| Ashley Schachner Joins Amplify Sports and Entertainment as Account ...
NEW YORK, Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Amplify Sports and Entertainment, LLC (www.ampfirm.com), specialists in strategic sponsorship consultation, activation, and measurement analysis, today announced the addition of Ashley Schachner as account director. Schachner brings 10 years of experience developing, selling and executing strategic-based solutions to drive corporate initiatives through high profile sports and A-List Entertainment marketing platforms. "Ashley brings Amplify a wealth of experience including concept development, sponsorship negotiations, program management and promotional marketing for marquee brands in the music and sports industries," says Michael A. Neuman, President of Amplify Sports and Entertainment. "We welcome Ashley to the team and are eager to apply her broad expertise to our clients." Prior to joining Amplify, Schachner served as an Account Manager for IMG Consulting, a premier sports and entertainment agency, where she managed a team responsible for developing Verizon's sponsorship marketing strategy, contract negotiations, exclusive content acquisition, and activation plans.
Halla Bol takes to streets
Rajkumar Santoshi's Halla Bol has used an interactive marketing strategy. Since the film is vocal about man's inner conscious, Halla Bol is reaching the common man through street plays. Spokesperson from Pyramid Saimira comments, "Regular modes of marketing have been used over and again. Reaching the real viewer through street theatre will be direct interactive marketing. We are targeting on local issues, which will make people aware of it. We are taking these plays to eight cities and in each city one artiste will accompany the theatre group." One of the artistes from Ajay Devgan, Vidya Balan, or Pankaj Kapur will be representing the film during the street play in each city.
The street plays are organized and conducted by senior theatre personality, Om Katare and his artistes.
Southwest's Nick gimmick doesn't get the job done
We recently characterized low-fare behemoth Southwest Airlines' new effort to target business travelers as the "final frontier" for the carrier. For more than 30 years Southwest has posted impressive profits quarter after quarter by courting the leisure market. No matter how this latest move is sliced or diced, Southwest is risking a lot by positioning itself as an airline catering to business travelers. It's entirely possible Southwest's loyal leisure travellers could begin to feel shunted aside and unloved as the airline moves aggressively forward with its business-traveler marketing strategy. And what of that strategy, which is being rolled out this month via a "Be More Productive" campaign from Southwest's longtime ad agency GSD&M Idea City in Austin and Chicago? It is, at the very least, going to be a high-profile campaign.
Havas Buys U.K. Media Agency BLM and Digital Arm Quantum
Advertising group Havas has expanded its U.K. operation with the acquisition of independent media agency BLM. Havas will merge BLM with Arena Media Communications, with the resulting entity being branded 'Arena BLM.' BLM currently has relationships with mainstream U.K. advertisers including Setanta Sports, Paul Smith clothing and Domino's Pizza. A key influencing factor in the acquisition appears to be BLM's integrated digital arm Quantum, in which Havas sees "strong potential" according to a press release. Its offerings include strategic consulting, e-mail marketing, search advertising and measurement services for clients including FilmFour, Maxim and Thomas Cook. The merger forms part of Havas' strategy to consolidate growth in core mature markets, and build on its success with U.K.
Motorola Honored with Multiple Awards at CES
Innovative, new mobile devices and accessories from Motorola (NYSE: MOT) were among the most honored at the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show. ROKR E8 received four prestigious awards including the CNET Peoples Voice Award, while the MOTOROKR S9 and Motorola T815 each took top honors in the 2008 CES Best of Innovations Design and Engineering Award and Bluetooth Special Interest Group Award, respectively. With an additional eight Motorola products receiving honorable mentions, Motorola will clear the mantle for 14 new awards and accolades from CES. The honors and accolades bestowed upon Motorola at CES underscore our strategy of creating authentic, personal mobile experiences that fit into and enhance consumer lifestyles, said Jeremy Dale, vice president, global marketing, Motorola Mobile Devices.
HP beefs up mid-market servers
The servers will be bundled with software and services tailored for companies which need larger systems but lack the IT resources to manage them. HP will unveil four rack-mounted ProLiant server models offering new processors and larger storage capacities than their predecessors. New software includes an updated version of HP's Lights Out tool which allows the servers to be managed remotely. The software and hardware bundles will form a key part of the vendor's strategy, according to John Gromala, director of ProLiant server product marketing at HP. Gromala told vnunet.com that the new servers will be offered with "blueprint" software bundles tailored for Microsoft Exchange Server or Citrix. HP has also released new C3000 blade servers.
Q&A: $1 coffee! What is Starbucks thinking?
Loyal Starbucks customers are used to shelling out extra bucks for their brew, but recently the gourmet coffee giant decided to experiment with a $1 cup of coffee (including refills).
Testing is limited to Seattle. The move is the latest twist in a corporate saga in which chairman Howard Schultz took back the chief executive position and vowed to revitalize the company. The test "is not necessarily indicative of any new business strategy," the company says. Still, industry experts say this could be a move to defend its top position. In 2006, McDonald's introduced premium coffee and recently announced that it will add baristas and specialty coffee drinks.
Barry Berman, a marketing professor at Hofstra University's Frank G. Zarb School of Business, talked to Newsday about Starbucks' latest move.
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