May 12, 2016: First Protocol Acquires Barkley Kalpak Agency, Why Agencies Are Pressured to Enhance VR Capabilities, Public Health Professor Cites Zika as Reason to Cancel Olympics

1. FIRST PROTOCOL ACQUIRES BARKLEY KALPAK AGENCY: The international events agency First Protocol has acquired creative and experiential agency Barkley Kalpak Agency, the companies announced Wednesday. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. First Protocol is known for producing events including major conferences, summits, and product launches for clients such as Mercedes-Benz and global financial institutions. Barkley Kalpak Agency provides event strategy, design, planning, and production for a variety of events such as marketing activations, media upfronts, galas, and award shows. Its clients have included AOL, Samsung, and others. Press release: “'We are excited about the acquisition of BKA, which will expand upon our overall offerings, add to our capacity, complement our creative and production service offerings, and strengthen our international presence to design, produce and execute world-class event experiences,' said Maureen Ryan-Fable, C.E.O. Americas at First Protocol. Ryan-Fable will continue as C.E.O. Americas, and BKA Founder and President Jeff Kalpak will become First Protocol’s president and join the First Protocol Group Board."

2. WHY AGENCIES ARE PRESSURED TO ENHANCE VR CAPABILITIES: As more brands choose to work directly with production companies to launch their own virtual reality platforms, agencies are feeling the pressure to upgrade their in-house VR capabilities to keep up with competition. Digiday: “And yet, agencies and production companies offer different skill sets to a brand. For starters, agencies are good at ideation while production companies have an edge in execution, said Boo Wong, executive producer for digital and emerging technology at VFX and creative content studio The Mill. While The Mill is able to draw upon a hugely diverse talent pool—ranging from VFX artists and filmmakers to creative coders and game engine developers—which enable the studio to solve complicated creative problems fast, it is not at its core an agency. Skipping agencies to work with production companies could make sense for brands that want to test the waters of VR but don’t have budgets that allow for service fees to handle strategic planning and oversee VR production. But over time, agencies and production companies will likely collaborate on VR the same way the two manage web and TV production, said Brian Edelman, CEO for full-service digital agency Rain.” http://bit.ly/1T8IA2

3. PUBLIC HEALTH PROFESSOR CITES ZIKA AS REASON TO CANCEL OLYMPICS: Amir Attaran, a professor in the School of Public Health and School of Law at University of Ottawa, has voiced reasons why Brazil’s Zika outbreak should be enough to postpone the Rio Olympics. Attaran also voiced potential alternatives for how he thinks this summer’s games could proceed. Harvard Public Health Review: “First, Rio de Janeiro is more affected by Zika than anyone expected, rendering earlier assumptions of safety obsolete. When in January the International Olympic Committee declared Rio a ‘safe environment’ for the Games, it was speculating, because Brazil’s Ministry of Health temporized until February to declare Zika a notifiable disease and begin counting cases. Now with those data finally available, the situation seems not so safe: Rio de Janeiro’s suspected Zika cases are the highest of any state in in Brazil (26,000), and its Zika incidence rate is the fourth worst (157 per 100,000). … There is precedent for flexibility. Recently, America’s baseball leagues rescheduled and moved games out of Puerto Rico because of Zika. Historically, the 1976 Winter Olympics were moved, and the 1994 Winter Olympics broke with the regular schedule.  London, Beijing, Athens and Sydney still possess useable Olympic facilities to take over from Rio. Since the IOC decided in 2014 that the Olympics could be shared between countries, sporting events could even be parceled out between them, turning Zika’s negative into an unprecedented positive: the first transcontinental, truly Global Olympics.” http://bit.ly/1WV03uP

* LOCAL NEWS *

COAST-TO-COAST:  Sandy Dutra has been appointed director of travel industry sales at Trump International Hotels Chicago, Toronto, and Washington, D.C.

BOSTON:  The Friends of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute will host its annual spring gala, Rise: An Evening to Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Friends and the Power of Leadership, on May 20 at the Four Seasons Hotel Boston. 

CHICAGO:  The National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show will take place May 21-24 McCormick Place. The keynote address, titled "Signature '16: Turn the Tables," will take place in the Grand Ballroom on May 22 and will feature three industry professionals in conversation with the organization's president Dawn Sweeney.

LOS ANGELES:  The Paley Center for Media will host PaleyLive LA: An Evening with Orange Is the New Black on May 26. In conversation will be the Netflix series' creator Jenji Kohan and cast members including Taylor Schilling, Taryn Manning, and Natasha Lyonne.

For information on upcoming events in Los Angeles, visit Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/losangeles

MIAMI/SOUTH FLORIDA:  The third annual Keep Dreaming: Brunch on the Beach, which benefits the Little Dreams Foundation, will take place Sunday at Faena Hotel Miami Beach. 

NEW YORK:  The 29th annual Geraldo Rivera Golf & Tennis Classic, which benefits Life's Worc and the Family Center for Autism, takes place today at Engineers Country Club in Roslyn.

The seventh annual SoHo International Film Festival will take place June 9-16 at Village East Cinemas.

The New Museum has launched an $80 million capital campaign, timed to both the museum’s 40th anniversary and its 10th year on the Bowery. The campaign will fund an expansion of the contemporary art museum to an adjacent property, and more than double the museum’s endowment.

Smash Party Entertainment will debut a second location in Shelter Island, which will be open from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day.

For information on upcoming events in New York, visit Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/newyork

ORLANDO/CENTRAL FLORIDA:  DoubleTree by Hilton Orlando at SeaWorld will break ground May 17 on a new 20,000-square-foot conference center and outdoor event space.

TORONTO:  Dance festival Fall for Dance North will take place October 5-7 at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts. The festival will feature programming from 11 Canadian and international dance companies.

WASHINGTON, D.C.:  Dog Tag Inc., whose Dog Tag Bakery employs military veterans, will host a charity ride at SoulCycle in Georgetown on May 21—which is Armed Forces Day.

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With contributions from Jenny Berg in Chicago, Alesandra Dubin and Claire Hoffman in Los Angeles, Mitra Sorrells in Orlando, and Beth Kormanik, Michele Laufik, Jill Menze, and Ian Zelaya in New York.

BizBash Daily is the must-read digest of event industry news from BizBash.com.

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