May 21, 2012

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – Local outdoor advertising company, Elite Media, Inc has formed an exclusive partnership with the Las Vegas Monorail Company to sell a massive portfolio of exterior and interior ad space  on the Las Vegas Monorail system. 

While Elite Media has been selling exterior train and station wraps non-exclusively for more than 5 years, this new partnership will include the Las Vegas Monorail Company’s entire inventory of 87 unique advertising opportunities on floors, ceilings, stairs, LED monitors, light boxes, column wraps, door panels and other interesting venues. 

 “Our clients already love the Monorail train and station wrap ads,” said Chad McCullough of Elite Media. “Now, we are offering them an even BIGGER opportunity, with truly original ad inventory that can fit every media budget.”

 “We are thrilled about this exciting new partnership for our advertising program,” said Ingrid Reisman, Las Vegas Monorail Company vice president.  “As the Las Vegas tourism market rebounds stronger than ever, the Las Vegas Monorail will be here to provide exciting and unique venues to showcase the premiere products and brands of Elite’s convention, blue chip and national clients.”

ABOUT ELITE MEDIA, INC

Elite Media, Inc. is best known for their work in Las Vegas providing wallscapes, building wraps and digital out-of-home to national advertisers and convention exhibitors.  These oversized advertisements surrounding the Las Vegas Convention Center, the largest convention center in the world, attract the attention of convention attendees and help boost branding awareness.  Elite Media also works with the City of Las Vegas to determine and sell advertising on City owned property which helps the City generate much needed revenue.   For more information on Elite Media visit www.elitemediainc.com or call 702-492-0654.

ABOUT THE LAS VEGAS MONORAIL

The Las Vegas Monorail is a quick and convenient connection to the Las Vegas Strip, linking riders to the city’s world-class restaurants, shows, shops, clubs, hotels and casinos. Carrying its 50 millionth rider in 2011, the system delivers customers to seven stations on nine trains, with over 5,000,000 riders per year.  In just 15 minutes, Monorail riders can travel the legendary Las Vegas Strip in a safe, clean and climate-controlled environment without the hassles of traffic or wasted time. The privately-funded Monorail system has stations at MGM Grand; Bally’s/Paris Las Vegas; Flamingo/Caesars Palace; Harrah’s/Imperial Palace; Las Vegas Convention Center; LVH – Las Vegas Hotel & Casino; and Sahara Avenue. As Las Vegas’ “green” transportation system, the Monorail’s electric, zero-emission trains deliver customers to their destinations quickly and comfortably. For more information on the Las Vegas Monorail or where to purchase tickets, call (866) 4-MONORAIL / (866) 466-6672.

For more information regarding this press release, contact Jen Grant at 702-492-0654 x1.

McCullough Is Wrapped Up in Vegas Events

-- Tradeshow Week, 10/4/2007 2:56:00 PM

When the biggest of the big-name exhibitors come to Las Vegas, they often want to proclaim their presence from the highest peaks … in this case, billboards and high-rise buildings. One company that can make it happen is five-year-old Elite Media the major player in the business of wrapping or projecting super-size images on buildings and creating giant wallscapes in Las Vegas. Elite founder and president Chad McCullough spoke with TSW Las Vegas Contributing Editor Diane Taylor about how and why super-graphics work at shows.

Question: Why do companies need such huge
ads? Answer: Some call it an "ego buy," in that the company
sees its advertising more prominently than any other in town. At other times,
the large format graphic on a building may also designate where a particular
company is headquartered.

Q: How much does it cost to wrap a
building? A. It all depends on the size of the project. The cost
can range from $10,000 to $1 million.

Q: What has been your biggest job in Las
Vegas? A: During NBA All-Star Weekend, we erected
a 55,000 square foot T-Mobile wrap on the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino; the
head of Miami Heat star Dwayne Wade was eight stories high.

Q: What are the actual services you
provide? A: Our clients or their advertising agencies give us the
graphics. We then provide the rest of the package including the printing of the
large version of the graphic, its installation and payment of fees to the
building.

