Simon Marketing

History

Simon Marketing, Inc. was a publicly-held, full-service multinational promotional marketing company which specialized in the design and development of high-impact advertising products and sales promotions and was based in Irvine, California. The company was founded in 1976 by Simon Molloy, whom the "Simon" part of the company's name is derived from.

Around 1989, the company entered the video business.

Simon Marketing's video releases were often duplicated in EP/SLP mode, sometimes with only a linear audio track, such as some early releases (while some releases were in SP mode, with a hi-fi audio track), and opened with a tracking control disclaimer ID in a black background, which looked like this:

      FOR MAXIMUM
   PICTURE  QUALITY
   IT MAY BE NECESSARY
      TO ADJUST THE
    TRACKING  CONTROL
       ON YOUR VCR

The "FOR MAXIMUM PICTURE QUALITY" text was greenish blue, while the remaining text was white. Over the disclaimer, a male announcer can be heard saying, "Please note: For maximum picture quality, it may be necessary to adjust the tracking control on your VCR." This disclaimer was also used on most Starmaker Entertainment tapes, as well as some HBO Video Special Gift Edition tapes, except HBO Video Special Gift Edition tapes had a silent variant of the disclaimer. Sometimes, the disclaimer is followed by either a blue background variant of the 1980s Warner Home Video FBI warning screen or the 1986-1991 Vestron Video warning screen. In addition, their releases generally reused images of the boxes of the client's releases, except on titles sold through the company for most clients, the client's logo and video copyright information are removed, and as always, the client's UPC codes are replaced with Simon Marketing's own UPC codes, and the client's stock number is removed.

The prefix of the UPC codes was "097428".

In 1997, Simon was sold to a Massachusetts-based rival, called Cyrk, which was once one of the largest promotional marketing companies, and in May 2002, Simon went into liquidation, likely because it and McDonald's sued each other the previous year. Simon was also sued by Philip Morris USA. The lawsuits alleged that one of Simon's directors, who was arrested by the FBI, rigged several sales promotional games distributed by Simon.

List of Retail and Cross-Promotion Customers

• McDonald's Corporation (19??-2001)
• Philip Morris USA (19??-2001)
  • Kraft Foods (19??-2001)
• Ralphs (1990) (select pressings of 15 Vestron Video titles)
• Shop-Rite (1990) (select pressings of 15 Vestron Video titles)

List of Home Media Customers

• ABC Video Enterprises (1991-1992)
• LIVE Home Video (1991-1992)
  • Family Home Entertainment (1992)
  • Vestron Video (1989-1992)
• The Maier Group (1990-1992)
• DIC Video (1990-1992) (except titles released in association with Golden Book Video)
• New Line Home Video (1992)
• HBO Video (1991-1992)
• Random House Home Video (1991-1992) (some copies of The Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners and Richard Scarry's Best ABC Video Ever!)
• Starmaker Entertainment (1989-1990)
• Strand VCI Entertainment/Strand Home Video (1990-1992)
• J2 Communications (1989-1992)
• Just for Kids Home Video (1989-1995)
• Turner Home Entertainment (1991-1992) (some copies of Captain Planet and the Planeteers: A Hero for Earth)

