This has been a very exciting year for CPX Interactive! Here’s a look back at the highlights of 2009:

Offerings:

• Earlier this year, we developed CPXpi, a software solution to allow Domainers URL level insight into their portfolios.
• In April, CPX announced the addition of Careers, Real Estate and Hispanic verticals to our Content Network offering.
• Just this month, we released the first information about CPX adROIt, our proprietary ad management platform, set to launch early next year.

Growth:

• In June, we opened our new Manhattan office.
• We expanded the role of our philanthropic division, CPXample, using the reach of our network to drive traffic to a new website: CPXample.org.
• This year, CPX established a social media presence, becoming active on sites like Twitter and Facebook, and revamping our blogging strategy to include the CPX Ad Network Blog.

Recognition:

• CPX’s CEO and Co-Founder, Mike Seiman, was named a finalist for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the Metro New York Region.
• We received two SAM awards from Advertising Age Magazine, given for brand and messaging recognition observed through reader surveys.
• CPX Interactive made the Inc. 500 list for the second year in a row, and was also recognized on regional and industry specific lists.

CPX Interactive has had quite the year, and we are looking forward to many more milestones and accomplishments in 2010!

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Last week, the Lustgarten Foundation held its annual Holiday Rock & Roll Bash to benefit the fight against pancreatic cancer. CPX executives, Mike Fleischman (EVP of Business Development), Gary Bembridge (EVP of Sales) and David Shay (EVP of Marketing) attended the event at B.B. King Blues Club in Times Square.  They were among 1,000 guests who enjoyed a rock-and-roll and blues performance by JD & The Straight Shot, led by Cablevision President and CEO James Dolan, as well as a performance by the Radio City Rockettes.

“The Lustgarten Foundation’s commitment to fighting pancreatic cancer over the last 10 years has been amazing.  The tremendous support of companies like Cablevision really help drive awareness and provide funding for accelerated research to help find a cure for this deadly disease. I worked directly under Marc Lustgarten during my 20 years at Cablevision, and was glad to bring the foundation to the attention of the CPX team. CPX is looking forward to supporting the Lustgarten Foundation in the future,”  said Mike Fleischman, CPX Interactive’s EVP of Business Development.

CPXample^TM is helping you give back this holiday season with a list of holiday gifts that benefit worthy causes. For less than $100, you can give life-saving vaccines, a bag of groceries, a bed net, or hospital gowns for 10 children. Check out CPXample.org for more gift ideas, resources and info on how to give back.

CPXample^TM is the philanthropic division of progressive online ad network, CPX Interactive, created to use the power of the Internet to support worthy causes. Over the past several years, CPX Interactive has donated millions of impressions to worthy causes through CPXample^TM. We have always believed in the adage that “with power, comes responsibility,” and although our CPXample^TM initiatives have been very successful, we wanted to do more. So, CPX is using the power of our extensive publisher network to direct millions of eyeballs to our new cause aggregation site, CPXample.org.

Our goal is to provide a “one stop shop” for people who want to make a difference. Under the slogan “Want to make the world a better place? Start here,” CPXample.org provides resources and tools to get you started. Each month, we will feature a different cause and organization on the site, with a spotlight piece focusing on their efforts.  The Alzheimer’s Association is the first feature organization, in anticipation of their major fundraising event, the Memory Walk, taking place in cities nationwide this Fall.

We hope to create a community of do-gooders on CPXample.org, and we welcome discussion through the forum and comments sections of each post. There are so many ways to give back to worthy causes, but it can be difficult to find the right path for you. So, start at CPXample.org, and make the world a better place.

David Shay is the EVP of Marketing at CPX Interactive. Read on to learn about his journey from law school grad to marketing professional at an online ad network.

1. Who are you, and what do you do here at CPX?

As EVP of Marketing, I am ultimately responsible for the messaging, both internally and externally, for the company. Initiatives that come out of the marketing department include, trade shows and networking events, online and print advertising, sales support materials, public relations and use of social media to disseminate information.

2. After college, you went to law school. How did you end up working in marketing for an online ad network?

I always knew I wanted to go to Law School, and I guess I assumed that meant that I wanted to be a lawyer as well. As law school drew to a close, I realized that this was an incorrect assumption. Rather than go the traditional route of a job at a law firm, I opened a private practice with a partner in Hollywood, FL. Three years was enough to prove to myself that I could do it, and also long enough for me to realize that I didn’t have to do it just because I had the law degree. I came up to NYC with my stuff in a duffel bag and found a job at a small advertising agency. Eventually, my career path led me to an online agency called Endai Worldwide. It was here that I met a colleague named Rob Rasko and the rest…as they say…is history.

3. How do you apply what you learned in law school to marketing?

People often question if the two paths (law vs. marketing) are similar at all. I think that they absolutely are. In law school, you are taught how to construct a way of interpreting and explaining facts in a way that is most favorable to your client’s position. Marketing is really driven by the same fundamentals. A marketer’s job is to spin and package information in a way that is most favorable to the company.

