WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – Sheraton Hotels & Resorts unveiled its $20 million “Meet You There” advertisement campaign created to highlight the success of the brand’s recently completed three-year, multi-billion dollar rebranding effort. Starwood spent the last few years renovating and rebuilding one of the hotel industry’s most iconic brands and now Sheraton stands better than ever with the strongest portfolio in its history. Sheraton is gaining market share, RevPAR continues to rise and guest satisfaction scores are highest in the brand’s history signaling that guests are taking notice and rediscovering the new Sheraton.

As part of the rebranding effort, every aspect of the new Sheraton guest experience was designed to promote social interaction and bringing people together. As a result, the “Meet You There” campaign uses playful taglines and imagery to showcase key elements of the recent makeover that have already struck a chord with guests, including the Link@SheratonSM experienced with Microsoft®, Sheraton Fitness Programmed by Core Performance® and the enhanced Club Lounge.

The creative vision for the campaign was driven by the growing demand from travelers for socially designed spaces and amenities. The “Meet You There” tagline acts as an invitation to experience key brand elements through clever headlines and energetic images of people gathering in different settings. “Wi-Fi, Mai-Tai, Say Hi” shows guests coming together, seamlessly blending business and leisure – also known as “bleisure.” Whereas “Body for Business” reflects the importance of health and fitness while on the road and “How to Hotel” highlights how road warriors seek the benefits of the brand’s signature Club Lounge experience during their travels. The campaign leverages these communal elements to promote an emotional connection with consumer and Sheraton’s new social experiences.

One of the highlights of the new campaign is the use of out-of-home, motion activated digital touch screens that allows consumers to experience the brand’s signature offerings digitally. Travelers that walk by the out-of-home executions will be prompted to engage with the digital billboard – the screen will react to their specific movements and with just one touch are invited to experience the new Sheraton.

Sheraton worked with Publicis Groupe agencies—Razorfish and the Kaplan Thaler Group—to develop the campaign’s strategy, digital and traditional creative elements. The $20 million campaign’s six unique executions are currently running in newspapers and will appear in magazines and online by July. Traditional and digital out-of-home advertisements will be seen in airports throughout the country. The campaign will also feature mobile rich media ads as well as custom partnerships with Xbox and CBS Sports.

“As part of Sheraton’s successful brand overhaul and the introduction of ‘Meet You There,’ every aspect of this new advertisement campaign is designed to promote social interaction and bring people together,” said Hoyt Harper, Global Brand Leader, Sheraton Hotels & Resorts. “We are thrilled to introduce Sheraton’s new voice through these clever ads that blur the boundaries between business and leisure travel.”

“This digitally-led campaign aligns with Sheraton’s brand promise of providing ‘connections’ to its guests,” said Pete Stein, President of Razorfish East. “Razorfish is very proud of the high-quality work that has always resulted from our collaboration with Sheraton, and this campaign is no exception. I am confident it will meet its goal of offering consumers a new impression of Sheraton hotels and resorts.”

Sheraton’s “Meet You There” campaign breaks on newspaper print ads today, including USA Today and The New York Times. Online digital ads will appear on July 11 in top news and lifestyle websites such as NYTimes.com, CNN.com, Frommers, BlogHer and TripAdvisor, and in major magazines like Conde Nast Traveler, Wired and Time Magazine in August.

About Sheraton Hotels & Resorts

Sheraton helps guests make connections at more than 400 hotels in 70 countries around the world and recently completed a $6 billion global revitalization and is now in the midst of a $5 billion global expansion over the next three years. Sheraton is owned by and is the largest and most global brand of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., (NYSE: HOT) one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with 1,051 properties in 100 countries and territories with 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels, resorts and residences with the following internationally renowned brands: St. Regis®, The Luxury Collection®, W®, Westin®, Le Méridien®, Sheraton®, Four Points® by Sheraton, and the recently launched Aloft®, and Element SM. The company boasts one of the industry’s leading loyalty programs, Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), allowing members to earn and redeem points for room stays, room upgrades and flights, with no blackout dates. Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts. For more information, please visit www.starwoodhotels.com.