Q: Even a 16-foot wide printing press
wouldn’t cover some of the large graphics you’re talking about, correct? A:
Yes. When we wrap directly on a building, we do it with printed mesh pieces,
like stickers, that are put in place to form the whole picture. We can also
erect huge frames for mesh graphics and those, too, are printed in sections.

Q: Doesn’t the mesh detract from the
views of the hotel guests? A: Though it doesn’t appear so from
the ground, the hotel guests can see through the mesh.

Q: Do any buildings refuse to have
advertising wraps put on them? A: Most see it as an additional
revenue stream and are eager to participate.

Q: What brought you to Las Vegas? A: I was an
advertising and marketing major in college and went into the printing business
in California, where we first worked with large graphics. My partners had
connections in Shanghai, China, so we opened a company there. I was newly
married, however, and the commute back to the U.S. was difficult, so I sold my
interest in China. My wife, Kate, and I then started our own company in Los
Angeles. With technology enabling the production of larger and larger graphics,
we found that most of our business for grand-scale advertising was coming from
Las Vegas. We moved our company headquarters to Las Vegas four years ago.

Q: Is it still a family-owned company? A:
Yes, my wife is my partner and takes care of our legal and financial matters
(and our two children). Our receptionist is my mother, Shirley McCullough. Then
we have two other employees who are just like family.

Q: How’s business? A: Business
is great. We’ve found a niche to fill in a city that loves to go big and bold.
We also do work in California and Florida. We recently completed a big job for
Samsung in Orlando. Best of all, we love what we’re doing and are having great
fun.

USA Today

A weekend in the life of Dwyane Wade

Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat was a superstar on the move in Las Vegas. The experience was unlike any other for the three-time NBA All-Star.
Unlike his first all-star appearance, which he spent mostly in the giant shadow of his Heat teammate Shaquille O'Neal, tagging along with O'Neal at some of his events in 2005, Wade was busy this time just being Wade.

"He's handling his own marketing, he's taking care of his own business," O'Neal said. "It's good to watch a young kid grow up. He's the type if you tell him one time, he does it. You just tell him the do's and don'ts about all-star and he's perfect."

As one of the biggest stars in Vegas, if not the biggest (his 250-by-225-foot image covered 27 floors of Mandalay Bay), Wade balanced time with family, including his pregnant wife, Siohvaughn, who is seven months pregnant, meeting sponsors and promoting personal endorsements as well as mandated league appearances.

"This is the most fun I've had in my four years in the league coming to All-Star Weekend," Wade said. "Vegas put on an unbelievable event. We are all just excited to be here."

SPORTSbyBROOKS - NBA ALL STAR GAME LAS VEGAS BILLBOARD DWAYNE WADE

NBA: Dwyane Wade has a busy All-Star break ahead
Tim Reynolds/Associated Press
Friday, February 16, 2007

J. Pat Carter/Associated Press

Dwyane Wade's All-Star "break" is going to be anything but. Wade has the NBA Skills Challenge title to defend Saturday, will start in the All-Star Game on Sunday, and has meetings all weekend with his biggest fans - Lincoln, Gatorade, T-Mobile, Topps and Staples.

Associated Press

"Good Wade says I should shoot it, but Bad Wade wants me to dunk." The Heat's superstar shooting guard stars in a new Gatorade commercial that debuts tonight.
On TV
SATURDAY

6 p.m.: All-Star Saturday - Skills Challenge, 3-Point Shootout and Slam Dunk competition, TNT

SUNDAY

6 p.m.: All-Star Game, TNT

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MIAMI — Dwyane Wade will leave the NBA's All-Star festivities and enter a Las Vegas hotel today to meet some of his biggest fans.

Converse will be there. So will T-Mobile, Gatorade, Lincoln, Topps, Staples, Marquis Jet and more companies that he's aligned with - along with others that may want to soon start working with the Miami Heat's superstar guard and budding sports business giant.

