Samsung’s Annual Charity Gala Featuring Jon Bon Jovi, Flo Rida and Hunter Hayes
On November 2, 2017, Empire was honored to serve as the producers of the star-studded, 16th annual Samsung Annual Charity Gala, which took place at Skylight Clarkson Sq in New York City. The annual charity gala is Samsung’s principal cause-marketing event dedicated to supporting a variety of charitable organizations focused on children’s health, education, and sustainability.
For the first time in the Gala’s history, the event took place in a completely raw venue, which was transformed to allow guests to experience different environments throughout the evening.
Guests arrived and were met with a giant neon welcome sign and entered through a heart-shaped neon tunnel. At the cocktail reception they were treated to music courtesy of 10 year-old child prodigy DJ Livia and live art by Shantell Martin on a gigantic mural wall. As guests enjoyed interactive catering displays, they explored various installations including LED light chandeliers, monumental walls of real flowers, kinetic glitter bars, and a large LED digital silent auction display.
Celebrity attendees including Goldie Hawn, Nicky Hilton, Camila Alves, Victor Cruz, Rita Ora, and Rob & Marisol Thomas walked the red carpet. The carpet also featured a non-traditional step & repeat, with the benefiting charity logos represented on the wall.
Following cocktails, guests made their way through a gold shimmery tunnel, featuring tube lights, and a mirrored wall at the end displaying the #SamsungGives hashtag before they turned into the dining hall.
As they stepped through the doors, guests were amazed to see two 55’ walls covered in real roses, along with two walls showing almost 300’ of animated digital projection content, which took them on a visual journey throughout the evening. Stage programming included remarks by Victor Cruz, Camila Alves, Deputy Head of Samsung North America, YH Eom, President & CEO of Samsung North America, Tim Baxter, Goldie Hawn, along with speakers from several of the charities and a live auction and appeal led by Lucas Hunt. In addition, guests were treated to live performances by Jon Bon Jovi and Hunter Hayes.
After dinner, guests were ushered into the evening’s final environment, a mirrored and digital wonderland, for desserts and a concert by DJ Kronik and Flo Rida, who had guests dancing until the end of the night.
The Samsung Gala raised an all-time record of more than $3 million for its Charity Partners, who included Big Dreams For Kids; The Boomer Esiason Foundation; Boys & Girls Clubs of America; The Brees Dream Foundation; Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation; Comfort Zone Camp; CMA Foundation ; GLSEN ; Habitat for Humanity; The Hawn Foundation; Henrik Lundqvist Foundation; Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation; Just Keep Livin Foundation; LOLLIPOP; Mark Messier Foundation; Sidewalk; Angels Foundation; Tackle Kids Cancer; Turn 2 Foundation; and the Victor Cruz Foundation
Empire was proud to work closely with the Samsung team to design and deliver a flawless and memorable evening benefiting these worthy causes. For more information, please visit Samsung.com.
Guests received their first taste of technological innovation at registration, where they were welcomed by name on a reactive LED screen installation covering the full width of the entry wall. A large lunch café was created with a décor scheme that incorporated custom-built, ceiling-high steel LED frames draped with foliage to create smaller, intimate restaurant-style spaces that displayed both technology and nature.
A series of breakout sessions presented content targeted to attendees’ varied interests, while imagery displayed throughout the venue showcased real-life applications of how products designed to empower developers help to unleash the power of data and reimagine possibilities that will improve our world.
Every element of Microsoft Connect(); from registration, breakfast and keynote, to lunch and evening cocktails, were custom-designed to communicate exacting brand messaging and to deliver a high-touch guest experience to this important audience. The keynote and breakout sessions were livestreamed through an onsite studio built for this purpose and content was watched online by millions around the world.
Empire is proud to collaborate with Microsoft on this annual, top-tier business communication event.
To view excerpts of Connect(); 2017, please visit https://www.microsoft.com/connectevent
