event functioned at safe capacities, proper PPE was enforced, symptom screenings were conducted for staff and guests, ample signage and messaging communicated rules and regulations, bathrooms functioned at half capacity, no congregating was permitted, and COVID-safety leads were staffed on site to ensure all other regulations were successfully maintained throughout the course of the event.

Empire is a leading producer of live, hybrid, and virtual events across the globe. Production practices are held to the highest standards of safety precautions to protect our staff, attendees, and the greater community.

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Empire was proud to produce World Food Program USA’s livestreamed panel discussion entitled No Woman Left Behind: The Future of Gender Inequity and Hunger. This engaging conversation, moderated by award-winning international journalist, Femi Oke, featured Her Royal Highness, Princess Sarah Zeid of Jordan, Chef Tyler Florence, and WFP’s Director for the Gender Office, Kawinzi Muiu.

The virtual panel focused on the U.N. World Food Program’s work of fighting food insecurity and addressing how gender inequality impacts hunger. The discussion was livestreamed through a Vimeo player on the World Food Program USA’s website for hundreds of viewers.

Empire worked closely with the World Food Program USA team and served as overall producer of the virtual event, which is the second in a series of four.

Empire is a leading producer of virtual events of every kind, and has been serving not-for-profit organizations for nearly three decades.

Empire was honored to work alongside New World Symphony for their 33^rd Anniversary Virtual Gala: Brave New World, producing 25 private Zoom rooms, each with their own custom videos for New World Symphony’s top donors and VIPs.

Every unique program featured performances by premier musical artists; tailored remarks by New World Symphony’s Co-Founder and Artistic Director, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Gala Chairs, Judith Rodin and Paul Verkuil; Q&A experiences with special guests; and more.

The hour-long receptions were hosted concurrently while the global audience enjoyed individualized content, vibrant conversations, and champagne with friends before viewing the World Premiere of a film produced by Maestro Tilson Thomas.

Empire was proud to work with New World Symphony to keep the arts and entertainment alive before and enduring this pandemic. The premiere film, Anything is Possible, A New World Story, produced by New World Symphony’s Michael Tilson Thomas, was available for viewing for 72 hours following the Gala.  

Empire is a leading producer of virtual and hybrid events. We strive to deliver the same high production value and immersive interactive qualities we are known for in live events to virtual and hybrid audiences.

Bandai’s “Kamen Rider” remains one of the most popular metaseries in Japan, with annual reincarnations of the insect-motif masked superhero battling supervillains in an action-packed world. On February 10, Bandai crossed over into the fashion world launching “HENSHIN by KAMEN RIDER”, a new clothing line themed on the legendary Tokusatsu franchise.

Bandai, with the help of Empire, was responsible for the brand's online launch with a unique virtual pop-up experience. Using Empire's customizable Virtual Platform, customers were transported to the powerful 3D futuristic world of HENSHIN. With just a click, customers had the ability to move around the digital space and access to immersive promotional videos and limited edition sneakers and fashion line-ups.

Empire’s “Virtual Platform” is a highly immersive virtual space that can be used for any event including from pop-ups, exhibitions, and virtual seminars.

Official website:
https://henshin-k.bandai.co.jp/

Virtual pop-up store:
https://henshin-k.in3sixty.com/

©Ishimori Pro, Toei

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For years, CES has marked the start of a new year, setting the tone for the industry with inspirational innovations and influential insights. Rather than taking over Las Vegas, CES 2021 was an all-digital experience for the first time. Over the course of four days in January, Panasonic shared their latest innovations and services worldwide and held their own hybrid event, “CES 2021 Panasonic in Tokyo”.

Panasonic, with the help of Empire, designed and launched a special event site and user experience through online seminars, where customers had an inside look at Panasonic Group's latest innovations and services. Interested parties, whether attending virtually or physically, then had an opportunity to connect with the developers through virtual one-on-one meetings or at the exhibition hall, where all the innovations were showcased.

