Eight Marketing is pleased to announce that we have been retained by The Media Theatre to conduct a marketing audit and develop a two-year strategic marketing direction.

The Media Theatre is home to original productions and adaptations of musical theater performed in a picturesque restored theater in the heart of Media. The professional theater company puts performance at the forefront of everything they do, engaging audiences from throughout the region.

The mission of the Media Theatre Company is to promote and nurture the imagination, diversity, and joy unique to music theatre by the production of new and classic works; to herald music theatre to young people as an art form that is relevant to their lives and to foster an understanding by them that it is indigenous to their cultural heritage.

Upcoming productions include Souvenir (January 23 - February 17), The Buddy Holly Story (March 5 - 30) and The Full Monty (April 30 - June 1).

Funding for the project was provided by the Marketing Innovation Program, part of the Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative of the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage of the Pew Charitable Trust. All programs are funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, administered by the University of the Arts.

To learn about The Media Theatre or to be our guest at an upcoming performance, contact Fran Feldman Walish at fwalish@eightmarketing.com.

Congratulations to Philly's own Gamble & Huff -- Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff - who will be part of the 2008 class of inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The legendary producers will be awarded the newly named "Ahmet Ertegun Award" (formerly the non-performer category). The ceremony will be held March 10, 2008.

Songwriters-producers and record label owners Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff made Philadelphia the soul capitol in the 1970's. Gamble and Huff's label Philadelphia International had a stable of artists that included the O'Jays, McFadden & Whitehead, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, Lou Rawls and Dee Dee Sharp. Their records featured the duo's trademark sound: lush string orchestrations, a powerful rhythm section and a disco beat. They also worked with Dusty Springfield, Wilson Pickett, and Jerry Butler among others. In 1990, Gamble and Huff won a Grammy for best R&B song, awarded for Simply Red's cover of the Blue Notes' 1972 hit "If You Don't Know Me By Now." And in 1999, they won the Grammy Trustees Award.

Kenny Gamble continues to make a difference in Philadelphia, as the co-founder of Universal Companies, promoting opportunities for positive community change.

Universal Companies is the force behind the movement to create a National Center of Rhythm and Blues in Philadelphia.

Despite the enormous appeal and influence of Rhythm and Blues, there is no one place that tells the comprehensive story of this unique American music. A center for Rhythm and Blues that is national in scope would be the only one of its kind. Philadelphia's long musical history and its many contributions to the world of R&B make it the ideal location for a National Center of Rhythm and Blues. The National Center would become a must-see destination that immerses visitors in the heart, soul, sounds, and global impact of Rhythm and Blues.

2008 is getting off to a great start for all of us in the tourism marketing community. It also marks the fifth anniversary of Eight Marketing, to be celebrated on August 8th -- 8/8/08.

In celebration, we're creating a calendar of tourism and marketing key dates for the year. New editions to the calendar will be posted each month in News At Eight.

To be included, send an email to Ashlea Morrell at amorrell@eightmarketing.com.

Eight Marketing is a tourism and attractions marketing firm that specializes in increasing revenue for its clients through partnerships and strategic planning.

To learn more, call us at (610) 667-2400.