About Razorfish

Razorfish creates experiences that build businesses. As one of the largest interactive marketing and technology companies in the world, Razorfish helps its clients build better brands by delivering business results through customer experiences. Razorfish combines the best thought leadership of the consulting world with the leading capabilities of the marketing services industry to support our clients’ business needs, such as launching new products, repositioning a brand or participating in the social world. With a demonstrated commitment to innovation, Razorfish continues to cultivate our expertise in Social Influence Marketing, emerging media, creative design, analytics, technology and user experience. Razorfish has offices in markets across the United States, and in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, Singapore and the United Kingdom. Clients include Carnival Cruise Lines, MillerCoors, Levi Strauss & Co., McDonald’s and Starwood Hotels. With sister agencies Starcom MediaVest, ZenithOptimedia, Denuo and Digitas, Razorfish is part of Publicis Groupe’s (Euronext Paris: FR0000130577) VivaKi, a global digital knowledge and resource center. Visit www.razorfish.com for more information. Follow Razorfish on Twitter at @razorfish.

About the Kaplan Thaler Group

The Kaplan Thaler Group has been ranked by industry publications as one of the fastest-growing advertising agencies in the U.S. and is touted for its breakthrough creative and immediate results. The Agency’s blue-chip client roster includes Procter & Gamble’s Dawn, Swiffer, Cascade and Aussie brands, Aflac Incorporated, Champion, Pfizer, U.S. Bank and Wendy’s. The Kaplan Thaler Group is part of the Publicis Groupe, one of the world’s largest communications holding companies. For more information, visit: www.kaplanthaler.com. Follow the Kaplan Thaler Group on Twitter: @ktgtweets.

NEW YORK, NY – The Online Publishers Association (OPA) announced a group of leading brands implementing the new ad units across OPA member sites. The units, which were originally announced in March, are designed to help marketers deliver their brand experiences directly on the pages of these rich content sites. Today, a total of 37 OPA member companies are making the units available and several are running major advertising campaigns across a variety of sectors including consumer packaged goods, automotive, and financial.

“We believe that the new OPA formats will allow us to incorporate our brand messages more creatively and with higher impact,” said Jen McDonald, SVP digital marketing, Bank of America. “The new format allows us to take advantage of an environment where consumers are already spending a lot of time with content to deliver an interactive brand experience.”

Some of the brands leveraging the new OPA ad units include:
Bank of America will run the Pushdown on CNN.com and Time.com
Cleveland Clinic will run the Fixed Panel on NYTimes.com
CNA is running the Pushdown on Bizjournals.com
Frito-Lay ran the Pushdown on Discovery’s PlanetGreen.com in the second quarter of 2009
Mercedes-Benz will run various OPA units on FOXSports.com, msnbc.com, NYTimes.com, Reuters.com, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post

“The new ad formats really struck a chord with the industry because they represented a change in the way marketers and agencies think about digital ads and new ways of delivering engaging brand campaigns,” said Pam Horan, president of the Online Publishers Association. “The caliber of the brands actively leveraging the new formats is impressive and our members are working hand-in-hand with agencies and marketers to provide the right tools for them to connect effectively with their readers.”

The OPA ad units include:
The Fixed Panel: 336 wide x 700 tall, remains constant as the user scrolls to the top and bottom of the page
The XXL Box: 468 wide x 648 tall, opens for seven seconds to 936 wide x 648 tall with 1/24x frequency
The Pushdown: 970 wide x 418 tall, opens to display the advertisement and then after seven seconds rolls up to 970 wide x 66 tall, with 1/24x frequency.

“The new OPA ad formats take advantage of the immersive nature of digital,” Julie Weitzner, vice president of media for Razorfish, one of the largest digital marketing companies in the world. “With these new ad formats, digital advertising can be a more interactive, engaging consumer experience while also delivering a more meaningful expression of a company’s brand.”

