EN VIVO Kicks off September 15 in NYC - Reggaeton News

By Reggaetonline.net

August 29, 2007

MSL Productions -- a multifaceted creative and production company based in NYC -- today announced that it has teamed with Ralph Mercado Presents and Televisa Publishing to launch EN VIVO, a first-ever series of one-day vibrant music and entertainment festivals celebrating Latino lifestyle. The first
EN VIVO (LIVE in Spanish) event will take place at Randall’s Island in New York City on Saturday, September 15th, with Bud Light® as the Presenting Sponsor and AT&T as a supporting sponsor.

EN VIVO (www.envivoamerica.com) events will roll out in eight other markets in addition to NYC, including Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Boston, Philadelphia, Providence, Houston and Corpus Christi through 2008. The tour will expand to at least a half-dozen other cities in the two years that follow.

“En Vivo will be the largest gathering of A-list Latino music talent ever,” says Ralph Mercado III, Vice President of Ralph Mercado Presents, the leading concert producer of Latin music events worldwide for more than 30 years. “Music is the unifying theme across all Latino communities, and En Vivo will mark the first time that the biggest names in the industry come together on one stage to celebrate.”

Each EN VIVO event will include as many as ten top headlining artists performing popular Latino music genres on a given day, such as salsa, merengue, bachata, reggaeton and Spanish pop. The world’s top Salsa artists -- Gilberto Santa Rosa and El Gran Combo -- will perform for the first time in New York City on the same stage as the top selling merengue artists: Sergio Vargas, Fernando Villalona, Tono Rosario, and Los Hermanos Rosario. Other performers include the First Lady of reggaeton Ivy Queen, Rakim y Ken-Y, Nina Sky, Xtreme and numerous guest artists that will be announced weekly as part of the radio and internet promotion, creating a crescendo effect leading to the eve of the festival.

Along with music performances, EN VIVO will feature exciting and interactive Zones designed to further engage participants. They include a Sports Zone, a Fashion Zone, an Auto Zone and a DJ/Dance Zone (a dance club environment within the festival grounds).

“We are very excited to be part of En Vivo with Bud Light, as this unprecedented event promises to offer Latino New Yorkers a completely new entertainment experience,” says Zulema Wiscovitch, Manager, Geographic Marketing at Anheuser-Busch, Inc. “We look forward to meeting our guests at our exclusive Bud Light Party Zone in the Festival.”

EN VIVO will be promoted in the New York City market through pre-and post-promotion campaigns, including a full schedule of radio advertising, street hits, ticket giveaways and on-air promotions on Spanish Broadcasting System’s Mega 97.9 FM in July and August; grassroots marketing through club promotions and street signage, and print advertising. Advertisements will run nationally in Hispanic editions of Cosmopolitan, ESPN Deportes, Maxim, Hispanic Magazine, Vanidades and Tv y Novelas.

“En Vivo enables us to offer our advertising clients a face-to-face consumer venue for their marketing efforts. It is a new value-added opportunity for all our brands,” says Cesar Ruiz, General Manager, USA North Regions, Televisa Publishing (formerly Editorial Televisa).

The events, which are expected to draw thousands, target young adult Latino males and females. The Hispanic consumer represents the largest minority in the U.S. today and is also the fastest growing demographic.

“The Latino movement is a complete lifestyle, a phenomenon that is exploding globally,” says Eleni Roselli, Partner at MSL and a co- founder of EN VIVO. According to Roselli, MSL has developed EN VIVO into a 12 month property. She says, “We will have an opt-in community database that will make En Vivo the destination for corporations and brands who want to connect with the Latino consumer. It will have life before and after each festival.”

EN VIVO tickets are available through Ticketmaster – www.ticketmaster.com

About MSL

MSL (www.mslproductions.com) creates and develops dynamic properties that strategically integrate brands, consumers, entertainment and media. MSL’s expertise and relationships across disciplines, markets and industries brings multiple partners and brands into properties that deliver meaningful results for some of the most prominent corporate and cultural organizations.

MSL core services also include branding, public relations, celebrity procurement, event management and TV production. Our strategies and tactics deliver solutions beyond the conventional or the expected.

About Ralph Mercado Presents

For more than three decades, Mercado has led the industry in staging spectacular musical events worldwide as well as building an enviable Latin music roster of talent and acts, a recording and publishing label, a video and film production arm and a catalogue of award winning international hits that has changed the industry over the past 15 years. Following the sale of RMM Records to Universal Music in June, 2001, Mercado turned to his passion of producing and staging Latin music events worldwide. He also maintains his publishing companies, Caribbean Wave and Crossing Borders, affiliated with ASCAP and BMI providing music for major feature films, television, soap operas etc. Ralph Mercado was the first promoter to bring salsa music to Africa, South America, the Orient and Israel. He was also one of the first to bring Latin music concerts to such prestigious venues as Radio City Music Hall, Lincoln Center’s Avery Fischer Hall, the Beacon Theatre and Madison Square Garden. His contributions to the Latin music community would come from his ability to identify new talent and bring their performances to the public. Mercado continues to present the best of Latin music's talent to prestigious venues across the country through the newly formed property En Vivo!

About Televisa Publishing

Televisa Publishing is the world’s largest Hispanic magazine publisher and distributor with coverage in 19 countries and over 100,000 points of sale. The publisher of over 100 titles (including Hispanic titles Maxim, Cosmopolitan, ESPN Deportes, TVyNovelas and Vanidades) with an annual circulation of over 137 million, Televisa Publishing is #1 in its market and audience share. Televisa Publishing is proud to publish well-established and highly recognized brands, thereby delivering trusted editorial environments that engage both readers and advertisers alike. The power of Televisa Publishing lies within their unique ability to reach all of the segmented and dynamic U.S. Hispanic markets, including both Spanish and English demographics.

About Anheuser-Busch, Inc.

Anheuser-Busch’s support of the Latino community dates back more than a century. The company supports approximately 400 community-based, local and national Latino organizations with contributions totaling nearly $52 million during the past two decades. Anheuser-Busch also currently sponsors the Mexican National Soccer Team and Chivas Soccer as well as top entertainers like Carlos Mencia and the Senadoras from Univision’s “Republica Deportiva.” Anheuser-Busch’s efforts in the Latino community focus on values such as education, leadership development, economic empowerment, public advocacy and arts and culture. As a result, the company has the No. 1 and No. 2 beer brands in the Latino market — Bud Light and Budweiser. To learn more about these efforts, please visit www.Latinobud.com.

About Randall’s Island Sports Foundation (RISF)

RISF is a public-private partner of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation that seeks to realize the unique potential of 480 waterfront parkland acres anchoring Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens. RISF strives to empower under-resourced children through sports and recreation with an investment of over $300 million over the next five years in world class facilities, playing fields and programming.