It's called the Brand Wade Summit, the latest example of how Wade's drawing power isn't limited to the basketball court. Over 90 minutes, he'll thank those he's already working with and, perhaps more importantly, hear ideas on what might come next.

"You have a roomful of all my partners - all the people that care about Dwyane Wade and the Wade name and brand - together to talk and chat and see what direction they want to go in," Wade said in an interview with the Associated Press. "I think it's going to be great. I'm excited about it. It's one thing I'm really excited about."

And it's just one part of what Wade - last season's NBA finals MVP for leading the Heat to their first championship - calls an "insanely" busy All-Star break.

"It's all still crazy to me," Wade said. "It's really not about the contracts and making money and doing commercials. It's about us all being serious about the direction we're all going, and doing the right things and making the right choices. That's what's important."

All weekend in Las Vegas, there'll be multiple events with sponsors every day, multiple parties every night, league-mandated media sessions, and, oh, the little matters of defending his title in the NBA Skills Challenge on Saturday night and playing in the All-Star Game on Sunday.

"It's a challenge," said Henry Thomas, Wade's agent. "I've been at this for 18 years now, and I've had some star clients. But I haven't had anything like this. Any agent in the business would love to have the opportunity to represent a player who's become what Dwyane's become. Has all this come faster than we expected? Of course."

The weeklong Wade business blitz started Monday, when T-Mobile unveiled its new "D-Wade Edition" Sidekick, which Wade helped design. To celebrate the launch, T-Mobile will have a "wallscape" in Las Vegas this weekend, a 56,250-square-foot image of Wade holding the wireless device on the side of the Mandalay Bay.

On Thursday, he unveiled his new line of Converse athletic apparel, a collection of T-shirts, shorts, fleeces, warm-ups, shooting shirts and more that will be in stores early next month. He'll also wear a new style of his signature Converse shoes - the Wade 2.0 - in the All-Star Game.

It's the first time Converse has designed an apparel line around an athlete.

"I wanted mine to be different," Wade said. "I wanted to make sure everything is great quality. I didn't want something that someone will wash one time and it'll be done. I want it to be perfect."

Also Thursday, Staples announced a $57,500 program to improve 14 parks in South Florida, with the winning park getting $25,000 and five winning online voters a chance to meet Wade.

Today, it's the Brand Wade Summit, followed later tonight by the release of his first solo commercial for Gatorade, a spot called "Good Wade, Bad Wade" that was filmed last fall in Miami and has Wade dribbling upcourt, trying to decide whether to shoot over a defender or dunk over someone. (It's easy to guess which decision wins.)

Saturday brings more events with T-Mobile and Topps - before Wade will defend his title in the NBA Skills Challenge. He'll start in the All-Star Game on Sunday night, flying home to Miami to rejoin the Heat after the game.

So, there'll be no break during the All-Star break.

"I couldn't get a break," Wade said. "I tried. I couldn't. There's a lot of things I want to do and a lot of things I have to do, so I'll just do my best to make it all work."

Wade still remembers when all this was the stuff of his fantasies.

He grew up very poor and he and his wife often worried about how they would raise their son, Zaire, when he was first born five years ago.

But now, Wade can afford almost anything he wants - and afford to dream big, too.

He wants to be a movie star, build community centers in Miami and Chicago, keep reaching out to kids, all the while being mindful that his top priority remains trying to win another title or more with the Heat.

"I'm trying to do a lot of things, because I just don't want to play basketball and retire," Wade said. "I want to touch lives."

Unveiling of America's Largest Ad

Feb. 13, 2007
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NORM: Jordan, Hilton to host big bashes

Michael Jordan will celebrate No. 44.

Vince Neil in crowd at Foreigner concert.

Don King dines with Trump, Ruffin.

The toughest party ticket in town this week?

It's a coin flip between Michael Jordan's birthday party at Bellagio and Paris Hilton's soiree at the Hard Rock Hotel. Both are on Saturday.

Organizers for Jordan's party have reportedly been on a mission to hire 75 models and dancers. He turns 44.

