News Briefs

STATE FARM: is the official insurance sponsor of Fiesta Atlanta ’09, an outdoor Cinco de Mayo festival celebrating Latino culture, music and food. The event takes place on May 3, 2009 at Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta with more than 40,000 attendees expected. Hispanic marketing, PR and events agency Lanza Group, LLC, is handling the work.

CATAPULT ACTION-BIASED MARKETING: has promoted executive vice president Jason Katz to the new post of executive vice president, emerging media. Katz will create service offerings for both digital shopper marketing and mobile marketing. His new role represents a more intensive focus on these related fields of specialization, the firm said.

T.G.I. FRIDAYS: has a new beverage for its more than 600 restaurants, Vanilla Lemon Ice. Leo Cook, a bartender from Bloomington, IN, developed the beverage, which was the winner of a nationwide online video contest. Cook’s recipe was one of three finalists. In addition to having his beverage featured at Friday’s, Cook received a trip for two to Las Vegas .

FOX SOCCER CHANNEL: beginning March 6, will offer soccer fans an opportunity to sign up for weekly text message programming alerts and match information delivered to their mobile devices. The service is powered by 2ergo’s mobile messaging manager.