Welcome to Promotion Commotion, the official ePrize blog.

This blog will focus primarily on ePrize and its integral role in the world of promotional marketing.  With weekly topics ranging from comical to controversial, we invite everyone to join in on the commotion by giving us your insight on our ‘out of the box’ conversation starters! 

Meet the Promotion Commotion Team:

Matthew Kates, Vice President, Strategic Services, ePrize, is responsible for leading all areas of promotion concept development, client metrics, research, analysis and program development. 

He previously served with Kellogg Co., Quaker, Starcom Media and with PricewaterhouseCoopers where he managed and consulted on branding and business strategy. 

Kates earned his bachelor of science in economics from Northwestern University and his MBA from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

Contact Matthew at matthew.kates@eprize.com

Alesya Opelt, Vice President, Marketing, ePrize, oversees the company’s marketing initiatives, as well as public relations activities for the company’s offices in Detroit, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and London.  She also develops and implements programs including the annual ePrize Interactive Promotion Summit, and all internal and external events. 

Recently, Opelt coordinated the media launch of the Caffeine Promotions Platform™, a one-of-a-kind, do-it-yourself online promotion tool designed for small-to-medium sized businesses.  Her efforts netted coverage from top-tier outlets including the Wall Street Journal, CNBC and Inc.com.

Opelt earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Western Michigan University.

Contact Alesya at alesya.opelt@eprize.com

Josh Linkner, Founder and CEO, ePrize, has been involved in the development of thousands of digital marketing strategies over the last 13 years. As the founder and CEO of ePrize, he has led the firm from inception to being ranked the #1 fastest growing and #3 overall promotion agency by PROMO Magazine. ePrize has produced an industry-leading over 3,400 interactive promotions run, in 36 countries for clients including Coca-Cola, American Express, The Gap, Procter & Gamble, Warner Brothers, Dell, adidas, Citibank and General Motors.Despite challenging economic times, Josh achieved annualized revenue growth of over 100% since 1999. He led the company’s expansion into new industries including travel, automotive, financial services, packaged goods, retail, and entertainment as well as geographic expansion, opening offices in New York, Chicago, LA, Dallas, and London. In addition, Josh has led the firm through two rounds of financing and two recapitalizations, securing over $43 million of investment.