Minneapolis neighbors Imation Internet Studio, a subsidiary of Imation Corp, and Gage Marketing Group have launched Imaginet, an interactive business that will provide promotions, consulting, development, and fulfillment to help businesses successfully manage and create e-commerce opportunities.
Imaginet employs 50 interactive architects who are experts in promotions and e-commerce, the companies say. Clients include Goodyear, Florida Power & Light, Gatorade, Kraft, and Imation.
As an independent company, Imaginet will service Gage’s customers and pursue additional opportunities within the Fortune 1000. Together, Gage and Imaginet will deliver comprehensive online and offline marketing programs.
“Our clients are seeking guidance in integrating the Internet with their marketing systems as they pursue new electronic business channels,” Gage ceo Skip Gage said. “We are already doing this, but now, with this investment in Imaginet, we can do it on a larger scale.”
One Plus Two Equals A Bigger One Norwood Promotional Products, Austin, TX, reached a definitive agreement last month to acquire the U.S. supplier division of Bemrose USA for $130 million in cash. The deal is subject to approval by Bemrose shareholders and statutory requirements.
A release announcing the deal touted Norwood as “the leading supplier in the promotional products industry,” though companies such as Cyrk-Simon and Ha-Lo might disagree. Bemrose was anointed as second largest with $130 million in revenues in 1998 from six different operating companies.
They Get The Point Washington, DC-based Point-of-Purchase Advertising Institute honored five companies and their promotional partners in March with Display of the Year awards at the association’s annual ceremonies.
Display of the Year winners are selected from among the recipients of gold statuettes in POPAI’s 42-year-old Outstanding Merchandising Achievement (OMA) awards. Judging is conducted in a three-tiered process by 48 P-O-P advertising executives from leading brand marketer companies.
DOY winners were:
* Miller Brewing Co., which took home the Promotions award for its Miller Light Football program.
* R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and agency Trans World Marketing, which topped the Permanent Displays category for their Camel Cigarettes CMS program.
* L’Oreal Retail Division and Ultimate Display Industries, winners in the Semi-Permanent Displays category for the Rouge Pulp Wal-Mart 4-Way.
* E & J Gallo Winery and Rack’s Inc., which earned honors among Temporary Displays with the Ecco Domani Wire Woman Mass.
* McNeil Consumer Products and Point 1 Displays, Multinational winners for the Tylenol Rotating Floor Display.
The awards were presented at POPAI’s Annual Awards Dinner & Gala at the Marriott Downtown Chicago hotel.
Another Rugrats Adventure Sony Computer Entertainment, Foster City, CA, and Favorite Brands International, Lincolnshire, IL, teamed with Nickelodeon on an Around the World with the Rugrats sweepstakes that will award one consumer a trip to three different Nickelodeon locations.
The promotion, which runs through June 15, offers a 14-day trip for a family of four to visit Nickelodeon operations in the U.S., U.K., and Australia. More than 500 additional winners will receive Sony PlayStation game consoles, copies of Rugrats: Search for Reptar, a PlayStation-exclusive game, and other PlayStation prizes.
Consumers enter the contest by visiting customized kiosks at Nickelodeon Studios in Universal Studios, Orlando, FL, or at the Rugrats – A Live Adventure, which tours the U.S. this month. They can also send postcards to the address provided on 3.7 million packages of various Farley’s Fruit Snacks products from Favorite Brands.
Head Shots The Nunes Company of Salinas, CA, went the cross-promotion route last month when it shipped 10 million heads of Foxy Lettuce that offered free portraits at the more than 400 JC Penney photo studios nationwide.
The on-pack offer dangles a free 8-inch-by-10-inch photo with the purchase of three heads of Foxy iceberg lettuce. The promo gives Nunes a chance to begin touting the food before peak summer production, and gives JC Penney’s photo division new customers to impress into making purchases.
“Our goal for the future is that every item we ship contain some type of value-added opportunity,” says Nunes director of marketing Matt Seeley. “It is extremely important that we distinguish ourselves in the commodity industry.”
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