Our Work

When Radical Media developed their plans for an ambitious television commercial for client EA Sports, their creative called for a shoot in several locations depicting football's biggest names playing Madden 11 alongside people throughout the country in spontaneous situations.The locations ranged from high school football fields to fire stations and college dorms but the high impact shot required a location that was familiar to all and one that would convey the magnitude of the Games popularity. The natural choice: New York's Times Square.

Radical Media turned to Empire Entertainment to navigate the site selection and permitting of a portion of Broadway and Duffy Square in Times Square and, working with a variety of New York City agencies, Empire was able to deliver this unique location.The shoot featured Quarterback Drew Brees arriving in Times Square via tour bus with cheerleaders in tow and then challenging pedestrians and tourists to play Madden 11. The spontaneous game play was projected onto one of Times Square's massive video billboards. Thousands of bystanders and tourists gathered to fill in the frame for the exciting, spontaneous commercial shoot.For this project Empire supported Radical Media with site selection, permitting and acuisition, site management, tenting, logistics coordination, tchnical management of the connectivity between the center of Times Square and the video billboard and other support services.To view the final commercial: Click Here

Empire is a producing partner in a variety of broadcast and commercial productions.

How do you entertain an audience with invitees such as Michael Jordan, Tony Romo, Dan Quayle, Stone Phillips, Jerry Rice, Don Cheadle, and other luminaries? When NBC Sports was faced with that challenge, they turned to Adam Kahan, Senior Vice President of Empire Entertainment. For more than 20 years, NBC has broadcast the Annual American Century Championship, a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe with a field comprised of major celebrities from the world of sports, film, and television. While the participants play their 18 holes during each day of the tournament, it is up to NBC to also produce evening events to entertain the players. And NBC has been partnering with Empire since 2006 for headline entertainers who will fit both the audience and the event budget.

In 2010, NBC needed two nights of headline comedy, and Adam recommended two of his favorite performers: legendary funnyman Brian Regan, and Seth Meyers, head writer of SNL as well as host of “Weekend Update”. Regan has been an Empire favorite for years, consistently proving he provides the biggest belly-laughs in the business by any performer whose material is always 100% clean. And he proved it again for NBC Sports and American Century, with the client calling his performance a “homerun”.Seth Meyers has more recently become one of Empire’s go-to performers, both for straight standup comedy, as well as for hosting engagements. His standup is sophisticated and hilarious, and his incredibly quick wit and ability to ad lib on the fly make him an ideal host for awards ceremonies and other long-running programs. Empire has secured Seth for projects ranging from hosting The Webby Awards in 2008 & 2009, to hosting & industrial video projects for one of the world's largest technology companies. Adam recommended Seth Meyers for the American Century Championship primarily due to his penchant for doing customized material at the start of his shows. Seth’s comedy about golf generally as well as his jokes about specific personalities in the room brought the house down and set the tone for a second fantastic night of comedy.

Empire Entertainment has been recommending and securing comedians and other headline performers since its inception in 1993. Having presented performers including Jerry Seinfeld, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Ray Romano, Dave Chappelle, Jon Stewart, and dozens more for our clients, we take pride in matching the best possible performer to each event, according to the audience demographic, budget, client goals, and other specific factors.

When one of the world's most sophisticated corporations sought a globally-recognized keynote speaker to personify the message of partnership at their annual client conference, they once again turned to Empire Entertainment to recommend appropriate candidates. The chosen keynote speaker would need to be globally-known, possess the oratory mastery to hold the attention of an audience of almost 10,000 people, be able to both entertain and inspire, and also deliver important messages that would reinforce and underscore the content delivered by business speakers earlier in the program. Empire recommended and ultimately delivered the President William Jefferson Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, the first Democrat to be awarded two terms in six decades, and a leader whose administration created more than 22 million jobs and presided over the longest period of economic expansion and prosperity in U.S. history.

President Clinton’s inspiring & entertaining keynote remarks, and moderated question & answer session met the client's objectives perfectly. The President’s anecdotal and often humorous remarks about his work with the Clinton Global Initiative and the Clinton Foundation kept the huge audience deeply engaged and the substance of his remarks complemented the overall meeting content perfectly. Prior to his presentation, President Clinton participated in a meet & greet session with client’s VIPs from around the world. Whether you require a motivator, an inspirational speaker, an expert speaker or just someone to engage the audience, Empire is the ideal one-stop-shop for every type of keynote speaker.

In June 2010 Empire Entertainment produced the 14th Annual Webby Awards, . This marked the 6th consecutive year Recognition Media LLC chose to partner with Empire on the project which has been referred to as "the Internet’s Highest Honor" by the New York Times. The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence in web design, creativity, usability and functionality. The event is perhaps best known for allowing winners just 5 words for their acceptance speeches, which has led to many touching, hilarious, and creative moments over the years. On the night of the event, more than 900 of the best and the brightest minds on the net came to Cipriani Wall Street to honor and be honored for their contributions to the World Wide Web.

