Thrillist's members-only, online shopping destination JackThreads opened its first-ever Pop-Up in Union Square following Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. Showcasing its exclusively male wares in the flesh for the first time, the popular web-based retailer invited throngs of passersby into a custom-designed shipping container to experience a curated sampling of their street-ready gear.A selection of spring's hottest clothing and accessories were displayed in five conveniently pre-assembled outfits against an industrial backdrop of diamond plate steel. With a sartorially inclined staff, armed only with iPads and an eye for style, inquisitive shoppers were expertly outfitted with clothing combinations from JackThreads' signature "looks", which they could also purchase on-site using the iPads and JackThreads' iPhone App.Besides browsing merchandise, shoppers were encouraged to have fun and interact with the brethren of stylists by posing for Polaroids with, appropriately, fake mustaches and beards. One lucky Polaroid subject would later win a full outfit from the JackThreads warehouse, which includes such brands as Ben Sherman, WeSC, GoodWood, and No Excess. JackThread's partner in styling, Gillette, offered a brand new Fusion ProGlide Styler complimentary with purchase.Clever signage inside and outside of the shipping container encouraged passersby to stop in and shop around. Onlookers -- tourists and jaded locals alike -- also used the opportunity to spread the word, snapping photos and sending out tweets about the flash-retail event. Empire Entertainment partnered with the Thrillist team on nearly every aspect of the Thrillist/JackThreads Pop-Up, from permitting, container rental and interior design, provision of Brand Ambassadors, round-the-clock security, branding & signage, generators, lighting, and more.Pop-Up Shops are undoubtedly a growing trend in contemporary marketing initiatives, offering an exciting and exclusive opportunity for any audience in any place to interact with any brand.

The U. S. Department of State sponsors a program for foreign Chiefs of Diplomatic Missions to the United States to travel across the country several times a year. The program, entitled Experience America, seeks to build relationships, encourage business investment and trade, provide a forum for dialogue, and create opportunities for interchange between Chiefs of Diplomatic Missions and American leaders in a wide array of fields.

The most recent program took place in Los Angeles just after the busy Oscar Weekend. For the arrival night event Ambassador Capricia Penavic Marshall, Chief of Protocol of the United States, and Antonio R. Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles, hosted a reception and dinner to welcome the Chiefs of Diplomatic Missions and their spouses to Los Angeles in the spectacular setting of the Getty Center. Over 100 foreign Ambassadors and their spouses, representing countries around the globe attended this extraordinary evening. Guests arrived on top of the mountain on which the Getty sits just after sunset and were greeted by the Renaissance Arts Academy Orchestra playing classical music on the minimal travertine marble plaza.

Next they proceeded inside the Getty Center Rotunda for a cocktail reception where they were entertained by LA’s Promise wind ensemble while guests were led on brief tours of the highlights of the Getty Collection including Vincent van Gogh’s Irises.Following cocktails the 200 guests walked across the main plaza of the Getty Center to an extraordinary, clear V-shaped tent where dinner was served on a series of 80’ long banquet tables, elegantly set on white linens with white, linear place settings.

Once seated guests were greeted by a video message by secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton followed by The City of Dreams, a motion picture tribute to Los Angeles produced by Richard Kaufman of Goodspot. Next up Ambassador Marshall delivered welcome remarks in which she recognized the many dignitaries present including Ambassadors and Charge d’Affaires to the United States from countries including Albania, Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Haiti, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Monaco, Nepal, Peru, Qatar, Tanzania and many more. Other speakers included Antonio R. Villaraigosa, the Mayor of Los Angeles, James Cuno, President & CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust and His Excellency Meret Bairamovich Orazov, Ambassador of Turkmenistan to the United States and Acting Dean of the Diplomatic Corps. Others in attendance included Our America host Lisa Ling, Happy Hearts Fund Founder and supermodel Petra Nemcova and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. During the dinner the dignitaries were entertained by the Hamilton Jazz Group. The evening was smashing success and all of the attendees remained in the event long after dessert had been served, socializing and building bridges with America and each other.

For this singular, high stature project, Empire was engaged to serve as the evening’s overall producer and was responsible for coordinating elements of the program ranging from the Getty Center, tenting (provided by Classic Party Rentals), catering (provided by Bon Appetit), staging & technical production (provided by Showpro), florals (provided by Eggs LA) and overall event management.

