Empire was thrilled to to work once again with Samsung on their annual Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest. The nationwide competition motivates students to use S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) to approach solutions to real-world issues impacting their communities. Participating students from the Top 10 schools flew to New York City from all over the country to pitch their ideas to a panel of carefully selected judges.

After months of hard work, problem-solving, and preparation, the finalists kicked off the trip pitching at Samsung 837. After welcoming remarks, the students began presenting their ideas and prototypes in front of the panel of esteemed judges. Their youthful genius was revealed through a variety of innovative solutions developed using S.T.E.M. disciplines, all of which displayed qualities of empathy, safety, forethought, and kindness.

The next day was filled with buzzing energy as the students experienced New York City from a personalized bus tour and had lunch and a milkshake at Mom’s kitchen before heading over to the Intrepid Sea Air & Space Museum, where the students, along with SFT alumni, teachers, and partners presented onstage, and at tables in Hangar 3 as part of the first Solve For Tomorrow STEMFair.

The day was full of interviews with the finalists, presentations by former contestants, and interactive displays of each prototype. A break in the program allowed students and teachers to explore the museum on private tours. When the group returned to the Hangar, the space had transitioned into a reception and awards ceremony, where, after dinner, the three winning schools were announced. Each of the ten national finalist schools were awarded $50,000 in Samsung technology, and the top three winners each won a total of $100,000 in Samsung technology.

In addition to the student programs, this year marked the premiere of the first-ever Teacher’s Academy programming. These programs demonstrate the ways teachers can ignite a passion for S.T.E.M. in their classrooms through fun, educational, hands-on projects like the Hot Air Balloon experiment demonstrated by previous teacher contestants. A panel discussion took place to further explore ways to engage youth in S.T.E.M. education. Programs for the teachers were held at Samsung 837 and on the beautiful campus of Columbia University.

Empire was humbled to again collaborate with Samsung Solve for Tomorrow to produce the final events at Samsung 837, Columbia University, and the Intrepid Sea Air & Space Museum.

To see more of the students’ work, click the link below:

https://www.samsung.com/us/solvefortomorrow/

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Target once again called on Empire to produce their 2019 Financial Community Meeting. Target reported on their 2018 earnings and growth as well as their plans for the remainder of 2019 and beyond.

Doors were opened to guests an hour prior to the start of the meeting, giving them time to dine on a catered breakfast and mingle with their peers. Opening remarks were briefly given by John Hulbert, Target’s EVP of Investor Relations. John was followed by Target CEO, Brian Cornell, who spoke on the company’s successes and growth from the past year, as well as where he would be driving Target in the future. Brian was followed by CFO Cathy Smith and COO John Mulligan, who spoke on the investments Target has made and will make, ongoing innovations that build on the durable model they have created over the past two years, and improvements that have been made and will continue to be made to their guest fulfillment services. The presentation was brought to a close with Brian Cornell, once again, taking the stage to sum up what they had spoken on that morning and to reaffirm Target’s goals for the future.

Immediately following remarks by Cornell, Hulbert, Smith, and Mulligan, CNN tweeted a link to an article that commented ‘Target had its best year [in 2018] since 2005', which truly captured the feeling in the room.

After the presentation, Cornell remained onstage for a Q&A segment where guests were given the opportunity to personally interact with Cornell and all of the other Target Leadership Team.

Following the general attendee Q&A session, select media personnel were invited to enjoy a casual lunch spread followed by a more intimate on-the-record Q&A session between the media & Cornell.

In addition to the remarks given by the Target Leadership Team, Cornell participated in one-on-one interviews with CNBC, Bloomberg, and Yahoo! Finance to further discuss their successes.

Empire worked closely with the Target Creative team to bring the brand to life in a very sleek and modern aesthetic. Guests were seated in white chairs at white tables with a Target-red agenda for the meeting, adding a splash of color to the room. Empire also fabricated a custom-built, 5-foot high by 20-foot long frosted plexiglass stage scape with a white Target bullseye to act as the backdrop onstage.

In addition to the room and stage design, Empire managed all technical aspects of the program, as well as catering, venue logistics, and permitting.

Empire is proud to once again collaborate with Target, a Fortune 50 company, to create and execute this top-tier business communication event. ​

When BALMUDA, Japan’s award-winning appliance and computer accessories manufacturer, wanted to find ways to increase their awareness to the general public, Empire was called upon to deliver.

Held at the Daikanyama T-site Gallery, Empire created an intimate pop-up shop offering curious customers the opportunity to experience BALMUDA products. This included special announcements, workshops, and live talk-shows. The three-day pop-up attracted around 3,000 people.

Empire is a proven leader of executing innovative, consumer-facing brand marketing projects across the world.​

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Known as Asia’s largest global sports media property, ONE Championship, with the help of Empire, produced the “Nielsen Presents: A New Era of Sports in Japan” conference in Tokyo.