The gala kicked off with a cocktail reception, during which over 100 Webby winners were invited to film their five-word speeches. These speeches (as well as many of the highlights from the event) were then uploaded to the Webby Awards YouTube channel later that same evening (you can see all of the speeches and highlights at www.youtube.com/webby Empire secured B.J. Novak from “The Office” to host the event. In his opening remarks, Novak proved why he is one of the NBC hit show’s head-writers, remarking on the irony of the New York Times receiving an award from the internet “the very thing that threatened to destroy it”, and adding “who knows, maybe next year we’ll see the environment accepting an award from BP.”Novak's energy and humor throughout the night kept the ceremony light and entertaining, as did some hilarious videos created especially for the event by The Onion and some of the cast from the VH1 hit show, "Best Week Ever".

Novak introduced many winners to deliver their brief speeches from the stage, including Buzz Aldrin, Lisa Kudrow, Arianna Huffington, Animal from the famed "Muppet Show" (who proceeded to attenpt to eat the trophy), Isabella Rossellini, and more.The biggest winners of the evening included the band OK Go! Who were honoured as the Film & Video Artist of the Year, Saturday Night Live’s Amy Poehler (who was presented with the Best Actress Award by husband Will Arnett and friend Jason Bateman), and Zach Galifinakis as Best Actor. In one of the evening’s great moments, PS22, a children’s chorus that had achieved millions of YouTube hits for their renditions of current pop and R&B hits was introduced as Artist of the Year by one of their heroes, Ne-Yo. They then proceeded to bring the house down by performing their take on one of Ne-Yo’s biggest hits “Closer”.

And in one of the most poignant moments at the event in recent years, Jimmy Fallon (who had been honoured as the Webby 2009 Person of Year) presented the 2010 Person of the Year Award to renowned film critic Roger Ebert. Ebert had recently survived a well-chronicled and very difficult battle with cancer, a battle that left him without vocal chords and able to talk only through a computer which now provides his voice. Ebert received a standing ovation from the audience who were not disappointed when Ebert delivered only a three-word acceptance speech: “Veni, Vidi, Vici” (which translates from Latin to “I came, I saw, I conquered”.But perhaps the most exciting and inspiring acceptance speech of the evening was delivered by the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Vinton Cerf. Cerf, now Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google, Cerf is widely considered "Father of the Internet”,and got a roar fro the crowd when he took the podium and announced “You ain’t seen nothing yet”. Empire Entertainment again provided oversight of nearly every element of this complex event, including signage, catering, décor, registration, staffing, audio, video, stage set & lighting designs, stage management, and more.

Empire is a leading producer and/or partner on many Awards events each year, including the The Gotham Awards, The PR Week Awards, and The Executive Council Ten Awards. We take pride in clients such as Recognition Media who choose to work with us annually on their most important projects.

The third annual Internet Week New York festival featured over 200 events around New York City between June 7-14, 2010. The founders of the event entrusted Empire Entertainment to produce the many events that took place at the festival headquarters at the Metropolitan Pavilion.The ground floor of the Pavilion was divided into two sides, one of which was set up as a full theater for conferences and presentations, and the other as a digital playground where sponsors including Yahoo!, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Pepsico, IAB, Southwest Airlines, Aquent, AOL, and many others showed off new technologies, and set up incredible installations that drew the attention of thousands of attendees over the course of the week.

The HQ kicked off on Monday, June 7th with a private preview for dozens of members of the press who turned up and wrote glowing reviews in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many more national outlets. The preview was immediately followed by an HP press conference where Vyomesh (VJ) Joshi, the head of Hewlett-Packard’s $24 billion printing empire, showed off the company’s brand new ePrint technology that allows users to email documents from smartphones directly to printers that immediately print the attachments.The HQ was then opened to the public who were able to enjoy the HP sponsored Media Center, images on a 17’ x 12’ media wall provided by Yahoo, demonstrations of Microsoft Expression design technology, and many stimulating keynote speakers and panels taking place on the Broadcast Stage while they relaxed with a snack and a beverage in the Pepsico lounge.

Meanwhile, in the theater side of the Pavilion, Microsoft held a two-hour conference highlighting the new features of Microsoft Expression, the company’s design software. After a very quick turnaround in the roon, the Yahoo! “Provoke Summit” featured a keynote presentation by viral marketing guru Ze Frank and stimulating panel discussions on the future of social media. Pepsico also utilized the theater portion of the Pavilion later in the week for the launch of “The #Promise” - an initiative to advance the best ideas for how companies and consumers can work together to address pressing global challenge.

The conference was a full-day live-streamed affair, featuring presentations by GE, MTV, and Nokia, as well as a keynote presentation by Hollywood star Ed Norton in which he announced new online charitable initiative “Crowdrise” which he called “pretty much the most fun you can have making a difference without taking any illegal substances.” “The #Promise” conference also featured live Twitter feeds to the video screens which flanked the stage allowing observers in the audience at the HQ as well as those watching via live stream to comment on what the presenters were addressing, and allowing the speakers to respond. Each day at the HQ culminated with cocktail parties sponsored by IAB, Yahoo!, Blip.com, Ignite, and Internet Week New York itself.Empire oversaw the 3rd Annual Internet Week New York festival headquarters from conception to completion, coordinating registration for the thousands of guests, stage managing and producing all of the presentations in the theater and on the Broadcast Stage, and managing the event sponsors from the design process for their footprints in the space and all of their needs from load-in to load-out.

Empire is proud to produce Internet Week New York, and to provide production support to other festivals including The New York Film Festival, The World Science Festival, The Tribeca Family Festival, and more.