Empire is a leading producer of high stature government events for the most distinguished audiences worldwide. Empire is proud to serve the U. S. Department of States on this and other important diplomatic initiatives.

On February 9, 2012 Empire Entertainment was proud to produce the 1st annual TRANS4MATION EXPERIENCE event on behalf of seven-time Grammy winner will.i.am and his charitable organization, the i.am.angel Foundation. The purpose of the event was to raise money to support trans4ormation and revival in distressed communities, beginning with will.i.am’s own hometown, Boyle Heights in east Los Angeles. Held at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles on the eve of the Grammy Awards, over 1000 people came out to support i.am Angel Foundation including Estelle, Jessica Alba, Paris Hilton, Lee Ann Rimes, Mayor Anthony R. Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, Jay Sean and many others. will.i.am is best known for being a multi-platinum music artist, producer and front man for The Black Eyed Peas, though he is an innovator, entrepreneur and philanthropist as well. As the evening’s host, his message of trans4rming lives through education, opportunity and inspiration was driven home by an emotive program of speakers and video reels. Dr Robert Ross, President and CEO of California Endowment, David Silver, CEO of College Track and Carola McGiffert, Senior Advisor and Director of 100,000 Strong Initiative at the US Department of State all spoke about their commitment to developing communities and ensuring that more students have access to a college degree. Anthony R. Villaraigosa, the mayor of Los Angeles, spoke enthusiastically about will.i.am and his efforts to support his community and Golden Boy Oscar de la Hoya took the stage to rousing applause as he reminisced about his childhood roots in East LA. Guests were taken through a 360-degree projection of moving footage of East LA created by designer Richard Lasalle and seated in a stunning ballroom of sleek white leather lounge banquettes with graffiti inspired décor by notable grafitti artist Man One. They enjoyed the sumptuous menu of Wolfgang Puck before the highly anticipated three-hour high-energy concert performance began. Some of the highlights included will.i.am’s opener “It’s a New Day,” Coco Lee’s touching rendition of Adele’s cover, “Someone Like You,” K’naan’s crowd hit and World Cup theme song, “Waving the Flag” and Flo-rida’s latest chart topper, “Good Feeling.” Ne-Yo danced his way onstage with his smooth sounds of “All Because of You,” later joined by Taboo, jamming “Give Me Everything Tonight.” Legendary soulster and twenty-two time Grammy winner Stevie Wonder then took the stage for his feel–good harmonica and keyboard medley of “Superstition,” “I Wish,” “I just Called to Say I Love You,” and “My Cherie Amour.” Then the Black Eyed Peas set began with crowd pumping dance favorites, “Time of My Life,” “Dirty Bit,” “Let’s Get it Started” and Pump It, a duet with Coco Lee. Apl de ap beatboxed his hit, “You Can Be Anything,” and “Bebot.” The concert ended with Black Eyed Peas favorite “I Got a Feeling” with the whole audience dancing in their seats. All told, the event raised a whopping five million dollars in donations and commitments for the i.am.angel Foundation and their efforts to transform communities. Empire Entertainment served as overall event producer for the i.am.angel Foundation TRANS4MATION EXPERIENCE, managing all aspects of the event including venue contracting, logistics, catering, décor, onsite talent management and coordination, production, security and onsite management, collaborating with the i.am. angel Foundation, partners and donors. To find out how you can get involved with i.am.angel Foundation and help trans4rm communities around you, visit their website at iamangelfoundation.org “Inspiration without innovation is not good enough anymore. We need to have a clear vision for the future and then we need to transform that future. We transform the future by transforming communities and making the lives of people better.” will.i.am

For the highly anticipated launch of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue 2012, Sports Illustrated selected Empire Entertainment to provide celebrity entertainment for their marquee event in Las Vegas.At Club SI Swimsuit, the final night of launch week at the Caesars Palace Pure Nightclub, Empire secured Grammy Award-winner Bruno Mars and his band to perform for an audience of swimsuit models and 1,000 guests and sponsors.

Following the stage program and Swimsuit model reveal, Bruno Mars and his band took the stage to perform a 45 minute set of covers like “Kiss,” “Whole Lotta Love,” “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Roxanne” as well as his hits “Grenade” and “Just the Way Your Are” that had the entire club on their feet.Empire was responsible for securing Bruno Mars and handled all details relating to his performance with the Sports Illustrated Events team. Empire also worked closely with Team Epic who staged all of the launch week events.