Participating members rose to 37 from 24 originally announced including: About.com, ABCNews.com, American Express Publishing, BabyCenter, Beliefnet, Bizjournals, Bloomberg, BusinessWeek, CBS Interactive, CNN.com, Condé Nast Digital, Discovery Communications, Disney Online, ESPN, Forbes.com, FOXNews Digital, Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., HouseStuffWorks, IDG, iVillage Network, Lifetime Digital, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Meredith Interactive, msnbc.com, MTV Networks, NBC Universal, National Geographic, New York Media, The New York Times, Reed Business Information, Thomson Reuters, Time Inc., TopTenReviews, USA Today, Wall Street Journal Digital Network, The Washington Post, and Weather.com. In May 2009, these publishers had a combined, unduplicated reach of 132.1 million visitors, or 68% percent of the total U.S. Internet audience. This group of sites also represents 8.1 billion total minutes of time spent during the month (according to comScore MediaMetrix).

NEW YORK – The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced that it has held its first meeting of the Re-Imagining Interactive Advertising Task Force, comprised of top online publishers, media agencies and, for the first time, creative officers from the nation’s leading advertising agencies. The new task force’s objective is to develop a comprehensive roadmap for the next stages in the evolution of interactive advertising to ensure that ad formats meet the growing business and creative needs of advertisers, agencies and publishers.

“We believe we can make interactive advertising far more hospitable to the craft and practice of persuasion by putting creativity front and center in the development of advertising standards,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the IAB. “By bringing creative agency leaders into the discussion of the standards, we highlight our industry-wide mission to showcase brands and engaging consumers in meaningful ways.”

It is a historic change for the industry to include advertising agency creative executives in the process of developing ad standards. In 2002, the IAB issued the first Universal Ad Package comprised of four ad standards and has subsequently added 14 supplemental standard ad units to the total as the online space has evolved. The IAB reviews these units annually and makes adjustments based on marketplace data obtained from IAB member companies and syndicated research firms. This year’s decision to bring the industry’s creative and media thought leaders together adds a broader perspective as the IAB examines the current state of interactive advertising and determines whether new approaches need to be recommended to the marketplace.
The following are participating in the Re-Imagining Interactive Advertising Task Force:

* Barbarian Group
* BBDO Worldwide
* Carat Interactive
* Cars.com
* CBS Interactive
* Condé Nast Digital
* Digitas
* Disney Interactive Media Group
* Google, Inc.
* McKinney
* Microsoft Advertising
* New York Times Digital
* Ogilvy Interactive
* Platform-A
* Razorfish
* R/GA
* ShortTail
* Time Inc.
* Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
* Universal McCann
* Univision Online
* Yahoo!, Inc.

“It’s great that the IAB is putting creative front and center through its Re-imagining Interactive Advertising Task Force,” said Brian DiLorenzo, Director of Integrated Production, BBDO North America. “Regardless of form or platform, in the end, it’s all about creating compelling content that engages consumers and rewards them for spending time with our clients’ brands.”

“The 4A’s and our members look forward to working with the IAB on this mission-critical effort to accommodate creativity in online advertising,” said Nancy Hill, President and CEO of the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s). “As an industry we’ve proven how interactive advertising can build brands and with the constantly evolving technologies at our fingertips it is in our best interests to develop ad units that showcase great work and can be scaled and delivered seamlessly to consumers. Together, this group can make that happen.”

