Impressions Advertising & Marketing

Last updated July 16, 2024

Impressions Advertising & Marketing is an American game company that produces and distributes role-playing games and game supplements.

History

Aldo Ghiozzi is the owner of both Wingnut Games and the personal consulting firm Impressions Advertising & Marketing.^[1] Ghiozzi founded Impressions in 2000.^[2]^[3]

Wingnut Games was one of the consolidation clients for Wizard's Attic, and in 2002 the business for Wizard's Attic was beginning to falter and clients such as Ghiozzi were not receiving all of their payments.^[1] Wizard's Attic was looking to leave the consolidation business, so Rob Stone of Citizen Games convinced Ghiozzi to move his small company into the games field.^[1] Impressions was using Wizard's Attic for its own base to perform consolidation operations, so Eric Rowe made a corner of the Wizard's Attic warehouse strictly for the use of shipping and receiving the products of Ghiozzi and his clients Citizen Games, Troll Lord Games and Wingnut Games.^[1] Impressions obtained eight more clients from the 2002 GAMA Trade Show, even though Ghiozzi had not decided on a business plan yet.^[1] Wizard's Attic had started shutting down all business except for fulfilment by the end of the year, so Eric Rowe gave 80 Wizard's Attic consolidation clients to Ghiozzi.^[1] Ghiozzi ended business with about half of the less-productive customers throughout the next year, and was able to make a successful business out of the other 40 customers.^[1] As its business kept failing in 2003 Wizard's Attic was going to be locked out of its last warehouse in Kentucky with the product inside, so Ghiozzi secured an arrangement with Chessex to become the new shipper for Impressions, and he flew to Kentucky to recover nine palettes full of merchandise.^[1]

Impressions began doing business with toy and game distributor Flat River Group in roughly 2011. As of 2018 when Flat River Group took ownership, Impressions was the oldest remaining consolidator for the hobby games business, having more than 80 publishers for clients, such as Modiphius (including White Wolf), Jasco, Goodman Games, and Corvus Belli. Flat River ran Impressions as a business unit using its Fort Wayne, Indiana location and retaining its staff.^[2] Ghiozzi stayed in the Flat River Group hobby department as part of the Impressions Game Distribution Services until he left in January 2023; the hobby department for Flat River continues to consolidate process, price list, and catalog games.^[3]

Related Research Articles

Hasbro, Inc. is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herman Hassenfeld and is incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of Kenner, Milton Bradley, Parker Brothers, and Wizards of the Coast, among others. As of August 2020, over 81.5% of its shares were held by large financial institutions.

TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had been unable to find a publisher for D&D, a new type of game he and Dave Arneson were co-developing, so he founded the new company with Kaye to self-publish their products. Needing financing to bring their new game to market, Gygax and Kaye brought in Brian Blume in December as an equal partner. Dungeons & Dragons is generally considered the first tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG), and established the genre. When Kaye died suddenly in 1975, the Tactical Studies Rules partnership restructured into TSR Hobbies, Inc. and accepted investment from Blume's father Melvin. With the popular D&D as its main product, TSR Hobbies became a major force in the games industry by the late 1970s. Melvin Blume eventually transferred his shares to his other son Kevin, making the two Blume brothers the largest shareholders in TSR Hobbies.

Wizards of the Coast LLC or Wizards) is an American publisher of games, most of which are based on fantasy and science-fiction themes, and formerly an operator of games retail stores. In 1999, toy manufacturer Hasbro acquired the company and currently operates it as a subsidiary. During a February 2021 reorganization of Hasbro, WotC became the lead part of a new division called "Wizards & Digital".

Origins Game Fair is an annual gaming convention that was first held in 1975. Since 1996, it has been held in Columbus, Ohio at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Origins is run by the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA). Origins was chartered to serve gaming in general, including wargaming and miniatures gaming.

The Wizards Play Network (WPN) is the official sanctioning body for competitive play in Magic: The Gathering (Magic) and various other games produced by Wizards of the Coast and its subsidiaries, such as Avalon Hill. Originally, it was known as the DCI but was rebranded in 2008. The WPN provided game rules, tournament operating procedures, and other materials to private tournament organizers and players. It also operated a judge certification program to provide consistent rules enforcement and promote fair play. The DCI's name was still commonly used, however, to refer to the player registration number until 2020.