The World Science Festival, co-founded by Brian Greene and Tracy Day has a mission "to cultivate and sustain a general public informed by the content of science, inspired by its wonder, convinced of its value, and prepared to engage with its implications for the future."Following a successful inaugural Festival in 2008 and follow up in 2009, Empire was thrilled to once again be chosen to produce and manage production of over thirty major programs throughout seven New York City & Brooklyn venues in a span of just four days. The 2010 World Science festival culminated with an all-day outdoor Street Festival in and around Washington Square Park.

This years diverse programming appealed to all demographics and included moderated panel discussions with some of the most brilliant scientific minds today. Some of the many participants and moderators in this years' World Science festival programs included John Hockenbery, Sylvia Earle, Marc Hauser, Michio Kaku, Charlie Kaufman, Lawrence Krauss, Robert Krulwich, Oliver Sacks, Richard Besser, Alan Alda, Elizabeth Vargas, Brian Greene, and many others. This year's festival also included an original production of Icarus at the Edge of Time, written by Brian Greene, composed by Philip Glass, and moderated by Liev Schreiber and the popular World Science Festival Street Fair in Washington Square Park.

The response to this year's World Science Festival was phenomenal. Thousands ofpeople participated in the Festival's events and programs, with lines again wrapping around city blocks for possible stand-by tickets to the many sold-out programs.As in previous years, Empire's support on the project included technical and stage management of seven venues including oversight of set design & construction, sound, lighting, video playback and technical direction for programs that were often technically challenging due to the nature of the content and technology.The World Science Festival project is an ideal example of Empire's capability to act as a behind the scenes partner on all types and sizes of programs, including multiple-day festivals.Empire Entertainment was once again proud to serve as the production partner for the World Science Festival.

To celebrate the 10th Anniversary of O Magazine, The Hearst Corporation planned and presented the Live Your Best Life Weekend in New York City. The centerpiece of the weekend’s events was a one night only, one-woman original show featuring none other than Oprah Winfrey herself. For this major undertaking, Hearst Corporation and Executive Producer Scott Sanders Productions partnered with Empire Entertainment to serve as the production company. The original show traced the arc of Oprah’s life & career, was written by Oprah Winfrey and directed by renowned theatrical director George C. Wolfe. The show was be supported by a ‘living magazine’ backdrop of projected visual media created by Batwin + Robin.

The show, performed live before a full house, was also taped for use on oprah.com and potential future broadcast.On the evening of Saturday, May 8, the O Magazine 10th Anniversary show took place and Oprah Winfrey bought down the house with her powerful, moving show. The presentation featured Oprah talking about all aspects of her life and career, and featured much rare imagery on three large projection panels. At the end of the program the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes came onstage to perform a number and brought out a cake that revealed Hugh Jackman who led the entire house in singing “Happy Birthday.” In the midst of planning this already substantial production, Oprah's production company, Harpo, decided to take this opportunity to also bring The Oprah Winfrey Show to Radio City Music Hall. Responding quickly to this major shift in plans, Empire worked closely with the Oprah Winfrey Show to support the extensive needs of their production within a single, unified production design.

In addition to Oprah Winfrey, the show featured a live performance by Christina Aguilera and, for the first time, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Phil, Suze Orman, and Nate Berkus all shared the stage together on one live program. The show also featured actress Cybill Shepherd and her daughters, Ariel Oppenheim and Clementine Ford, who participated in a "Mother Daughter" fashion segment. For the O Magazine 10th Anniverary show, Empire managed a wide portfolio of responsibilities including production design, technical direction, venue coordination, set design & construction, lighting design, staging and set, audio, lighting, video projection, music supervision, camera and broadcast facilities, all labor coordination, contracting and payroll, performer releases and rights clearances, street permitting, front of house logistics, backstage arrangements and even facilitated a live radio broadcast by Gayle King and Oprah Radio.

Empire is a leading production company in the field of staging live, broadcast events.

Each year Google, Inc. invites kids from all over the U.S. to create their own versions of the Google logo – the ubiquitous six letters that appears on millions of desktops everyday, all over the world. The contest culminates with Google flying 40 finalists to New York City to attend a grand event in their honor. The event is called “Doodle4Google”. This year, Google enlisted Empire Entertainment to design and execute Doodle4Google, one of the marquee events in their marketing event stable. Doodle4Google 2010 began with a celebration of the kids’ work at an awards ceremony at Google’s New York headquarters. A panel of judges, which included Sesame Street star Elmo, gave the kids lots of art-making tips before handing out awards to every child, including the 2010 Doodle4Google winner, 9-year-old Makenzie Melton from El Dorado Springs, Missouri.

At the conclusion of the awards ceremony, the children piled onto luxury charter buses to head up to see their winning entries on display at none other than the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, where their work would be on public display through August 2010. The final stage of the Doodle4Google celebration took place at Central Park’s Great Hill, which was studded with white tents and colorful balloons (in the Google colors, of course), welcoming the children and their parents to afternoon of delicious eats and family fun activities. Google’s own, official “Doodlers” were on hand to sign doodles and talk art with parents and children alike.For this multi-location, precision-timed event, Empire worked closely with the Google events team to develop detailed creative for each aspect of the three separate events.

Empire provided design and decor, set design, stage and technical management, tenting, permitting, catering, activities and coordination of the live events in each location.