The IAB has taken a lead role in advocating for greater creativity in online advertising. Rothenberg has written and spoken extensively about the need for digital media to more effectively meet marketers’ needs and expressed his thinking on the subject in “A Bigger Idea: A Manifesto on Interactive Advertising Creativity” on his blog which has been covered extensively. The full article can be found here: http://www.iab.net/iablog/2009/02/a-bigger-idea-a-manifesto-on-i.html

In February of this year, the IAB announced the formation of an Advertising Agency Advisory Board comprised of senior executives from the nation’s leading creative, digital and media agencies, to bring the agency point of view more fully into the IAB’s guidelines work and to drive forward the importance of premium online experiences. To see more, please go to: http://www.iab.net/about_the_iab/recent_press_releases/press_release_archive/press_release/pr-022209-agency

The IAB has also launched the IAB Boot Camp for Creative Agencies, an in-depth on-site educational program that teaches agency creative executives and their teams the most effective ways to leverage interactive media for greater results. For more information, please go to http://www.iab.net/events_training/690217

About the IAB:

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 375 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

PubMatic (www.PubMatic.com), a global ad revenue optimization company that works with thousands of premier online publishers and hundreds of ad networks, announced AdRevenue 09 (www.AdRevenue09.com) — a conference that will focus squarely on the changing economics that are driving the online display advertising industry and how large online publishers can increase their advertising revenue by leveraging the latest trends and technology.

AdRevenue 09 is accepting speaking request submissions until May 29th, 2009. Details can be found at www.AdRevenue09.com.

What: AdRevenue 09 – The Economics of Online Display Advertising
When: Thursday, October 8, 2009
Where: New World Stages, 340 W. 50th St., NYC
Who: Large Online Publishers, Ad Networks, Ad Exchanges, Data Exchanges, And Other Companies in the Online Display Advertising Ecosystem

Last year’s sold out AdRevenue 08 event in San Francisco brought together over 300 advertising professionals that shared ideas on how to increase revenue from publisher’s unsold ad inventory. Speakers included senior executives from Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Quantcast, Razorfish, Havas Digital, ValueClick, Federated Media, and more. While this year’s speakers are not yet announced, the same caliber of speakers will share their insight and offer new strategies for large online publishers to better monetize their advertising inventory.

“What makes the AdRevenue conference unique is that its goal is to offer large online media companies the most effective strategies to increase their ad revenue,” said PubMatic CEO, Rajeev Goel. “We created the AdRevenue conference series because we’ve seen a lot of conferences that focus on user and advertiser needs, which are important, but there hasn’t been enough discussion on increasing the bottom line for publishers. If you work for a large online publisher and you’re directly managing the ad revenue, you should be at this event.”

About PubMatic

PubMatic provides online publishers with a full service solution to manage and monetize unsold ad inventory. PubMatic’s real-time ad price prediction technology and dedicated team service drive significantly higher revenues and simplify ad network management for more than 5500 large and medium publishers. www.PubMatic.com

NEW YORK – MIVA Direct, Inc., the toolbar, homepage and content division of digital media and advertising company, MIVA, Inc. (NASDAQ:MIVA), announced the beta release of ALOT Desktop, a free software application that enables users to display widgets directly on their computer desktops without having a browser window open.

Through the new product, users can choose from a range of different ALOT widgets that they can customize and then add to their desktops. These widgets include an online radio player, news headlines, weather and celebrity gossip. It is intended that with future releases of the product, users will be able to access any widget from MIVA Direct’s rapidly expanding online widget portfolio, ALOT Buttons.

The ALOT brand was launched by MIVA Direct in Q4 2007 and is designed to ‘Make the Internet Easy’ by aggregating ‘best of the web’ content within widgets that can be displayed across toolbars, homepages and now desktops. ALOT’s toolbar and homepage products come pre-configured across 40 different categories, enabling MIVA Direct to build up niche vertical audiences. The ALOT music and recipe toolbars, for example, currently have over 900,000 and 500,000 users respectively.

“Our objective with ALOT is to create an integrated widget platform that users can interact with across a variety of different touch points,” commented Peter Corrao, MIVA’s President and CEO. “We believe that adding increased integration through the launch of products like ALOT Desktop not only enhances user experience, but also provides a valuable platform for brand and direct response advertisers to reach potential customers.”

