User:Dtiberio/Sandbox
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CheapBooks is a well-known book price comparison web site founded in 1997, popular among female African American nursing students.
CheapBooks, founded in New York City, recently relocated from Syracuse, NY to Houston, TX.
The domain name "cheapbooks.com" was originally purchased for $45 from Network Solutions. Without outside investment, it has grown into a multi-million dollar price comparison site,with 65% growth per year for 2006 - 2008.
Corporate Acquisition
[edit]CheapBooks recently began talks with investment banking firm Merrill Lynch regarding asset valuations, including but not limited to trademarks, patents, intellectual property, and software applications. CheapBooks has declined buyout offers as high as $7 million USD.
According to founder David Tiberio, CheapBooks routinely receives unsolicited offers for purchase of the company for "less than 2 weeks profit".
Technology
[edit]CheapBooks uses technology from high-availability software applications provided by companies such as ZoneEdit, to reduce failure.
Spokespersons
[edit]CheapBooks television ads (airing on Dish Network Satellite) feature Syrus from MTV's "The Real World: Boston", and Brooke from MTV's "The Real World: Denver". Filming occured at Kansas University, with local college students. All CheapBooks ads use local college students as extras. TV ads have also been filmed at William & Mary, Syracuse University, and Kansas State. Media may be viewed on YouTube.
In November of 2006, "World's Greatest" featured CheapBooks in its nationally televised program "World's Greatest Businesses", hosted by MTV's Syrus. The event was hosted at Syracuse University.
Actors, models, and college students wishing to appear in a CheapBooks TV commercial may apply via Model Mayhem.
In January of 2008, CheapBooks sponsored a book signing with Pulitzer Prize nominated author Julie M Fenster. The event was hosted in Manlius, NY.
Music used in CheapBooks radio and TV ads is produced by South by Southwest award-winning musician Arthur Yoria.
In June of 2007, CheapBooks personality Rich Natole, the voice of many CheapBooks ads, made an appearance on America's Got Talent.
CheapBooks has owned and operated numerous vehicles used in marketing, including a Suzuki Reno (no longer used), a Mazda Miata convertible, and a Honda S2000 convertible, which can be seen driving in NY and TX. Some of the vehicles are used in television advertising.
Notable Advertising Campaigns
[edit]The first major radio advertising campaign for CheapBooks occured in New Orleans, the day before Hurricane Katrina destroyed internet connectivity to the city for the duration of the ad campaign.
Legal Controversy
[edit]Contrary to popular belief, "cheapbooks" is not considered a "descriptive" or "generic" term in the United States. After many years of review by US government trademark lawyers, "cheapbooks" was granted trademark protection under the US Lanham, Act of 1946, after showing substantial exclusive use as a source identifier.
"cheapbooks" and "cheapbooks.com" are registered trademarks in the United States on the Principal Register.
CheapBooks recently acquired the competing web site "cheapbooks.info" from competitor "bookfinder4u.com", after it was discovered that the competing site was secretly diverting CheapBooks customers to its site via search engines.
The CheapBooks logo contains mostly Greek letters which have a similar appearance to latin characters; however the logo has a non-sensical meaning when transcribed from Greek to Latin.
CheapBooks Inc is a New York State S-Corp, founded by David Tiberio. David Tiberio previously has experience working for advertising agencies Grey, DoubleClick (now owned by Google), Interactive Imaginations (now owned by 24/7 Real Media), and Agency.com.