Each year TIME publishes the Time 100: A global list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In conjunction with this highly-anticipated editorial event, TIME hosts an exclusive Gala event in New York City attended by many current and past TIME 100 honorees, celebrities, entertainers and world leaders. Heavily covered by global media, The TIME 100 Gala is one of the highest profile newsmaker events in the world. This year's TIME 100 Gala took place on May 4, 2010 at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center. The event consisted of multiple red carpets, an intimate cocktail reception, a seated dinner and program that combined toasts, speeches, performances, and a cocktail party following the dinner.

Performers at the TIME 100 Gala included Prince, Taylor Swift, Saturday Night Live’s Andy Samberg as well as remarks by President Bill Clinton, Governor Sarah Palin, Dr. Abe - singled out by TIME as one of Haiti’s “heroes”, Neil Patrick Harris, Ben Stiller, Elton John and others.For this high-stature event, all of the evening's production components require seamless execution and Empire was proud to once again assist the TIME Events team led by Christine Rosa, Executive Director of Event Marketing and Events Director Robin Bigelli, as Event Producer. Empire’s responsibilities ranged from securing the performing talent to managing venue, catering (provided by Great Performances), design & décor of all spaces, branding, step & repeat, staging, sound, lighting, video projection, video documentation, live media feed, talent and presenter coordination, stage management, staffing and security.Visit time.com to view a brief summary of this year's Time 100 http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,83166221001_1987389,00.html

Empire Entertainment is a leading producer of high profile media events and is proud to again have been chosen to produce this remarkable program for TIME.

In May 2010, Empire Entertainment returned to Alice Tully Hall to produce the Film Society of Lincoln Center's annual Chaplin Award Tribute Gala. This year's star-studded Gala, the 37th annual, honored Academy Award winner Michael Douglas. The Film Society's Annual Gala Tribute began in 1972 and honored Charles Chaplin – who returned to the US from exile to accept the commendation. Since then, the award has honored many of film's visionary talents, including Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Laurence Olivier, Federico Fellini, Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Davis, James Stewart, Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep, and in 2009, Tom Hanks. This year's gala evening started with VIP cocktails with the honoree in the Hauser Patron's Lounge in Alice Tully Hall and was followed by a seated dinner in the glass-walled atrium.

For the dinner, Empire worked closely the Film Society of Lincoln center events team and with Gala Co-Chair Liz Swig to design a unique, Lucite table with internal LED lighting and a low, geometric centerpiece that contained florals. The dinner décor was implemented fully by Empire Entertainment.Following dinner the 1000+ guests entered the Starr Theater for the all-star program produced by Empire Entertainment. The program began with remarks by this year's event committee chair Ann Tenenbaum and by Film Society Executive Director Mara Manus and Program Director Richard Pena. Then came a career retrospective montage featuring work from Michael Douglas' past films and ending with a clip of the forthcoming, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. NBC Nightly News anchor, Brian Williams, delivered the first tribute of the evening. This was followed by film clips and tributes by writer/director Milos Forman, actress Erika Christensen, writer/director Curtis Hanson, actor Tobey Maguire, actor/comedian Danny DeVito, and actor Frank Langella.

One highlight of the evening was a live performance by Jimmy Buffett, who performed "Margaritaville" and "He Went to Paris." Buffett's performance was followed by remarks by Michael's wife, actress Catherine Zeta-Jones and by his father, Kirk Douglas, who presented the Chaplin Award to his son. Following the tribute program the guests returned to the atrium for a DJ'ed after party with sponsored drinks by 42 Below and Stella Artois.For this high stature event Empire served as overall event producer and was responsible for overseeing creative and coordinating program participation for all participating presenters and talent, working with Lincoln center to provide necessary production design and supervision, creating the run of show and stage managing the event and working with the various film clips and graphics to integrate them into the program. Empire also designed and implemented all aspects of the red carpet and present arrivals, press and step & repeat, VIP cocktail party, dinner design & décor, catering, and after-party design including DJ booking.The program was immensely successful and the client, all of the participating presenters and Michael Douglas were ecstatic with the results.

Empire is a leading producer of high-profile award and tribute programs and is frequently engaged to present programs with international stature talent & celebrities.

When Healing the Divide and The Tibet Center invited His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama of Tibet to again present his teachings in New York City, they engaged Empire Entertainment to serve as the production company. Following the success of His Holiness’ visit to New York in October 2007, Empire Entertainment eagerly agreed to return. Working in partnership with Healing the Divide, The Tibet Center and Radio City Music Hall, Empire worked on every aspect of the program including set design, logistics and technical production. Over the course of three days, His Holiness' delivered six, two-hour sessions on the topics of “A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life” by Shantideva, and Nagarjuna’s “Commentary on Bodhicitta”. The historic teachings drew full houses for three consecutive days and the public talk entitled “Awakening the Heart of Selflessness”, was introduced by Richard Gere, and was completely sold out.Each session was simultaneously translated into three different languages: Cantonese, Mandarin and Korean. In addition to its role as producer, Empire was able to secure sponsors to donate services in order to keep event costs to a minimum. ABC Carpet & Home generously donated carpeting and staging items while Turning Star discounted their fireproofing services for all flammable items. Empire coordinated the briadcast-quality recording of each session with a four camera, high-definition video package which included one robo-cam to capture His Holiness’ expressions up close. Empire is honored to have had another opportunity to present His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama at Radio City Music Hall. Empire is a leading producer of major public and civic events and programs.

