When the world’s most prestigious Vintage Champagne House sought an experienced producer in the luxury brand space as well as a unique location to hold a new product launch event they turned to Empire Japan and set their eyes on the city of Kyoto to realize their vision.In this beautiful city, filled with rich history, Empire identified a UNESCO World Heritage Site called Ninna-ji Temple that provided the perfect atmosphere for the event. Given both the Temple’s long history of association with Japan’s Imperial family, and its special certification as a UNESCO site, the site was perfect for the client's purposes. securing the venue for our event promised many logistical and cultural challenges but Empire’s producers worked diligently to alleviate all concerns of the Temple, while still assuring that the client’s vision for the event could be achieved.As the sun went down, and the custom designed lighting package came to life, it was clear that the event was going to exceed the client’s expectations. In the words of The Chief Cellar Master, ‘This is by far the finest launch event I have witnessed in my 20 years as Cellar Master.’50 of the most prestigious figures in Japan's culture, news and arts world gathered for this special evening, where they were treated to a special collection of traditional Japanese recipes prepared by award winning chef Tokuoka Kunio. The traditional Japanese interior of the temple was complemented by projection mapping that seamlessly tied imagery from the city of Kyoto to that of 17th Century Champagne.Empire Entertainment Japan was proud to be responsible for the venue selection, direction, operation and overall production of this benchmark event and is a leading producer of luxury brand events throughout the world.

The Microsoft Imagine Cup is the world's premier technology competition. This annual global competition challenges young innovators to stretch the limits of what technology can do to discover out-of-the-box solutions to the world’s most difficult problems. Previously held in Spain, Brazil, Japan, India, South Korea, France, Egypt and Poland, this year the Imagine Cup made its debut in the United States in New York City and Microsoft called on Empire to serve as a key local production partner. The 9th annual Imagine Cup encompassed participation by 358,000 students representing 183 countries and regions who registered for this year’s competition. Tasked with applying their imagination and passion to the creation of technology solutions to help change the world, the competitors took on global issues ranging from combating diseases, improving education, fighting world hunger, and ensuring environmental sustainability, to creating disaster communication systems, helping children read and write, creating innovations for people with disabilities, and reducing child mortality. After a year of competition in their home countries, finalists and mentors from 70 countries converged in New York City to compete for the top honors. Microsoft partnered with Empire Entertainment to provide key logistical support in order to deliver a dynamic multi-day program for the competitors that covered several venues and the entire city.

Against the majestic backdrop of the Manhattan skyline, Empire organized a sumptuous BBQ on Ellis Island for the Imagine Cup participants. As the culminating event to the program’s ‘Cultural Day,’ where a vast majority of students were experiencing New York City and the USA for the first time, over 1,000 competitors and sponsors were invited to tour the nation’s historical and cultural gateway. Launching from Battery Park, state of the art ferries offered guests the opportunity to tour Liberty Island with close up views of the Lady Liberty herself before continuing on to the main event on Ellis Island. With the sun setting over the NYC horizon, students dined on a full buffet of traditional summer fare and enjoyed the creative, international spins of a live DJ. A kaleidoscope of cultures, languages and people, students and mentors were invited to the prestigious David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center for the final day of this weeklong program for the World Festival and Awards Ceremony, which featured noteworthy presenters like New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and philanthropist, actor and activist Eva Longoria. With over 1,300 attendees, comprised of competitors, sponsors, judges, speakers and guests, key logistical support from Empire made it possible for all attendees to be seated with only 15 minutes between final presentations and the start of the dynamic closing ceremony. The projects developed by this year’s competitors raised the bar for technological innovation. From software created to keep cars from crashing to GPS technology for disaster relief to phone applications used to detect signs of malaria in the blood, students presented a broad spectrum of ingenious projects- many of which will have a substantial impact on our civilization's future. Empire Entertainment served as the local New York City logistics, venue and production partner. Empire's roles on the project included supporting site selection and acquisition, logistics, supplying key personnel to oversee various events, working with the client’s key vendors and providing onsite management for event flow for its 1,000+ participants.