4. CPX recently opened a Manhattan office, which the marketing department now calls home. Why do you think it was important for the company, and the marketing department, to have a presence in NYC?

The move of the ‘forward facing’ departments of the company to NYC was both necessary and organic. With the development and growth of the sales and publishing teams, they have both been able to hone their target audiences to a high-profile /brand level. NYC is simply a more ‘target-rich’ environment for them, and being here makes it easier for them to interact socially and build relationships. As for the marketing department, it only makes sense for us to be with the teams we support most directly.

5. What kinds of things are on the horizon for CPX Marketing in the next few months?

We have a couple of interesting projects on our table at this point. In addition to laying the marketing groundwork for some pretty exciting business-level announcements planned over the next six months, we are focusing on taking our philanthropic arm, CPXample^TM, to the next level and we are working to support the online promotion and release of the first completed project by the indie film house, Chaos². Chaos² is owned and run by CPX founders Mike Seiman and Carlton Hickman.

Tonight, CPX Interactive Co-Founders, Mike Seiman and Carlton Hickman, will be in Los Angeles to attend a gala in honor of the First Ladies of Africa. The gala is sponsored by US Doctors For Africa, and is part of their first-ever Leadership For Health Summit, which will take place today and tomorrow.

Mike and Carlton are honored to attend the gala as guests of Mr. Ted Alemayhu, the founder and Executive Chariman of US Doctors For Africa, and someone with whom they share entrepreneurial and philanthropic interests.

The week after Carlton Hickman, CTO & Co-Founder of CPX Interactive, had finished the nine day, 3500 mile journey of Fireball Run, he knew that he wanted to donate his team’s car to a good cause. Hickman participated in the race with Tony Pascal, Graphic Designer at CPX, and Sean Beymolla, CPX VP of Traffic and Optimization. Fireball Run is a cross country road race to raise awareness for missing children in partnership with the Child Rescue Network. Each team is assigned a missing child, given a full color decal to put on their car, and hundreds of flyers to hand out along the way. The team’s race car was a special edition Dodge Charger that they outfitted especially for the race.

When Hickman wanted to donate the car for auction, he decided to further support the beneficiary of Fireball Run, the Child Rescue Network (CRN). Jeff Griesemer, President & CEO of CRN, traveled to the CPX headquarters in Westbury, NY to accept Hickman’s donation. Griesemer and Hickman discussed the importance of promoting awareness about missing children, and how CPX and CRN can work together to further these efforts.

The partnership between Fireball Run and CRN began when J. Sanchez, Organizer and Founder of Fireball Run, and fellow board member for the Orlando Chamber of Commerce, spoke with Griesemer about his initial ideas for a cross country race. Initially, CRN was simply going to be a beneficiary, but Griesemer realized just how much they could utilize the cars and the teams to get information out. It was Sanchez who later connected Griesemer with Hickman before last year’s race.

In addition to Fireball Run, CRN holds safety seminars and awareness presentations for parents, as well as assisting with investigations on cases. Griesemer feels that people are generally unaware of the number of kidnappings that occur in our country on a daily basis. He shared these statistics: over 2000 children are reported missing every day in this country; there are over 500 parental abductions every day; and non-family members are abducting kids 150 times a day.

The car donated by CPX will be raffled at several events near the CRN headquarters in Orlando, FL. All proceeds will go to CRN. CPX looks forward to continuing their relationship with CRN and helping to raise awareness nationwide. Please continue to check back here for more CRN/CPX raffle updates.

Tony Pascal (CPX Graphic Designer), Sean Beymolla (CPX VP of Traffic & Optimization), Carlton Hickman (CPX CTO) and Jeff Griesemer (President & CEO, CRN)

• Fireball Run
• Child Rescue Network
• Team CPX

To see more photos of Fireball Run and car donation day, visit our new Shutterfly photo page.

“With power, comes responsibility.”

CPXample™ is a catch-all philanthropic division of CPX Interactive, created to use the power of the Internet to support worthy causes, and to help them make the most of this power.

CEO and Founder, Mike Seiman, sums it up best this way, “The original company that we founded, and that became CPX Interactive, was called B.U.D.S., for ‘Brothers Unda Da Skin’, in order to reflect our shared belief in the ideals of equality and unity… and we are thrilled to be in a position to put teeth behind those ideals.”

Our Causes:

Over the past two years, CPX Interactive has been involved with several philanthropic endeavors. In October 2007, CPXample™ supported SaveDarfur.org by donating 50,000,000 impressions across its network, driving traffic to a page where visitors could send e-mail messages to world leaders, expressing their outrage toward the atrocities and genocide in The Sudan.

A couple months later, in December of 2007, CPXample™ developed a new series of animated ads and delivered them across the CPX network (50,000,000 impressions) to assist LiveEarth.org in expanding its database of concerned visitors.

