Back to press releasesNewark, N.J., February 2, 2006 – IDT Entertainment is pleased to announce the appointment of Amorette Jones as Executive Vice President of Marketing. Ms. Jones, an award-winning marketing veteran and former head of Worldwide Marketing for Artisan Pictures, will be responsible for all marketing and branding strategies for IDT Entertainment. She will report to Neil Braun, IDT Entertainment’s President of Feature Films & Television. Ms. Jones will spearhead all advertising, publicity, promotions, and licensing efforts for the company’s film, television, and new media properties. IDT Entertainment is a subsidiary of IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT, IDT.C), an international telecom, entertainment and technology company.
“Amorette Jones is one of the brightest marketing minds in the Entertainment business,” says Neil Braun. “Her unique promotional strategies on films such as The Blair Witch Project have influenced the way the industry markets movies. Amorette’s outstanding track record as a marketing innovator made her the natural choice for IDT Entertainment.”
“IDT Entertainment is a young and vibrant company with key creative alliances, and smart veteran executives guiding its course,” says Ms. Jones. “I’m thrilled to be part of the team that will help the company in its ascent.”
Ms. Jones’ first priority will be IDT Entertainment’s first full-length CG-animated feature film, Yankee Irving, which features a voice cast led by Rob Reiner, Whoopi Goldberg, William H. Macy, Brian Dennehy, and Mandy Patinkin. The film is currently in production at IDT Entertainment’s studio in Toronto and will be released in August 2006 through the company’s multi-picture distribution deal with Twentieth Century Fox.
Prior to a recent stint as a marketing consultant, Ms. Jones was Executive Vice-President of Worldwide Marketing at Artisan Pictures from 1998-2003.
While at Artisan, Ms. Jones oversaw the widely acclaimed Internet and grass roots campaigns for The Blair Witch Project, which included the production of a mockumentary for The Sci-Fi Channel, a novelization, bestselling soundtrack, and an award-winning website. At Artisan, Ms. Jones supervised a number of other marketing campaigns that utilized non-traditional promotional platforms to stimulate interest in the mainstream media for such films as Darren Aronofsky’s Pi and Requiem for a Dream, Steven Soderbergh’s The Limey, Jim Jarmusch’s Ghostdog: The Way of the Samurai, Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie, National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, Jon Favreau’s Made, Miguel Arteta and Mike White’s Chuck and Buck, Wayne Wang’s Center of the World, John Waters’ Cecil B. Demented and Marvel’s The Punisher .
Ms. Jones also had a key role in devising and executing successful marketing strategies for Artisan documentaries, including the Academy Award®- nominated Buena Vista Social Club, Startup.com, Standing in the Shadows of Motown and the surfing film StepInto Liquid, among many others. Additionally, Jones spearheaded Artisan’s entry into the consumer products arena.
As Executive Vice-President of Marketing at Loud Records/Steve Rifkind Company (SRC) from 1996-1998, Ms. Jones forged partnerships between multi-platinum recording acts with corporate and entertainment partners including Mountain Dew, Converse, Tommy Hilfiger, MGM, New Line Cinema and Vibe and Source Magazines.
From 1994-1996, Ms. Jones was Vice-President, National Field Operations at MGM/UA, supervising campaigns for such films as Leaving Las Vegas, Get Shorty, GoldenEye, and The Birdcage. During her tenure at Orion Pictures from 1993-1994, she counted the Robocop film series among her projects. While a member of the Columbia/TriStar field operations team from 1992-1993, she worked on campaigns for Academy Award- winners Dracula and A River Runs Through It, as well as Sleepless In Seattle, A League of Their Own, Basic Instinct, and In The Line of Fire, among others. She began her career in 1990 in the Universal Pictures marketing department working on such projects as Cape Fear, Fried Green Tomatoes, Kindergarten Cop, Mo’ Better Blues, and Jungle Fever.
Ms. Jones is the recipient of numerous professional awards, including being named to the following prestigious lists: License Magazine Top 40 Under 40; Ad Age Top 100 Marketer of the Year, Advertising Age Top 1,000 Ideas of the Decade, as well as Key Art Award nominations, a Webby Award for Requiem for a Dream, and the Publicists Guild Honor of Distinction for A River Runs Through It and A League of Their Own.
Ms. Jones is based in IDT Entertainment’s Los Angeles offices.
IDT Entertainment is a vertically integrated entertainment company that develops, produces, and distributes proprietary and licensed entertainment content. IDT Entertainment is a subsidiary of IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT, IDT.C), an international telecom, entertainment, and technology company.
