Hyundai Becomes Official Auto Sponsor Of The NFL

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The team at Hyundai Motor America have scored quite the interception as of late – it’s taken General Motors’ place as the official automobile sponsor of the National Football League.

Per a report from Mediapost, Hyundai has signed on as the official sponsor of the league, giving it full use of NFL trademarks across its varied marketing channels, including branded content, advertising and promotional materials. There’s no word on just how much Hyundai is spending on the deal, but General Motors paid $25 million per year as part of its deal, so a similar figure is likely.

With this deal, Hyundai will keep track of the League over the course of the year – even after the Super Bowl – with extensive activity that also includes the NFL Combine, the NFL Draft and the NFL Kickoff party to begin the forthcoming season. Promotional vehicles will also be introduced at a number of NFL-based events, including the Super Bowl.

“Sports has worked well for us,” said Dave Zukowski, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor America about the deal. “This gives us the ability to do a lot of things all year. It means we have a broad plan, with branded content and promotional materials.”

The company will also take advantage of the huge Super Bowl event with a number of activities and promotions, since it gets so much attention from millions of viewers every year, despite who’s playing. However, it’s paying attention to smaller opportunities as well, according to Zukowski. “That is one thing we have learned from our NCAA partnership. It’s about engaging dealers and local markets that are football crazy.”

Zukowski also expects social media to play a big part in promotions, especially with NFL-based branding. “Those numbers are huge; broadly, we have our team and agency working with the NFL to flesh out some of the unique ways to go to market with this that give us the right look and feel, and access to different audiences,” he said.

Hyundai’s promotional push will officially start with the NFL Kickoff on September 10th, which should have an outreach of over 188 million fans of the football league.

However, that isn’t stopping it from focusing on pro football – it’s signed a deal to continue being a key sponsor with the NCAA college football league as well. “The big picture it helps us gain consideration, awareness and familiarity,” said Zukowski. “We have grown dramatically over the last five or six years, but the gap still remains between us and key Japanese and domestic competitors. Next February, we are 30 years old in this market, but the Japanese brands are 50 and domestics are 100. This accelerates our opportunity to close that gap.”

So heads up, football fans. Hyundai is ready to play ball.

‘Minecraft’ Continues To Be A Best-Seller

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Who would’ve thought that a game consisting of 8-bit style blocks in an open world would become such a huge phenomenon

Per a report from the official game page, more than 20 million copies of the hit game Minecraft have been sold for Mac and Windows PC. In fact, 10,456 copies of the game have been sold in the last 24 hours – that beats a large number of PC games on the market, including juggernauts like Grand Theft Auto V.

With that, the game now has a total sales count of well over 70 million copies worldwide. The mobile game, Minecraft: Pocket Edition, has managed to sell over 30 million copies in itself, while 20 million copies have been sold on Xbox consoles, including the Xbox One and Xbox 360. Sales haven’t been revealed just yet for the PlayStation versions of the game, but considering their popularity, they’re bound to be right up there as well.

To celebrate the occasion, Daniel Kaplan, business developer for Mojang, tweeted the following message to fans:

Minecraft has become quite a massive hit in the game industry since its initial release in 2011. It’s created such a successful business model that Microsoft jumped into a full acquisition of Mojang last year, to the tune of $2.5 billion. It’s a business model that has certainly paid off though, with a number of promotions that have seen popular character crossovers, such as Halo and The Simpsons.

And those crossovers aren’t going to stop anytime soon. Kaplan recently confirmed the launch of a new mash-up pack for Minecraft on PlayStation consoles that features elements from the popular LittleBigPlanet series. That update is expected to go live in the U.S. later today. That’s big news, seeing a Sony property cross over with a game clearly owned by Microsoft.

Minecraft will more than likely continue building on this massive success – Creepers, you’ve been warned.

Marriott Continues #LoveTravels Campaign With Surprise Wedding

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The #lovewins movement has gotten a tremendous social push since the Supreme Court passed same-sex marriage into law before this past weekend. And Marriott is doing its part with its ongoing #LoveTravels campaign.