TEDxTokyo 2010, held on May 15th at the Kagaku Miraikan in Odaiba, featured performances and presentations by a wide variety of global innovators including Musician and Composer Jake Shimabukuro, Filmmaker Jin Tatsumura, Brain Scientist Ken Mogi, as well as Techno-Illusionist Marco Tempest.Empire Entertainment Japan is proud to have supported TEDxTokyo 2010 through production of the debut performance of Marco Tempest's Magic Projection, and through helping to secure Symantec Corporation as a Core Partner of TEDxTokyo.Marco Tempest's performance of Magic Projection leveraged the latest application of augmented reality and projection mapping techniques in a perfect fusion of entertainment and technology. p;One website's review stated, "When the robots come to enslave us, Marco will be the only man we can trust to negotiate a truce."TEDx was created in the spirit of TED's "ideas worth spreading" mission, with TEDx events planned and coordinated independently on local basis. The concept has gone viral, and events in more than 60 countries, and a vast number of cities and communities have already been held or are in formative stages. The goal is to spark deep discussions and connections in groups both intimate and expansive.If you would like to find out more about the TEDxTokyo, please visit www.tedxtokyo.com

The Big Lunch, established by The Eden Project in 2009, is an annual event which encourages people to sit down with their neighbors for lunch on one day of the year, in a simple act of friendship and community.Over 750,000 people took part in the inaugural event, but for 2010 The Big Lunch wanted to blow past that initial benchmark and record over 3 million participants in the nationwide July event.Generating heavy media exposure in anticipation of the 2010 event was critical to achieving The Big Lunch's challenging goal of over 3 million participants. The Big Lunch called on Empire Entertainment Japan for a solution to their challenge. Empire enlisted the support of revolutionary 3D 'Trick Artist' Kurt Wenner to create an original artwork that would deliver the world of "The Big Lunch" to viewers and news outlets.

In designing this original work, Kurt Wenner placed emphasis on not only the painted artwork, but also the interactive element of the artwork, helping to underline the community-oriented theme that The Big Lunch represents. The final artwork featured a picnic scene where Londoners interacted with the floating food and other elements picture within the arwork.Kurt Wenner completed the work at a live event at Aberdeen Road in London, and the public, press, and social media response to the work was immediate and overwhelming, with one outlet reporting, "Walking the streets can be incredibly dull. Walking the streets where artist Kurt Wenner has walked before you is generally anything but. Wenner 3D piece for The Big Lunch's kickoff is more than 16 feet by 16 feet and features the largest, most beautiful picnic lunch we've ever seen. This is one sidewalk we wouldn't mind tripping over."

In April 2010, Empire Entertainment Japan had the opportunity to serve one of the world's leading IT companies, HP, in connection with their product launch event in Japan.The launch was HP’s largest Enterprise product launch event in Japan in a decade and was part of several events and initiatives taking place simultaneously across the world.The Japan event was held at Shinagawa Intercity Hall, a large, open event space in the heart of Tokyo city. The event was structured with two sessions for press and customers. For this important event Empire designed and delivered from concept to execution.Empire secured the venue, provided all staging, sound, lighting, created a branded backdrop, catering and premium items and directed the product unveiling scene by the company representative. Additionally, Empire created original videos and graphics for invitations, décor and presentations to deliver a consistent and powerful message underlining the significance of the product launch.Onstage, Hewlett Packard Japan’s President, Mr. Shinichi Koide, was joined by Intel Japan’s President Mr. Kazumasa Yoshida for the unveiling of HP’s next generation mission critical enterprise server the Superdome II.Empire produced both the Press Conference – attended by over 50 members of Japan’s top media outlets, as well as the exclusive customer launch event – attended by over 200 hundred CTO’s CIO’s and top IT professionals of Japan.In selecting Empire Japan as it's producer, HP recognized Empire's position as a leading production company of cutting-edge product launches that utilize state-of-the-art design and technology as well as an effective partner on the ground in Asia.

In 2010 the city of Oran in Algeria hosted the LNG 16 Conference. LNG is the largest event in the world dedicated to the liquefied natural gas industry, attracting more than 2,500 delegates and 200 exhibitors. The LNG Exhibition and Conference takes place every three years with LNG producer and consumer countries taking turns to organize the event.The LNG Exhibition and Conference featured several major sponsored events on each day of the multi-day conference. Empire Japan had the opportunity to produce a party for a Japanese company participating in the exhibition.

The party performances kicked off with a grand opening featuring Japanese traditional Taiko drumming. Next Empire presented a live performance of Japanese calligraphy Shodo performance in which guests could participate. The show closed with a series of mysterious “Geisha Magical Performances.” The international audience responded with thunderous applause. The party was a great success and Empire Japan collaborated with technical teams from Japan and Morocco and managed the shipping of equipment from Germany to facilitate the performances.

Empire Entertainment Japan is a production company with global production experience, able to coordinate and manage flawless productions from the Middle East and Asia to Latin American and Europe.

