GES宣布收购CSG Creative以增强展会营销能力

LAS VEGAS — GES announced the acquisition of CSG Creative (CSG), a marketing and creative services agency specializing in the association and exhibitions industries.

This move significantly expands GES’s marketing capabilities by combining its global exhibition services and extensive organizer relationships with CSG’s deep expertise and demonstrated success in growing event attendance and revenue, and creates new opportunities for CSG to bring its marketing and creative capabilities to GES clients across the enterprise.

As an operating company within GES, CSG will retain its established brand and Paige Cardwell, its President and Founder, and the entire agency team will remain in place to serve existing clients and support new business opportunities across GES.

“CSG brings capabilities that are highly complementary to what we already do at GES,” Derek Linde, CEO of GES, said. “They have spent nearly 25 years building deep expertise in strategic marketing, creative and audience engagement for associations and event organizers, along with an outstanding team and strong client relationships. We know their work firsthand, and we have tremendous respect for what Paige Cardwell and her team have built. Together, we can connect marketing strategy and audience growth with the live-event experience in a way that creates more value for our clients.

“What excites me most is the team. We’re not acquiring CSG to change what has made them successful … Our job is to give that team a broader platform, additional resources and new opportunities while protecting the culture, client relationships and expertise they have built. I came away from spending time with the team this week even more enthusiastic about what we can build together.”

Trend Overview

This move aligns with a trend visible across the exhibitions industry: General service contractors are evolving from operational vendors into integrated event-marketing and experiential partners.

Rather than simply building the show floor, managing labor and handling exhibitor services, they’re increasingly positioning themselves as companies that can help organizers develop, market, produce and measure the entire event experience.

More examples of this trend in-action include GES’ experiential agency Spiro’s acquisition of 2Heads in 2025, Freeman’s acquisition of mdg in 2018 and Tag Digital in 2025, The Expo Group’s acquisition of toddstreet in 2026 and Nth Degree joining forces with Fern in 2023.

“Our strategy is to continue expanding the capabilities we can bring to our clients, and CSG is a great example of that,” Linde said. “Together, we can pair CSG’s marketing, creative and strategy expertise with GES’s scale and live-event capabilities. That creates opportunities for us to go to market together: bringing CSG services to GES clients, and introducing GES capabilities to CSG clients. Ultimately, it strengthens our ability to help clients build their brands, engage their audiences and drive business impact.”

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