| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
News Release |
DDB and OMD Northwest Approve SURROUNDMEDIA™
from Festival Media Corporation
for Inclusion in Client Media Recommendations
The two leading marketing and media organizations will recommend
the new multimedia branded entertainment solution to national clients.
Seattle, WA September 12, 2005 – Festival Media Corporation (FMC), an event sponsorship automation company, announced today that the Pacific Northwest offices of DDB, Inc. and OMD Worldwide (OMD) have approved SurroundMedia, an integrated multimedia branded entertainment service from FMC, as a media option for national clients of both organizations.
SurroundMedia allows FMC customers to integrate half-hour branded entertainment TV shows about community festivals with online consumer promotions and on site festival sponsorship. “The growing challenges in reaching consumers through traditional mass media have national agencies and companies looking for effective ways to leverage other marketing channels,” said Charles D. Brown, chairman and CEO of Festival Media Corporation (FMC). “Increasingly, national agencies and sponsors are looking beyond broadcast TV and direct mail to find other opportunities. SurroundMedia is a new patent pending marketing product uniquely focused on community festivals and events.”
FMC has also developed proprietary methods to measure the combined effects of TV, Internet, local radio, local print and on site promotion to provide a Mixed Media measurement tool that helps sponsors measure the results of the SurroundMedia promotions.
Dan McConnell, Senior Vice President of DDB Seattle said, “SurroundMedia can double the level of national sponsorship being spent on community festivals. The greatest challenges to national sponsors have been finding these events, and then measuring the results of sponsoring them. SurroundMedia not only provides new and better measurement of the sponsorship dollar; it provides a new marketing solution and increased visibility for the sponsor.”
“Local festivals are an ideal marketing environment,” Brown said, “we consumers are there all day with no personal agenda, open to and curious about new ideas. SurroundMedia leverages this environment to extend and enhance the sponsor’s marketing opportunity and provide new ways to measure the value of the investment.”
About DDB Seattle
The Seattle office of DDB (www.ddbseattle.com) is a full-service communications company with capabilities in advertising, public relations, direct and online marketing, media and design. The agency is a unit of DDB Worldwide and Omnicom Group Inc.
DDB Worldwide (www.ddb.com), Adweek's Global Agency Network of the Year for the second year in a row, is one of the leading advertising agency networks in the world with 206 offices in 96 countries. Acknowledged as the industry's most creative multinational network, DDB was named the Most Awarded Agency Network in the World for 2004 by the Gunn Report. The network has won more Grand Prix Awards in the 51-year history of the International Advertising Festival in Cannes than any other agency, and over the last 16 years, has won more awards in Cannes than any other agency network. In 2004, for the fourth year in a row, DDB was named Network Agency of the Year at the Clio Awards and was also named Advertising Age's Global Agency Network of the Year.
About OMD Worldwide
OMD is among the largest media specialist companies in the world, managing over $18 billion in media billing, including clients of Omnicom's three global advertising agencies, BBDO, DDB and TBWA. OMD is headquartered in New York, with regional hubs in London and Hong Kong. OMD has over 4,300 employees worldwide, with offices in over 80 cities in 45 countries. It has a leading market position in all major world regions and maintains more top market positions than any global competitor.
About Festival Media Corporation
Festival Media Corporation (FMC) automates sponsorship rights purchasing in the fragmented festival and events industry. FMC has operated the industry’s top consumer website (Festivals.com) since 1995. Festivals.com has delivered nearly 100 million impressions, sits atop the leading search engines (keyword “festivals”) and provides information to SBC SMARTpages City Guides, The Food TV Network and others.
FMC’s Backstage ASP platform was launched with Festivals.com and automates the collection of festival and event information from producers. Since its inception Backstage has registered and promoted more than 45,000 events that have attracted 387 million attendees. FMC has developed relationships with thousands of these events who have benefited from FMC’s promotion services to consumers.
FMC’s new ASP products use the Festivals.com, Backstage and the Internet environment to offer both sponsors and event producers new value in promotion, business development, marketing and measurement.
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