ADT

Security companies often tout to customers how a connected home lets you to do things at home when you’re away, such as unlocking the door for the UPS person to deliver a package and being able to see, while sitting at work, whether the kids got home safely from school.

Now security/home automation giant ADT is taking that same message and tying it directly to the holidays in a new television, online and print campaign that started today. The message is that ADT Pulse can help people participate in holiday rituals at home even when they’re away.

The campaign “captures the whimsy of the holidays and the practicality of the brand,” according to ADT. For example, a television commercial will feature a dad who has to travel over the holidays still being able to participate by remotely turning on the Christmas tree lights while at the airport.

And another features a woman visually checking in on her home remotely, and catching her husband snooping around to see what presents he’s getting.

Also, ADT said, the TV ads will be enhanced by online and print ads. The online ads “will enable users to interact with the ADT Pulse app, switching between cameras and rooms in Santa’s home to find five hidden golden rings,” the company said.

And as for the print ads, the company said, they “will feature ADT Pulse as ‘the season’s coolest smart device’ and position it as the holiday gift that keeps on giving, depicting Pulse in action on tablets, smartphones and laptops.”

You can take a look at what ADT is promoting for the holidays on YouTube.

This recent news item from the Toronto Sun newspaper recently caught my eye, even though I’ve never heard of this rapper and singer songwriter, whose real name is Tramar Dillard, but is known as Flo Rida. It sounds like Flo Rida has a bit of a legal problem over security at his home in Florida.
 

Here’s what the news report said:

Flo Rida has been sued by bosses of a security company who claim the rapper failed to settle a bill for an alarm system at his Florida home.

Executives at ADT allege their operatives installed a state-of-the-art security system at the star's Miami mansion in 2009 and received the full deposit of $19,366 US but Flo Rida failed to hand over the remaining balance of $38,733.

They have filed a lawsuit demanding payment plus interest amounting to $47,134.

However, the rapper claims he never authorized the deal and the contract was signed by a man called Lee Prince, who reportedly worked as the star's manager, according to TMZ.com.

A judge has yet to rule on the case.

ADT’s split from Tyco isn’t taking any steam out of the monitoring giant’s sails. In addition to becoming an independent publicly traded entity Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, it plans to add 150 jobs at its facility in Irving, Texas by the end of November.

“I think we’ve added 200 jobs in the last several months and we’re looking at another 150 as we continue to expand,” Shawn Lucht, senior vice president of operations at ADT, told NBCDFW.com on Sept. 27.

The additional jobs will be spread across many departments at the company’s Irving campus, one of the largest ADT facilities in North America. Among the departments standing to gain will be the monitoring center, one of six that the company operates.

Dinesh Chand, one of the newer employees hired at the monitoring center, told NBCDFW.com that the department has almost doubled in size during his tenure there.

“When I got here about a year or so ago, we had a little over 200 people,” he said. “Today, we have close to 400 folks here.”

The company is aiming to expand further through a pilot program with Best Buy. The consumer electronics retailer is selling ADT security systems at three of its stores, ADT CEO Naren Gursahaney recently told SSN’s Tess Nacelewicz.

Part of the approach is “to generate leads and create appointments,” he said, because the company still believes that security “is an over-the-kitchen-table type of sale.”

For anyone looking for company on the NYSE, it’s easy to find: the ticker symbol is ADT. Company officials will ring the opening bell there on Oct. 8.