Held at the beautiful Palace Hotel, this invitation-only conference featured exclusive data and insights about the market from Nielsen, as well as a series of engaging keynotes and panel discussions on how top sports rights holders, media, technology, and brand executives are working to usher in a new era of sports to Japan. With Japan playing host to some of the world’s largest sporting events over the next couple of years, all eyes are on Japan as it takes front and center of the global sports stage.

After the conference, the venue was transformed to a gala dinner, bringing in World Champions athletes, celebrities, and VIP guests.

Empire is proud to produce business conferences for some of the world’s leading global sports media property worldwide.

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After a 10-year hiatus, Project Runway will return to Bravo revamped and better than ever with a new host, mentor, and judges. Airing it’s 17^th season premiere, this culturally iconic television show features 16 designers showcasing their talent for fashion design in a nail-biting reality experience not to be missed. Bravo Media called on Empire to produce a highly glamorous bash to welcome the show back to its originating network.  

The momentous premiere was celebrated by the show’s judges Karlie Kloss, Christian Siriano, Brandon Maxwell, Elaine Welteroth, and Nina Garcia at Vandal in New York City. Drawing inspiration from the venue’s decor featuring world-renowned street artists, Empire designed five rooms with creative and bold activations for the 250 guests to explore. Upon entry, guests were immersed in a funhouse-inspired checkered room with Bravo’s Project Runway logo stretching across the wall in black and white. Once inside, a hallway of dress forms inspired by those used in the show drew guests into the main event spaces.

Red carpet festivities and guest arrivals were accompanied by custom stenciled cocktails and passed hors d’ouevres. A velvet curtain entrance to the next room revealed a runway with an eye-catching LED arch and floor-to-ceiling images of the judges. Among the activations were two live art performances; The Bumby’s anonymous “Fair and Honest Appraisal of Your Appearance,” and Once Upon a Laurén & Jen Mussari live-painted custom, branded make-up pouches.

Another room installation featured a full-size bar cart adorned in florals and foliage, the perfect backdrop for a celebrity and influencer photo op. The cart, surrounded by accessory walls filled with metallic heels, boxes, and notions, transported guests to the work room familiarly seen on the program.

In the main party room, guests enjoyed passed hors d’oeuvres and food stations inspired by street food from Chile and Barcelona. DJ Hannah Bronfman kept the crowd dancing all night long, especially the contestants!

Before screening the never-before-seen clip of Season 17, NBC Universal Lifestyle Networks’ President, Frances Berwick, and new Project Runway host, Karlie Kloss, gave brief remarks about the show while guests continued the fun until the end of the night.

For more on Empire’s past work with Bravo Media, please click here.

Empire is a leading producer of premieres for television, motion picture, and other media and entertainment clients.

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When adidas Japan wanted to make a statement at Atmos Con, one of Japan’s largest sneaker conventions, they call upon Empire Japan to help design and execute the perfect booth experience.

Held at Hikarie Hall Shibuya, Atmos Con brought out thousands of sneakerheads for a multi-brand retail experience featuring some of the globes most coveted kicks. This included Nike Sportswear, Asics, Manhattan Portage, Fila, Puma, and Reebok Classics.

Using one of the brands most intriguing and exciting products, the “4D”, an installation was created featuring three separate sections of the product all divided by a mesmerizing LED glass partition. The three sections included the latest ZX4000 4D, Alphahedge 4D, and some of the previously released 4D models.

Empire Japan handled all aspects of production, producing yet another successful event with adidas Japan.

To welcome their brand new product line, MAC, Empire Japan helped create a two-day spring collection preview in Tokyo.

Around 40 beauty influencers from more than 10 countries gathered during fashion week and were the first to experience the brand new MAC product line. The two-day MAC spring collection preview was filled with many instagrammable moments and exciting events around the corner.

Held at the Terrada Warehouse Case B, our influencer guests entered into a colorful lobby with four distinct doors. Each room introduced a unique new product—the art library room, the mirror sakura room, the outer space room, and the cloud room— and took our influencers to four different worlds. Make-up demonstrations, lip workshops, drinks, and specifically-designed treats also gave guests an excellent opportunity to experience and learn about the new MAC product line.

Some of the influencers were also invited to YouTube Space Tokyo to have a special make-up video created for their own YouTube channel.

Empire was responsible for the hotel coordination, transportation arrangements, logistics, venue sourcing and coordination, model casting, operation staff management, backstage management (hairstylist, seamstresses), special catering curations, giveaway productions, photography of both events which involved documenting and taking beauty portraits, video production of the event, influencer’s beauty demonstration, and talk session videos.

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For the official launch announcement of the new cruise line venture, Virgin Voyages, Sir Richard Branson and the Virgin Voyages team turned to Empire to produce an event that could support such epic news. Expanding the industry, Virgin Voyages is unlike any other cruise line to date.

