Read more on 24Hours Edmonton

April 4, 2012 – New York, NY – The most legendary family in music history is returning to the stage this summer with highly-anticipated Unity Tour 2012. A world-wide sensation since the 1970s, the Jacksons unveiled their line-up of U.S. tour dates today. Beginning June 18, 2012 and scheduled through the end of July 2012, this extraordinary reunion tour marks the first time siblings Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon and Tito Jackson have toured together since their groundbreaking Victory Tour in 1984.

Beloved by millions of fans across the globe for their soulful, sunny sound, contagious stage presence, and unforgettable roster of hits, the Jacksons first achieved international superstardom with their late brother Michael– becoming the first group ever to have their first four singles hit #1 on the Billboard Charts. Throughout their four-decade long career, the group revolutionized music and pop culture, getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. The Unity Tour 2012 will be yet another milestone for the Jacksons, bringing the most famous family in music back together for a historic series of shows.

“This is a dream coming true,” said Jackie Jackson of the tour. “I can’t believe this is finally happening. There’s nothing like having all the brothers on stage at the same time. This will be exciting for our fans around the world– and I know at each concert, MJ’s spirit will be in the house with us.”

Honoring Michael’s memory and bringing the fans all the timeless hits they know and love is also paramount for Jermaine Jackson. “I am so happy and excited to perform again onstage with my brothers,” he said. “I can’t wait to sing all the songs that were so much a part of all of our lives. We are ready and committed to keep the family’s legacy alive and perform once again with the highest level of excellence, creativity, and most of all, integrity.

A dynasty unlike any other, the Jackson family’s impossibly catchy brand of pop-funk changed music forever. With their record-shattering catalogue of hits, they remain the biggest-selling family in music of all time. Don’t miss your chance to witness music history firsthand this summer when the world-renown Jacksons reunite for the Unity Tour 2012. Current tour dates are listed below, with additional dates forthcoming.

www.thejacksons.com | Facebook | Twitter

Jesse DeCosta applied Web savvy to public relations and today works with Will Smith, Jamie Foxx

By: Sean Fine

The willingness to think big has helped a former graphic artist from Mississauga, Ont., become a brand manager for Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, the late Michael Jackson’s four brothers and other leading stars in Los Angeles.

Read the Full Article on Business without Borders

DECOSTA and Google are combing the worlds best search and video service on the web with the biggest brands in music, film, and TV. 

This partnership marks a new wave in digital media. As audiences become smarter and more mobile, DECOSTA is leading the industry towards on-demand digital content that is relevant, timely, and delivered with a polished user-experience.  

Look for these exciting new experiences in the coming months. 

In this week’s edition of our career-advice column, we find out how one Sheridan College drop-out went from working the sales floor at a Future Shop to managing the online presence of superstars like Will Smith, Jamie Foxx and the late Tupac Shakur.
BY: Wyndham Bettencourt-McCarthy, The Grid TO

Name: Ben Cantin-Kranz

Age: 26

Job: Manager of Marketing and Communications at DECOSTA Marketing.

In 30 seconds or less, tell me what you do all day at work.

I help manage our clients’ brands and develop their licensing business. Licensing is basically finding value in something and turning it into new products or services.

When you were finishing high school, were you planning on going into marketing?

Right after high school, I went to Sheridan for their Art Fundamentals program, and I dropped out in about three months. It wasn’t right for me at all. I thought I was interested in visual art, but what I was really into was how to manage visual content, which I sort of discovered while I was there. After I dropped out, I didn’t really know what to do, so I worked at Future Shop for three years. It wasn’t terribly exciting, but when you’re working on commission, they teach you to treat it like your own business, and really take ownership of that. Through selling stuff, I realized that what I wanted to do was marry business and visual communication. When I figured that out, I went to George Brown for marketing, and, about halfway through, I was headhunted by this company.

How were you recruited while you were still in school?

While at George Brown, I was part of this national program called Students in Free Enterprise, which encourages students to run business projects that achieve community goals. At the end of the year, you go to a conference with all the other teams and show a panel of judges the projects that you’ve done. One of those judges was the CEO of DECOSTA, so that’s how that happened. I did part-time contract work for them for a year and a half and then, when I graduated from George Brown two years ago, they offered me a full-time job.

Initially, what kind of projects did you work on at DECOSTA?

A lot of research stuff, as well as administrative duties: answer emails, schedule meetings. After a while, though, I was able to demonstrate my interest in social networking, and they started asking me to do social-network and web elements for certain clients, and that slowly became my job. For artists, social networking provides the opportunity of one-to-one interaction with fans, which is something they understand the importance of.

 Read the rest of the article on TheGridTO.com – click here!

By creating a complete online experience through social networking, video, and web content, DECOSTA has successfully created one of the larger and more vibrant online communities around.  

Facebook | Twitter | Web

Learn more about how online communities can create returns for your brand. 

Canadian company is image-maker to the stars

By: Jessica Hume
Special to Globe and Mail Update
Published Monday, Feb. 06, 2012 6:00AM EST

From a small office in Mississauga, Ont., entrepreneur Jesse DeCosta has done what many small Canadian business owners might only dream of. He’s cracked one of the toughest, most cut-throat and seemingly impenetrable markets: Hollywood.

