FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Robert Douglas 05/31/07 631-439-5147 [email protected]
WILEN GROUP RE-LAUNCHES COMPANY AS FIRST FULLY-INTEGRATED AGENCY ON LONG ISLAND IN NEW YORK
Farmingdale, NY (May 31, 2007) - The thirty-six year old Long Island company Wilen Media LLC has taken a bold move today to re-position and re-launch itself as the first fully integrated marketing and manufacturing company on Long Island New York under the Wilen Group (www.wilengroup.com) holding name. The family-owned and operated firm in Farmingdale, New York provides marketers cross-discipline expertise with strategy, marketing, creative, production, media planning & buying, manufacturing, and technology all under one roof.
“This is a natural progression,” says Darrin Wilen who is President of Wilen Media which houses most of the creative, marketing, media planning and technology resources. “Our clients have been seeking stronger, easier, more effective and efficient solutions in the marketing of their goods but were relying on multiple disparate agencies to get it done. We simply combined and expanded all of our resources and virtually flattened the entire marketing process from front to back.” Wilen Group re-organized and re-staged its company to better fit the needs of clients and identify leaders within each core area of expertise. “Our account leaders and project managers become a single contact for our clients to access a full suite of marketing and/or manufacturing needs,” states Wilen. “Events, promotions, Web, strategic partnerships, PR/publicity, media planning and guerilla marketing are just a few things we offer in addition to the advertising, creative, direct mail, printing, lettershop and shipping services that we are best known for.”
Wilen Group holds multiple affiliates including Wilen Press and WILopEN in addition to Wilen Media. Kevin Wilen is the President of Wilen Press, which is located in Deerfield Beach, Florida and houses the printing, shipping and manufacturing plant. Corey Wilen is the Executive Vice President of Wilen Media who becomes a virtual bridge, overseeing the operations and manufacturing process between the New York and Florida offices. Founder Richard Wilen functions as both the Chairman of Wilen Group and personally handles WILopEN. Operating out of the Deerfield Beach office, WILopEN creates and markets innovative paper products used in marketing circles such as the pop-up business card or the To-And-Fro self-enclosed mailer. All of which are patented, or patent pending.
The Wilen Group employees about 200 employees between the two east coast offices to support its client roster that includes Charter Communications, HBO, Tribune Sun Sentinel, Comcast, Hearst Magazines, Ultimate Fighting Championship and Time Warner Cable.
1 of 1 Wilen Group has invested heavily in both infrastructure and human resources to grow and expand the company and better equip clients with experts across its suite of services. Recently, the Deerfield Beach plant made significant investments in both printing and manufacturing equipment as well as expanded the size of its facility by an additional 25,000 square feet. “Acquiring the half-web press this year provides us greater printing and finishing flexibility, which directly enables our clients to do more printed materials effectively and efficiently,” Kevin Wilen states. Wilen Press purchased variable data imaging equipment last year that allows clients to print unique, custom messages on individual print pieces at the rate of three unique images per second.
The Farmingdale office has invested heavily and retooled numerous technology software platforms to create unique, custom, one-of-a-kind programs for its clients. Wilen Group’s new W3 tool allows clients to create, edit, review, track, measure and store their own marketing piece from their own computer, as long as they have a high-speed Internet connection. “I believe our clients sleep better at night,” says Darrin Wilen, summarizing the impact of Wilen Group’s technology offerings.
Human resources has played and equally important role in the growth, expansion and re-staging of Wilen Group in the past few years. Allison Rekus left her role leading a Washington, DC- based design firm in June 2006 to become the Senior Vice President of Client Services at Wilen Group. Christina Barlowe left Sirius Satellite Radio to join Wilen Group in May 2006 and now leads Wilen Group’s Technology and Business Operations. Robert Douglas, an advertising and marketing industry veteran from Young & Rubicam and BBDO, joined Wilen Group in May 2006 as its Managing Account Director overseeing strategy and marketing. Cable television industry marketing veterans Cynthia Weinberg and Kathleen Shelley joined Wilen Group in 2007, each in the capacity of Senior Account Directors. Weinberg will operate from an office near San Francisco. Shelley will operate from an office near Sarasota, Florida.
Founder Richard Wilen is best known for creating the Honeywell Computer Journal with Robert W. Beemer in 1971 from the Wilen family basement. This high-tech publication was about the then growing technology world. Senator Barry Goldwater read one issue, in its entirety, into the Congressional Record. Beemer is renowned as a leader in the technology world. He is credited with the creation of numerous computer languages, as well as configurations of computers and peripheral equipment for them. One of Beemer’s claims to fame is the invention of the computer industry’s escape key (“ESC”). Wilen is equally renowned having created and obtained numerous patents for printing processes.
Bob Sewak—who led the marketing for TelePrompTer Corporation, the largest and primarily only cable operator at that time, introduced Wilen to cable television in 1972. TelePrompTer created and owned the display device of the same name, created in the 1950s for Lucille Ball, which is still used today for television news. Through Sewak, the senior Wilen started producing ad mats, newspaper ads, direct mail, bill inserts and more for TelePrompTer.
Soon after, Wilen met Charles Dolan in 1975 and began to produce most of the marketing and direct mail materials for Cablevision, formerly known as Sterling Manhattan Cable, the first urban cable television company in the nation.
2 of 2 In 1980, Richard Wilen joined John Sie, then of Showtime, Jerry Magalia of Time Inc’s Cable Division (ATC) and Tony Cox of HBO to produce Premium Channels, the first multi-pay TV program guide. This publication assisted in changing cable television forever.
From its earliest beginnings, operating from the basement of Richard Wilen’s home, to becoming intimately involved with marketing the cable industry at its most infantile stage and producing the very first program guides for cable subscribers, Wilen Group has consistently made significant contributions in catapulting the cable industry to the enormous size it has become today.
Looking ahead, Wilen Group will continue is successful path in creating and producing stronger, easier, more effective and efficient marketing solutions for its core client base of cable companies. In addition to that, Wilen Group has already initiated many new business efforts to expand and diversify its client base. Those efforts focus on marketers within the beverage category, quick service restaurants, television networks, electronics manufacturers, sports teams/leagues and many more.
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About Wilen Group Wilen Group (www.wilengroup.com) is a family-owned and independent company with offices in both New York and Florida. Established in 1971 by Richard Wilen, Wilen Group evolved into a full-service, integrated marketing and manufacturing agency for marketers with additional leadership support from Richard’s three sons: Darrin, Kevin and Corey. Experts from a broad range of disciplines including strategy, marketing, creative, media, manufacturing and technology staff Wilen Group. The company has 200 employees, 130 based at the 90,000-square- foot printing facility in Florida, which recently garnered a new 25,000-square-foot addition. The agency’s clients include Charter Communications, HBO, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Ultimate Fighting Championship.
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