Alpaytac receives 'Award of Distinction' from American Marketing Association
for best launch of a new brand
6/25/2010:

CHICAGO, Ill. - June 25, 2010 - Alpaytac Marketing Communications/Public Relations has added to its growing list of accolades by receiving the BrandSmart Award of Distinction for “Best New Product or Service Launch” from the Chicago chapter of the American Marketing Association.

The Alpaytac team - led by founder and CEO Huma Gruaz - accepted the award during the association’s annual BrandSmart conference in downtown Chicago on June 24th.

The award recognized Alpaytac’s work on behalf of Bellator Fighting Championships, a first-of-its-kind mixed martial arts promotion that began its first season during 2009 with 11 live events that were broadcast nationwide on ESPN Deportes.

Alpaytac developed and executed a strategic multimedia public relations program integrated with Latino media outreach and social media campaigns. Alpaytac used several key tactics to build the Bellator brand by driving traffic to the Bellator website through initiavites such as “Wednesday Warriors,” which streamed the full show online (and in English) every Wednesday for fans without access to ESPN Deportes. Alpaytac also created the Bellator Underground, a weekly e-newsletter for fans sent directly from Bellator’s CEO. Bellator’s YouTube.com page, meanwhile, received more than 1 million views during the same time period.

In terms of media outreach, Alpaytac garnered a total of 713 media placements with 665,283,340 impressions during the 11-week first season and Bellator was hailed as MMA’s “success story of the year” by Sports Illustrated. In addition, Bellator’s success as a brand led to a groundbreaking new TV distribution contract for the promotion’s second season. Bellator now reaches nearly every home in the U.S. with weekly broadcasts on NBC, Telemundo and FOX Sports Net.

About Alpaytac:
Alpaytac's team of elite professionals applies its collective expertise in publicity and integrated marketing to a diverse set of clients in the consumer technology, house wares, travel, sports, fashion, health and beauty, children’s products and business services industries. The firm was founded in 2004 by Huma Gruaz who wanted to create an agency that focused on delivering outstanding ROI for clients. A 15-year veteran of the PR and marketing industries, Ms. Gruaz is a graduate of the Executive MBA program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Bryn Mawr College with a double major in Economics and Fine Arts.