FRUKT North America Ablaze With New Business Success

LOS ANGELES, May 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- FRUKT North America has quickly catapulted to center stage in the world of entertainment, orchestrating sponsorship strategies for many leading consumer brands and closing major partnerships with some of the music industry's hottest luminaries.  The agency's remarkable rise has captured the attention of power players in the highly-competitive music marketing space.

After becoming part of Octagon last year, London-based FRUKT Communications focused its expertise in the Americas, establishing offices in New York, Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro, and began creating and delivering entertaining ideas that connect people with brands through both live and digital experiences that involve engaging content.  

The key has been a strategy-first approach to partnerships. For example, in order to provide MasterCard Worldwide with an entertainment platform that would showcase the company's "Priceless Experiences" campaign, FRUKT NA applied its expertise and insights around the passions inherent in being a music fan and set out to align the brand via strategic partnerships with two of music's biggest stars.  

Coincident with Beyonce's performance at the 2013 Super Bowl, FRUKT announced it had negotiated and will manage sponsorship of Beyonce's 2013 "The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour."  Just weeks later, FRUKT paired MasterCard as Justin Timberlake's financial services strategic partnership for two years, an agreement which gives MasterCard assets around the superstar's world tour, after show live performances, priceless consumer experiences, commercial advertising campaigns, product launches, and a creative brand consultatory role.  

"The hallmark of both strategic partnerships is collaboration," says FRUKT NA's president Joe DiMuro.  "MasterCard will be able to offer cardholders customized 'VIP' offers and meaningful experiences that fit the company's iconic Priceless Experiences marketing campaign," he said, offering as evidence the dramatic two-day leap in traffic to MasterCard's website that features its Priceless Cities New York/Timberlake ticket promotion.  The Priceless Premieres event with Justin Timberlake at Roseland Ballroom on May 5 in New York City sold out in under 60 minutes. 

As an entertainment industry veteran, DiMuro's 25 years of music industry experience includes 12 years in various senior executive positions at Sony Music Entertainment and more than a decade at News Corp's 20^th Century Fox Film, creating unique opportunities for brands to leverage fan passions for entertainment.  DiMuro is a great fit for FRUKT which has a global reputation for being one of the music industry's most strategic and creative shops, as validated by FRUKT's music strategy development and activation role for The Coca-Cola Company sponsorship of the 2012 Olympic Torch Relay.  FRUKT was part of the team that delivered 17 artists at 66 live shows including four major regional events and a finale celebration that drew more than 65,000 spectators.       

FRUKT provides insight, evaluation, strategy and direction in building entertainment-based brand initiatives.  The agency enjoys a very deep roster of executives who can create smart and dynamic entertainment-based brand campaigns -- characterized by smart thinking -- leading to valuable entertainment/brand-based consumer initiatives across the full spectrum of music, film, TV and cultural events. 

Based on FRUKT's success profile, another major brand, Budweiser, has tapped FRUKT to manage their partnership with superstar, Rihanna around her 2013 Diamonds World Tour, while several leading marketers including Bank of America, Boost Mobile, and DirecTV have engaged FRUKT to develop meaningful roles and clear reasons for people to hang out, collaborate and engage with their brands and, ultimately, develop a little more love for them.  "Our pledge to entertainment fans whom we engage is that if we are going to disrupt your fan space, that disruption will be relevant, meaningful and something compelling, not just art for art's sake, or marketing for marketing's sake," DiMuro said.

So, what's at the core of FRUKT's success?  CEO Anthony Ackenhoff's bottom line rationale:  "FRUKT provides smart solutions for brands wanting to tap into the world of music, culture and entertainment. We have built our reputation around strategic thinking, brilliant creative and rock solid activations that solve real business challenges in the U.S. and globally. For us, it's more than just badging a tour – it's about finding a real role for brands that adds value to consumers. We want to make people love you for what you do."

About FRUKT
An Octagon company, FRUKT North America, with offices in New York and Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro is part of FRUKT Communications, the London-based strategic and creative communications agency who creates and delivers entertaining ideas that connect people with brands through both live and digital experiences that involve engaging content. They have worked with many of the world's leading brands in pioneering platforms and properties across the spectrum of entertainment marketing including Coca-Cola, Southern Comfort, Diesel, Nokia and Starwood Hotels. To learn more about FRUKT, visit: www.fruktcomms.com.  Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/weareFRUKT; on Twitter: @FRUKTSource; on Linkedin: FRUKT.

SOURCE FRUKT North America