Empire worked with Panasonic to formulate the comprehensive user experience including the concept, planning, design, and production of the special event site, registration site, as well as edit video content and provide on-site technical production, coordination, staging, direction, and livestreaming of each seminar.

We are proud to once again work with Panasonic and continue to act as a leader in producing global IT events.

CES 2021 Panasonic in Tokyo: https://www.panasonic.com/jp/ces2021

CES 2021 Panasonic in Tokyo Teaser: https://youtu.be/R0y3Ah01EYM

MediaLink and its partners teamed up with Empire to deliver personalized insight experiences to high-level executives virtually attending this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in the second week of January 2021.

Empire worked closely with MediaLink to design and build the user-friendly virtual platform to host over 1,000 executives, marketers, and media industry professionals who look to MediaLink each year to maximize their experience at CES.

The bespoke virtual platform hosted trend sessions, board room meetings, CES-related programming, and breakout sessions over the course of the multi-day virtual conference for industry leaders to network and meet.

One of the innovative design features created for this proprietary, branded virtual conference center was a meeting lobby where attendees would show up for pre-scheduled meetings in dedicated spaces. Additionally, a virtual concierge could also place attendees into meetings in real time, curating networking and orchestrating market-making. The MediaLink Hub was also created to allow easy access for registered CES attendees.

Global brand partners tuned in for live programming that featured interactive question & answer capabilities enabling session hosts to field questions from the virtual audience in real time. In breakout sessions, media and brand partners experienced deep-dive panel discussions and engaging presentations on cutting-edge consumer technology, industry trends, and more.

Leading up to and on event days, Empire’s team of producers, creatives, and technical directors managed platform content, media, and livestreams, oversaw sessions, and handled troubleshooting for active attendees.

Empire was thrilled to work with MediaLink and is a proud producer of virtual, hybrid, and live leadership conferences, experiential marketing events, and more.

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Schmidt Futures and the Social Science Research Council hosted the Futures Forum on Preparedness to bring together health, science, and policy leaders from across the globe to debut groundbreaking research on the global COVID-19 response, reimagine the future of public health, and generate innovative, interdisciplinary solutions.

The highly informative program included six keynotes, numerous panels, one-on-one conversations with top public health leaders, and remarks by Schmidt Futures Co-Founders Eric and Wendy Schmidt. Notable speakers included Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization; Dr. Jim Yong Kim, Former President, World Bank Group; Dr. Fareed Zakaria, Host, CNN; U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME); Dr. George Gao, Director-General, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr. Vivek Murthy, Co-Chair of President-Elect Biden’s COVID-19 Advisory Board and former U.S. Surgeon General; and Dr. Matthew Hepburn, Vaccine Development Lead, Operation Warp Speed; among others.

Working on an accelerated timeline, and entirely remotely, Empire’s team of producers, creatives, and technical directors supported Schmidt Futures and the Social Science Research Council, handling logistics for more than 50 participants from around the world, technical production, and livestream broadcast into a Zoom webinar.

Schmidt Futures is a philanthropic initiative that bets early on exceptional people making the world better. The Social Science Research Council aims to foster innovative research, nurture new generations of social scientists, and mobilize necessary knowledge on important public issues.

Empire is honored to work with Schmidt Futures and support its critical mission.

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Empire was proud to partner with Every Mother Counts to produce their LoveEMC benefit. It was a special evening of community and camaraderie in support of EMC’s programs that help improve access to safe and respectful maternity care for every mother, everywhere.

Celebrating EMC’s 10-year anniversary, this virtual event was hosted by New York City’s stand-up comedian, Erin Jackson, with moving remarks by EMC’s CEO and Founder, Christy Turlington Burns. It featured special musical performances by Feist, who sang an acoustic version of “Human Touch,” the iconic Patti Smith and her daughter Jesse Paris Smith, who sang “Wing,” and all-female supergroup Latin Grammy-winners, Flor de Toloache, with their hits, “Indestructible” and “Our Love.”