The invite list to Hilton's 26th birthday party at Body English includes former party pal Nicole Richie. Also invited: Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas, Snoop Dogg, porn star Jenna Jameson, actress Elisha Cuthbert, music producer Scott Storch and rapper Fat Joe.

At 3 a.m. the Hilton party moves to the Hard Rock Penthouse, where host Jeff Beacher has assembled a mini-"Madhouse," with little people, the Tiny Kiss band, a monkey, a goat, stiltwalkers and plus-sized go-go dancers.

Lindsay Lohan is listed among "possibles" at the Vince Carter-hosted kickoff bash at Risqué (Paris Las Vegas) on Friday. Also on that list: Hilary Duff, who is 19. Lohan turns 21 on July 2.

BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY

Las Vegas' famous neon is getting overshadowed this week.

The NBA All-Star Weekend ad blitz, unprecedented locally in size and scope, will include a nightly barrage on the 1,149-foot Stratosphere.

Starting with a test run tonight, T-Mobile ads will be projected from the base of the Stratosphere pillar to the top.

"It's never been done before," said Jen Grant, vice president of sales & marketing for Elite Media, Inc.

The campaign begins Wednesday night.

NBA sponsors have wrapped Las Vegas casinos in acres of ads along the Strip, part of the most expensive marketing campaign in the city's history.

"These are the biggest ads in Las Vegas history and currently the largest in America," said Grant.

The T-Mobile wrap at Mandalay Bay is currently the largest ad in America and the largest sports ad ever. It covers 56,250 square feet, with the head of Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade eight stories high.

The Stratosphere projection media will rank as the tallest ad in the world, Grant said.

Adidas has spent millions on multiple wraps, including the largest ever placed on the Luxor's pyramid façade.

THE SCENE AND HEARD

The rumblings continue that the NBA has even bigger plans for Las Vegas, and soon. ...

Reunited and it feels so good: Sting and The Police have a June 15 date at the MGM Grand. They announced the tour schedule on Monday, after leading off the Grammy Awards on Sunday. ...

Auctioneer Jamie Niven generated a lot of buzz at Saturday's "Keep Memory Alive" gala, not all of it positive. The longer the evening went for the son of film icon David Niven, the saltier his language and the grumpier he got. ...

Fred Glusman's birthday surprise? With all the usual suspects gathered for his birthday luncheon on Monday at Piero's Italian Cuisine, Glusman appeared on a video saying he wasn't joining them. He was celebrating No. 70 in Mexico, after getting his pals' goats by running an ad in the R-J saying it was his 60th. Ever the pot stirrer, Glusman had a final touch for dessert: cupcakes with his face on the frosting. Attendees included Jerry Tarkanian, Bernie Schiappa and former Mayor Ron Lurie. ...

Sounds like the rumored Eagles tour is getting close to being announced. At Friday's MusiCares pre-Grammy gala in Los Angeles honoring Don Henley, a live auction package offered by Henley included guest admittance to "all Eagles 2007-2008 tour dates." Las Vegas auctioneer Christian Kolberg was hired for the event, which featured many of the Grammy entertainers. ...

Oscar De La Hoya and Joe Frazier are among a dozen boxing greats who will be on the runway Wednesday for the "Fashion Knockouts" show at the MAGIC convention. They'll be joined in Hall G at the Sands Expo by Tommy "Hitman" Hearns, Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, Ken Norton, James "Lights Out" Toney and special emcee Jimmy Lennon, longtime ring announcer.

SIGHTINGS

Vince Neil of Motley Crue, in the crowd at the Foreigner concert (Luxor) Saturday night. ... Donald Trump, Phil Ruffin and Don King, dining together at Charlie Palmer Steak on Saturday night before the Shane Mosley-Luis Collazo fight. ... Bernard Hopkins, at Mosley's after-party on Saturday at Body English (Hard Rock Hotel).

THE PUNCH LINE

" NASA made it official today: They are no longer going to recruit their astronauts from eHarmony.com." -- Jay Leno

Norm Clarke can be reached at 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com.