IC Places Hires Senior Product Placement and Strategic Partnerships Consultant

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- IC Places, Inc. (OTCQB: ICPA) is pleased announce it has retained Julie Thomas Knap as the Company's Senior Product Placement and Strategic Partnerships Consultant. 

In her role, Ms. Knap will negotiate and arrange for in-show paid sponsorships and product placement of major brands in IC Places shows across all distribution platforms. These platforms include on-line, television and private networks. 

"This is the next step in our revenue growth plan. Due to a recent agreement, we now have a show distribution footprint in place which will yield over 200 million viewers a month. We currently monetize on-line shows through pre-roll and mid-roll advertisements. In-show product placement and sponsorships will run across all distribution platforms and will create a much larger revenue stream. In the process it will also build greater production value into all our shows," said Steven Samblis, president of IC Places.

About Julie Thomas Knap

Julie has ten years of experience in securing and cultivating strategic partnerships and alliances, building consumer promotional programs and developing brand integration and placement for entertainment properties.  With seven years at Vivendi Games (now Activision Blizzard) and 3 years as a consultant, Julie has proven her strong ability to quickly achieve organizational integration and incorporate new ideas, concepts, methods and technologies.

As a consultant, Julie has worked with movie studios and film production companies such as The Walt Disney Studios, Sony Pictures, DreamWorks Animation and Wunderkind Pictures, as well as video game publishers such as Activision Blizzard and THQ in the areas of Partnership Promotions, Brand Integration and Product Placement.

While at Vivendi Games, Julie directed all In-Game Advertising Partnerships, Consumer Promotions, Alternative Marketing and Consumer Event global activities for the company's entire portfolio of products across four publishing labels, Blizzard Entertainment, Sierra Entertainment, Sierra Online Games and Vivendi Games Mobile.

About IC Places:

IC Places is a Multi Media Entertainment Company.

The company produces "Made for TV" and "New Media" video programs which are watched by millions of people every month on several different platforms.

At the core of IC Places is a network of 350 city based entertainment websites. This foundation allows IC Places the unique advantage having a built in fan based for the TV and New Media programs it produces. 

Each IC Places City website offers a virtual keyhole view of life in each community. Every unique aspect of a city's social, business, and cultural life is available right at each city's IC Places homepage. IC Places provides the entire community a place to talk, do business and get connected. Businesses are given amazing tools to tell their stories in the best way possible and visitors get unfettered access to businesses, events and people in each city. To see one of the IC Places City sites in action, please visit http://www.icPlaces.com.com/orlando.

IC Places programs can be found through distribution partnerships with Mevio.com, The IndoorDIRECT network of restaurants and Brighthouse Networks Cable.

Product Placement and Strategic Partnership Strategy

IC Places will work with companies under three primary product placement strategies.

1. Implicit product placement strategy:

The brand, logo, the firm, or the product is presented passively with only clear visibility within it's program without being expressed formally. This product placement is more contextual or part of the background with no clear demonstration of product benefits, for example, wearing clothes with the sponsor's name or a scene in front of the a specific movie chain theater.  Another example is a new TV show IC Places is producing called "The Home Entertainment Review."  The show will be filmed in a man cave filled with cutting edge home entertainment technology, which will be supplied by the manufacturers.

2. Integrated explicit product placement strategy:

In this strategy, the brand, logo, the firm, or the product plays an active role in the scene and is expressed formally within the program or plot. As a humorous example, during the "Instant Movie Review" show a pizza delivery man shows up and delivers a piping hot pizza from a major brand and the hosts begin to eat it while delivering their review.

3. Non-integrated explicit product placement strategy:

In this strategy, the brand, logo, the firm, or the product is formally expressed but not integrated into the content of the program, for example, in the TV show "IC Places Hollywood" segments of the show may be sponsored by a car company or electronics company. This type of reference normally is included in the sponsorship deal.

Understanding The Value of Product Placement to the Advertiser

Product placement is a form of advertisement, where branded goods or services are placed in a context usually devoid of ads, such as movies, music videos, the story line of television shows, or news programs. Nielsen Media Research has shown that product placement in television shows can raise brand awareness by 20%.

According to a recent report by "Journal of Management and Marketing Research," product placement is a fast growing multi-billion dollar industry.

According to the research company PQ Media, global paid product placements were valued at $3.07 Billion back in 2006. By 2010, the overall value of paid and unpaid product placement increased annually to $13.96 Billion.

The U.S. is the largest and fastest growing paid product placement market. In 2011 Branded content comprised 32% of overall marketing, advertising, and communications budgets. This number is expected to increase due to the fact that 41% of U.S. homes are expected to have and use digital video recorders that can skip through commercials. Hence, communicating core marketing messages is difficult but vital.

Consider the following data :

• 90% of people with digital video recorders skip TV ads.
• To be seen, brands now have to get inside the content.
• Consumer consumption of entertainment increases when economic times get tough.
• Research shows product placement in content boosts brand awareness, raises brand affinity and encourages prospective purchasers.
• 60% of viewers felt more positive about brands they recognized in a placement.
• 45% said they would be more likely to make a purchase.

Product placement can be a cost-effective method for reaching target customers. Because of this, product placement is likely to eclipse traditional advertising messages.

IC Places Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of management and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect the company's current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. A more extensive listing of risks and factors that may affect the company's business prospects and cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the reports and other documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contact Information:
Steven Samblis
IC Places, Inc.
407-442-0309 Ext. 2
[email protected]

SOURCE IC Places, Inc.