The Events Industry Goes Global

While lots of small companies are big news in New York's special events world, one trend we're seeing in the industry is toward large, international firms. Restaurant Associates--well known as a big player in New York--is owned by Compass Group PLC, a food service conglomerate based in the United Kingdom, with offices in 80 countries. New York's Jack Morton Company changed its name to Jack Morton Worldwide in July, after acquiring assets of Caribiner International. The new company has 1,200 employees, and is itself a division of the Interpublic Group of Companies Inc., a huge marketing conglomerate that also owns ad agencies McCann-Erickson and the Lowe Group.

Meanwhile, Capital Events, a full-service European events firm with 250 employees (clients include Prada, Microsoft and Bristol-Myers Squibb) has sent executive Vincent Fischer to New York to find an American partner. So far he's spoken with more than 10 companies. "Our clients are asking us to serve them on a worldwide basis," he told us. As more companies realize the importance of events as marketing tools, many are centralizing their event planning in one department or one large firm in order to leverage their buying power and streamline their efforts by working with large, international providers.

Posted 11.21.00