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AGENT & MANAGER
Special Report
Focus/Entertainment Bookers
Florida Company Takes a Chunk
of the Entertainment Business
by JOHN LANNERT
For nearly 20 years Bob Taran's Adam Production has staged hundreds of corporate entertainment packages ranging from an oversized one-ring circus in New Orleans' Superdome to a high-spirited patriotic shindig featuring an autograph session with astronaut Jim Irwin.
But for all the hundreds of splashy corporate shows he has produced, Taran holds tight to a philosophy for enduring success that is disarmingly simple-and logical.
"What we do is make our executives look good and if they look good in their bosses' eyes and they're happy we're in,"Taran said. "I think," he added, "that if there is a difference between Adam Productions and anyone else, it's that what we are personally involved with every single one of our clients."
"I'm becoming a little intimidated by the things I feel are necessary for us to learn and master" --Carole Taran
The "we" is Taran and wife Carole, a prospering club entertainer before teaming with her husband. Bob handles company business affairs while Carol tends to the actual production of an event. Together the couple has built one of "about 15 companies" that share the higher end of a growing market estimated by Bob to be approximately $25 billion.
Adam Productions' client list, now between 12 and 15 firms, leans heavily toward telecommunication outfits, including Northern Telecom, Nynex and NEC America. But the company also numbers disparate firms such as the young adult retailer Merry Go Round and Carnival Cruise Line's Crystal Palace Casino.
Bob acknowledges that Adam's dependance on the telecoms has been most propitious, of late. "We have been," he said, "very fortunate over the last year or year and-a-half in two ways; We keep a real tight rein on overhead and we were very fortunate that a great many of our corporate clients are in the communications industries. The communications companies have missed a beat, but they continue to be healthy and grow and maintain their business."
He estimates 35 percent of Adam's business is derived from corporate participation in trade shows. The balance consists of sales meetings, associations and miscellaneous events. Through mid September, Adam had done 73 shows across the country.
That tally is impressive for a small company nestled in the cozy confines of well-to-do Bay Harbor Fla., near North Miami Beach. Adam -named after the Taran's son - began as an opportunistic aspiration for Bob, an ex-record promoter who wanted to apply that industry's one-stop distribution system, wherein everything one needs can be picked up at one place.
"So, I thought, 'Why can't that same concept be transferred?' You're an executive, you want to do a convention and you want to do a show or theme party and you want one company responsible to you. We started selling that concept and it caught on. I think we were probably the first ones in the country - even though there were a lot of other production companies out there - really selling the one-stop idea."
After presenting a circus in Hollywood, Fla., its first show, Adam has gone on to produce a broad variety of events, including a bar-mitzvah in Miami's 75,000-seat Orange Bowl stadium - one of Adam's are non-corporate productions. As is the industry standard, Adam's client list has undergone constant revision throughout its existence, with 13 year customer Northern Telecom the firm's oldest customer.
"The business is creating theatre and theatre is what is motivating the business force, whether it be for activities, sales or rewards" --Carole Taran
The revolving client door is par for the course, Bob noted, partly because sertain firms or associations make one-time Florida stops. The other reason is that every new "meeting planner" or marketing representive of a company often wants to make his mark with superiors and use a different production company to enhance his chance to ascend the corporate ladder.
When producing an event, Adam's procedure ordinarily involves establishing a budget, identifying the tyoe of show to be presented and then producing it. Carole, who holds creative reins from conception to completion, describes corporate entertainment events as "business theatre."
Explained Carole, who still performs as a lead vocalist with a Jimmy Dorsey music package: "The business is creating theatre and theatre is what is motivating the business force, whether it be for activities, sales or rewards." Key players in Carole's production team are technical director Jon Jabolian, choreographer Denise Tamburini, music director Mike Lewis and art director Ivan Fernandez, Most of Adam's suppliers for productions outside Florida are farmed out of long-time local contractors.
"What we do is make our exectives look good and if they look good in their bosses' eyes and they're happy, we're in" --Bob Taran
Carole books what she terms "standing ovation" performers, among them being Ben Vereen ("One of our best"), Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, Reba McEntire, Rita Rudner, Michael McDonald and David Brenner. She points out that entertainers customarily are booked through the act's management.
While Adam's business remains brisk, there are twin challenges currently confronting the Tarans:Technology and expansion. "As technology changes," Carole said, "In order for us to maintain our relationships with top corporate clients like Northern Telecom, IBM, or Sony, we have to be able to deliver [something different], which means the genre of putting on a comic and singer is gone. I'm becoming a little intimidated by the things I feel are necessary for us to learn and master. What we would like to do is to bring it all-in-house because that's the best way for us to control it."
Expansion also has been a growing concern in the past few years since Adam opened officed in Los Angeles and San Diego. The expanded sales personnel and increased number of shows has kept that Tarans hopping from project to project making sure the production quality measures up to the lofty expectations.
"One of our problems is we spend more and more of our time reviewing the packages, " Bob said, adding, "we love the business, but we're getting tired." Still, the Tarans show few signs of slowing while slowly delegating authority to rising executives such as San Diego manager Cristine Canning
And as usual, Carole keeps trying to top her last show. "People are always looking for something fresh," she sighed. "With the proliferation of cable TV and more and more people being expose to different types of entertainment, you cannot try out party No.4 for the 17th time and be successful."
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