Empire Entertainment was proud to partner with Microsoft on the 9th annual Imagine Cup and to play a role in helping the brightest minds of tomorrow solve challenges to make a difference in the world.

Kid Witness News, (KWN) is a global video education program supported by Panasonic. The program uses video production experiences to boost creativity, communication skills, and to foster teamwork in children from elementary to secondary school levels.This year for the first time, the global awards ceremony was held outside of Japan, at the Globe Theatre in Universal Studios Hollywood. To ensure a smooth and successful program, Panasonic and their agency Dentsu chose Empire Japan to serve as executive producer for the project. Empire's role would include selecting the venue, working with local PR and production vendors, and managing the overall look and production of the awards ceremony.For this year's global awards, there were six finalist schools participating from six different countries including Japan, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, and United States. The students involved in the video production from each school were invited to Hollywood, CA to participate in "Winner's week" and the Awards Ceremony.After spending two days experiencing Hollywood, the main event would be the awards ceremony. The ceremony started off with the students walking a red carpet, where hired paparazzi were placed to photograph the surprised student celebrities.Next the students participated in interviews, which were distributed to PR companies in each of their home countries. The awards program began with an Olympic style parade of the nations, with a voice of god introducing each of the countries as they entered the theatre and took their seats.The ceremony began with an introduction video, then a viewing of each of the school's nominated video works. The awards ceremony included seven different awards, and Panasonic had invited special guests and judges from the U.S. and other countries to present each of them. Chairman & CEO of Panasonic Corporation of North America, Joseph M. Taylor served as the award presented for the Grand Prize.The day's Grand Prize went to Val Verde High School in the United States for their work "Without Me."After a 15 minute intermission, the students returned to the Globe Theatre to enjoy the special performance by "Everybody Dance!" from Gabriella Charter School. After the great performance, all of the guests enjoyed the dinner with each participant feeling like a Hollywood celebrity.Between the ceremony and the reception, members of the U.S. and foreign media interviewed the students, which resulted in excellent exposure and very successful PR for Panasonic. The ceremony also garnered substantial media coverage with students and teachers appearing on a live interview for KCAL channel 9, and numerous Internet news hits including the group picture front of the Globe Theatre being chose as the "Picture of the Day" in Yahoo News.Empire Japan was thrilled to take on the many challenges of helping this honored client, helping them take this event overseas for the first time. With the success in Hollywood, Empire Japan has already been engaged to produce the 2012 KWN Global Wards Ceremony.For more information please watch the YouTube video, that explains this 2011 KWN Global Awrads Ceremony.Empire Japan is among the most extablished, world-class event companies in Asia and, in partnership with Empire Entertainment, Inc. is a leading producer of innovative event programs throughout the world.

One of the toughest challenges when selecting a business speaker is finding someone with truly global appeal. Empire was presented with one such challenge by a global technology company seeking to present a speaker that would appeal to an audience representing 140 countries. Having established one of the world's most recognized and respected brands, Empire recommended entrepreneur, adventurer, philanthropist and founder of the Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson. With over 300 companies in 30 countries, Virgin expanded from its beginnings in the music industry into air and rail travel, hospitality and leisure, telecommunications, health and wellness, and clean energy. A leader in product innovation and customer service, Branson was knighted in 1998 for his “services to entrepreneurship.” He remains one of the few business speakers in the world who is universally respected for his ingenuity, vision and foresight.Sir Richard Branson was introduced to an audience of over 12,000 at the Los Angeles Staples Center with a brief video that summarized his philosophy and achievements and the exciting exploits of Virgin brand businesses worldwide. Entering to great applause, Branson engaged in a lively moderated question & answer session with the corporate host that covered topics ranging from risk taking and customer service to his philanthropic work and views on the future of global brands. One of many highlights of the discussion was his response to a question about his forthcoming space travel venture - Virgin Galactic. Murmurs of anticipation spread through the arena as Richard told the audience that within a few years he plans to bring the cost of space travel down enough so that most of the people in the room would soon themselves have a chance to travel into space. This entertaining and inspiring discussion was the perfect way to add attendee value to this already extraordinary conference while also helping to underscore and reinforce many of the messages delivered earlier by the host company’s own executives. The full content of the discussion may be viewed by clicking here.Prior to his presentation, Sir Richard Branson participated in a meet & greet session with VIP guests and client senior management. Empire handled the negotiation and contracting of Sir Richard Branson’s services, coordination of all logistics, including precision arrival and departure planning between two other international engagements, as well as all onsite management.Empire is proud to present many of the world’s leading speakers and is a leading source for keynote speakers of global stature.

