BET and Comcast Top Excellence in Multi-Cultural Marketing Award Winners

BET and Comcast Top Excellence in Multi-Cultural Marketing Award Winners

ESPN Deportes and Cableworld Partner With NAMIC to Present 2006 EMMA Competition

NEW YORK, Aug. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Winners of the 2006 Excellence In Multi- Cultural Marketing Awards (EMMA) competition were announced today by the National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC). Recognizing the best and most innovative multi-cultural marketing campaigns, the awards will be presented on Monday, September 11, 2006 at a special session of the 20th Annual NAMIC Conference. New York's historic Waldorf- Astoria will be the site for this year's three-day conference taking place September 10-12, 2006.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060705/NYW092LOGO )

BET led all winning networks with 4 wins, including first place finishes in 3 categories. Comcast garnered a total of 3 wins and 2 first place honors. Additional first place winners include Adlink, Cablevision, GMA Network, HBO, ImagianAsianTV, Nickelodeon, Time Warner Cable, TuTV and Univision Television Group.

"As the economic influence of Hispanics, African Americans, Asians and other ethnic groups continues to expand, these key demographics are critical to the long term financial success of our industry," said Kathy Johnson, president, NAMIC, Inc. "It is more important than ever to recognize companies that demonstrate a commitment to developing innovative strategies to reach these burgeoning consumer groups."

The first-of-its-kind, the competition was established as the NAMIC Excellence Awards in 1992 to recognize marketing and public affairs initiatives targeting multi-ethnic consumers. In 2004, the competition was renamed Excellence in Multicultural Marketing Awards and was expanded to include case studies competition. The awards competition now serves as the model for a variety of comparable programs.

ESPN Deportes, the 24-hour Spanish-language sports network serving Latino sports fans in the U.S. and CableWorld, a publication of Access Intelligence's Cable Group are serving as co-presenting sponsor and official media partner, respectively.

"ESPN Deportes shares NAMIC's vision and passion for establishing platforms that generate awareness of the important role that multi-ethnic consumers play in our industry," said Lino Garcia, general manager, ESPN Deportes. "We are delighted to continue this valuable association with NAMIC as an official sponsor of this year's EMMA initiative."

Recognizing the cable industry's commitment to developing creative approaches to multicultural and ethnic-targeted marketing, the 2006 program is comprised of two elements: Case Studies/Campaigns and Marketing Tactics. Awards will be presented in a broad spectrum of categories such as Direct Mail, Internet/New Media, Print, Radio, Television, Grassroots & Guerilla and Out of Home. Campaigns developed for the cable and telecommunications industry and submitted for entry were comprised of one or more cultural segments, such as African American, Asian, and Hispanic markets. Entries were evaluated on elements such as sound and innovative strategy, strength of creative execution against the strategy, evaluations of strategy, and implementation and results. Deviating from the traditional "best of" competition method, each entry was judged against a standard of excellence and not against other entrants.

Seth Arenstein, editor, CableWorld and editorial director/assistant vice- president, Access Intelligence, added: "The renewal of our longstanding commitment to this program allows us to continue generating increased awareness for this very relevant awards competition."

To register for the 20th Annual NAMIC Conference, obtain sponsorship information or learn more about the EMMA competition visit http://www.namic.com/ or call the NAMIC national headquarters at (212) 594-5985.

2006 Excellence In Multi-Cultural Marketing Awards - Complete Winners List:

Category: Case Study Cable

1st Place Natalie Rouse Ethnic Marketing Manager Comcast

Comcast San Francisco Bay Area GMA Pinoy TV Launch - A Filipino Success Story

2nd Place Kier Kristensen Marketing Manager West Bay Market/Northern California Region/Comcast On-Site Interactive Marketing

Category: Case Study Network

1st Place Ariel Nerubay VP, Marketing & Sales TuTV TuTV Marketing Promotions Program

2nd Place Jasmine Rezai VP, Affiliate Marketing Univision Television Group

UNIVISION NETWORKS "YOU ARE THE CHAMPION" World Cup Campaign Case Study: Cox Arkansas/Kansas

Category: Marketing Tactic/Cable-All Other Media

1st Place Joyce Dabney Manager, Advertising & Public Relations Adlink Adlink's Adconexion Sales Kit

