Alpaytac expands reach to Europe, earns recognition from American Marketing Association
6/21/2010:

CHICAGO, Ill. – June 21, 2010 – Alpaytac Marketing Communications/Public Relations, a Chicago-based agency, has added to their growing list of accolades by being named as a finalist in the BrandSmart 2010 Awards competition sponsored by the Chicago chapter of the American Marketing Association.

The award comes at the same time that Alpaytac announces a new partnership with Wellcom, a Paris-based communications consulting firm. The alliance will allow Alpaytac to better service its existing clients that are now entering international markets while also meeting the needs of European companies looking to enter the North American market or expand their brand awareness here.

Wellcom, founded in 1981, employs a staff of more than 80 communications professionals and boasts an impressive roster of clients in a wide array of industries. The company was recently honored by the prestigious Saber Awards competition for its work on behalf of the global consumer products giant 3M.

“As we celebrate our sixth anniversary as an agency later this month, the entire Alpaytac team is extremely proud of both our new partnership with Wellcom and the recognition we have just received from the BrandSmart Awards and the American Marketing Association,” said Huma Gruaz, Alpaytac’s founder and president. “Our agency motto is ‘Good is not enough,’ and we continually challenge ourselves to exceed our clients’ expectations and give them a high return-on-investment.”

The BrandSmart Awards were created to “to celebrate the powerful relationship between beauty and measurement—the marriage of creativity and results” in brand marketing. Alpaytac was recognized in the Best Consumer Marketing Campaign for its work launching the Bellator Fighting Championships brand in 2009. In a matter of nine months, Alpaytac was able to launch and build Bellator into a powerful brand through strategic marketing initiatives that included a national PR campaign integrated with a highly successful social media platform. Bellator was hailed as the “viral success” of the year by Sports Illustrated thanks to Alpaytac’s ability to use online marketing channels hand-in-hand with an aggressive PR outreach.

The recognition from the BrandSmart Awards is the latest testament to Alpaytac’s outstanding work in the fields of public relations and marketing. Over the course of the last two years, Alpaytac has been heralded as one of the most successful agencies in the industry. Ms. Gruaz, received accolades as one of the top three Brand Marketers of the Year in the U.S. as part of PR News’ 2008 PR People Awards. In addition, Alpaytac received the 2009 Gold Bulldog Award for excellence in media relations and publicity, in the Best Use of Research for a business or consumer PR campaign. Alpaytac was also recently named a finalist for Small Firm of the Year as well as Global PR Campaign of the Year by PR News’ 2009 Platinum PR Awards.

In December, Alpaytac was honored by the Stevie Awards for Women in Business in both the Best Overall Company of the Year category for companies with up to 100 Employees in the Advertising, Marketing, and Public Relations fields as well as the Communications Campaign of the Year (for-profit category) for their work with Bellator Fighting Championships.

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.