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

A 50th birthday only comes around once. So when a leading retailer wanted to celebrate their 50th anniversary with a bang, they and their meeting planning agency turned to Empire Entertainment to secure a headline entertainer to celebrate this great milestone. With employees of all ages from all over the country converging on Orlando for their annual sales meeting, it was important to bring in the right talent whose performance would appeal across all of the audience demographics. With the element of surprise for the attendees a main concern with the client, Empire worked with all parties, including the venue, to ensure total secrecy of the headliner's identity.After a day full of breakout sessions and keynotes, the attendees were looking forward to letting their hair down and having a good time. To open the evening's entertainment, Empire secured comedian and television personality, Tom Papa. Tom warmed up the crowd of 2,700 for 20 minutes with non-stop laughter ending his set with a standing ovation. Before exiting the stage, Tom gave one final announcement. "It is my great pleasure to introduce my friend, Jerry Seinfeld" The stunned and delighted audience immediately jumped to their feet and applauded with excitement as Jerry stepped on stage. Delivering his world famous stand-up performance, Seinfeld had the attendees in stitches for his entire 60 minute set. Following their performance, both entertainers took the time to meet with executives and VIPs for a quick conversation and photo.Empire Entertainment is a worldwide leader in headline entertainment booking.

Ever since the tragic events of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami that swept a wave of destruction across north-eastern Japan on March 11th, 2011, American Humane Association has been supporting welfare organizations involved in the rescue and care of animals involved in the disaster.When the Association decided to hold their 2012 VIP Luncheon in Japan, Empire was asked to manage the event.

Approximately 30 VIPs attended the February 15th event, hosted in The Alder Room of the Mandarin Oriental hotel, Tokyo.Distinguished guests included members of the U.S. Embassy in Japan, representatives from Japanese animal welfare organizations, and executives from the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ – sponsors of the event and one of the Humane Association’s strongest supporters.President and CEO of the Association, Robin R. Ganzert Ph.D. led the luncheon, speaking of the need for everyone to defend and protect the voiceless. Shiro Nakagawa, Chairman of the Japan Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (JSPCA) also spoke about how the two countries had united to help the animals.In addition to the speeches, attendees were shown a fascinating video documentary on the history of American Humane Association’s Red Star™ Animal Emergency Services, which for almost 100 years has been responding to disasters around the world.Empire Entertainment would like to thank all involved in the event.

We are proud to support American Humane Association and its partners in their most valuable work.

At the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show, Cheil USA enlisted Empire Entertainment to deliver musical talent to promote Samsung’s new product, the Galaxy Note.Empire's task was to provide contemporary, engaging headline music performances by a tech-savvy artist that could utilize and incorporate Galaxy Notes into their songs and performance. The musical performances would take place over three days in a promotional space that recreated a street art scene. Cheil built the promotional space in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. To meet the needs of the client and to complement the setting, Empire recommended and delivered Body Language, an emerging band from Brooklyn.Empire was able to work with Body Language to develop an original performance that artistically integrated the Galaxy Notes technology into their music as supporting instruments. Moreover, the band’s music - an eclectic mix of electro, pop, dance, funk, soul, and jazz, was a great fit for the booth’s concept of free-spirited, modern art scene with a touch of futuristic technology.The combination of Body Language and the event setting broke through the clutter and attracted heavy traffic throughout the three day period. The Central Hall location ensured that every single attendee passed by the Samsung space and this year the number of attendees was record-breaking, reaching over 153,000 people.As a result of this project, the Samsung Galaxy Notes achieved massive exposure with the help of Body Language’s extraordinary performance and catchy tunes. In support of the musical attraction, caricature artists also drew portraits of attendees with the Samsung Galaxy Note that could be printed on t-shirts as gifts for attendees.CES is the world’s leading and biggest technology and electronics trade show which is held annually in Las Vegas. It reaches across global markets, connects industries and encourages innovation for more than 2,000 corporate members involved in design, development, manufacturing, distribution, and integration of consumer electronics products.For video from the event, click here.Empire Entertainment has been serving clients like Cheil / Samsung with unique talent solutions at Consumer Electronics Show for almost two decades.

