Record company executive Steve Stoute, one of the top-ranked black executives in the music business, has ushered a number of talented artists to stardom, but has always maintained a low public profile. Stoute was born in the early 1970s and grew up in Hollis, a section of Queens, New York. His parents were immigrants from Trinidad, and he spent time at Syracuse University before taking a position in 1990 as a manager for bands. He quickly moved up in the music business, becoming involved with TrackMasters, a production team, that helped craft hits for Will Smith, L.L. Cool J., Mary J. Blige, and Mariah Carey. Eventually Stoute was hired by Sony Music, and served as manager of fellow Queens native and rapper Nas, also known as Nasir Jones and the son of musician Olu Dara.
Pop-Culture Marketing Guru
Stoute was eventually promoted to executive vice president at Interscope Geffen A & M, a position which gave him a roster of acts like No Doubt, Marilyn Manson, Garbage, Enrique Iglesias, and Nine Inch Nails to manage. In early 2001 he co-founded a marketing company with Peter Arnell, head of a highly regarded brand consulting firm; they called their new venture "PASS," an acronym for their names. The duo planned to use their marketing and music expertise to consult on brand-imaging for major Fortune 500 companies interested in capturing a segment of the premium youth market. To prove their point, Stoute asked rapper Jay-Z to name-check Motorola's two-way pager in his "I Just Wanna Love U (Give it 2 Me)" song. Sales for the pager went through the roof, and PASS began to be noticed by numerous companies.
In 2002 Daimler Chrysler planned to quadruple its $40 million plus budget in marketing in an effort to reach more minorities. It decided to conduct a contest to reward ad agencies owned primarily by minorities with a contract to help them in their effort. The newly-formed PASS had already created a Dodge promotion for Chrysler, so the company was included in the contest. Stoute's PASS was among the top five agencies to make the final cut. While the competition was swift, many, including Stoute's partner, Peter Arnell, considered PASS to be the front runner, thanks to Stoute. "Steve Stoute has the best instincts creatively and strategically on pop culture, marketing and youth of anybody I've ever met," said Arnell to Adage.com. However, according to Target Market News, PASS could not obtain certification as a minority-owned business and Arnell and Stoute sold the company to Cultura, a Hispanic agency. In the end, pioneering ad executive Don Coleman's company, GlobalHue, "won" the contest--GlobalHue was already under contract with Daimler Chrysler.
Undeterred, the duo began to sell their own brand of cigar, the Zino Platinum. They also spearheaded a promotion with Reebok and The Source Magazine to hold a contest to locate the next hip-hop star. The winner would receive numerous prizes, including an endorsement deal with Reebok and an appearance in an Interscope hip-hop artist's music video.
Translation LLC
Steve Stoute is the founder and chief executive officer of Translation LLC, one of the leading and most influential brand marketing firms in the industry, creating and executing innovative promotions between Fortune 500 companies and superstar celebrities in music, sports, fashion and entertainment. His clients are such worldwide marketers as McDonald’s, Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., Samsung, Target and Procter & Gamble.
Translation generated strategic partnerships between high-profile artists and blue-chip marketers for many products, including Hewlett-Packard’s Harajuku Lovers digital camera with Gwen Stefani, Tommy Hilfiger’s True Star fragrance for women with Beyonce, and Chris Brown, Ne-Yo and Julianne Hough with the re-launch of Wrigley’s Doublemint, Big red and Juicy Fruit Gum campaign.
In October 2007, Mr. Stoute partnered Translation Consultation + Brand Imaging with The Interpublic Group, the third-largest agency company in the world. In 2008, Mr. Stoute and Shawn Carter (aka Jay-Z) co-founded Translation Advertising, the advertising division of Translation Consultation + Brand Imaging. Translation Advertising offers creative advertising services to its clients and allows them to reach the still elusive multicultural consumer. In November of 2009 the American Advertising Federation inducted Mr. Stoute into their Advertising Hall of Achievement, the industry's premier award for outstanding advertising professionals age 40 and under.
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