When a private client and her husband wanted to celebrate a fiftieth birthday with an unforgettable weekend in Las Vegas with friends and family, they turned to Empire as the overall producer for the project. With a VVIP guest list of over 125 attendees traveling from as far away as Europe & Asia, every aspect of the weekend would need to be planned with the utmost personalization and exquisite attention to detail. The expectations for the weekend would be nothing short of perfection. In the weeks leading up to the events, Empire worked closely with the client to design and send a unique invitation based on the Las Vegas skyline, supported by a visually-consistent registration / guest info website and travel staff offering a personal concierge touch. On Friday the weekend festivities began with airport greeters, personal greeting at the Encore check-in, whimsical welcome packages, an extraordinary gift bag including everything from engraved bottles of Johnny Walker Blue to iPods pre-loaded with the birthday girl’s soundtrack for the weekend. That afternoon, the hosts held an informal hospitality in their tower suite at the Encore. On the first night, guests assembled for an arrival dinner at SW Steakhouse where the entire outdoor patio overlooking the Wynn’s animatronic Lake of Dreams was seated in long, candlelit banquet tables. Following the elegant dinner, some of the guests retired to the hospitality suite for gambling lessons with Blackbelt in Blackjack author, Arnold Snyder. Other guests headed to XS Nightclub at the Encore where VIP tables and bottles of champagne on ice had been reserved to dance the night away.Saturday morning started early and guests participated in a myriad of custom designed activities for every taste. Activities included personalized yoga instruction with an instructor flown in from New York, golf at the Wynn Las Vegas Golf Club, private helicopter tours of the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam, Humvee desert expeditions and guided hiking in the Las Vegas hills. Other guests relaxed at the fully-stocked pool cabanas reserved at the Encore Beach Club, went shopping on the Las Vegas strip or enjoyed spa & salon treatments.Saturday evening’s event began with over 100 guests being treated to a performance of The Beatles LOVE by Cirque de Soleil at the Mirage Hotel. Guests were then transported back to the Alex Ballroom at the Wynn for the Saturday night big bash - the centerpiece event of the weekend. Working closely with the client, a major art collector and philanthropist, Empire transformed the elegant Alex Ballroom into her ‘magical, bohemian chic’ vision. All of the formal furniture in the indoor ballroom were replaced with contemporary furnishings grouped around a custom-designed black lacquer dance floor and main stage dressed in fabrics. The outdoor terraces were surrounded by over 200’ of high topiary covered with twinkle lights that glowed in the desert evening and lit the comfortable terrace lounge seating as well as the single malt tasting station and cigar areas. Exquisite crystal votive candle-holders and floral designs featuring a combination of feathers and flowers complemented all of the individual rooms’ aesthetics. The menu for the evening featured all of the couple’s favorite foods including everything from raw seafood bar and sushi stations to southern fried chicken and Asian specialties from Hot & Juicy. Many of the side rooms and wine closets of the ballroom were transformed into activity areas including henna and temporary tattoo stations, a photo booth, a karaoke lounge and even a dessert buffet that later became a pole-dancing nightclub.On the stage Empire presented a program custom-designed to the birthday girl’s tastes. In addition to toasts, remarks and a hilarious speech by a fictitious art consultant supported by a slideshow presentation, the evening featured non-stop music and entertainment. DJ’s Andrew Andrew spun a playlist of the couple’s favorite music via iPads, allowing them to control the music from the stage, the dance floor, or even the bar. The event featured live performances by the Australian Bee Gees Revue and the Funky Monks, the Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute band. Guests remained on the dance floor surrounded by Go Go dancers well past 4:00AM and adorned themselves with costumes and props provided specifically for the evening’s festivities. The next morning began with a whimsical ‘Hangover Brunch’ in the Encore’s Sinatra Restaurant at which centerpiece bowls of sunglasses, Alka Seltzer, aspirin, Emergen-C and other hangover cures were served. On their arrival at the brunch, guests were amazed to receive a printed & bound photo book and USB credit card featuring all of the photos of the previous night’s events that had ended only hours earlier. The day continued more activities, guest departures for most and a straggler’s dinner at Rao’s Restaurant. Empire’s responsibilities for the program included concept and agenda development, hotel room contracting and coordination, invitation, website and collateral design, RSVP tracking, guest communications, guest ground transportation, welcome packages, meal functions, classes, excursions and activities, shows, pool cabana and nightclub reservations, menus and catering, entertainment as well as all event design and production. With the exception of the client, their extraordinary staff and the outstanding Encore & Wynn hotel team, Empire provided all personnel to manage and execute the project onsite. The net result of the weekend: an immensely happy client and a rewarding experience for all attendees and participants. The client feedback was best captured in the following email from the client’s executive assistant: “The e-mails that [the client] is getting back on the event are over-the-top, ridiculously positive. Many of them read like unbelievable infomercial testimonials, others like they had a spiritual transformation, all of them 200% positive. Objective achieved beyond expectations. You are some kind of an amazing team.”Empire is a leading producer of personal and milestone events and is delighted to deliver beyond expectations for this and other private clients.

