Andy Stefanovich: how I 'transformed marketing'

Andy Stefanovich got his marketing company through its first year by working in bars to make ends meet. By 2007, it was turning over $5m a year.

Andy Stefanovich had always wanted to work in the hotel industry. But after landing what he thought was his dream job at the Ritz Carlton, he quickly became disillusioned. So he quit and formed his own company. Growing up, he had heard his father, a vice-president at General Motors, rail against "bloated bureaucracy and staid thinking". Andy realised large companies needed help "to be better and different". He decided that Play would do nothing less than "change the way that business does business".

"A lot of people thought we were crazy because we didn't have much business experience. But our approach didn't need experience it was about challenging the way firms think and operate." But with no business track record and no money for marketing, Play found it hard to attract clients. Eventually, a breakthrough came via a childhood friend who was involved with the sponsorship for the Indianapolis 500 car race. Indy 500 was looking for new ways for sponsors to interact with racegoers. Stefanovich was asked to generate ideas for the following year's race.

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James McKeigue

James graduated from Keele University with a BA (Hons) in English literature and history, and has a certificate in journalism from the NCTJ. James has worked as a freelance journalist in various Latin American countries.He also had a spell at ITV, as welll as wring for Television Business International and covering the European equity markets for the Forbes.com London bureau. James has travelled extensively in emerging markets, reporting for international energy magazines such as Oil and Gas Investor, and institutional publications such as the Commonwealth Business Environment Report. He is currently the managing editor of LatAm INVESTOR, the UK's only Latin American finance magazine.