Category: Marketing Tactic/Network-All Other Media

1st Place Michael Huh VP, Marketing & Strategic Development ImaginAsian TV ImaginAsian TV 's Original Series-Comedy Zen

Category: Marketing Tactic Network-Direct Mail (Note: 2nd Place Tie)

1st Place Jasmine Rezai VP, Affiliate Marketing Univision Television Group UNIVISION NETWORKS "YOU ARE THE CHAMPION" World Cup Campaign

2nd Place Ariela Nerubay VP, Marketing & Sales TuTv Free Latina Magazine Subscription

2nd Place Shelly Kurtz Director of Sales & Marketing International Networks Passport to Savings!

Category: Marketing Tactic Cable-Grass Roots & Guerilla

1st Place Kier Kristensen Marketing Manager West Bay Market/Northern California Region/Comcast Suenos de La Ninez - Land of Childhood Dreams

Category: Marketing Tactic Network-Grass Roots & Guerilla

1st Place Selena Spencer BET BET Awards '06

1st Place Nancy Hennings Director of Marketing of IFC Brand Statory IFC (The Independent Film Channel) Yo Soy Boricua, Paque Tu Lo Sepas! (I'm Boricua, Just So You Know)

2nd Place Jasmine Rezai VP, Affiliate Marketing Univision Television Group #800-Espanol World Cup Campaign (TeleFutura Network)

Category: Marketing Tactic Network-Internet/New Media (Note: First Place Tie)

1st Place Joseph Jerome T. Francia OIC & Head of Operations GMA Network, Inc. GMA Pinoy TV Website (www.gmapinoytv.com)

1st Place Michael Huh VP, Marketing & Strategic Development ImaginAsian TV ImaginAsian TV's use of Vimation Web Video Technology on www.iatv.tv

2nd Place Douglas Dickstein Executive Director, Affiliate Marketing Si TV "Unacceptable Behavior" Online Campaign

Category: Marketing Tactic Cable-Out of Home

1st Place Selena Spencer BET BET Awards '06

2nd Place Pawan Mehra Account Manager Ameredia, Inc. Russian New Year Campaign

Category: Marketing Tactic Cable-Print

1st Place Valerie Green VP, Multicultural Marketing & Advertising Cablevision Systems Corp. Optimum Gives You More!

Category: Marketing Tactic Network-Print

1st Place Adrion Porter Manager, Market Development HBO Mucho Mucho Mas - Hispanic Heritage Month Print Tactic

2nd Place Norma Manzanares Executive Director, Marketing Si TV "You Lost Me At Hola" Trade Ad

Category: Marketing Tactic Network-Radio

1st Place Selena Spencer BET College Hill & Lil Kim: Countdown to Lockdown Radio

2nd Place Nancy Hennings Director of Marketing of IFC Brand Statory IFC (The Independent Film Channel) Yo Soy Boricua, Paque Tu Lo Sepas! (I'm Boricua, Just So You Know)

Category: Marketing Tactic Cable-Television

1st Place Maida Chicon Director of Multicultural Marketing Time Warner Cable Help

2nd Place Maida Chicon Director of Multicultural Marketing Time Warner Cable Raza

Category: Marketing Tactic Network-Television

1st Place Susan Nave Director, Nick Jr. Brand Marketing Nickelodeon Go Diego, Go Launch

2nd Place Sonya Lockett VP, Public Affairs BET Rap-It-Up Testing PSA's

About NAMIC

NAMIC is the premier organization focusing on ethnic diversity in the communications industry. Founded in 1980 as a non-profit trade association, today NAMIC is comprised of nearly 2,000 professionals belonging to a network of chapters nationwide. Through initiatives that focus on education, advocacy and empowerment, NAMIC champions equity and inclusion in the workforce, with special attention given to ensuring that the leadership cadres of our nation's communications industry giants reflect the multi-ethnic richness of the populations they serve.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060705/NYW092LOGO AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/ PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com Source: NAMIC

CONTACT: Charmaine Chapman, BTB Communications, +1-310-242-8407, char@btbcommunications.com

Web site: http://www.namic.com/

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