Each year, one of the world's top food and beverage companies flies its top performers and their spouses from around the world to its New York headquarters to celebrate their sales achievements and recognize their accomplishments.The trip includes sightseeing, business programs and an evening in NYC. The highlight of the annual trip is always the awards dinner, held inside a state-of-the-art tent built temporarily on the grounds of the corporate headquarters. For the past several years, this company has consistently turned to Empire Entertainment to deliver a program of brief performances to occur between sections of awards as well as post-awards ceremony entertainment.This year and in years past Empire was charged with creating a program of entertainment that translated over the multinational attendees that were present and that could segue naturally into a night of dancing and celebration.Empire presented four international acts that represented regions around the globe.The Bollywood dance troupe Ishaara dazzled the crowd with a high energy Indian dance performance. The NYC Lindy Hoppers were up next and put on a swinging performance that impressed the crowd with their acrobatic moves and custom choreography, created just for this event. Next on the stage Empire presented a beautiful and intimate flamenco performance by Flamenco Vivo. Finally to close the awards and set up for the party, the African Children’s Choir came roaring to the stage from the back of house to get the crowd ready to dance. As they came to the finale of their performance the Eturnity Band, New York City's best R&B, Funk & Motown dance band, took the stage and kept the audience dancing until the end of the night.Empire Entertainment is the leading booker and producer of talent and performers for corporate events and has delivered variety and theatrical talent reflecting nearly every region and nation on earth.

For Conservation International’s 14th Annual New York City Gala, Empire Entertainment, in partnership with @Radical.media, once again reinvented the traditional gala event model. By presenting the issues & content as the central focus of the evening, Conservation International’s attending supporters were not only well entertained, but well informed by the experience.The evening’s dynamic stage program was led by ABC News Correspondent George Stephanopoulos and included a live stage discussion with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. As Mr. Stephanopoulos interviewed Mr. Blair, guests learned first hand about the myriad issues threatening our world’s ecosystems and how governments both help and hinder eco-efforts. The informative and fluid discussion focused on Mr. Blair’s personal experiences in facing the challenges and opportunities in trying to make progress on conservation and sustainability.

