Ludo Cremers Continues to Be Vibrant and Multicultural, From Cigarettes to the Police Blotter to Extreme Films

Years ago, I would blog about the efforts to market cigarettes to young adults. Here's and example of one of my old blog posts on the subject:

Wednesday, April 07, 2004

Kool!

I don't believe that tobacco companies are the antichrist, but they sure are funny at times. Look at how Kool can be cool:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 17, 2004
Contact: Steve Kottak
502-568-7193

KOOL CELEBRATES HIP-HOP CULTURE WITH YEAR-LONG EVENTS
Louisville, KY - Kool is staging a massive series of events this year to celebrate the energy and creativity of the urban Hip-Hop culture.

The cornerstone of the celebration is Kool Mixx 2004....

"Kool understands the vibrant urban world of the trendsetting, multicultural smoker," said Ludo Cremers, divisional vice president, brand marketing. "Kool is the menthol authority. At the same time, Kool keeps it real and remains linked to the latest urban trends. We'll showcase these trends this year through Kool Mixx and other promotions and events."

From that point on, the mysterious Ludo Cremers made occasional appearances in the Ontario Empoblog. Who was Ludo Cremers? Was Ludo male or female? Did Ludo really believe the vibrant multicultural stuff he was spouting?

Heck, Ludo even inspired some bad poetry on my part. And Ludo popped up in posts on other topics:

Ludo Cremers would love to grab the school age set, but eBay got'em first.

eBay is sponsoring something called Kellogg Kash.

But then Ludo Cremers seemed to disappear from the marketing of Kool cigarettes. The likely culprit seemed to be the merger of Brown & Williamson with R.J. Reynolds. I wondered if Cremers, who was part of Brown & Williamson, became "redundant" during the merger.

The last time I mentioned Cremers was in a blog post in September 2006, and then I pretty much forgot about Cremers.

Over the weekend, an anonymous person posted a comment to that blog post, linking to a web page at the Los Angeles Police Department - ironically, also written in September 2006:

Los Angeles Police detectives are asking the public's help in identifying any additional victims of a man recently arrested for molesting a young boy in a Fairfax-area apartment gym.

Detectives, assigned to the Wilshire Police Station, arrested 43-year-old Ludovic Cremers yesterday, following a three-week investigation into allegations of molesting a 13-year-old boy in late July. Cremers posted $100,000 cash for his bail today and was released from the Wilshire Police Station.

"Mr. Cremers has no criminal history that we know of locally, but he’s only been in the Los Angeles area a short while," said Lieutenant Paul Vernon. "We are releasing his photograph as a way to see if there are any more victims."

My first thought was that this was mere coincidence - despite the unusual sounding name, it's quite possible that there are multiple Ludo Cremers floating around the world. But then I read the end of the LAPD page:

Cremers is a native of Holland who is in the United States on a work visa. He works in marketing for a large entertainment company, and he last lived in Kentucky.

No word on whether the victim was multicultural.

But CBS identified Cremers' employer:

Ludovic Cremers, 43, was arrested Thursday following a three-week investigation into allegations that he molested the child in late July, Los Angeles police Lt. Paul Vernon said. Cremers, a Disney marketing executive, posted $100,000 bail on Friday morning.

Which leads me to believe that the anonymous person who helpfully provided the link to the Empoblog might have been from Time Warner. But according to CBS, Cremers is NOT from Holland:

Cremers is a native of Hungary who works in marketing for a large entertainment company. He last lived in Kentucky, and authorities are looking for other possible victims.

(Off-topic - whoever did the cut and paste for this article did a poor job - the "large entertainment company" was named earlier in the article.)

So what happened to Cremers afterwards? Hint - he no longer works for Disney. He has his own company:

Typhoon rains welcomed the arrival of some of the 1,500 participants set to attend Busan's second annual four-day Asian Film Market, opening [October 8, 2007], including 350 registered buyers....

Another first-time visitor was Ludo Cremers, president of 24 frames, a Los Angeles-based distributor of international films for the U.S. market. He'd seen 14 films since arriving Wednesday.

"I like the level of the films that I see here, but I'm still hoping to find an edge-of-your-seat horror film in the market," said Cremers, who has bought five films since founding the company in February, including the 2007 Thai horror "Alone," purchased in Cannes.

More on Alone:

Independent distributor 24 frames(R) announced today that it acquired at Cannes all North American rights and remake rights to the Asian Horror Film "ALONE" for their 24 frames extreme label....

"The directors know the best thrillers and horror are built on common, identifiable themes such as sibling rivalry, romantic jealousy and family guilt," says 24 frames President Ludo Cremers. "The dark, psycho thriller elements recall the best of Hitchcock and DePalma."...

"'ALONE,' a cut above the wave of horror titles released in recent years, very much represents what our new label 24 frames extreme is all about: high impact, memorable, edge of your seat thrillers and horror films from around the world," says Ludo Cremers. "We'll thrill you into a good time you won't soon forget."

24 frames(R), a newly established independent distributor, introduces compelling international films to the North American Market. In addition to releasing Thriller and Horror titles under the 24 frames extreme label, the company will launch additional labels for the Latin and Gay & Lesbian markets. Its President Ludo Cremers, former SVP of International Marketing for Buena Vista Home Entertainment, founded 24 frames. Sales and Acquisitions is headed up by Jesus di Sica, formerly responsible for sales at Miravista, Buena Vista International's Latin American co-production label.

So I guess Ludo is still vibrant and multicultural.

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