To announce this exciting new endeavor, Virgin Voyages held Press Conference and High Tea events for the media and travel industry insiders–First Mates, as Virgin Voyages prefers to call them–to kick off sales for the world’s most unique and energetic ship, the Scarlet Lady.

This momentous announcement called for an equally stunning venue and program. On the 102^nd floor of the One World Observatory, Empire created a sparkling, branded atmosphere that perfectly expressed the Virgin Voyages brand while leveraging the 360-degree views of New York City.

Empire brought the Virgin Voyages brand to life by fabricating a whimsical red and white-striped ship hull and purple mirrored backdrop that acted as a branded entry statement and social media-worthy photo op. Colorful striped window clings throughout the space further emphasized the originality and playfulness of the Virgin Voyages brand.

Both the Press Conference and High Tea featured conversations between Virgin Founder, Sir Richard Branson, Tom McAlpin, Virgin Voyages President & CEO, Dee Cooper, Virgin Voyages’ SVP of Design, Nirmal Saverimuttu, Virgin Voyages’ Chief Commercial Officer, and Stacy Shaw, Virgin Voyages’ VP of Sales and Business Development. The morning’s press conference was moderated by Brian Kelly, The Points Guy, and the afternoon High Tea was kicked off by Aarti Thiagarajan of Mother, Virgin’s agency of record.

Video content showed flyover renderings of how The Scarlet Lady will come to life in early 2020, and highlighted immersive theatrical performances that will set the Virgin Voyages cruises apart from industry standards—truly ‘an epic sea change for all’!

Empire was thrilled to partner with Virgin Voyages on these groundbreaking events that effectively delivered the force of the announcement while also giving attendees a sense of the enjoyment to come.

Empire is a leading producer of launch events, campaigns, and announcements, and is proud to support innovative ventures like Virgin Voyages. To learn more, visit here.

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Empire was proud to produce CHEFS x BREEDERS, a Dinner from the Ground Up, to celebrate Row 7, a seed company co-founded last year by chef Dan Barber, plant breeder Michael Mazourek, and seedsman Matthew Goldfarb. This inventive seed-to-table dinner at Pioneer Works, visual artist Dustin Yellin’s non-profit cultural center in Brooklyn, featured world-renowned chefs, plant breeders, writers, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and friends of Row 7 for a conversation celebrating the future of food.

The collaborative menu featured new and experimental vegetables—all bred for deliciousness—prepared by renowned chefs including Dan Barber, Daniel Humm, Dan Kluger, Christian Puglisi, Heinz Reitbauer, Ana Sortun, Daniela Soto-Innes, Alex Stupak, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten. The chefs worked side-by-side in a built-from-scratch kitchen to serve more than 300 guests.

As each course was served, three large screens surrounding the transformed space showed live footage of each chef preparing and plating their dishes, transitioning into live watercolors by artist Leanne Shapton. As guests enjoyed each course, animated versions of the paintings by video artist Austin Switser filled the screens. These surround videos added vibrant color and light that reflected the future-forward work of Row 7. Floral designer Emily Thompson created sculptural floral and root installations throughout the space to create contrast and juxtaposition of materials in the space.

In addition to remarks by Barber and co-founder and breeder, Michael Mazourek, various Row 7 friends and collaborators gave toasts between each course, including writer Adam Gopnik, Martha Stewart, poet Kevin Young, and farmer activist Karen Washington.

Row 7 brings chef and breeders together to create vegetables to develop flavorful, disease-resistant crops and to push forward the conversation surrounding the intersection of seed conservation and innovation. Row 7 is “grounded in the notion that deliciousness might just change the world.”

Empire was proud to work closely with Row 7 to create this inventive dinner. Empire served as overall producer, providing technical production, lighting, screen content, scripting, and graphics, partnering with Raduno on culinary logistics and hospitality.

Empire is a leading producer of standout culinary events and experiences.

https://www.row7seeds.com/

Among the many events that happen in Las Vegas during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), MediaLink’s annual Executive Dinner is among the top tickets in town for the tech power crowd. Working closely with the teams from MediaLink and Diversified Production Services, Empire delivered Grammy Award-Winning artist, Seal, who performed an incredible 45-minute set made up of Standards classics (from his 2019 Grammy nominated album) such as “I Put a Spell on You,” and all of his greatest hits including, “Kiss From a Rose,” “Killer,” “Fly Like an Eagle,” and “Crazy,” which made the guests demand an encore!  

Alongside MediaLink’s Chairman and CEO, Michael Kassan, approximately 500 guests were in attendance. They included Katie Couric, Arianna Huffington, Pamela Drucker Mann, Bob Pittman, Martin Sorrell, Gary Vaynerchuk, and top executives from AT&T, Xandr, Adobe, Samsung, Unilever, Hulu, Google, and more.

Empire is a leading provider of celebrity talent and headline entertainment for corporate events and has worked extensively at the Consumer Electronics Show.