Casale Named Keynote Speaker

For Sprint’s ‘Idea Tour’

Mike Casale, president and co-founder of The Leverage Marketing Group, a Newtown-based advertising and marketing communications firm that integrates business-to-business and consumer communications, was recently selected as keynote speaker for the 2000 Sprint Idea Tour.

The first leg of the tour was recently held in Austin, Texas, with other sites to be announced. The tour was established in 1997 as a way to bring top marketing executives together, and also to increase the awareness of Sprint promotional programs, such as the Sprint FoncardSM and the new WebFoncardSM.

The theme of this year’s Idea Tour is utilizing the Internet to create successful promotions. Mr Casale spoke specifically on the trend of e-tailers (Internet retailers) using online promotions to establish and support their brand identity. He also demonstrated how online promotions involving Sprint’s WebFoncard can help increase Web traffic and help retain online customers. His audience included both “brick and mortar” business owners and e-tailers alike.

“E-business awareness, involvement, and added-value is crucial, and using online promotions like the WebFonCard is now key,” said Casale. “Many e-businesses are failing because their messages are lost in the information clutter, but a good promotion offers immediate value to cut through the clutter and support the brand.”

Mr Casale and agency partner Rich Brzozowski were recently recognized for their work with Sprint on a reader survey promotion for Promo magazine, for which it won a Gold Dialog Award, and are co-recipients of the prestigious Reggie® Award. They, along with Peter Howland, the agency’s associate creative director, are retained by Sprint FonPromotionsSM to support the division’s sales crew with “Idea Power” creative programs.

The Leverage Marketing Group, co-founded by David Goodwick, currently services some 30 accounts, including Sprint, Bio-Plexus, Hewlett-Packard, Sealed Air, Atinav, IFS, and The Hartford.