Following dinner, Empire broke new ground by literally bringing the audience live to Liberia, Brazil and Japan. Making use of Mr Stephanopoulos’ skills as a live television host and with the help of Skype IP video conferencing technology, the event featured a live magazine show format that brought three of Conservation International’s field scientists from Liberia, Brazil and Japan live onscreen into the event. All three shed light on the importance of marrying global & local community efforts in the fight for conservation & sustainability and guests were able to witness first hand the work of Conservation International in disparate regions across the globe.Other speakers for the evening included Conservation International CEO, & Co-Founder Peter Seligmann and the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, Dr. Richard Haass.The setting for the dinner, The Hall of Ocean Life, was transformed with a stage set that included breathtaking falls of cascading indigo fabric that created a waterfall effect.

Tables were set with exquisite, sustainable floral arrangements for a combined effect that was understated, refined and dramatic. Held in the magnificent American Museum of Natural History, the event also featured an elegant cocktail reception in the Cullman Hall of Universe and a dessert reception in the Hall of Biodiversity.

Leveraging creative and production strengths, Empire, in collaboration with the Conservation International team and @Radical.media were able to deliver a flawless evening that informed, entertained and inspired the gala attendees.

It was a night to remember for the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) who hosted their benefit gala, “A Celebration of Heroes, Heart & Hope” at the world- renowned Waldorf Astoria in New York City. Over 800 guests comprised of innovators, achievers, endurance athletes and leaders came together to support CAF to help provide opportunities to people with physical disabilities so they can pursue active lifestyles through physical fitness and competitive athletics. CAF has enabled individuals to complete an Ironman with one leg, ride 620 miles down the coast in a handcycle, play baseball with other kids and compete in multiple sports in the Olympics. CAF’s goal is to help people with physical disabilities accomplish the challenge that is set before them and live life to the fullest by providing mentoring, clinics and support programs, as well as removing the barrier of expensive equipment and training and competition costs.Empire was honored when CAF had asked us to provide a headline entertainer to help celebrate the achievements and bravery of these amazing athletes. Empire fulfilled the client’s request by securing superstar performer Macy Gray and handling all contracting, management and logistics for her performance.After an inspirational program of speakers and presenters who were endurance athletes themselves, CAF hosted a compelling and exciting live auction that raised over $1 million dollars in a matter of minutes. Macy Gray then performed her greatest hits, such as “I Try, “Kissed It,” and Beauty in the World,” as the Challenged Athletes gathered on stage as a finale to a night full of inspiration and unforgettable stories. Empire supports the Challenged Athletes Foundation in their mission to have a great and significant impact on each physically challenged athlete served.To learn more about CAF, please visit www.challengedathletes.org.

Games for Change is the leading global advocate for the development of games that contain tangible social messaging. The Games For Change Festival is the crown jewel in the organization's event calendar. Each year gamers and game designers from around the world descend on New York to talk about -- and play -- the games that are changing the world. This year marked the eighth G4C festival and the event's directors were determined to take the event to new highs. Enter: Empire Entertainment. Empire orchestrated the 3-day festival's main stage, aggressively honing the event's A/V elements and running the show like a nationally broadcast television special, helping G4C take the first steps in transforming the historically low-key, "D-I-Y" festival into a world class event. Highlights of the 2011 Games For Change Festival included an awards ceremony honoring the best socially-conscious games of the year, an arcade where attendees could play those very games, and keynote presentations by video game and entertainment guru, Jesse Schell, and former U.S. Vice President, Al Gore. Empire is a leading producer of festival and not for profit programs.

When one of the world’s leading software companies unveiled their newest operating system in Taipei, Taiwan, they turned to Empire Entertainment’s Japan-based Asia headquarters for local assistance with the project. Working swiftly with the US-based client, Empire Japan developed venue options and costs and joined the client for a site visit within days of the first contact to lock in final venue, The W Hotel Taipei, logistical and production details for the project. On June 2, 2011, hundreds of partners and members of the international technology and software media from around the world attended the event. Empire Entertainment Japan provided local production support in Taiwan including site selection and contracting, lighting, invitations, reception, shuttle bus operation for the guests, securities, onsite cameraman, and video edit for press release.

Empire Entertainment’s Tokyo-based Asia headquarters is a unique resources for corporate event planners seeking to produce world class events throughout Asia.