In an extraordinarily challenging year, the program featured EMC’s “Delivering Hope” film series which took guests on a journey to understand and honor maternal health heroes from some of the countries where EMC works. It also showed a raw, hard-hitting, and passionate look at Birth Justice, grounded in the Black Lives Matter uprising of 2020.

From the incredible performances, moving video content, and powerful remarks, there were text to pledge moments to solicit donations as well as the launch of their silent auction hosted by Sotheby’s, which inspired the audience to give generously.

Empire worked in partnership with EMC to produce the high-level virtual experience, including shaping the run-of-show, developing original video packages, graphics, and animations, recording speakers and performances, editing all content, and managing the technical delivery of the livestream.

Empire was honored to work with EMC and support their mission to make pregnancy and childbirth safe for every mother, everywhere. To learn more and donate to EMC, please visit everymothercounts.org.

Empire is a leading producer of virtual fundraising events.​

Empire was honored to produce The Nutrition for Growth Year of Action Program Launch. The Governments of Canada and Bangladesh, in partnership with Japan and supported by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, invited the global nutrition community to convene and kick off a year of milestone events to refocus and recommit to good nutrition.

Hosted by Elizabeth Nyamayaro, former United Nations Senior Adviser on Gender Equality, over 20 speakers from 14 countries in both the public and private sectors joined the moderated discussion and presentation to champion nutrition and sustainable development. These thought leaders assembled to represent the diversity of cultures, perspectives, and fields committed to unlocking global progress.

Featured speakers in today’s program included The Honorable Karina Gould, Minister of International Development, Canada; The Honorable Zahid Maleque, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Bangladesh;  Assistant Minister Ono Keiichi, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan; Henriette Fore, Executive Director, UNICEF;  Mamta Murthi, Vice President for Human Development, The World Bank; Melinda Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Joel Spicer, President & CEO, Nutrition International; and Andrew Morley, CEO World Vision International, among others.

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Empire was honored to be selected by New York Public Radio (NYPR) to produce a series of three virtual events to support NYPR’s programming. For the first event, Empire collaborated with NYPR to produce the inaugural Lehrer Prize for Community Well-Being, which was established in honor of Peabody Award-winning host Brian Lehrer for his 30^th anniversary on-air with WNYC.

The Lehrer Prize aims to recognize a standout idea, individual, effort, or group that contributed meaningfully to improving the quality of life in the New York City region. During the program, Mr. Lehrer featured three award nominees, each with their remarkable story told through a mini-documentary video followed by a live conversation with Mr. Lehrer through Zoom. The 2020 award nominees included Allison James-Frison, Founder of Girls; Live, Love, Laugh, Inc., which helps girls ages 6 to 16 in the Newark area achieve sustainable health and happiness early on in their lives; Pedro Rodriguez, Executive Director of La Jornada, a food pantry in Queens which scaled up during the pandemic despite the risks to feed 10,000 families per month; and the winner of the Lehrer Prize, Heather Butts, Co-Founder and Executive Director of H.E.A.L.T.H. for Youths, whose attention is on the imperative need for wholistic approaches to healthy living, especially focused on young adults 18-21 who’ve grown out of foster care, public schools, and other support systems.

The program was emceed by WQXR host, Terrance McKnight, and included a special conversation with chef and humanitarian, José Andrés, Founder of World Central Kitchen; remarks from Goli Sheikholeslami, President and CEO of New York Public Radio; a musical performance by Violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins, President and Founder of Music Kitchen, with Pianist Donna Weng Friedman; and an upbeat “Thank You” montage comprised of video submissions featuring the many faces of show hosts from sister stations WNYC and WQXR radio.

Empire collaborated with NYPR on the production of the program, and scripted and produced the mini-documentary videos highlighting the work of the three award nominees. The mix of pre-recorded and live segments was streamed through NYPR’s studio The Greene Space to a Lehrer Prize event page, designed and built by Empire for the virtual event and hosted on the New York Public Radio website.

Empire is a proud producer of virtual, hybrid, and live programs and fundraisers, thought leadership conferences, experiential marketing events, and more. Click here to make a donation to New York Public Radio.