Kingston Technology Company Inc. of Fountain Valley will sponsor the eighth season of Intel Extreme Masters, a professional tournament that focuses on multiplayer online games such as Starcraft II and League of Legends.
StarCraft is among the popular franchises developed by Irvine-based video game maker Blizzard Entertainment Inc.
Kingston, a manufacturer of memory products for computers, printers, mobile phones, digital cameras and MP3 players, kicked off its sponsorship on July 26 at the ChinaJoy World Mobile Game Conference in Shanghai, China. It will give away products as part of the deal, including HyperX memory, solid-state drives, USB flash drives, online and through social media on the gaming tour’s next stops, in New York, Singapore and Sao Paolo, Brazil.
“It is a very exciting time for Kingston as we align ourselves with one of the world’s leading eSports tournaments to deliver top-quality competitions paired with the highest performance hardware to gamers around the world,” said Annie Leung of HyperX Global Strategic Marketing in a news release. “We are proud to celebrate 10 years of HyperX and look forward to making this season’s competition the best tour yet.”
Kingston has sponsored other major eSports tournaments, such as the DreamHack series, IGN Pro League and North American Star League. It wouldn’t disclose the dollar amount for the Intel Extreme Masters deal.
Stradling Rebrands
Newport Beach-based law firm Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth has completed a marketing overhaul that was two years in the making.
“It was quite a feat for a firm with seven offices and more than 110 attorneys,” said Samantha McDermott, Stradling’s chief marketing officer. “We’re really proud of what we were able to accomplish.”
The firm, founded in 1975, specializes in corporate transactions, securities and complex business litigation and tax, intellectual property, employment, real estate, public law and municipal finance.
The rebranding process started two years ago. McDermott’s three-person marketing team set out to consolidate and revamp the company’s logos—one was created back in the 1990s while its predecessor reflected a 1970s style.
The challenge was to incorporate the firm’s four-word name, McDermott said. But industry-based research showed that most clients referred to the firm as simply Stradling.
The marketing team also conducted a companywide survey before selecting “Stradling Attorneys at Law” for the new white-on-blue logo, she said. Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth remains the firm’s legal name.
Its website relaunch was the second challenge, which McDermott labeled as a “mammoth project,” as it aimed to be robust, user-friendly and easily searchable. Attorney profiles and other case-related content were also updated.
The firm hired Hubbard One of Chicago to complete the task, passing over a “phenomenal pool of local shops,” McDermott said. Hubbard One specialized in website development and maintenance for law firms and is well-known in the legal community, tipping the scales in its favor. But halfway through the process, the agency was absorbed into newly-formed entity One North Interactive LLC, also of Chicago.
“I was nervous about it,” McDermott said. Despite the change, the website—sycr.com—is now complete and features interactive design, compelling visuals and back-end structure that supports advanced search features, she said.
The firm also trademarked the “Our job is your success” slogan, which it will use in various banner ads and pitch-book materials.
MOB Gets EMS Job
The County of Santa Clara tapped MOB Media Inc. of Foothill Ranch to produce eight public service announcement videos focusing on raising awareness about the county’s emergency medical vehicles, field treatment sites, ambulance safety equipment, muster stations and emergency medical radio communication. Select video topics will be translated in Spanish and Vietnamese and distributed across Web and social media platforms.
The bid proposal required “acute detail and the creation of a strategic plan to demonstrate why the agency was best fit for this project,” said Mike Goldys, MOB Media’s social media strategist, in a news release. “Our previous experience working closely with government entities has proven our agency to be the best choice in this venture.”
The value of the contract is $99,960. MOB Media’s other clients include Success Education Colleges, UC Regents and Jusuru International.
Bits and Pieces
RealtyTrac Inc. in Irvine, which provides housing information such as tax assessor records, bankruptcy status and sales history, has hired Brittney Marin as its new public relations manager. Marin will work with RealtyTrac’s brokers to capitalize on market trends, increase brand exposure and amplify the firm’s national and local media resources.