The setting: The idyllic Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Cancun, Mexico. The purpose: An incentive program for one of the world’s leading communication technology companies. The perfect headline entertainment: International, Platinum-selling superstar Seal.Seal’s participation in the event was kept a secret until the moment he was announced onstage to the excited audience of 500+ guests & spouses. Once onstage Seal did not disappoint. His eighty minute set included several danceable R&B and soul covers as well as all of his biggest hits including “Kiss From A Rose,” “Bring it On,” and “Crazy” which had the audience dancing and shouting for encores. Following the performance, Seal graciously greeted and talked with VIPs for almost 30 minutes, taking photos with all of them. For this incentive program, Empire worked closely with the client’s meeting production company, Swift Media Group, to identify talent candidates, negotiate the performance contract (enticing him out of the studio where we was then recording), and facilitated the development of a working production plan with Swift Media Group and local vendors. Empire also worked to manage complicated logistics including the freight of equipment into and out of Mexico, local musician’s union requirements and work permits & visas.

Empire is a leading provider of headline entertainment for corporate meetings & events and is deeply experienced in overcoming the challenges of presenting headline entertainment outside of the United States.

Bravo Media, a division of NBC Universal, selected Empire Entertainment to produce their Upfront Event, held on March 10, 2010 at Skylight Soho in New York City.Empire collaborated closely with Bravo Ad Sales Marketing to create an attention-getting event that would bring Bravo’s distinctive brand and unique programming to life for its advertising clients. The result was a stylish, experiential marketing event and party for 600 guests that featured a variety of programming-themed, custom-designed vignettes in which clients could interact with show talent.To showcase Bravo’s roster of programs, Empire proposed the concept of transforming a raw space into a “house” comprised of highly stylized rooms, with each room representing one of Bravo’s 5 passion points: Food, Fashion, Beauty, Design and Pop Culture.

Empire built temporary walls to partition the interior of Skylight’s expansive, high-ceilinged venue into the Kitchen (food), Closet (fashion), Bath & Fitness Studio (beauty), Living Room (design) & Pop/Screening Room (pop culture).The Kitchen featured Top Chef chef’testants cooking and serving small plates to guests across a 20-ft wide central island counter, while former contenders from Shear Genius styled guests’ hair in the Bath. Other interactive stations included interviews with Andy Cohen on a reproduction of the Watch What Happens Live! set, love consultations with the Millionaire Matchmaker team in the Pop Room, couture fashion styling and photo shoots with the stars from Double Exposure in the Closet, and workout tips with Thintervention’s Jackie Warner in the Fitness Studio.For this Upfront Event, Bravo brought in nearly 70 stars from their shows, half of which were flown into New York City by Empire’s talent logistics team, which managed all air and ground transfers. All participating talent walked the Bravo blue carpet inside the heated 60-ft press tent before heading into the party through the custom-branded entrance canopy, accented with box hedges.

Inside the party, Creative Edge served up tasty hors d’oeuvres and a variety of food stations, while guests sipped specialty cocktails tinted to match each passion point’s color. DJ Eric Cubeechee, a contestant from Launch My Line, spun a set of pop tunes that kept the crowd partying 45 minutes past the scheduled 4-hour party time frame. Celebrity attendees included Matthew McConaughey, Isaac Mizrahi, Sarah Jessica Parker, Tom Colicchio and others. The striking design and unique interactions with show talent combined to create an unforgettable experience for Bravo’s top clients and one that will keep Bravo’s brand front and center as they determine their advertising purchase decisions for 2010.Empire Entertainment worked closely with the Bravo Ad Sales Marketing team and served as overall event producer and designer for the program. Empire’s responsibilities included overall design & management, coordinating custom scenic, decor, audio/visual, catering, activities, venue, helping Bravo’s press department with red carpet, talent travel logistics, graphic design, printing, permits and security.

Empire has also produced many upfront events and parties for clients that include Disney Media Group, FOX Broadcasting and the National Geographic Channel among others.

As the global economy continues its rise out of recession, many companies remain reluctant to invest significant portions of their event budgets for top-tier talent despite the undiminished need to inspire and entertainment employees & customers. Empire Entertainment, while continuing to secure high-end artists and large-scale corporate events, has responded to increasing client needs for cost-effective, high quality entertainment by delivering talent options to suit any budget. On three recent corporate events, Empire managed to deliver big name value and up-and-coming pricing. When a consumer products client needed an after dinner show for several hundred people in Dallas Texas, Empire delivered technology magician Marco Tempest's 'Power Show' with over 30 minutes of dazzling illusions on a large meeting stage with only one performer traveling. For a recent business meeting at the Dubai World Trade Center for a technology client with over 3000 attendees, Empire provided a 4 member cast of Europe's Phoenix Fire Dancers to perform one of their "Light Vision" sequences to open the first morning's general session. For a global consulting firm meeting in La Quinta, CA Empire provided after-dinner entertainment in the form of comedic improv troupe "Whose Live Anyway." Cast members Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Chip Esten and others brought down the house with their hilarious and spontaneous routines.

For these and other projects, Empire has used its extensive knowledge of locally-situated performer options, its negotiation ability and its longstanding relationships with artists to deliver top quality talent at prices that clients can afford. Empire has established itself in the securing and booking of talent, and have worked within every budget range.