The beta release of ALOT Desktop follows the October launch of MIVA Direct’s new, fully customizable toolbar and homepage products, ALOT Toolbar and ALOT Home. Together, ALOT’s toolbar and homepage products generate over 110 million searches each month1.

According to an October 2008 report from Razorfish, 55% of “connected consumers” — people with broadband who use social networks and digital media — use widgets on their desktops with some frequency, and 62% use them on personalized homepages and social networking sites.

http://www.alot.com

www.alot.com/desktop/

http://www.miva.com

About MIVA Direct, Inc.

MIVA Direct operates a portfolio of consumer websites, interest-specific toolbars and personalized homepages. MIVA Direct’s millions of active toolbars span a range of niche sectors including jokes, music, recipes and horoscopes and offer consumers search functionality in addition to one-click access to tailored content. MIVA Direct is owned by MIVA, Inc. (NASDAQ:MIVA).

About MIVA®, Inc.

MIVA, Inc. (NASDAQ:MIVA) is a global digital media company with a mission to deliver valuable digital audiences to advertisers. MIVA has two focuses to its business: owning and operating a growing portfolio of consumer destination sites and interest-specific toolbars, through its MIVA Direct division; and running a third-party contextual Pay-Per-Click ad network focused on key vertical sectors, through its MIVA Media division. MIVA, Inc. operates across North America and Europe.

PubMatic (www.pubmatic.com), which provides more than 5,000 online publishers with real-time ad optimization, announced AdRevenue ’08 (www.adrevenue08.com), the first conference dedicated entirely to improving the value of ad inventory for online publishers and ad networks. PubMatic, known for recognizing trends in ad network pricing with its AdPrice Index, identified the need for a forum where the most respected names in the online advertising come together to address strategies to maximize industry-wide ad inventory revenue.

During the one-day summit taking place November 14th in San Francisco at the Golden Gate Club, attendees are invited to meet with leading technology entrepreneurs, executives, established media and industry thought leaders from Adify, Avenue A / Razorfish, ContextWeb, Draper Fischer Jurvetson, Forrester Research, Google / DoubleClick, NBC Universal, Quantcast, and other innovators in the industry.

PubMatic executives, along with some of the online advertising industry’s most prominent thought leaders, will deliver unparalleled insight to online publishers, ad networks and exchanges, online advertising analysts and application developers looking to improve their ad revenue.

Forrester Research analyst Barry Parr will open the event with a keynote presentation, “Online Advertising: A Volatile Ecosystem,” which will be followed by multiple expert panels on digital advertising monetization.
Distinguished speakers at AdRevenue ’08 include:

* Adam Gerber, CMO, Quantcast
* Anand Subramanian, CEO, ContextWeb
* Barry Parr, Analyst, Forrester Research
* Brian Morrissey, Digital Editor, Adweek
* Chris Moore, General Partner, Redpoint Ventures
* Geoff Katz, Director of Advertising Services, Avenue A / Razorfish
* Jeff Green, COO, AdECN
* Joe Zawadzki, Founder and CEO, Media Math
* Martin Green, COO, Meebo
* Michael Rubenstein, Director, Ad Exchange, Google, Inc.
* Nick Johnson, VP Digital Media Sales, NBC Universal
* Rajeev Goel, Co-Founder and President, PubMatic
* Russ Fradin, Co-Founder and President, Adify

“In today’s online environment, 70% of ad inventory goes unsold. With the uncertainty of the economy and its possible impact on the digital advertising industry, companies and independent publishers should re-evaluate their ad monetization strategies to ensure maximum yield,” said Rajeev Goel, Co-Founder and President of PubMatic. “As PubMatic continues to evolve and create solutions that support intelligent ad inventory strategies, we are pleased to take part in such an unprecedented event that finally addresses the needs of the industry.”

As identified in PubMatic’s latest AdPrice Index, online ad prices continue to remain stagnant and reflect a weak economy. Never before has the need been so great to address how the online advertising industry can increase ad pricing levels while other segments continue to decline. Tickets are limited, and this is an event no one in the online advertising industry can afford to miss.

