Paul Ardaji | |
|---|---|
| Born | Paul W. Ardaji |
| Occupation(s) | film producer, restaurateur |
Paul W. Ardaji is an American film producer, former international advertising and marketing executive, and restaurateur. Ardaji is particularly notable for his role as producer during the early stages of production for the award-winning American film Ali (2001), which focused on the life of boxer Muhammad Ali. [2] [3]
Ardaji founded the Middle East Advertising and Marketing Company (Meamco), a New York-based marketing agency focusing on Arab markets. [4]
In 1979, Ardaji signed boxer Muhammad Ali as a spokesperson for Toyota in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf region. [4] The famous boxer's voice was broadcast from radios across the Persian Gulf region, boosting Toyota vehicle sales in the region by 18%. [4] For decades, Ardaji maintained a close friendship with Ali and eventually came to realize Ali's film potential. [5] This crucial initial connection later allowed Ardaji to be able to obtain the rights to Ali's life story for the film Ali in 1992. [5]
In 1984, Ardaji became the president of Horizon/Meamco after Meamco's merger with Horizon. [1] During the mid-1980s, it was the third largest marketing agency serving the Middle East, and filled in a highly crucial gap for connecting Western products to consumers in Arab cultures. [1] [6]
In 1992, Ardaji founded Roundhill Pictures Corporation and obtained the film rights to Muhammad Ali's life story. [2] [5] In 1992, Ardaji had visited Ali on his 50th birthday and persuaded him to allow a film to be made about his life. [3]
Signing on with Sony Pictures, Ardaji then partnered with producer Jon Peters, who started developing the film in 1994. [7] In addition to Ardaji and Peters, other film producers of Ali were Michael Mann, James Lassiter, and A. Kitman Ho. All five producers were given equal credit as for their roles in the film's production. [8] In 2000, Michael Mann became director of the Ali film, which was finally released in 2001 and featured Will Smith as the main star. [8]
Later, Ardaji went into the restaurant business and founded Terra Ristorante Italiano with Boston-based chef Ken Oringer [9] in Greenwich, Connecticut, which was featured in the New York Times . Continuing their close friendship from the 1970s, Muhammad Ali continued to visit Ardaji during Ardaji's later days as a restaurateur. [10]
In 2005, Ardaji launched Asian fusion cuisine chain Paulimotos Asian Bistro with Japanese chef Masaharu Morimoto of Iron Chef , with locations throughout the U.S. East Coast. [11]
Michael Kenneth Mann is an American film director, screenwriter, author, and producer, best known for his stylized crime dramas. Mann has received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards as well as nominations for four Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. His most acclaimed works include the films Thief (1981), Manhunter (1986), The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Heat (1995), The Insider (1999), Ali (2001), Collateral (2004), and Public Enemies (2009). He is also known for his role as executive producer on the popular TV series Miami Vice (1984–90), which he adapted into a 2006 feature film.
Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "the Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century and is often regarded as the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. He held the Ring magazine heavyweight title from 1964 to 1970. He was the undisputed champion from 1974 to 1978 and the WBA and Ring heavyweight champion from 1978 to 1979. In 1999, he was named Sportsman of the Century by Sports Illustrated and the Sports Personality of the Century by the BBC.
Ali is a 2001 American biographical sports drama film co-written, produced and directed by Michael Mann. The film focuses on ten years in the life of the boxer Muhammad Ali, played by Will Smith, from 1964 to 1974, featuring his capture of the heavyweight title from Sonny Liston, his conversion to Islam, criticism of the Vietnam War, and banishment from boxing, his return to fight Joe Frazier in 1971, and, finally, his reclaiming the title from George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle fight of 1974. It also touches on the great social and political upheaval in the United States following the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.
Market research is an organized effort to gather information about target markets and customers: know about them, starting with who they are. It is an important component of business strategy and a major factor in maintaining competitiveness. Market research helps to identify and analyze the needs of the market, the market size and the competition. Its techniques encompass both qualitative techniques such as focus groups, in-depth interviews, and ethnography, as well as quantitative techniques such as customer surveys, and analysis of secondary data.
Ali is a common unisex name.
