Over the last several months, we've been hard at work making some exciting new changes ... changes that will enable us to better service our clients ... changes that will help take our agency to the next level.

Since August, we've moved to a larger office in beautiful downtown Palo Alto, hired four new employees, increased our sales and marketing efforts, redesigned both our Web site and our brand identity, expanded our capabilities to include interactive and Web design and, of course, launched our brand new "Outside The Box" e-newsletter. And that's only the beginning; we've got plenty more to do!

We're proud to have recently designed the game packaging for the mega-hit movie " The Incredibles" and were happy to work once again with the very talented team at THQ.

Thank you for all of the great, positive feedback regarding our first issue of "Outside The Box." I promise to continue to provide you each and every month with content that is useful and entertaining.

Remember, this e-newsletter is created for you, so please let me know what you'd like to read about and I'll do my very best to get it into future issues.

Until next time ...

Joe Cerbo
President
PRICE Design

Want to turn your marketing staff into a weapon that is loved by the sales team rather than blamed for sales problems? The EVP of marketing and corporate development at JAMDAT Mobile says, just dive into the sales process!

LOOK! Marketing and sales are talking to each other and it's not the company picnic or the holiday party! What's up with that? The organization is probably hitting sales goals, meeting marketing budgets, and executing well-crafted, collaborative plans -- that's what's up.

I am a proud member of an informal and growing "club" of marketing executives who is forcing the old turf wars between sales and marketing to die in favor of a collaborative relationship that is clearly focused on organizational goals.

To illustrate, it's best to review a real-world example. Take Sprint PCS wireless phones. I was a marketing executive at Sprint PCS in the West Region from 1996 to 1999. At that time, I was responsible for the product launch and ongoing marketing in Northern California. This included the greater Bay Area (i.e., San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose) and Sacramento.

The marketing budget looked like this:

• TV was used to position the brand and it was bought at the national level to gain much-needed cost efficiencies.
• Print and radio buys were somewhat decentralized so messages (handset promotions and rate plan pricing) could be adjusted per the needs of the individual markets.
• Channel support programs were fully decentralized.

• Direct: Sprint PCS company-owned stores.
• Indirect: Retailers, including Radio Shack, Best Buy, and independent shops.

I presented a plan to the sales director which guaranteed that every sales channel manager would get personal attention from a marketing manager who understood their issues. He went for it.

I reorganized the marketing organization along sales channel lines. Marketing managers and sales managers were paired together. To educate my marketing team and gain credibility with the sales director who had put his trust in the plan ...

Click here for complete article.

Q: Help! I'm a nervous wreck! I've been put in charge of developing our new company Web site and later this week I have my first meeting with the outside Web designer. Honestly, I haven't a clue as to what to bring to the party. Can you advise me, please?

A: Dion Isselhardt, PRICE's art director/interactive responds: Approach your Web site like you would going to a new barber. But, instead of flipping through the magazines to find a picture of the haircut you want, start surfing the Web. Make a list of sites you really admire and those you don't, and decide what turns you on or off about them.

Then, before that kickoff meeting with the Web designer, put a lot of thought into what your goals are for the site and what sort of content you already have -- or need -- to meet those goals, to reach your target audience.

At the meeting, be prepared to partner with the designer, to help them create that first "site map," which is essentially a diagram of your entire site and its contents. Remember that your designer doesn't work in your industry and doesn't know what your customers need or what they'll be looking for on your site. It'll be up to you to explain all of that and to feed the designer the proper information.

It's usually best to have your company's marketing person involved in the process. They tend to be the person within the company who can best explain its marketing objectives. At the end of the day, the Web site is a marketing tool and it needs to be perceived and developed as one.

My best advice is to prepare yourself to be involved. Many clients think designing a Web site is like taking your car to the car wash; you hand it over and it comes out nice and shiny all by itself. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. It takes a lot of work on both sides to make a really professional Web site happen.

Billy Pidgeon, senior analyst at the San Francisco-based The Zelos Group, weighs in exclusively for "Outside The Box" readers on some of the marketing strategies that pushed Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Mortal Kombat: Deception to the number 1 and 3 spots on NPD's October Top 20 Videogame List.

Take Two Interactive's Rockstar Games division revealed the huge scope and heightened realism of GTA: San Andreas with extensive print and online media coverage. Event marketing -- such as an all-day launch special on G4TV, adding themed graphics to enthusiast Web sites, and POP displays featuring oversized logos on the floor at the register of such specialty retailers as EB Games -- reminded hardcore gamers to buy San Andreas first. A compelling movie-preview-style television ad matching narrative gameplay footage with Guns And Rose's "Welcome To The Jungle" as a soundtrack increased sales at launch and continues to bring in a second wave of avid gamers familiar with the franchise.

With a full $10-million TV/cinema/print/POP launch campaign, Midway got the word out on Mortal Kombat: Deception's exclusive features, such as lag-free, online, 3-D fighting on PS2 and Xbox and a detailed adventure mode. Midway increased hardcore gamers' appetites for pre-orders and day-of-release sales of Mortal Kombat: Deception with "special editions" of the game for Xbox (four different covers) and PS2, that included a playable original Mortal Kombat arcade game, DVD extras, and an embossed metal Kollector's Card.

TOP 20 VIDEO GAME TITLES RANKED BY TOTAL U.S. UNITS October, 2004
Last Month	Rank	Title	Platform	Publisher	Release Date	ARP
**	1	GRAND THEFT: SAN ANDREAS	PS2	TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE	OCT'04	$49
8	2	NBA LIVE 2005	PS2	EA	SEPT'04	$39
**	3	MORTAL KOMBAT:DECEPTION	PS2	MIDWAY	OCT'04	$51
**	4	ESPN NBA 2K5	PS2	TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE	SEPT'04	$19
**	5	TONY HAWK UNDERGROUND 2	PS2	ACTIVISION	OCT'04	$47
**	6	MORTAL KOMBAT:DECEPTION	XBX	MIDWAY	OCT'04	$52
**	7	ESPN NBA 2K5	XBX	TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE	SEPT'04	$19
**	8	PAPER MARIO: THOUSAND	GCN	NINTENDO OF AMERICA	OCT'04	$47
4	9	MADDEN NFL 2005	PS2	EA	AUG'04	$44
**	10	X-MEN: LEGENDS	PS2	EA	SEPT'04	$47
1	11	POKEMON FIRERED W/ADP	GBA	NINTENDO OF AMERICA	SEPT'04	$33
**	12	NBA LIVE 2005	XBX	EA	SEPT'04	$39
3	13	POKEMON LEAFGREEN W/ADP	GBA	NINTENDO OF AMERICA	SEPT'04	$32
6	14	SW: BATTLEFRONT	PS2	LUCASARTS	SEPT'04	$48
2	15	FABLE	PS2	MICROSOFT	SEPT'04	$48
5	16	SW: BATTLEFRONT	XBX	LUCASARTS	SEPT'04	$49
**	17	TONY HAWK UNDERGROUND 2	XBX	ACTIVISION	OCT'04	$48
**	18	X-MEN: LEGENDS	XBX	ACTIVISION	SEPT'04	$48
10	19	TIGER WOODS PGA 2005	PS2	EA	SEPT'04	$48
9	20	ESPN NFL 2K5	PS2	TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE	JULY'04	$20
** Not in Top 20 in previous month Source: The NPD Group / NPD Funworld / Point-of-Sale David Riley 516-625-2277 This e-newsletter is powered by OpenMoves. For more information about OpenMoves, click here.