The hotel chain recently release details about the ongoing social campaign partnering with What’s Trending, to encourage travelers to explore their personal passions.

In a special ceremony officiated by TV personality Ross Mathews, George Carrancho and Sean Franklin exchanged vows on a float during the Parade, Marriott hosted a surprise wedding during the Capital Pride Parade in Washington D.C.

“Capital Pride welcomes thousands of visitors each year in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities and allies,” said Stacey Milne, VP Portfolio Marketing Strategy + Planning from Marriott International. “With our dedication to Pride and this year’s amazing parade, we can’t think of a better way to express how #LoveTravels than through the wedding vows of honored guests like George and Sean.  Many couples like George and Sean still cannot be married in states they call home; however, we can all celebrate their marriage here in our nation’s capital as the nation awaits the historic Supreme Court decision.  This unique occasion allows us to make their ceremony poignant and meaningful for all Americans and all our visitors.”

“As a public figure and member of the LGBT community, I could not be more proud to partner with Marriott and spread the meaning behind #LoveTravels,” said Ross Mathews.  “This is such a special time for equal rights and there is no better way to celebrate, than by officiating this beautiful couple, in one of the biggest Pride parades in the country.”

“The love that will be in the nation’s capital during Pride will be a testament to the historic change in the nation. Although we reside in New York, we continue to wait to be married in our home state of Texas,” said George and Sean. “We’re overwhelmed that we have been chosen by Marriott to celebrate our union with thousands more along the parade route, and we are thrilled to travel to D.C. for this monumental moment.”

Marriott has also spread the word with its #LoveTravels campaign through a number of social media ambassadors, including Alex Wassabi, Bria and Chrissy and Michael John Buckley, amongst many others.

The campaign has been running full steam since its launch last year, with a number of new ambassadors joining the campaign, and many stories that share the passion of travelers worldwide. #LoveTravels has made 4.2 million potential impressions on Instagram and 23.7 million potential impressions on Twitter, for a grand total of 27.9 million, according to the company. Furthermore, contributing influencers have managed to reach over 2.5 million people across Instagram and Twitter.

No doubt the movement will certainly pick up steam, especially with public push from the recent wedding.

Congrats to the happy couple!

Now Hiring This Week: July 1st

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[a]listdaily is your source for the hottest job openings for senior management and marketing in games, entertainment and social media. Check here every Wednesday for the latest openings.

Read a case for and against job hopping before you find your next position.

  • Marvel – Manager, TV Marketing (San Francisco, Calif.)
  • Disney Interactive – Manager, Mobile Product Marketing (Palo Alto, Calif.)
  • Hulu – Associate Content Marketing Manager (Santa Monica, Calif.)
  • PlayStation Now – Marketing Director (San Mateo, Calif.)
  • Ayzenberg – Marketing & Communications Director (Pasadena, Calif.)
  • Ayzenberg – Director, ION Business Development (Pasadena, Calif.)
  • Ayzenberg – Account Executive (Pasadena, Calif.)

For last week’s [a]list jobs postings, click here. Have a position you’d like to place with us Email us at pr@ayzenberg.com.

Disney Scrambles Up A New Hip Webseries

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by Allen Weiner

Times have changed over at the Walt Disney Company since Steamboat Willie and the glory days of Snow White and The Mickey Mouse Club. Web cartoons the likes of Two More Eggs proves that despite its buttoned-up image, Disney is not afraid to occasionally push the envelope—just as it did 75 years ago with Fantasia. (Yes, it’s been that long).

Two More Eggs, which is part of Disney XD’s official channel, is an animated short from the pens (well, more likely the keystrokes) of the Brothers Chaps, Mike and Matt. Creators of the popular series, Homestar Runner, their latest effort is a rather curiously odd short that features a new episode every Tuesday. Our hero (well, that may be a stretch) is a creature named Dooble who bops merrily around in a goofy orange hat singing a strangely hypnotic theme song. The short description that accompanies the episode says Dooble’s life is a “jox box.” That may explain why he sounds like he’s either had way too many or taken too many hits to the helmet.

Keep reading…

This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.