For the highly anticipated launch of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition 2010, the Sports Illustrated events team selected Empire Entertainment to provide the perfect entertainment for two high profile, sexy marquee events in NYC and Las Vegas. Empire secured Sugar Ray's lead vocalist and host of Fox's "Don't Forget the Lyrics", Mark McGrath, to emcee the stage program. McGrath introduced the sexy models including this year's cover girl, Brooklyn Decker. At NYC's Hotel Gansevoort, Club Provocateur, first stop of the multi-media tour, onlookers such as John Legend, Jay Sean, and Gregg Bello watched the bevy of supermodels rock a runway that spanned the packed club. The models, guests, sponsors and McGrath partied the night away and later departed on a chartered jet from New York City to their next destination, Las Vegas.

At the final night of the launch at the Hard Rock Hotel's newest edition, Club Vanity, Mark McGrath once again emceed the stage program to an eager crowd of over 1,000 guests and sponsors. For this party, Empire secured rockers Maroon 5 to perform while DJ Cassidy spun. Empire was responsible for securing Maroon 5 and McGrath, handling details relating to their performances with the help of the Sports Illustrated Events team. Empire also worked closely with Team Velocity / Vivid who staged the events.

Empire is a leading provider of high-profile talent for corporate and media events.

When one of the nations largest companies decided to host a special weekend for customers at Super Bowl XLIV, they turned to Empire Entertainment to provide headline entertainment for the Saturday night before the game. With an intimate audience of less than 100 consisting of CEO-level guests along with their spouses and children, it was Empire’s challenge to come up with an entertainment option that would entertain all of the age groups within the room.With the decision made to hire a comedian, Empire recommended well-known Saturday Night Live writer and performer, Darrell Hammond. Darrell is known for being one of the most prolific comedians of his time, responsible for a wide array of memorable comedic impressions throughout his 15 years on the air.

In order to allay client concerns about content for this singularly important audience, Empire arranged for a pre-event conference call with it’s producer, Darrell and a company executive responsible for the evening. Through this call, Darrell Hammond learned a great deal about the attendees, the client’s goals for the evening, and the celebratory feel they were looking for. This gave Darrell the background necessary to tailor his performance material to exactly suit the audience.Darrell’s 45-minute standup comedy set kept the guests hysterically laughing from beginning to end. The material was 100% clean and included many of his best-loved impressions including Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Jesse Jackson, George W. Bush, Jay Leno, and Dick Cheney among others. Darrell also interacted with the audience, working a few very willing members into the act. Following the performance, Darrell participated in a meet & greet / photo-opportunity with all of the audience members, and even joined the guests later in their hospitality suite.

For this engagement, Empire was responsible for all contracting, scheduling, production, and logistical elements for Darrell Hammond’s performance. Empire worked closely with the venue’s staff to coordinate the perfect timing and set-up for the performance.

Empire is the leader in providing headline comedy entertainment for high profile events throughout the world.

This past January, BizBash, the event industry's leading publication, released their lists for The Top New York City Events. In addition to serving as producer of the event named as New York's #1 Media Event, the Time Magazine, Time 100, Empire was honored to have produced 5 events (out of 19) listed under the categories of "Top Industry Events" and "Top Entertainment Events" in 2009.Of the top 10 New York Entertainment Industry events last year, Empire served as producer of no fewer than five including the Time 100 Gala, The Webby Awards, The New York Film Festival, The Film Society of Lincoln Center Tribute to Tom Hanks, and The Gotham Awards.BizBash's "New York's Top Entertainment Industry Events 2010"New York Film FestivalFilm Society of Lincoln Center TributeGotham AwardsBizBash's "New York's Top Media Events 2010"Time 100 GalaThe Webby AwardsEmpire will produce many of these and other events in 2010.Empire is a leading producer of some of the world's most influential entertainment & media industry events.

The Omotesando Hills 4th Anniversary Party is a highly anticipated party hosted by the most prestigious and luxurious shopping center in Tokyo, Japan. In February 2010, Empire was in charge of casting and coordinating the artists for the Special Music Program to celebrate the 4th Anniversary of the Mall. The exclusive party was invitation-only with VIPs, company guests and shopping enthusiasts. Empire cast Japan’s Jazz Diva Aoki Karen, Classic Pop Singer Hirahara Ayaka, for the main stage. For the DJ session, Empire secured fashion model DJ Yoshida Natsumi and the immensely popular DJ DAISHI DANCE to heat up the night. More than 7,500 guests attended the event to celebrate, shop, listen and dance to live music, and enjoy the free champagne and chocolate fondue fountains inside the mall.

Empire Entertainment, in tandem with Honeysweet Productions, produced the first-ever Brand-In Entertainment Inaugural Integration Auction held at Christie’s Auction House in New York City.The purpose of the Inaugural Integration Auction was to invite professional representatives and advertising agencies to bid on exclusive packages to feature their services and products among a variety of media platforms. Leveraging relationships with major advertising firms in the U.S. and abroad, as well as with major studios, record companies and independent production companies, the Inaugural Integration Auction 2010 auctioned off choice brand incorporation opportunities in a multitude of platforms, including network television, online/ webisodes, graphic novels, films, plays and more.

The setting for the auction was from Christie's Auction House in New York City on January 20th, in the renowned Woods Room. The uniquely original auction was hosted by COO of Brand-In Entertainment and licensed auctioneer Tere Morris. The live auction and program featured stage appearances by John Salley, Samantha Marq, Paul Provenza, Joey Greco, Corbin Bernsen and others, as well as a special performance by Heather Myles from TruCountry.The focal point of the event was the silent auction, which featured an innovative electronic bidding system from IML that eliminates the traditional pen & paper bid sheet.