Releases

1. Mr. Mom (Vestron Video)
2. Dirty Dancing (Vestron Video)
3. Blame It on Rio (Vestron Video)
4. Easy Money (Vestron Video)
5. TBD (Vestron Video)
6. Heidi (Vestron Video)
7. Hoosiers (Vestron Video)
8. Platoon (Vestron Video)
9. Neil Diamond: Glad You're Here with Me Tonight (Vestron Video)
10. Making Michael Jackson's Thriller (Vestron Video)
11. Babar the Elephant Comes to America (Vestron Video)
12. Elton John: Breaking Hearts Tour (Vestron Video)
13. The Adventures of the Little Prince (Vestron Video)
14. Puff the Magic Dragon (Vestron Video)
15. Puff and the Incredible Mr. Nobody (Vestron Video)
16. Puff the Magic Dragon in the Land of Living Lies (Vestron Video)
17. TBD
18. No Way Out (HBO Video)
19. On Golden Pond (J2 Communications)
20. Desperately Seeking Susan (HBO Video)
21. TBD
22. TBD
23. Cinderella (Starmaker Entertainment)
24. Elton John: Live in Australia (J2 Communications)
25. Sleeping Beauty (Starmaker Entertainment)
26. The Big Easy (HBO Video)
27. ¡Three Amigos! (HBO Video)
28. The Last Unicorn (J2 Communications)
29. Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling: The Wrong Stuff/Three Little Hulks (DIC Video)
30. The Care Bears: The Magic Shop/Concrete Rain (DIC Video)
31. The Jungle Book: Kichi Is Alone (Strand VCI Entertainment)
32. G.I. Joe: The Movie (Just for Kids Home Video)
33. TBD
34. Moonlighting (ABC Video Enterprises)
35. Inspector Gadget: The Invasion (The Maier Group)
36. Star Wars: Ewoks Vol. 1 (J2 Communications)
37. TBD
38. TBD
39. Punky Brewster: Little Orphan Punky (Just for Kids Home Video)
40. Kissyfur!: Hugs and Kissyfur (Just for Kids Home Video)
41. Prizzi's Honor (ABC Video Enterprises)
42. Silkwood (ABC Video Enterprises)
43. Huckleberry Finn (ABC Video Enterprises)
44. The Flamingo Kid (ABC Video Enterprises)
45. Class Reunion (ABC Video Enterprises)
46. The Velveteen Rabbit (ABC Video Enterprises)
47. The Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners (Random House Home Video)
48. Captain Planet and the Planeteers: A Hero for Earth (Turner Home Entertainment)
49. Punky Brewster: Punky Power (Just for Kids Home Video)
50. Bozo, the World's Most Famous Clown (Just for Kids Home Video)
51. Rude Dog: Dweebin' Around in a Pink Cadillac (Just for Kids Home Video)
52. Young Doctors in Love (Vestron Video)
53. A. Buns of Steel 2: Step Workout (The Maier Group)
    B. The Little Fox (Just for Kids Home Video)
54. Take the Money and Run (ABC Video Enterprises)
55. TBD
56. TBD
57. Total Recall (Live Home Video)
58. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie (Family Home Entertainment)
59. TBD
60. The Fabulous Baker Boys (Live Home Video)
61. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (New Line Home Video)
62. Weekend at Bernie's (Live Home Video)
63. TBD
64. TBD
65. TBD
66. Eric Clapton and Friends (Vestron Video)
67. Meatballs (HBO Video)
68. The Cannonball Run (HBO Video)
69. Billy Crystal: Don't Get Me Started (Vestron Video)
70. Babar: The Movie (Family Home Entertainment)
71. The Care Bears: The Last Laugh/The Show Must Go On (DIC Video)
72. TBD
73. Labyrinth (New Line Home Video)
74. TBD
75. TBD
76. Beverly Hills Teens: Buy Buy Babies (DIC Video through Just for Kids Home Video)
77. Young Guns (Vestron Video)
78. Rambo: First Blood Part II (Live Home Video)

Duplicators

• Celebrity Duplicating Services, Canoga Park, CA (199?-199?) (tapes from Just for Kids Home Video)
• Technicolor Video Services, Livonia, MI (1988-199?)
• Technicolor Videocassette, Inc., Newbury Park, CA (1988-1990?)
• West Coast Video Duplicating, Inc., Brisbane, CA* (1991-1992) (tapes from ABC Video Enterprises, alongside The Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners from Random House Home Video, Captain Planet and the Planeteers: A Hero for Earth from Turner Home Entertainment and The Star Wars Trilogy Animated Collection, Volume 1 from J2 Communications)
• TBD (Inspector Gadget: The Invasion from The Maier Group)

NOTE: *Tapes duplicated here used a different variant of the tracking control disclaimer ID, in which the text was italicized, the font was different, and the announcement voiceover was provided by a different male.

Trivia

• The first Simon Marketing tapes, at least the ones duplicated by Technicolor Videocassette in Newbury Park, were known to end with a black screen test pattern with a 400hz tone, like most pre-1989 tapes duplicated by Technicolor Videocassette in Newbury Park.
• Most Simon Marketing tapes were duplicated by Technicolor Video Services in Livonia.
• While Simon Marketing tapes usually did not have spine labels, copies of Richard Scarry's Best ABC Video Ever! from Random House Home Video sold through them were known to have such a label.

Locations

• Irvine, California