Corporate Magic at Tournament of Roses Parade

After going it alone for a year, the 123rd Rose Parade presented by Honda re-engaged the messaging architects at Corporate Magic to produce this year's show. The internationally renowned spectacle, held January 2, featured several new elements conceived by the production company to breathe life into this year's "Just Imagine" theme.

Corporate Magic's history with the parade dates back to 2007, when Lee Allan Smith, Oklahoma's "Man of the Century," invited the company to create the opening number celebrating the Oklahoma Centennial. The Tournament of Roses went in a different direction for the 2011 show, but came back to Corporate Magic with a charge to "raise the bar" for parade-goers and the millions watching on television around the globe.

"We are thrilled and honored to be back with this iconic American institution," said Stephen Dahlem, Corporate Magic's senior creative director, who directed the show. "The Rose Parade is one of our all-time favorite events, and we're very pleased with the new elements we created to captivate viewers along parade route and those watching at home."

"We drew from our vast experience filling football stadium fields with seas of people to choreograph a similar street-filling spectacle that energized the audience from the very beginning," said Dahlem. "We were successful in turning the on-site spectators into enthusiastic show participants, which resonated through the television broadcast in a more dramatic way than ever."

For the first time in the Rose Parade's storied history, the opening number was repeated throughout the five-mile parade route to allow the entire on-site audience (estimated at more than one million people) to enjoy the show. Until now, the initial performances were staged just once, primarily for the television broadcast. Corporate Magic also wrote the opening musical piece specifically for the Rose Parade.

"The folks at Corporate Magic are some of the most visionary people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting," said Bill Flynn, interim executive director of the Tournament of Roses. "We are so pleased they came back to build on the improvements they set in motion two years ago, and we're excited by the many new enhancements they created to keep our parade the most spectacular of its kind on the planet."

The creative team at Corporate Magic also designed and constructed a new float that will become a legacy piece for future parades.

The entire production was designed to crescendo into a huge finale, capped by a visually kinetic curtain call.

"We love it when our clients encourage us to push the creative envelope, and we got the green light from Bill to do just that," mused Dahlem. "The parade offered a fitting farewell to 2011 and welcomed in the New Year in spectacular fashion."

The 123rd Rose Parade marked the third international telecast staged by Corporate Magic in a 45-day window. The company also produced the Dallas Cowboys' Thanksgiving Day halftime show featuring Enrique Iglesias, which served as the kickoff to the Salvation Army's annual Red Kettle Campaign. On December 3, Corporate Magic orchestrated the 24th annual Children's Medical Center Holiday Parade through the streets of downtown Dallas.

"We're firing on all cylinders entering 2012," said Jim Kirk, president and chief creative officer of Dallas-based Corporate Magic. "We are blessed to work on some of the most extraordinary events in the country, and we take pride in delivering indelible images and lasting messages for our clients."