To register and view the full conference agenda, please visit: www.adrevenue08.com

What: AdRevenue 2008 – PubMatic’s Conference Dedicated to Improving Unsold Ad Inventory Strategies
When: Friday, November 14, 2008
Where: The Golden Gate Club 135 Fisher Loop San Francisco, CA 94129
For additional venue details and directions click here

About PubMatic
PubMatic provides more than 5,000 web publishers real-time ad optimization, which significantly increases revenue while simplifying ad network management. PubMatic works with hundreds of ad networks and has created thousands of new publisher/ad network relationships. PubMatic is a service of Komli and is venture backed by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Nexus India Capital, and Helion Ventures. Find out more at www.pubmatic.com

FEED documents the results of a 2008 survey that Razorfish conducted of more than 1,000 connected consumers (a coveted group who spend money online and have access to broadband). According to the Razorfish Digital Consumer Behavior Study, connected consumers are adopting social media and web 2.0 technologies with startling regularity.

“Connected consumers embrace social media, are actively building and refining their own trusted personal networks and are rapidly dabbling with emerging communication offerings like Twitter”, said Garrick Schmitt, Razorfish Group Vice President of Experience Planning and FEED editor. We find that consumers are more open to advertising as part of their everyday experience than commonly assumed.

The Consumer Behavior Study also contains tips for marketers on the eve of a challenging holiday season, such as the importance of personalization and loyalty programs. Key findings:

> Razorfish reports that 65 percent of connected consumers say that retail loyalty programs highly influence purchasing decisions. According to Razorfish, loyalty services like Amazon’ss Prime’s8482; or Best Buy’ss Reward Zone’s174; are essential for retailers to succeed in a competitive digital environment.

> Websites that give personalized recommendations strongly influence connected consumers. Of the total surveyed, 65 percent said that they have made a repeat purchase on a site that issued an automated recommendation based on their previous purchase.

FEED also contains several essays, such as Mad Widgetry, and Life After the iPhone, which examine the impact of web 2.0 and social media on consumer behavior across the digital world, as well as implications for marketers. Schmitt noted that 60 percent of consumers use widgets on websites, and nearly half watch videos on their mobile devices.

The uptake of widgets, mobile devices and social media tells us that marketers need to design experiences for consumers across a world of fragmented digital media, he said.

FEED is the second annual report of its kind. Razorfish publishes FEED to help marketers design better consumer experiences by offering insight into how consumers interact with digital media.

About Razorfish

Razorfish (www.razorfish.com), formerly Avenue A Razorfish, is one of the largest interactive marketing and technology companies in the world, and is also one of the largest buyers of digital advertising space. With a demonstrated commitment to innovation, Razorfish counsels its clients on how to leverage digital channels such as the Web, mobile devices, in-store technologies and other emerging media to engage people, build brand loyalty and provide excellent customer service. The company is increasingly advising marketers on Social Influence Marketing’s8482;, its approach for employing social media and social influencers to achieve the marketing and business needs of an organization. Its award-winning client teams provide solutions through their strategic counsel, digital advertising and content creation, media buying, analytics, technology and user experience. Razorfish has offices in markets across the United States, and in Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom. Clients–many of them served in multiple markets–include Carnival Cruise Lines, Coors Brewing Company, Levi’ss, McDonald’ss and Starwood Hotels. Visit http://www.razorfish.com for more information.

‘For four years we have operated as a single agency with integrated capabilities in the global marketplace, and we don’t need two names anymore,’ Razorfish CEO Clark Kokich said. ‘Although both Avenue A and Razorfish are excellent choices as standalone brands, the Razorfish name enjoys stronger brand equity around the world.’

The Avenue A | Razorfish name was the result of a 2004 merger between Avenue A, one of the first companies to plan and buy digital media, and Razorfish, one of the first companies to counsel clients on digital marketing strategy, creative, and web design.

