Simon Marketing

Simon Marketing, Inc., also known as Simon Worldwide, 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 1988, the company entered the video business. During its time in the business, the company had deals with several home video labels/distributors and a duplication contract with Technicolor Video Services. It also had an East Coast counterpart based in New York, called Promotional Concept Group, Inc.

Simon Marketing's video releases were often duplicated in EP/SLP mode, sometimes with only a linear audio track, such as some early releases (except on SP mode tapes where they also had a hi-fi audio track), and opened with a tracking control disclaimer ID in a black background, with the text, "FOR MAXIMUM PICTURE QUALITY" in white and the text, "IT MAY BE NECESSARY TO ADJUST THE TRACKING CONTROL ON YOUR VCR" in blue. 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, although some releases through Promotional Concept Group may use the regular masters, following the disclaimer. In addition, their releases reused the packaging provided by the regular video label/distributor, except on Vestron Video titles sold through the company, the regular video label/distributor's logo and video copyright information are removed, and as always, the regular video label/distributor's UPC codes are replaced with Simon Marketing's own UPC codes, beginning with the prefix "097428," and the regular video label/distributor's stock number is removed. Earlier releases through Promotional Concept Group, prior to 1993, had Simon Marketing's UPC codes, but by 1993, Promotional Concept Group used their own UPC codes, which had a different prefix compared to Simon Marketing's UPC codes.

Some copies of Celebrity Home Entertainment releases sold through the company, particularly releases under the Celebrity's Just for Kids Home Video label, were duplicated at Celebrity's in-house duplication unit, Celebrity Duplicating Services, rather than Technicolor Video Services, though it's unknown whether these copies had the disclaimer. Between 1991-1992, some of the company's tapes were duplicated at West Coast Video Duplicating, Inc.; these tapes in particular had a different variant of the tracking control disclaimer ID which used a different font and a different male announcer.

In the mid-late 1990s, Simon Marketing exited the video business. This may have been due to many customers complaining about Simon Marketing's frequent use of EP/SLP mode and lack of hi-fi on some of their early releases. In 1997, Simon was sold to a Massachusetts-based promotion company, called Cyrk, which was once one of the largest promotion companies, and in May 2002, Simon went into liquidation, likely because Simon 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 promotion games distributed by Simon.

List of Retail and 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

• Starmaker Entertainment (1989-1990)
• ABC Video Enterprises (1988-1995)
• Live Home Video (1990-1995)
  • Family Home Entertainment (1990-1995)
  • Vestron Video (1988-1993)
• The Maier Group (1990-1992) (notably some copies of Inspector Gadget tapes)
• DiC Video (1988-1992) (presumably except titles released in association with Golden Book Video)
• New Line Home Video (1991-1995)
  • Nelson Entertainment (1990-1991)
• HBO Video (1989-1995)
• Random House Home Video (1988-1992)
• Media Home Entertainment (1988-1990)
• J2 Communications (1988-1993)
• Celebrity Home Entertainment (1990-1995)
  • Celebrity's Just for Kids Home Video (1990-1995)

Trivia

• The first Simon Marketing tapes 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.

Locations

• Irvine, California (headquarters)