Mediatwist Explores High-End Fitness Marketing

In December 2016, The Mediatwist Group partnered with high-end gym and testing facility Etchfit, just outside Reading, in Wyomissing, PA. Etchfit’s Chris Emkey and owner, Kevin Hughes reached out to Mediatwist for an innovative way to build their brick & mortar traffic and increase membership through digital marketing. They had just finished a pretty big direct-mail campaign and they were not happy with the results. We on-boarded Etchfit immediately after a live marketing audit at their location. After only 12 days of running a FB Offer Campaign precisely targeted at people within a five mile proximity of their location, buying ‘health & fitness’ things, we were able to push over 63 offer ‘claims’ which led to 5 new memberships - people actually walking in the door of Etchfit to sign up for a new membership. This is how to use social media marketing for direct response. “This is really all they care about at most companies.” says Mediatwist CEO, Chris Kurtz. “You can get a campaign with over 1 million impressions for a National chain and they won’t give a darn. Show them a few new customers from a FB coupon and they’re in!”. 

Mediatwist Selected by Sun Motor Cars Mercedes-Benz

Back in April, 2016 The Mediatwist Group began working with the largest high-end luxury brand dealership in Central Pennsylvania, Sun Motor Cars. Owner Dan Sunderland was looking for a way to increase showroom traffic and also increase awareness on the amount of things his team does for the community. Through many strategy meetings about content and digital targeting, Dan and the entire Mercedes-Benzallowed The Mediatwist Group to audit their entire digital marketing spend. We were able to identify area’s to trim-fat in Google Adwords. We also highlighted the current social media provider’s content marketing reach and engagement and how the call to actions on their ads were pushing most traffic to corporate. Nowadays there is so much over-spending happening on traditional marketing tactics that no longer work. There is, still,  so much non-attention media for sale out there. After a few months of proving digital triumphs for the Sun Motor Cars Mercedes-Benz brand, The Mediatwist Groupwas asked to come on board as the official social media marketing provider for all of Dan’s brands on campus. This includes, BMW, Audi and Porsche. It’s been almost a year of many great social media triumphs and stories of social media lift, and showroom frequency increasing. We have also been generating a steady stream of test-drive leads to the dealership through Facebook Lead Captures. In March, Mediatwist will fly to Chicago with CEO Dan Sunderland to discuss their  of Mercedes-Benz, Sprinter, and Smart Car brands.

The 20th Annual Millennium Music Conference

Originally Published - February 2016
TMG founder, Chris Kurtz, spoke on this years 20th Annual Millennium Music Conference in Harrisburg, PA. The conference lent a hand to launching the careers of platinum selling bands like Fuel, Live, Breaking Benjamin and Halestorm. Chad Szeliga of Breaking Benjamin, David Ivory of Ivory Productions, and Lou Plaia co-founder of Reverbnation were among the list of panelists and keynote speakers to share the stage with The Mediatwist Group.  The conference provided a great forum for industry musicians and executives to share stories and struggles and what steps they should take in their current progression to sustain a career in music or entertainment. A glance inside one of the conference room showed aspiring musicians and future industry professionals talking shop and taking notes.  This is the true magic of MMC. Topics ranging from email drip nurturing to digital marketing targeting with custom audiences were discussed as panel members answered questions from almost famous conference goers. “These moments are what I live for…John puts on an amazing day for us too, not just the aspiring artists go home with something, but I leave with some great lifetime connections from some of the most unique artists the world has to offer.” – Chris Kurtz.

Heavy Metal Guitarist Debuts Monster Truck in Pomona

Originally Published - September 2014
Zoltan Bathory, Metal guitarist of the platinum selling band, Five Finger Death Punch, will make his motor sports debut behind the wheel of a 10,000lb monster truck named after the mascot of his band, Knucklehead. He is on a quest to cross another item off of his infamous, “Bucket List.”

It started during a casual conversation at a restaurant in Sweden, two guys on tour in two completely different industries. Zoltan Bathory was there with his band, global music sensation, Five Finger Death Punch, and Chris Kurtz of the marketing firm, The Mediatwist Group, who was there producing a show with Monster Jam, a Feld Motor Sports production, the biggest of it’s kind, featuring headliner trucks like Gravedigger and Max-D. Chris had run into bassist, Chris Kael in downtown Stockholm, a completely ‘chance’ meeting, as Chris Kurtz recalls. “I decided to find the most rock-star looking tattooed guy that would actually talk to me, I spotted Kael from afar and walked up to him. We had instantly realized we were both lost Americans looking for a warm meal and cold beer.” During dinner Chris gravitated towards Zoltan,guitarist and the adrenaline junkie of the group, and most likely to steal a monster truck next door and ‘take it for a spin’. “I asked him if he wanted to drive a monster truck and he said, ‘O HELL YES’. I knew about his bucket list and how extreme of a personality he was. I told him I would be in touch.”

Chris and his team at The Mediatwist Group enlisted the help of monster truck legend and driver, Jimmy Creten. Jimmy and his Team 2Xtreme accepted the offer and have been hard at work since March, developing a half-a-million dollar, state of the art machine, they call “Knucklehead Monster”.The truck is affectionately named after the mascot of Five Finger Death Punch, Knucklehead. 

Zoltan met with Jimmy and his team for a private test drive and developed a learning course in May at Camp Creten in Kansas before taking the stage at RockFest, in front of over 40,000 music fans.

After many months of training and development, Zoltan and Team Knucklehead Monster made their debut this past weekend at the “Flip Fest Monster Truck & Motocross Stunt Spectacular” in Pomona, California. Alongside members of the World famous, Metal Mulisha and Fitz Army. For the first time ever a platinum selling music artist performed behind the wheel of a 1,700 horsepower monster truck.

