Civic Entertainment Group was acquired by Ryan Seacrest’s entity Seacrest Global Group in December 2012 and has added to Civic since then at least once when it acquired Nate Schreiber’s Culture Shop in 2014.
When Seacrest acquired controlling interest in Civic Entertainment, he said, “Part of my overall goal in the business is to connect content, brands and consumers. I think that this is a great opportunity to do that.” Civic’s co-founders, Stuart Ruderfer, and David Cohn, continue to run the company in New York. But this has allowed Seacrest to do many of his own projects through the company, including one with Ford, called “Random Acts of Fusion.”
Civic has a rich history having been part of prominent and award-winning campaigns for CNN, A&E, NBC, the National Football League, and HBO. Specializing in experiential marketing based on people attending events and traveling to locations.
When Civic and the Culture Shop joined together last year, it reunited three long-time friends, Schreiber, Ruderfer, and Cohn used to work together in Central Park. Ruderfer and Cohn worked for the City of New York on Central Park concerts, and Schreiber handled the brands and artists. The trio has remained friends, even after Schreiber relocated to Los Angeles.
Civic Entertainment Group is headquartered on Park Avenue South in New York City. They currently represent some pretty big names in business and the entertainment industries. Some include Game of Thrones, Martha Stewart, Airbnb, Southwest Airlines, and Lady Gaga. They also continue to work with the many clients the firm had before Seacrest Global Group acquired the company.
They like to say they create brand engagement for their clients and specialize in event and grassroots marketing, non-traditional media, entertainment, and street teams and sampling. But if you need more traditional help with digital and social, consulting, branding, municipal marketing, and strategic alliances, they can help with those equally well.
Ryan Seacrest is a busy guy with a variety of day jobs, including hosting a national radio show, television hosting on shows like American Idol and E Network. He also lends his name and support to various causes, and works with a larger group of investors for greater diversification of their portfolios (and his).
He has a knack for choosing investments and projects that can and do succeed. Part of his prowess may very well be in having learned to let others do what they do best without interfering. That seems to be what he’s primarily done in his acquisition of Civic Entertainment Group.