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Philip Kives (born 12 Feb 1929) is a Winnipeg business executive and innovative marketer. He is best known for founding K-tel, famous for its "As seen on TV" marketing strategies. A farm boy of Turkish extraction, born in Oungre, Saskatchewan, Kives showed a youthful passion for salesmanship. After completing high school, he gravitated into itinerant salesmanship in Winnipeg and at fairs, hawking gadgets as far away as Atlantic City, New Jersey. In 1962, he returned to Winnipeg to create K-tel International Inc and used it to sell novelty consumer wares such as the Veg-O-Matic food slicer and the Miracle Brush lint gatherer. In 1965, a "greatest hits" line of records was added. K-tel eventually expanded to serve 34 national markets, and after a very successful 1970s, the company heavily invested in real estate, oil and gas exploration, films and video games in the early 80's. This led to losses of $60 million in 1984 and the company eventually filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection only to be rescued out of hard times by new CEO Mickey Elfenbein that same year. Kives excelled in identifying innovative products (e.g. "jazzed up" classical melodies played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra). Financial overextension led to receivership in both Canada and the US in 1984. Undeterred, Kives reactivated K-tel in the US and Europe and launched a new company, K-5 Leisure Products, in Canada. By 1987 reorganization of K-tel International had been completed and the company was again profitable. In 1998 it achieved net sales of $85.6 million and launched a web site through which consumers can purchase its products on-line. His nephew is Bartley Kives, a Winnipeg Free Press reporter. ==References== *( "Live & Learn: Philip Kives" ), By Joe Castaldo, ''Canadian Business Online'', October 23, 2006. Retrieved Mar 31, 2010. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Philip Kives」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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