The Toshiba America Corporation's 50th Anniversary Celebration

When Toshiba America sought to commemorate the milestone of its 50thanniversary in the United States, they turned to Empire to help them design andexecute the perfect celebration.

Held in the R Lounge of the Renaissance Hotel overlooking both TimesSquare and Toshiba’s massive Toshiba Vision LED billboard, which is viewed by millionsduring the annual New Year’s Eve Ball Drop, this intimate event hosted VIP customers and senior Toshiba leadership from across America.

Empire’s knowledge and experience serving Japanese clients through both itsNew York and Tokyo headquarters, along with our familiarity with presentingevents to C-level business audiences made us the perfect partner for thislaunch.

Empire’s design team transformed the R Lounge space into a ToshibaAmerica branded environment. Guests were welcomed by a series of hostesses whogreeted guests, checked them in on Toshiba tablets and led them to aphoto receiving line with senior Toshiba America executives.

Inside the reception, the VIP guests enjoyed premium sake, wine andcocktails and passed delicacies while interacting with displays showcasing thebreadth and scope of Toshiba’s products, including a solar-powered hydrogengenerator which creates clean energy to power homes and businesses. Allof the showcases demonstrated Toshiba’s Leading Innovation under the banner of“Human Smart Community”— a concept that speaks to technological advance whilemaintaining commitment to human values and sustainability.

A 60-second countdown played on Toshiba Vision LED billboard and monitorsthroughout the space indicating it was time for guests to move into the R Loungeoverlooking a busy Times Square at sunset. Cyber Illusionist Marco Tempest tookthe stage as the evening’s emcee and welcomed a series of speakersincluding Masaaki Osumi, Chairman & CEO, Toshiba America, TaizoNishimuro, Adviser to the Board Toshiba Corporation, Richard Parsons, SeniorAdvisor Providence Equity, Scott Maccabe, President of Toshiba America BusinessSolutions and His Excellency, Reiichiro Takahashi, Ambassador & ConsulGeneral of Japan to the United States.

At the conclusion of remarks, Marco took the stage and performed aseries of illusions entitled “Anniversary” in which he used augmented realityand other technologies to make magic for the audience. As a finalé to the stageprogram, Marco invited two audience members to join him onstage. Next he calledout to the audience to shout out their own lucky numbers, which he then wroteonto a board for all to see. The audience volunteers then added up the numberson Marco’s board and read the number aloud: 201563. When Marco asked if thatnumber had any special meaning, he then inserted a comma showing that the numberwas actually the day’s date: June 3, 2015 and the date of Toshiba’s 50th Anniversary.The audience was even more amazed when Marco gestured to theToshiba Vision Billboard, displaying the same number in agrand reveal moment.

Following the performance, guests remained in the glass-enclosed RLounge and enjoyed cocktails while watching their candid photos appear on theToshiba Vision billboard overlooking Times Square.

Empire is proud to serve Toshiba America on this occasion of its 50thAnniversary. Empire has had presence in Japan and Asia and for over two decadesand we opened our Tokyo office over 10 years ago, allowing us to serve bothAsia-based clients around the world as well as to support global businesseswith their events and projects throughout Asia.