Empire & Honeysweet branded the room as if it were Brand-In Entertainments headquarters in a simple yet elegant design scheme that transformed the room. For this production Empire & Honeysweet handled all production design and management, talent coordination and stage management as well as consulting on all aspects including logistics, catering and show design.

When Omotesando Hills, one of the most prestigious and luxurious shopping centers in Tokyo, Japan, wanted to do something special for the 2009 Christmas and 2010 New Years season, they decide to program a series of live events and turned to Empire Entertainment Japan to help them realize their vision. More than a shopping mall, Omotesando Hills is the cultural and fashion center point of Japan. For this reason, events in this complex always receive a lot of media attention across the country especially during the Christmas season. Designed by world famous architect Tadao Ando, Omotesando Hills is one of the most popular sites to visit for Asia's fashion leaders and fashion forward tourists. Empire worked with Omotesando Hills to expand their brand through this Christmas program.

To accomplish this, Empire Entertainment’s Japan office programmed various artists to appeal to various segments of Omotesando Hills’ upscale clientele. Performers that appeared as part of this holiday series ranged from current pop artists such as May J. & MAY’S, Safarii to established veterans who know how to work any kind of crowd such as Ide Mariko and Naomi Grace. Also included were DJs AYUMi and DJ AMIGA to add a spice in to the holiday season, and Miss Universe Japan / Opera Singer Ogawa Satomi to get the crowd fully into the seasonal mood. When the New Year’s sun rose, Tonfu, Fusion Japanese Koto musicians greeted the crowd.The slope inside the mall is identical to the angle of the Omote Sando road that runs alongside the mall creating a six story visual panorama with winding balconies that wrap around a central, focal point on the grand staircase. On this staircase a grand Christmas tree was placed which served as a visual backdrop for the performances. Thus Empire was able to make use of the building's unique architecture to achieve maximum visual effect.Omotesando Hills was extremely happy with the results of this series and Empire was delighted to bring the talents of these various artists this great venue, and to help put smiles on the faces of thousands of Tokyoites shopping for their love ones during Christmas Season.

Empire is a leading booker of all forms of entertainment for retail centers, building launch events, civic plazas and real estate developments with existing performance facilities and stages. Empire Entertainment Japan K. K. is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and operates on behalf of private clients throughout Asia.

When a leading pharmaceutical company needs to do something special for its sales force -- something special in an off year -- it calls on Empire Entertainment. Empire leveraged its industry connections and know-how to secure the chart-topping, multi-platinum selling Counting Crows at a reasonable fee for a year-end gala in Phoenix, AZ, celebrating the client's elite sellers. For an intimate audience of 300, the Counting Crows ripped through a string of hits including 'Round Here and Mr. Jones. With their angst-filled hybrid of Van Morrison, the Band, and R.E.M., Counting Crows became an overnight sensation in 1994. Only a year earlier, the band was a group of unknown musicians, filling in for the absent Van Morrison at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony. Early in 1993, the band recorded their debut album, August and Everything After, with T-Bone Burnett. Released in the fall, it was a dark and somber record, driven by the morose lyrics and expressive vocals of Adam Duritz. The only up-tempo song, "Mr. Jones," became their ticket to stardom, and Counting Crows enjoyed a significant amount of success throughout the '90s and beyond. The Crows were preceded by a karaoke extravaganza featuring various attendees in crazy costumes singing parody versions of popular songs. The music was provided not by a karaoke machine but b y live karaoke specialists, The Amazing Embarrassonics.

When it came time to start planning their 10th Annual Gala, the American Friends of Israel’s Rabin Medical Center turned to Empire in order to take their event to the next level. The gala raises money for one of Israel’s premier hospitals, and every year they draw an elite crowd of civic and philanthropic leaders to support their cause.After an extremely successful gala last year, AFRMC needed help to brand the gala and secure high-stature entertainment to liven up the event. With the event on the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, Empire helped develop the “Broadway on the Hudson” theme through Broadway talent solicitation and collaboration with their graphic designer. Given the client’s concerns that a lengthy program would alienate the audience, Empire conceived creative solutions to integrate the numerous speakers with entertainment components while solving timing issues regarding the schedule of events.

Through an extensive outreach process, Empire secured legendary comedian Robert Klein and world-renowned tap dancer Savion Glover to perform. Empire was also able to secure Charlie Rose to emcee the event and to facilitate the performances of other talent including the Broadway Show “Memphis”, the National Jazz Museum in Harlem All Stars Band and New York City Swing.Empire served as overall event producer for this 760 person gala managing all aspects of production including venue, lighting, staging, audio, image magnification, catering (provided by Restaurant Associates and Foremost Catering), video documentation, valet parking, security, design and décor, graphic presentation and overall project management. Empire also consulted on the invitation design, journal design, and creative programming aspects including scripting, show order, and the medical equipment appeal and art auction ran by Jennifer Roth of Sotheby's. Empire then developed a press release and distributed it to key media outlets for maximum exposure.

Empire is one of the world’s leading producers of not-for-profit events and fundraisers.