Ogilvy is a New York City-based British advertising, marketing, and public relations agency. It was founded in 1850 by Edmund Mather as a London-based agency. In 1964, the firm became known as Ogilvy & Mather after merging with a New York City agency that was founded in 1948 by David Ogilvy.
Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. Copywriting is aimed at selling products or services. The product, called copy or sales copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or group to take a particular action.
William D'Arcy Cayton was a boxing promoter and manager. Clients included Mike Tyson, who sued him, yet retained him as manager when the two settled the lawsuit four years later, in 1988. Cayton also acted as a film historian and producer to preserve boxing's legacy. During his career, Cayton founded or co-founded several companies, including Cayton Sports, Inc., Reel Sports., Inc., Radio and Television Packagers, Inc. and Cayton, Inc.
The Super Fight was a fictional boxing match between Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali shot in 1969 and released in 1970. At the time, Ali and Marciano were the only undefeated heavyweight champions in history and fans often debated who would win had they met in their primes. Ali and Marciano were filmed sparring for 75 one-minute rounds producing several possible scenarios for a genuine fight, with the result claimed to have been determined using probability formulas entered into a computer.
Michael Rashkow was an American songwriter, record producer and the founder of an advertising agency called T:MC. He wrote "Mary in the Morning" with Johnny Cymbal. It was recorded by Elvis Presley, Glen Campbell, Al Martino, Dire Straits's Guy Fletcher, and many other artists. He formed Pineywood Productions with Ellie Greenwich in the late 1960s. Among the artists they wrote for and produced were Dusty Springfield, The Daily News, The Definitive Rock Chorale, The Fuzzy Bunnies, The Whatnauts and The Other Voices as well as Ellie Greenwich. Their publishing arm, Pineywood Music, published their own material and songs by other writers including Steve Tudanger and Paul Levinson, a member of The Other Voices.
Dancer Fitzgerald Sample was a Madison Avenue advertising agency during the 20th century. It was founded in Chicago in 1923, and was acquired and merged into the Saatchi & Saatchi network in the 1980s.
The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media awards are presented at a dinner in New York City; the chef and restaurant awards were also presented in New York until 2015, when the foundation's annual gala moved to Chicago. Chicago will continue to host the Awards until 2027.
Geers Gross was a British advertising agency founded in 1964 by Americans Bob Geers and Bob Gross after working together in the London office of Benton & Bowles. Gross was a copywriter from New York and Geers was an art director from Missouri.
Jon Oringer is an American programmer, photographer, and billionaire businessman, best known as the founder and CEO of Shutterstock, a stock media company headquartered in New York City. Oringer started his career while a college student in the 1990s, when he created "one of the Web's first pop-up blockers." He went on to found about ten small startups that used a subscription method to sell "personal firewalls, accounting software, cookie blockers, trademark managers," and other small programs.
Alexander Brody was a Hungarian-American businessman, author, and marketing executive. He was the grandson of Hungarian writer Sándor Bródy.
Marcio Moreira was a multi-cultural marketing executive who played an influential role in the globalization of advertising. In a 44-year career at McCann Erickson Worldwide, Moreira headed the agency's InterNational Team—referred to by The New York Times as a "daring experiment in the nascent science of worldwide marketing"—customizing global campaigns to address cultural nuances on a country-by-country basis. Moreira has been credited with accelerating the cross-border, or trans-nationalization, of brands.
Ken Oringer is a Boston-based chef who is a business partner of Jamie Bissonnette.
Naji Abu Nowar is a British-Jordanian film director, writer and producer. Best known for his works Death of a Boxer (2009), Till Death (2012) and Theeb (2014) for which he received wide spread acclaim and recognition, including a Best Foreign Language Film nomination at 88th Academy Awards, nomination for Best film not in the English language, and the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer at the 69th British Academy Film Awards. Theeb is the first Jordanian film to receive an Oscar nomination.
Wunderman was a New York City-based global digital agency. It was part of Young & Rubicam Brands and a member of international advertising group WPP Group.
UniWorld Group, Inc., branded as UWG, is a full-service advertising agency headquartered in Brooklyn, New York with satellite offices in Atlanta, Detroit, Miami, and Los Angeles. It is the longest-standing multicultural ad agency in the United States, founded in 1969. In 2014, the company rebranded itself as UWG.