Looney Labs, Inc. is a small game company based in College Park, Maryland, United States. It is named after its founders, Andrew Looney and Kristin Looney, and is best known for creating the Fluxx line of card games. The company has three U.S. patents and eight Origins Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wizard Entertainment</span> Producer of multi-genre fan conventions

Wizard Entertainment Inc., formerly known as Wizard World, was a producer of multi-genre fan conventions across North America.

The Five Rings Publishing Group (FRPG) was formed as a spin-out of Alderac Entertainment Group and ISOMEDIA.

Friday Night Magic is a format of Magic: The Gathering tournaments, held on Friday nights in gaming stores and associations all across the world. They are designed to be a beginner-friendly introduction to organized play.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asmodee</span> Board games publisher and distributor

Asmodee is a French publisher of board games, card games and role-playing games (RPGs). Founded in 1995 to develop their own games and to publish and distribute for other smaller game developers, they have since acquired numerous other board game publishers. A division, Twin Sails Interactive, publishes video game adaptations of Asmodee games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James M. Ward</span> American game designer and author (1951–2024)

James Michael Ward III was an American game designer and fantasy author who worked for TSR, Inc. for more than 20 years, most notably on the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. He wrote various books relating to Dungeons & Dragons, including guidebooks such as Deities & Demigods, and novels including Pool of Radiance, based on the computer game of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chuck Rozanski</span> Comics retailer and columnist

Charles M. Rozanski is a German-American retailer and columnist, known as the President and CEO of the Denver, Colorado-based Mile High Comics Inc., and a former columnist for the Comics Buyer's Guide.

Capital City Distribution was a Madison, Wisconsin–based comic book distributor which operated from 1980 to 1996 when they were acquired by rival Diamond Comic Distributors. Under the name Capital Comics, they also published comics from 1981 to 1984.

Rick Loomis was an American game designer, most notable as the founder of game publisher Flying Buffalo, which he managed until his death.

<i>Hoard of the Dragon Queen</i> D&D adventure module

Hoard of the Dragon Queen is an adventure module for the 5th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It is the first part of the Tyranny of Dragons storyline and followed by a second adventure, The Rise of Tiamat.

Wizard's Attic was an American role-playing game wholesaler and fulfillment house servicing small publishers. It was collapsed in 2004.

Mantic Games is a British miniatures and board game publisher, based in Bulwell, Nottingham, UK.

The Magic: The Gathering Judge Program is an independent organization that trains, certifies, and manages Judges, the tournament officials who run tournaments of the trading card game Magic: The Gathering. The Judge Program was founded early in the game's history as part of the DCI, the game's original sanctioning body, but has since become an independent, peer-driven organization, selecting its own leadership. In 2019, a new corporation, Judge Academy LLC, took up responsibility for the program.

Wolves of Freeport, formerly named OneBookShelf, is a digital marketplace company for both major and indie games, fiction and comics. In 2023, OneBookShelf merged with Roll20 to become Wolves of Freeport. OneBookShelf itself was formed by the merger of RPGNow and DriveThruRPG in 2006. The company's e-commerce platforms host content from individual sellers, indie creators and major publishing companies such as Chaosium, Fantasy Flight Games, White Wolf, and Wizards of the Coast.

Aldo A. Ghiozzi is a game wholesaler who has been involved primarily with role-playing games. He was also a candidate for mayor of Brentwood, California in 2016 and has volunteered with the town's chamber of commerce.

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. p. 93. ISBN 978-1-907702- 58-7.
1 2 Griepp, Milton (2018-11-26). "Flat River Acquiring Impressions". ICv2 . Archived from the original on 2023-09-24. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
1 2 Griepp, Milton (2023-02-06). "Aldo Ghiozzi Leaves Impressions Flat River Group Hobby Department Consolidating Process, Price List, Catalog". ICv2 . Archived from the original on 2023-09-24. Retrieved 2023-09-24.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[designers-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. p. 93. ISBN 978-1-907702- 58-7.

[acquires-2] 1 2 Griepp, Milton (2018-11-26). "Flat River Acquiring Impressions". ICv2 . Archived from the original on 2023-09-24. Retrieved 2023-09-24.

[aldo_leaves-3] 1 2 Griepp, Milton (2023-02-06). "Aldo Ghiozzi Leaves Impressions Flat River Group Hobby Department Consolidating Process, Price List, Catalog". ICv2 . Archived from the original on 2023-09-24. Retrieved 2023-09-24.

[1]

[2]

[3]