PETCO and Allen Communication Learning Services Wins Silver Brandon Hall Learning Award

SALT LAKE CITY (November 24, 2009) — PETCO, a national pet specialty retailer, and Allen Communication Learning Services, leaders in innovative learning, won a coveted Brandon Hall silver award for excellence in the Best Custom Content category.

PETCO and AllenComm’s win was announced on Thursday, November 19. The winners are listed at www.brandon-hall.com.

By teaming together, PETCO and AllenComm built a better online learning environment to guide new associates as they help customers buy the right products for their animals.

“Our training goal was to create an experience that closely mirrored the actual behaviors we want our associates to perform on our sales floors. Allen Communication Learning Services helped us create a learning environment that did just that. The training we built together required learners to make the same type of decisions that our associates face in our stores every day,” said Mark Warmbrand, Manager of Technology Based Learning for PETCO. “They truly understood our vision and helped us translate it into an invaluable learning course for new PETCO associates across the country.”

“We have always believed that immersing learners in a training environment relevant to their work will pay dividends for our clients,” said Ron Zamir, CEO of Allen Communication Learning Services. “PETCO’s vision and the recognition from Brandon Hall are testament to what good instructional design can achieve.”

The Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Awards are presented annually by Brandon Hall Research, one of the leading research firms in training and development. Now in its fifteenth year, the Awards program showcases exceptional work in the use of learning technology.

“The quality of these winning entries is outstanding,” said Brandon Hall, Ph.D., chairman of the Awards program. “These winners are breaking new ground and setting new standards for innovative learning.”

Entries were submitted in the categories of Best Custom Content, Best Innovation in Learning Technology, Best Learning Game, Best Learning Team, Best Results of a Learning Program, Best Use of Blended Learning, Best Use of Games for Learning, Best Use of Mobile Learning, Best Use of Video for Learning, Best Use of Virtual Worlds for Learning, Best Use of Web 2.0 Tools for Learning, and Best Integration of Learning and Talent Management. A total of 248 entries were originally submitted. The entries were evaluated by independent judges around the world.

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About PETCO

PETCO is a privately held specialty retailer that provides products, services and advice that make it easier for our customers to be great pet parents. We operate more than 1,000 stores in 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as a leading pet products and information destination at www.petco.com. Our nonprofit organization, The PETCO Foundation, has raised more than $55 million since its inception in 1999 to help promote and improve the welfare of companion animals. In conjunction with the Foundation, we work with and support approximately 6,200 local animal welfare groups across the country to help find homes for more than 200,000 adoptable animals every year.

About Brandon Hall Research

Brandon Hall, Ph.D. is the CEO of Brandon Hall Research and author of the ground-breaking “Web-Based Training Cookbook.” Since 1992, Brandon Hall Research (www.brandon-hall.com) has been providing independent research reports and expert advice on using technology in learning. Brandon Hall Research conducts the Awards program each year to recognize the best in innovative learning.

About AllenComm

For almost thirty years, Allen Communication Learning Services () has helped improve the training processes and methods of numerous Fortune 500 companies. With a rich history in training that started with the introduction of the world’s first commercial interactive videodisc system, today the company is recognized as a leader in custom training, e-learning, blended learning, and learning portal development. Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, AllenComm’s mission is to align organizations’ training initiatives with their business objectives by developing the optimal learning solution for each organization.