Crain Communications Inc. on Aug. 13 announced a strategic investment in Internet Week New York for the 2013 festival. The parent company of Crain's New York Business will take over the day-to-day management of the festival, which drew almost 40,000 professionals in May.
Internet Week is a five-year-old festival that draws engineers, entrepreneurs, advertisers and others from a wide range of digital media industries—including digital branding, advertising, video and editorial content. Annual participants include a who's who of Internet companies: Yahoo! IAC, Buddy Media, Microsoft Corp., Time Inc. and Vice. Internet Week NY is also home to the Webby Awards honoring the best of the Web.
"We're thrilled and proud to partner with Crain, an organization with a deep and storied editorial history, to grow and further build the community and festival," said David-Michel Davies and Neil Vogel, co-founders of Internet Week NY in a press release.
As a partner, Crain will head event operations and logistics, including programming content and building partnerships, said a spokeswoman for the company.
"We will work with the founders to maintain the high energy and vibrancy of the festival and grow the event under a shared vision to elevate and celebrate the tech community in NYC," the spokeswoman said.
Crain, a privately held company based in Detroit, did not disclose financial details of the deal. Its 30 print and online publications include Advertising Age, Automotive News and Crain's Chicago Business. As part of an effort to diversify its business, Crain earlier this year launched Crain's Social Media Group to help companies improve their web presence.
Neither organization said how long Internet Week had planned to take on a partner. As far as what kinds of programming changes attendees can expect, they'll have to wait and see, Davies said. Next year's festival is slated for May.
"We're excited about this step," Davies said. "It's an opportunity to really build on this wonderful foundation that we've created and grow the festival even more this year."