In anticipation of the 2008 presidential election, CPX Interactive created and promoted an unparalleled campaign to “get out the vote.” In partnership with Russell Simmons’ Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN), CPX developed the “Vote For It! ’08” campaign. CPX worked with celebrities including LL Cool J, Snoop Dogg, George Lucas, TI and Ciara (for a full list visit www.voteforit08.org) to create a powerful video to compel America’s youth to exercise their right to vote. The video is featured on www.voteforit08.org, a website created for the project, which also provided a link to voter registration info, plus photos and event information.

On July 9, 2008, CPX and HSAN held a video launch party at Room Service in New York City. Many of the celebrities featured in the “Vote For It! ‘08” campaign were on hand to watch the video premiere and celebrate with the CPX staff.

For nine days in September and October, a team of CPX execs trekked across the country as part of the 2008 Fireball Run. The CPX Interactive team included: Carlton Hickman, CTO and Founder, Tony Pascal, Graphic Designer, and Shaun Beymolla, VP of Traffic & Optimization.  They were one of 100 teams to take part in this 3500 mile transcontinental rally to support the Child Rescue Network.

Each team was assigned a different missing child, with the mission of creating as much awareness as possible throughout their journey. Carlton, Tony, and Shaun were armed with posters, and their 2008 Special Edition “Superbee” Dodge Charger was covered with a full color decal of the missing child. According to the Child Rescue Network, twenty four children have since been rescued and reunited with their families and guardians. The rally was a success, and the CPX Interactive team came away from the Fireball Run with 3^rd place!

Read this post on our VOX Blog

This year, CPX Interactive participated in the Fireball Run, also known as the “Race to Recover America’s Missing Children.” It was a 3,500 mile, nine-day car race across America where each vehicle was assigned a missing child. Unlike other rallies, Fireball Run vehicles kept to the local speed limits and made many stops. At each stop missing children posters were handed out – this year’s dispensed poster total was 43,000. To keep things interesting, scavenger hunt missions were assigned every day along with five race track events. All missions and events were competitive based on specific scoring techniques, but the main goal was to draw as much attention to the missing children as possible.

TeamCPX (#27) consisted of CTO and Founder, Carlton Hickman (also the team captain), Shaun Beymolla, VP of Traffic & Optimization, and Tony Pascal, Graphic Designer. Although this was their first entry in the race, the team successfully placed third overall out of the 43 teams of business owners.

Representing a progressive online ad network with access to state-of-the-art technology, the CPX team did have a bit of an edge. The CPX car was decked out with electronics including three broadband computers and three forms of satellite navigation. This gave TeamCPX an advantage solving the scavenger hunt clues and plotting multiple routes simultaneously.

If you were lucky enough to be somewhere along the route, you saw Lamborghinis, Corvettes, a Bentley painted to resemble the General Lee, Mercedes, Mustangs, Chargers, a Challenger, Jaguars, BMWs, Lincolns, Audis, a 40-foot stretched limo, a Tuk Tuk (the “Back to the Future” car), the original “Knight Rider” car, the “Smokey and the Bandit” Trans Am, a Shelby Cobra, a Viper, pick up trucks, plus a huge Freightliner semi truck, and more…

The event kicked off with a VIP exclusive party at the Old State Capital in Baton Rouge, LA, and the next morning Mayor “Kip” Holden waved the green flag to start the race. Right from the beginning TeamCPX was scrambling to solve the missions. TeamCPX had to find a variety of places including famous landmarks like Graceland, infamous places like Bonnie and Clyde’s ambush site and “off the beaten trail” places like Buster Browns’ gravesite. There were some very special privileges the team was able to participate in along the route. This included the opportunity to visit a children’s mansion in Tupelo and two childrens’ hospitals where the members were able to spend time with the young patients and donate gifts.

The long and winding roads brought TeamCPX to many towns – small and big. Along the way, many townspeople greeted the team with open arms and gave them a taste of what the town had to offer. From Baton Rouge’s casino, to the great town of Tupelo’s car museum and Elvis impersonations, to the amazing locally prepared cuisines. There were many unforgettable moments as well. One very memorable occasion, and without any time to prepare, the members of TeamCPX were thrown onto a stage to perform comedy in front of a camera crew and three judges. Miraculously they were able to make them laugh. Another special moment was when Carlton received a key to the city of Tuscaloosa for being one of the top donators of children’s books (260 to be exact) upon arrival at Tuscaloosa city hall.

CPX Interactive created a website (www.teamcpx.com) where viewers could track TeamCPX, check out video clips and photos; but more importantly, list all of the missing children which Fireball Run was trying to reunite with their families through the Child Rescue Network. Last year’s event was very successful in reuniting 24 children with their families and guardians. This year, all participants of the Fireball Run were aiming to double that amount.

With over 700 children abducted every single day, the need to raise awareness is paramount. Overall TeamCPX helped bring exposure to missing children across America, while getting to meet some wonderful people and go on an unforgettable adventure.