Zoltan and Knucklehead Monster Truck will circle the globe this winter. For more information, check out facebook.com/knuckleheadmonster

Mediatwist Teams Up With Five Finger Death Punch On Motor Sports Cross Promotion

Originally Published - May 2014
Follow along with Team 2Xtreme and The Mediatwist Group as they attempt to cross off another item on the bucket list of a motorhead rockstar that lives life in the fast lane and performs globally in front of millions of people each year in one of the World’s top grossing Metal bands. The entire project and concept was seeded between Zoltan Bathory of 5FDP and Chris Kurtz, CEO of The Mediatwist Group. In this interview Zoltan explains how this project all came about in a restaurant in Stockholm, Sweden. A conversation between Chris and Zoltan about monster trucks has developed into a rockstar preparing to strap himself behind the wheel of a 16,00 horsepower monster in less than 6 months after conception.

Mediatwist Develops DVE2 To Reach More Fans

Originally Published - December 2013
As we get ready to put the lid on this year and ring in the new, at Mediatwist headquarters in Bloomington, Indiana, things are heating up for Drummer VS Emulator. One of the newest acts at Mediatwist, DVE has already enjoyed a world tour with stops in Sweden and Germany and is taking the EDM scene by storm at home in the states and internationally. This futuristic live music show features a ‘robot like’ DJ mixing on a touchscreen, an overgrown iPad looking device and a drummer donned in led chest protector. Referred to by Rolling Stone Magazine as the “Future of Dj’ing”, the show has been picked up as an entertainment enhancement by Feld Entertainment for performance in stadiums and arenas around the world. Last year, DVE wowed crowds from Jacksonville, Florida to Stockholm, Sweden. The overwhelming response to this new show has led to a demand by Monster Jam event managers to have DVE at all of their shows. “We ran into a problem, when all of the event managers wanted DVE at their show.” says Chris Kurtz, Mediatwist founder. “How could I keep all of the event managers happy by giving them ALL a Drummer VS Emulator show?” After phone calls back and forth with Justin Drake, the original Emulator and the rest of his team, Kurtz decided to expand the ever popular act and remembered a young dj that Justin had brought on tour a few weeks earlier. The plan was then set into motion to begin development on Team Drummer VS Emulator, a way to expand the tour and show potential of our calendar and get in front of as many people per year. Shortly after DVE2 was born. DVE2 features Stephen Boardman and Kevin Shamlin both of Louisville, Kentucky. The entire team is cramming the all week to prepare for DVE2’s first show at The Bridgestone Arena in Nashville January 3-5th. Justin Drake was careful to point out one key element that must be present for success. “It’s all about the kids at Monster Jam. It’s up to Chris and I to show Steve and Kevin how important that dynamic is in our live show. The lights, taking time to let them wear our helmet, all of it is for the kids.”

Look for Drummer Vs Emulator at Monster Jam tour stops nationwide including Jacksonville Stadium in Jax, Florida, Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. Pepsi Center in Denver Colorado and many more which can be found at Facebook.com/DrummerVSEmulator.

Mediatwist Acquires Legendary Producer for Artist

Originally Published - October 2013
Check out a preview of the latest release from Mediatwist artist, Dreamkiller. Mixed by Grammy Award winning, Toby Wright. This is one of many producer acquisitions that Mediatwist has landed for an artist. Toby has produced platinum selling hits from Metallica, Primus, 3 Doors Down, The Nixons, Alice In Chains, Korn, Sevendust and Slayer to name a few. Check out the full release of ‘Absolution’ coming soon.

The Mediatwist Group presents Drummer VS Emulator to the U.S.

Originally Published - July 2012
(St. Petersburg, Florida)

After a successful pre-production launch party in Brunswick Georgia Friday night, the Mediatwist Group and Sky Culture are ready to go live with this, first of it’s kind, live show.  Drummer VS Emulator features rock-star drummer, Jon Wilkes of mega band, “Secondhand Serenade”.  What is The Emulator?  There are only 5 of them in the U.S. right now and only a few dozen world wide.  The Emulator is a cutting edge touchscreen music technology that is revolutionizing live audio manipulation.  Made by the bright minds at Smithson Martin, this exciting new overgrown iPad-like screen on steroids, is being coined, “The Future of DJ’ing”. Behind the controls of the this innovative music software is world renowned DJ, Justin Drake.  Justin, The emulator, will battle head to head with Jon Wilkes on his drum kit, tossing beats back and forth to each other in a frenzy of Dubstep and EDM tossing in a twist of Rock & Roll.  The two are donned from head to toe in designer suits that look like something out of the movie Tron.  As they hit the stage at the State Theatre in St. Petersburg Florida, the crowd comes alive to finally capture a glimpse of this robotic, innovative live show.  “I came to see what everybody was talking about, and Jon Wilkes is one of the best touring drummers on the scene.”, Steve Martz commented about why he came all the way from Orlando to see this new show.  “The show left no stone unturned in the sonic spectrum.  It was something that this area has truly never seen before.”, J-Rock, a local promoter and manager for The State Theatre. 

After St. Petersburg, the boys have a long tour of Florida stops ahead of them.  Hitting Miami, Orlando, Cape Canaveral and ending off their Sunshine State run at Florida State University where they will perform at Lit Nightclub. It remains to be seen if this show can withstand the test of interactive necessity that music fans demand, but it looks like they have a pretty good start and some steam behind them. If this show comes close to your town, we would highly recommend checking it out.  Check out this YouTube video until then… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJUNBkkq8Ow&list=UUY2IhHV9AHoYGCP2bwvufag&index=1&feature=plcp