FOUR FINALISTS NAMED FOR ANA/AICP
“BATTLE OF THE BRANDS”
Teams Vie for Awards at 2005 Madison & Vine Conference
Collaborative Event Recognizes Successful Branded Entertainment

NEW YORK, NY, January 20, 2005 – Four advertising campaigns that successfully use entertainment properties in their brand marketing programs have been named as finalists in the first ever “Battle of the Brands” competition, co-sponsored by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP). Sega, ESPN, Burger King and Rainier Beer will face off at the Battle of the Brands at Ad Age’s Madison & Vine Conference, February 16th in Beverly Hills. At the conference, the finalists will vie for awards in various categories. Voting for the winners will take place live at the event, and the team that garners the most points overall will receive the grand prize.

The Finalists and their campaigns in the Battle of the Brands are:
Sega for its Beta-7 campaign.
     Client: Sega, in cooperation with ESPN
     Agency: Wieden+ Kennedy
     Production Company: Chelsea Pictures
ESPN Shorts for its Sears and Miller Lite Campaign
     Client: ESPN
     Agency: Brighthouse Live, Ground Zero
     Production Company: Crossroads, Headquarters
Burger King for the Subservient Chicken
     Client: Burger King
     Agency: Crispin Porter Bogusky
     Production Company; Morton Jankel Zander (MJZ)
Rainier Beer for its Remember Rainier campaign
     Client: Rainier Brewing Company
     Agency: Cole & Weber/Red Cell
     Production Company: Alarming Pictures

The Battle of the Brands event is designed to reward marketers and their creative colleagues for the successful use of entertainment properties in their brand marketing programs. Each of the finalists is invited to field a team to present its campaign and demonstrate how brand and entertainment are integrated within it. A panel of three chief marketing officers will comment on the presentations, and the audience at the program will use real-time polling devices to rate the campaigns in four key categories, voting on creativity, strategy, production ingenuity, and results. The team that accumulates the most points is the winner of the Battle of the Brands.

“Branded entertainment is a rapidly growing, increasingly deployed armament in the brand marketing battery,” said Bob Liodice, ANA president and CEO whose organization represents major marketers across the country. “The Battle of the Brands recognizes the value of branded entertainment and how it can be leveraged to boost the impact of your brand message to deliver results.”

“A successful campaign needs the talents of many specialists,” said Matt Miller, president and CEO of AICP, the members of which are responsible for 80-85 percent of all nationally broadcast commercials. “This team competition is a revolutionary format, designed to recognize the creative collaborators (agencies, production teams) responsible for executing innovative branded entertainment.”

The Battle of the Brands is a joint venture of the ANA and the AICP. The Madison & Vine conference is presented by Advertising Age. More information about the Madison & Vine conference may be found at http://www.adage.com/events/

About the ANA

The ANA's mission is to provide indispensable leadership that drives marketing communications, media and brand management excellence and champions, promotes and defends industry interests. The ANA is the industry’s foremost and recognized source of marketing communications best practices. It also leads industry initiatives, influences industry practices, manages industry affairs, and advances, promote and protect all advertisers and marketers. The trade association represents more than 340 companies with 8,000 brands that collectively spend over $100 billion in marketing communications and advertising. For more information visit www.ana.net.

About the AICP

Founded in 1972, the AICP represents, exclusively, the interests of United States companies that specialize in producing commercials on various media-film, video, computer-for advertisers and agencies. The Association serves as a strong collective voice for this $5-plus billion industry, addressing its many audiences within the advertising community, business circles and government offices; disseminating information; negotiating labor agreements; developing industry standards; and providing education on elements of production. The AICP has offices in New York and Los Angeles, as well as regional offices across the country.