Executive Shuffle at Cyrk Cyrk, Inc. ceo Gregory Shlopak, who founded the company in 1976, resigned in what company officials termed a strategic reorganization. He will continue as a director and a consultant for the company, officials said.

Patrick Brady was named ceo to replace Shlopak, but will retain the titles of president and chief operations officer at the Gloucester, MA-based company, which promo Magazine named Agency of the Year in 1998. Brady said in a statement that he expects to announce more changes this month.

Shlopak, 51, will join Equity Enterprises as co-chair with Louis Marx, Jr. The New York-based firm holds interests in various companies in unnamed industries.

Cyrk will record a $2.3 million non-recurring pre-tax charge in the fourth quarter of 1998 to cover its separation agreement with Shlopak. The deal provides for payments and benefits over a three-year period, and includes a two-year non-compete covenant.

Known for creating highly successful loyalty programs, Cyrk is in transition mode as it seeks to broaden its client base and create more consistent revenue streams. It posted a net loss of $10.5 million in the first nine months of 1998, due mostly to one-time restructuring charges from closed facilities and layoffs. Yet Cyrk's revenues were ahead by 45 percent to $545 million, thanks primarily to sales related to the Beanie Babies Club, which it handles.

In other moves, Steve Weiss joined the company as executive creative director for Integrated Marketing Solutions, Cyrk's New York-based agency division. Weiss brings a range of experience in advertising, promotion, direct marketing, and new media from a 15-year career in which he has helped sell Mick Jagger's lips and Iomega's zip drives.

Weiss began at J. Walter Thompson, where he worked on The Jovan/Rolling Stones Lips Over America Tour, then managed his own agency - Harper Landon Weiss in Chicago - and later worked at Chiat/Day. He went on to become director of concept development at Clarion Marketing and worldwide creative director at Einson Freeman. Before joining Cyrk, he ran Creative Source International's London office.

"Steve is one of those rare individuals whose own integrated marketing experience truly reflects the new direction marketing is taking," says IMS president Laurel Rossi.

Ryan Broadens its View Panavista, Ryan Partnership's new ethnic shop, will be a "premier source for cross-cultural strategic marketing programs," says Jim Lucero, who was tapped as general manager.

Headquartered in Ryan's Dallas-based Southwest regional office, PanaVista (which implies "broad view") will focus on integrated marketing, with services including promotional, direct, field, and account-specific marketing, and co-marketing, interactive technology, and advertising.

Brands should be trying to find similarities between cultures, says Lucero. "We like to state it simply: One brand, one voice, one market. A brand must maintain its identity and equity across cultural lines and speak in one voice, not offer different messages for different people."

Cultural marketers must try to reach audiences through their personal values and traditions, which may be unique to their cultures, says Lucero, who most recently was founder and partner of LuceroBentz, a specialty cultural advertising agency with clients including Southwest Airlines and Miller Lite.

"Because of the growing diversity of our consumer groups and the evolution of marketing, PanaVista was a must-have offering for our clients," says Ryan Partnership president Tom Libonate.

Heymann Joins Alcone Peter Heymann, former ceo and partner at Sukon Marketing, has joined the Darien, CT, office of Alcone Marketing as vp-group account director. He will run the office's business development group, which focuses on the new relationship accounts that usually entail project-basis work. Clients include Lenscrafters, Reebok, and First Union Bank.

"It's like an agency within an agency, working on a range of diverse accounts," says Heymann.

Heymann left Sukon last year after its four partners, differing on the future direction of the 40-year-old New York City agency, sold it to B-12. Partners Ed Wolf and Bill De Corso, who initially joined B-12, have since left. The fourth partner, Joe Harris, remains with the Soho-based agency, according to a B-12 spokesperson.

Skin-Deep Loyalty Keep in mind, these are the same folks who put monster eyes on sticks for Taco Bell and called it art, and list "butt kissing" among available services in their brochure. Now they are using themselves as guinea pigs in an experiment with pain-inducing incentive awards: tattoos.

Yoe Studio specializes in convention-defying, cutting-edge (okay, call them wacky) ideas, and boasts big-name clients like Nickelodeon, Mattel, and Hasbro. Creative director Craig Yoe has designed concepts for Jim Henson's Muppets, where he was vp-gm, and has put together attractions for Disney's theme parks.

The Peekskill, NY-based group has turned its anarchic energy on its own people by crafting an employee incentive program with an air of permanence. Tattoos are "spurring productivity and boosting morale" at the studio, says Yoe.

"The experts think they know it all. But a good brand starts with your team, and [designer] Michael [Dwyer] voted to be branded right here at the studio," Yoe says.

What's next, shrunken head toys with Happy Meals?

Equity's New Look Burger King premium supplier Equity Marketing, Inc. of Los Angeles has undertaken a management revamp by winding down the licensed toys and collectibles businesses that produce 25 percent of the company's revenue. Equity will focus on promotional products and discontinue licenses that don't have "evergreen" appeal, says p.r. senior director Sheree Aronson.

The company said it will abandon movie licensing after flopping with Godzilla and Babe: Pig in the City toys in '98.

Two officers left in December: Gary Trumbo, a six-year Equity vet who was executive vp-consumer product sales, and Michael Welch, executive vp and cfo. Teresa Covington left Harmon International Industries to join the company as vp-finance last month.

President and co-ceo Don Kurtz became chairman and sole ceo last month after the departure of Stephen Robeck, who bought Equity along with Kurtz in 1991. Robeck will maintain a consulting relationship and continue to sit on Equity's board.

"We are reaffirming our commitment to the promotion business, assembling a team with the right mix of skills," says Aronson.

Equity boosted its collectible toy car and truck business for gas station retailers last quarter with $6 million in new contracts.