Solution Provider News: August 2016

Packaging Corp. of America to Acquire TimBar

Packaging Corp. of America (PCA), Lake Forest, Illinois, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire nearly all of the assets of Hanover, Pennsylvania-based TimBar Packaging & Display for $386 million. Under terms of the agreement, PCA will acquire five corrugated product plants, two fulfillment centers and four design centers located primarily in the Eastern and Southeastern U.S. Expected to close during the third quarter of 2016, PCA’s purchase of TimBar will be a debt-free transaction. “The highly skilled employees, culture and customer base of TimBar complements [PCA] extremely well and allows us to apply our operating and sales expertise across a larger system providing significant growth potential,” said Tom Hassfurther, PCA executive vice president, corrugated products, in a media release. “This enables us to optimize our focus on customized solutions for our customers and makes us less reliant on the export market while maintaining strategic relationships with our key export customers.”

Shopper Marketing Advocate Dies

Veteran marketer and longtime friend of the Path to Purchase Institute James “Jim” Lucas died June 24. An avid student of shoppers and retailers, Lucas was very involved in the development and practice of shopper marketing. During his career, he held several positions at Draftfcb, including global director of retail insight and strategy, and served as executive vice president, global director, strategy and insight, at Anthem. Most recently, he taught and developed a retail and shopper marketing course at the University of Chicago. “[Lucas] was such as passionate driver in making shopper [marketing] what it is today,” said Tina Manikas, president of FCB/RED. “He practiced it, defined it, taught it and built and contributed to it through thought leadership. You cannot believe how many people he touched or trained, who are now leaders and lead strategists themselves in our field.”

InMobi to Pay $950,000 in Penalties

Singapore-based InMobi will pay $950,000 in civil penalties and implement a comprehensive privacy program to settle Federal Trade Commission charges claiming it deceptively tracked the locations of hundreds of millions of consumers – including children – without their knowledge or consent to serve them geo-targeted advertising, according to an FTC media release. The FTC alleges that the mobile advertising company misrepresented that its advertising software would only track consumers’ locations when they opted in and in a manner consistent with their device’s privacy settings. According to the complaint, however, InMobi was tracking consumers’ locations whether or not the apps using InMobi’s software asked for a person’s permission to do so, and even when consumers opted to deny permission to access their location information.

A.R.E./POPAI Changes Name

A.R.E./POPAI has changed its name to “Shop!” Along with the name change, the organization is launching a new corporate identity, which will impact all sub-brands, events, programs, publications and websites. The website, ShopAssociation.org, went live in July.

Personnel Appointments

Avid Marketing Group, Rocky Hill, Connecticut 

Citing increased business needs and new client signings, the company has hired five new employees. Joining the company are Michael DeMato as vice president of client services, Kelly Lindell as project manager, Emily Tracey as senior analyst, Josh Olsen as account manager, and Lindsey Fries as assistant account coordinator.

Blippar, London

Danny Lopez will join the company this month as chief operating officer. In his role, Lopez will oversee the company’s worldwide operations and strategic planning as Blippar continues to scale its business. He most recently served as British consul general to New York and director general for UK Trade & Investment in the United States.

Frank Mayer and Associates Inc., Grafton, Wisconsin

Danielle Nelson was appointed account executive.

Shikatani Lacroix, Toronto

The branding and design firm recently hired seven new team members. Joining the company are Gary Oakley as creative director, Doug Gammage as director of strategy and insights, Jared Breski as brand strategist, Lisa Liu as intermediate designer, branded environments, Lee Photavath as senior designer, branded environments, Leann Zhou as an architectural technologist, and Hilda Lam as a project manager.

Soapbox Insights + Influence, Bentonville, Arkansas

The company recently hired Lyndi Fultz and Shelby Briley. Fultz joins the company as a director and Briley joins the team as a project coordinator.

TPN, Dallas

Brynna Ogletree was promoted to vice president, executive creative director, in TPN’s Chicago office. She was most recently group creative director.

Send your solution provider news – new projects and programs with brands and retailers – to Cyndi Loza at [email protected].