GES Buys CSG Creative, Keeps Team Intact
Existing CSG Creative clients keep the same leadership and team as the agency becomes part of GES.
Updated on Nov. 5, 2026 in Advertising
Exhibition and marketing clients in the valley and beyond will keep working with the same team after GES bought CSG Creative from National Trade Productions, Inc. CSG Creative, a nearly 25-year-old agency focused on the association and exhibitions industries, will operate inside GES while keeping its brand.
Why it matters
The deal folds a specialist in growing event attendance and revenue into GES's global exhibition and experiential marketing business, which matters for a city whose calendar runs on conventions and trade shows. CSG Creative's team, led by Paige Cardwell, stays in place to serve existing clients.
The figures in the announcement are company history rather than deal terms: CSG Creative has been in operation for nearly 25 years, GES traces a legacy of almost 90 years, and National Trade Productions is marking 50 years. The announcement does not disclose a price or any valley headcount impact.
The players
GES
A global exhibition and experiential marketing services company that is acquiring CSG Creative.
CSG Creative
A marketing and creative services agency focused on the association and exhibitions industries, now joining GES as an operating company.
National Trade Productions, Inc.
The seller of CSG Creative, marking its 50th anniversary.
Derek Linde
CEO of GES, leading the company that is acquiring CSG Creative.
Paige Cardwell
President and Founder of CSG Creative, who will remain in place to serve existing clients.
The details
GES announced on November 5, 2026, that it had acquired CSG Creative from National Trade Productions, Inc., with Derek Linde, GES's CEO, and Robert Harar, National Trade Productions' chairman, party to the announcement. CSG Creative will operate as an operating company within GES and keep its established brand, and Cardwell and the CSG Creative team will remain in place to serve existing clients. The companies say the combination will help event organizers deal with more complex audience and market dynamics.
Timeline
November 5, 2026: GES announces the acquisition of CSG Creative from National Trade Productions, Inc.
Beyond the Strip
The deal extends a pattern in which exhibition-services firms add specialist marketing agencies to grow attendance and revenue for event organizers rather than only supplying booths and logistics. For a city where trade shows anchor a large share of visitor traffic, that pattern adds a new layer of marketing services to the convention economy.
If you work with CSG Creative on a trade show or association event, your account team and contacts stay the same. Expect the agency to keep its name and approach while drawing on GES's wider exhibition resources.
The takeaway
The deal means the exhibition marketing firms serving valley events are getting bigger and more integrated, even as the agency you know keeps its name. Watch for the new combined services that GES and CSG Creative roll out for upcoming conventions.
Further reading
For more on how marketing agencies are reshaping event promotion, see Advertising coverage across the valley.
