Alex Harz
MARKETING / EVENTS
Having grown up in an international bi-lingual family, which had me spending many summers in Europe as a child & teen, world affairs and global business / trade began to interest me at an early age. I furthered these interests by studying international business & organizational communications during my university years...
My initial engagement into the realm of international marketing & promotions came with the wonderful experiences and exposure of traveling with world-renowned sporting legends such a Lothar Matthäus, Mark Spitz, Billy Casper, Lee Elder, Rod Laver, Tom Osborne, etc. Within the fields of sports marketing, celebrity endorsements & events management, I learned a lot about marketing, PR, branding and how business is done on the global stage. It doesn't matter if you are promoting American football to a "unfamiliar" audience in Europe for the NFL, organizing the legends of golf for a series of tournaments or packaging an endorsement contract for one of the most recognizable soccer icons of all-time, a few factors never change...make sure your sponsors receive the value-added exposure they seek, that their brand(s) are associated with a good "product", that the image of the event and or celebrity(s) is upheld to a high standard, and that the target audience is reached & imprinted with the appropriate message...
My experience in large-scale global merchandising was brought to the forefront when I worked for American Warehouse Trading Company, an import / export firm which specialized in the sales & marketing of mass quantity, overstock brand name products. My responsibilities included coordinating and finalizing the sales of top brands to companies in Asia, Europe, South & North America. Worldwide stalwarts such as Nike, Adidas, Versace, Hugo Boss, Armani, Nintendo or even 240,000 Liters of California Red Wine, etc. were traded on a daily basis between sellers and buyers seeking to fulfill their inventory requirements. This around the clock fast-paced industry, lead me into another field where 3 months is equivalent to 1 calendar year of change in trends within the global marketplace, the information technology sector...
As an overseas project manager for Origin Interactive, I was involved in the sales management of large-scale Internet, Extranet, Intranet and Ecommerce platform solutions. Clients included Euro Disney, Microsoft, City & County of Denver, Sharp Electronics, JD Edwards, etc. This technology company was not only cutting edge, but also well established in the IT industry during a time of immense growth. A good experience indeed for dealing with instantaneous deadlines, on-the-fly technology developments and market growth through M&A (mergers & acquisitions)...
My tenure at Origin set me up perfectly for a full-time transition into the feature film, documentary and TV world. Utilizing my experiences in international business development, marketing, PR and management, combined with a continued enterprise of short film production & acting, the days to take my creative passion for filmmaking to the next level was ripe. Conceptualization, development, fundraising, production, marketing, media engagement, film markets & festivals, and ultimately end consumer distribution of original feature film + compilation series content, was the focus with the dark comedy productions of 'AMERICAN DREAM ?' and 'LAMB TV'. Intertwining product placement arrangements and PR events for companies like Red Bull, Jim Beam Brands, Kashi, Miller-Coors Brewing Company, etc. made these productions fuller and provided unique branding opportunities for our corporate sponsors & partners.
Developing and marketing original content that has the ability to provide charitable support to worthwhile causes, was to be the next step in my filmmaking career...utilizing media for a greater good. I was hired to produce & direct a wonderful documentary project for US Military Veterans, 'THE VETERAN STORY', which follows the heart-felt tales of true heroes who so graciously sacrificed their youth and future to serve during America's times of need. The Veterans featured in this documentary spanned from WWII to Desert Storm, with all ages in between. This project was designed, developed and marketed to donate 100% of all proceeds to the brave Veterans of the Louisiana War Veterans Home...every dollar, dime, nickel and penny in revenue generated.
The immensely rewarding experiences of the 'THE VETERAN STORY' has provided much inspiration for my current documentary productions, tilted 'THE QUEST'. 'THE QUEST' is an immersive 2D + Virtual Reality series designed to take global audiences on “educational thrill-rides” to reveal amazing “rarely seen” stories from some of the most captivating places on earth. I spent 63 days in Nepal filming the initial installments of 'THE QUEST' in stunning 2D as well as one-of-a-kind Virtual Reality all the way to the summit of Mount Everest (29,032 feet / 8849 meters). The first films of the series, 'THE QUEST: Nepal' 2D Documentary, 'THE QUEST: Everest' 2D Documentary and 'THE QUEST: Everest VR' real-life Mt. Everest Virtual Reality Documentary, are epic quests to deeper understand and climb the most iconic mountain in the world, while unveiling the fascinating culture, history and nature of Nepal.
From experiencing Mt. Everest like never before, to exploring the Birthplace of Buddhism and more, the inaugural movies of 'THE QUEST' Series will take the audience on memorable journeys to one of the most amazing places on earth! More ‘THE QUEST’ productions are being developed to span all 7 continents within the genres of adventure travel, history, natural history, nature, science, culture, pop culture, etc. For more information about 'THE QUEST' and potential partnership opportunities, please feel free to contact me at your convenience...
Stay tuned for future developments. More info to come :)
For a brief overview of my CV / Resume, please feel free to visit my LinkedIn Page.