• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, March 17, 2017

With a portfolio including some of the most recognizable brands in publishing, high-end publisher, Condé Nast is looking to leverage its high-profile properties with an expanded experiential marketing and events business. The company bolstered its capabilities in this area with several new acquisitions.

CN is acquiring two sister companies, Pop2Life and Ribyt, which specialize in experiential marketing and event hospitality and ticketing, respectively.

The companies will form a new group within CN overseen by chief experience officer Josh Stinchcomb. Eric Murphy, founder and CEO of both companies, is joining CN as SVP/senior managing director of the new group.

Operating as a new group in CN, Pop2Life and Ribyt will create customized events and experiential marketing opportunities for major advertising clients, as well as expand the footprint of the existing events business for CN brands.

They include Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit, The New Yorker Festival, Glamour’s Women of the Year awards, GQ’s Men of the Year awards, Bon Appétit’s Vegas Uncork’d, and the Pitchfork Music Festivals. (The latter was acquired along with the rest of Pitchfork Media in October 2015.)

For its part, Pop2Life, founded by Murphy in 2003, has already executed a number of events and experiential marketing campaigns for clients including Scripps Interactive, Capital One, AMC, DreamWorks, Macerich and iHeart Radio.

Ribyt was founded in 2015 to handle the technical aspects of events, including Web sites, registration tracking, attendee communications and apps, among other functions.

A number of big publishers have been steadily expanding their events and experiential marketing operations. Back in November, Motor Trend publisher TEN: The Enthusiast Network announced a significant expansion of its automotive events business, including the Motor Trend Auto Shows and the Hot Rod Power Tour.

Also last fall, Gannett acquired Golfweek magazine along with its events business, which includes a number of collaborations with the PGA Tour, LPGA and the United States Golf Association, as well as conferences on topics like golf-course design.

On the B2B front, last year, British business publisher Informa paid $1.56 billion for U.S. exhibition and conference organizer Penton Information Services. Penton’s events and conference business consists of roughly 30 exhibitions, including the Aviation Week A&D Events, Farm Progress Show, Husker Harvest Days, Natural Products Expo, Best Plants Conference, Safety Leadership Conference, and WasteExpo.