He’s not just cracked it, but Mr. DeCosta and his global brand management and licensing company, DeCosta Marketing Inc., have cultivated a star-studded cast of clients and become indispensable to shaping the images of some of Hollywood’s biggest celebrities – Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Kevin James, Lionel Ritchel, Donna Karan, Jordan Knight, and Robin Thicke, to name a few.

READ MORE of The Globe and Mail article.

That individual is 40-year-old Jesse DeCosta, who runs DeCosta Marketing Inc. A  significant aspect of DeCosta’s brand management and licensing company centres on some  of the big name celebrities he represents south of the border. They include the likes of  Michael Jackson’s family as well as actors and comedians Will Smith, Kevin James and Jamie Foxx. Also in DeCosta’s stable are: Donna Karan, Leah Remini, Jordan Knight, Wayne Brady and Kristoff St. John. The funny thing is, he lives in southern Ontario in virtual anonymity and yet he’s extremely well known in southern California by some of the premier celebrities in the world.

DeCosta, who has a staff of 15, works out of his beautiful home in Mississauga where he lives with his wife Sandra and their two daughters, who are 11 and 9.  Jesse met his wife at Christmas party in 1989. They were together for many years and married in 1996. He’s  only worked out of his home for the past two years after being convinced by others that he really did not need a downtown Toronto office when the vast majority of his clients are in Los Angeles, where he does maintain an office. Dropping the Toronto office also represented a savings of about $14,000 a month on rent.

As you’d expect, DeCosta has a very engaging, outgoing personality, which of course serves him well in his career. What makes his story that much more incredible is the fact he’s had  to earn everything the hard way, starting from extremely humble beginnings to a lifestyle  now that most people could only dream about.

READ the rest of the article (.PDF)

Article Courtesy of: Canadian Business Journal
Author: Angus Gillespie

Published on Friday, January 13, 2012
Reported by: Emily Jackson, Staff Reporter

Jesse DeCosta never really talks about his career — no one believes him, anyway.

This Mississauga man quietly works behind the scenes managing the brand image of of Hollywood’s stars, including Michael Jackson’s family, Jamie Foxx and comedian Kevin James.

“It is ridiculous when you hear a Canadian in Mississauga is doing this,” Decosta said of DeCosta Marketing Inc., which has offices in the GTA and LA.

Serendipity, he believes, led him to his career rubbing elbows with the rich and famous. He advises his star studded clientele on a variety of things, such as which public engagements to accept, how to design a website or what a movie poster should look like. (Less glamorous clients include the Ontario Municipal Insurance Exchange.)

But it hasn’t always been jetting to LA to accompany Will Smith to appearances at the Grove.

The 40-year-old grew up in Edmonton, where his father struggled to find work as a draftsman during the recession. After five years of unemployment, his dad moved to Mississauga for a job, leaving his family behind. He died unexpectedly four months later. DeCosta’s mother had to sell everything and move her family to Toronto’s suburbs.

DeCosta, 15 at the time, started working right away. Creative, design-related projects appealed to him, as his father was also an artist. Around 1989, he started working for Sony Music in Canada, helping DJs and promoting artists any way he could.

His serendipitous moment came in 1999, when he met singer Deborah Cox through a lawyer. Cox hired him as a brand manager, and he’s worked with her ever since.

The tipping point came later that year when Cox’s manager started working for Will Smith. DeCosta says Smith became his client soon after — and his best sales person.

“Will is a pretty big calling card,” DeCosta said.

Over the past 12 years, DeCosta’s business has grown organically, he said. He has no sales people, and he doesn’t make cold calls.

“Hollywood is very tight knit — it’s all based on trust and word of mouth. If you work hard and do good for one individual, it spreads.”

Decosta’s most recent project is a website for the Jackson family. A fan of their music, he met them through his work with Tupac Shakur’s estate.

“You meet with a lot of people and you talk with a lot of people,” said Marlon Jackson, one of the Jackson 5 members, in a phone interview. “We liked what [DeCosta] was doing and decided we would move forward with it.”

The Jackson’s had never had a website before, making it hard for the people to know the “one true authentic side” of the family’s story, Jackson said. As entrepreneurs (Jackson has plans to launch a fashion line), he and DeCosta share a special understanding.

DeCosta spends 70 per cent of his time in Canada with his wife of 20 years and their two children, he said, although he travels frequently to New York and LA. A Mississauga native, his wife doesn’t want to move south but is “enjoying the ride” of DeCosta’s career, he said.

Working with superstars does have its perks. When his family goes to LA, DeCosta’s children, aged 9 and 11, can visit the sets of TV shows they like. “The kids love it,” DeCosta said. They’ve also been to celebrity birthday parties.

Considering DeCosta is a brand manager, it’s surprising few back home know about his career advising Hollywood icons.

“I don’t know why,” DeCosta said, joking that he’s more popular in California than he is in the GTA. “I guess we’ve never really promoted ourselves locally.”

As reported by TheStar.com

Photo by: Rick Eglington/ Toronto Star

Click here to hear the radio interview!