Over the years Empire has delivered A-list talent in many incredible settings around the globe. Never was this more true than last month when Empire delivered Lionel Richie to perform on Lastochka, a spectacular ship docked on the frozen Moskva River in Moscow, Russia, while the temperature outside read minus 20 degrees Celsius. The occasion was a birthday celebration for one of the most successful businessmen in Russia, and 150 of his closest friends.After some Russian toasts and speeches by the attendees to the guest of honor, Empire brought Lionel Richie to the stage to launch into a concert performance that didn't waste time getting to his biggest hits. Ritchie opened the show with "Easy (Like Sunday Morning)" and then moved onto to three more classic ballads to warm the crowd up ("Penny Lover", "Sail On", and "Stuck On You"). Then Lionel kicked into high gear with his 80's smash, "Dancin' On The Ceiling" and then went a bit further back in time for his #1 hit with The Commodores, "Brick House". With the audience completely thrilled with the musical performance, Lionel endeared himself personally to the group by inviting the evening's host to share vocals with him on "Say You, Say Me". In spite of the language barrier, it was a moment that made the audience part of the show as the host and Lionel walked among the attendees singing, and the entire crowd sang the chorus. Lionel then kept the couples on the dance floor for one more slow dance to "Hello", before ending the performance with a lively performance of "All Night Long" which had the crowd dancing in a conga line as Lionel thanked them and departed the stage.Following the performance the happy client joined Lionel in his green room, where Lionel was happy to meet several of the host's closest friends, take some photos, and have some laughs. Empire is proud to serve clients throughout the world with headline talent booking and comprehensive event production services. In addition to Lionel Richie in Moscow, Empire has recently presented Rob Schneider for several performances in India, Il Divo at a nationally broadcast event in Vietnam, and many more. Since being founded in 1993, Empire has contracted and produced artists to perform in more than 65 countries worldwide.

On January 19th 2012, Nike invited international press and influencers to the launch of their latest product, the Nike Fuel band.

Guests wore the Fuel Band, which kept track of each mile, minute, and calorie, while they traveled to various activity locations throughout the entire city.Nike took their guests to unique, in-the-know locations throughout the city that added a layer of authenticity and character essential to the experience of each activity.

Some of these experiences included a double dutch performance at an industrial Brooklyn warehouse, pizza making at Williamsburg hot spot, Roberta’s, and a workout led by the Bartendaz at Brooklyn Barbells, an elite weightlifting facility.

The day of the launch, Empire staffed activity locations to ensure each member of the press had a fun and high-end workout experience. Empire provided every location with a women’s and men’s Freshen-Up Kit and a guests refreshments table fit for the pickiest of locavores and gourmands. Both the Freshen-Up kit and the refreshments were sourced through local companies to tie in the personality and life style of the city, making it truly unique New York City experience for international press.

Filmmaker Casey Neistat was one of Nike's guests to the event and documented his experience: Click here to watch.

Radical also installed a motion-sensor Fuel Light Wall, inspired by the Fuel Band: Click here to watch.

Empire was proud to partner with Radical Media once again to help them deliver an engaging, live-event experience for Nike.

To honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, an international technology company looked to Empire Entertainment to deliver a world-renown keynote speaker whose personal achievements embodied the lasting commitment to reflection, action and change promoted by Dr. King. Empire recommended internationally-acclaimed director and producer Spike Lee who is known for his bold, unapologetic style, and outspoken point-of-view.Appearing before an audience of close to 1,000 employees, Lee engaged in an intimate discussion of his films and the many ways in which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and ideals have impacted the way he works. Guests were given the opportunity to ask the director about his philosophy and creative process as well as the socio-political issues at the heart his best-known films.Integrating the program’s overarching theme of Inspiration to Action, the Q&A sparked an interactive discussion between Spike Lee and his audience, that challenged and inspired guests to apply their own gifts to continue the work of Dr. King in taking action to better the company and their own respective communities.Empire handled the negotiation and contracting of Spike Lee’s services, coordination of all logistics, including precision arrival and departure planning and facilitated direct creative discussion among Spike Lee and the client.

Empire is proud to present the world’s leading speakers and is a leading source for keynote speakers of global stature that can inform, educate and entertain audiences.