Thursday, January 12, 2012

Corbis Acquires Norm Marshall Group

Acquisition of Global Entertainment Marketing and Product Placement Leader Provides Unprecedented Capabilities to Connect Global Brands with Entertainment

SEATTLE & LOS ANGELES (January, 2012) - Corbis, a leading visual content and services provider for the creative and entertainment communities and parent company of GreenLight, a global media licensing consultancy, today announced it has purchased Norm Marshall & Associates (NMA Group). The NMA Group is the world-leader in entertainment marketing and product placement. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

"Corbis is committed to helping global brands break through the clutter of today's advertising market by providing the industry's first comprehensive and integrated approach to connect brands with global entertainment," said Gary Shenk, chief executive officer of Corbis. "By combining NMA Group's strengths in product placement and entertainment marketing with GreenLight's expertise in celebrity and music clearances, we now offer unprecedented connectivity between global brands and the entertainment community."

Established in 1979, Norm Marshall & Associates (NMA Group) is the leading entertainment marketing agency representing the world's top brands to the entertainment industry through product placement, promotions, entertainment media outreach and celebrity seeding. NMA has coordinated thousands of iconic placements in some of the industry's most renowned film and television productions. NMA's roster of clients features the world's most recognized brands including General Motors, Heineken, Motorola, Puma and Xbox.

 "We have been connecting global brands with the industry's premiere film and broadcast productions for over 30 years," said Norm Marshall, chief executive officer and founder of the NMA Group. "With the entertainment industry model rapidly shifting toward digital and interactive distribution, Corbis' global footprint and existing relationships in the entertainment and creative industries will allow us to expand our services, increase our global reach and accelerate growth."

"The full suite of specialty services NMA and GreenLight offers is unmatched in the market today. We provide global brands and agencies a turnkey solution for all of their entertainment marketing needs including product integration and entertainment tie-ins, talent negotiations, rights clearances, music licensing, red carpet events and celebrity seeding to name a few," said Mark Owens who will lead the combined NMA Group and GreenLight entities. 

The NMA Group acquisition is the second made by Corbis in the past six months. In July 2011, Corbis acquired Splash News, the global leader for candid celebrity photography, making Corbis the leading destination for entertainment photography from exclusive portraiture to red carpet to candid celebrity images. Together with GreenLight, Corbis now offers the entertainment industry's only complete solution for brand integration with entertainment across all types of media.

NMA Group will operate under the Corbis brand as an independent business unit.

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About Corbis
Corbis is a leading digital media company empowering advertisers, publishers and other media producers to break through the industry clutter through deep access to, and integration with the world's great creative content. Corbis has offices in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia that serve more than 50 countries.

About GreenLight

GreenLight, a Corbis company, is a global entertainment consultancy providing corporate, advertising and media clients access to music, film, celebrities and all things Hollywood. GreenLight works with the world's leading advertising agencies and brands to enable innovative advertising, packaging, and products. With the "GreenLight Guarantee", clients secure permissions quickly with competitive pricing through the firm's deep industry connections and are protected for the cleared uses.

GreenLight's rights representation group manages the personality rights of iconic personas including Albert Einstein, The Wright Brothers, Steve McQueen, Thomas Edison, Charlie Chaplin and Johnny Cash. For more information, visit www.greenlightrights.com.

About The NMA Group
Founded in 1979 as Norm Marshall & Associates, Inc., NMA is an originator in the field of corporate representation within the entertainment sector and is widely recognized as a world leader specializing in entertainment marketing strategy, product placement and consumer promotions. In 2008, NMA established Vanguard Entertainment Media Marketing Group as part of a broader NMA GROUP umbrella, a division that specializes in content partnerships and Entertainment and Lifestyle media relations. Brands represented by The NMA Group include General Motors, Heineken, Xbox, Luxottica, Puma, Motorola, The American Cancer Society and Dunkin Brands. The agency is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, and has affiliate offices in New York City, New York and London, United Kingdom. Learn more at www.nmagrp.com.

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