As the agency of record for the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), preparing for an Emmys red carpet is an effort SMITHHOUSE knows better than anyone. Over the years, our boutique PR agency has handled all of the organization’s event management and press efforts, including  for their Daytime Emmy and The Children’s & Family Emmy Awards Ceremonies, as part of its decades-long tradition of recognizing excellence in television.

But in lieu of the entertainment industry’s dual strikes this past summer, things weren’t exactly business as usual when it came to June’s 50th Annual Daytime Emmys in Los Angeles, which led to the event being put on indefinite hold.

With the original uncertainty of how long the event would be on hold or if it would even happen at all, there was little that could be done but wait. So as soon as the Daytime Emmy’s new December 15th date was announced that fall, SMITHHOUSE had to hit the ground running, fitting months of usual planning and execution into just a few weeks. The accelerated timeline wasn’t the only challenge, however —  the event also now fell on the same weekend as planned The Children’s & Family Emmy Awards Ceremony.

As a result, SMITHHOUSE was tasked with executing all the media and event management for two full event productions and four red carpets in the span of just three days. While the events served some of the same community, making sense from a budgetary and time perspective, each ceremony also required its own needs and distinct resources to create two unique celebrations as special as its attendees. For SMITHHOUSE, that meant creating language and strategy that would accommodate each event, while keeping the bigger picture in mind to ensure efficiency and a smooth execution.

Similar to any red carpet event, thorough preparation, thoughtful media management, and deep attention to detail were the foundation of the strategy going into it. But with events of this scale having to share a handful of important resources and media, there was not only a need for increased talent, but also a more intentional event strategy to be successful. 

SMITHHOUSE invested a lot of time conducting real-time analysis with NATAS to uncover the celebratory moments that could be newsworthy beyond the opportunity to acknowledge the winners — one of which included Jack Black taking home his very first Emmy. And to ensure a smooth flow across all events, we spent time thinking about the experience from the perspective of our nominated partners and publicists for an effective event that allowed for custom moments and special recognition.

We wanted both very talent-friendly and structured policies in place to ensure the volume of nominees that were exciting additions to the red carpet had their opportunity to talk to the press and get photos, while also being efficient enough to get everyone through the process. To ramp up on-site event support, SMITHHHOUSE took advantage of our strong network of skilled talent relations and event professionals who truly understood the needs of the red carpet experience. By recreating multiple touchpoints and processes, we were able to ensure that everything from the arrival to completion of the red carpet was not only well planned but also that everyone felt special and had a great time.

Additionally, with one of the ceremonies broadcasting live in partnership with CBS, we also had to accommodate distributing multiple press releases to our media contacts without oversharing or competing against one another. We took a similar approach in the days following the event, with four winners announcements going to the same outlets in just three days. Our goal was to figure out ways to package and spotlight breakout moments and milestones wins without overwhelming the media or minimizing the importance of each.