‘As pioneers in the 1990s, Avenue A and Razorfish were each known for helping clients enter the digital age. Both brands represented innovation and speed to market, and they still do so today,’ Kokich said. ‘Nevertheless, we are making it easier to do business with us by using a single name–Razorfish.’

Since the merger, the company has grown from 800 people in 11 U.S. offices to more than 2,200 people in 20 offices across the United States, Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom. Razorfish is one of the largest interactive marketing companies in the world, and also one of the largest buyers of digital advertising space and paid search.

‘Today, a global network of Razorfish professionals, from New York to Beijing, helps our clients build stronger brands for the digital world, whether we’re launching a media campaign for Best Buy, designing websites for the likes of The Financial Times, Hindustan Times and The New York Times, or helping Levi’s use social media to engage brand advocates,’ Chief Strategy Officer Jeff Lanctot said.

The agency’s offices are adopting the Razorfish name as follows (effective immediately unless otherwise noted):

All U.S. offices use the Razorfish brand name.
Amnesia Group in Australia is Amnesia Razorfish.
Avenue A | Razorfish London will become Razorfish London early next year.
Dentsu | Avenue A | Razorfish in Japan will become Dentsu Razorfish early next year.
Duke in France is Duke, a Razorfish company.
e-Crusade in greater China (Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong) will become Razorfish early next year.
Neue Digitale in Germany is Neue Digitale/Razorfish.

Additionally, Razorfish has launched a new all-Flash website, www.razorfish.com, with abundant content for everyone–from job seekers, journalists and peers, to clients and prospects.

The site embodies the core attributes of global, social, simple and experimental – providing easy access to:
A visually-rich portfolio of 45 case studies categorized by industry
Razorfish special reports, including the DOR, in PDF & audio format
50 white papers (‘Insights’) filtered by topic
Client summit video highlights
Links to company blogs & newsletters, as well as the company’s Facebook page
Landing pages for each service offering with helpful links
Careers Center
Partners form to qualify publishers & vendors
Events calendar

About Razorfish
Razorfish, formerly Avenue A | Razorfish, is one of the largest interactive marketing and technology companies in the world, and also one of the largest buyers of digital advertising space. With a demonstrated commitment to innovation, Razorfish counsels its clients on how to leverage digital channels such as the Web, mobile devices, in-store technologies and other emerging media to engage people, build brand loyalty and provide excellent customer service. The company is increasingly advising marketers on Social Influence Marketing, its approach for employing social media and social influencers to achieve the marketing and business needs of an organization. Its award-winning client teams provide solutions through their strategic counsel, digital advertising and content creation, media buying, analytics, technology and user experience. Razorfish has offices in markets across the United States, and in Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom. Clients include Carnival Cruise Lines, Coors Brewing Company, Levi’s, McDonald’s and Starwood Hotels. Visit www.razorfish.com for more information.

Seattle September 22, 2008 – Avenue A | Razorfish, one of the largest interactive marketing companies in the world, today named Jeff Lanctot as the agency’s new chief strategy officer. Lanctot is also named for the second time in the 2nd annual MediaWeek 50, a list of the country’s top media executives that was published today.

Lanctot joined media-buying concern Avenue A in 1999, five years before the merger with Razorfish. He most recently served as SVP, global media. He replaces Darin Brown, who moved in June from the CSO position to president of Avenue A | Razorfish Europe.

Lanctot will work closely with CEO Clark Kokich to develop the company’s capabilities in the United States and abroad, build processes and teams to bring those capabilities to market, and oversee partnership and investment strategy.

“In his nine years at Avenue A | Razorfish, Jeff has proven himself as a leader who has the vision and intellect needed for this key position,” said Clark Kokich, CEO of Avenue A | Razorfish. “As one of the industry’s foremost experts on critical media and marketing issues, he is ready to take the company to the next level globally.”

In addition, Lanctot will remain the senior editor of the Avenue A | Razorfish Digital Outlook Report, a highly anticipated annual report on trends in digital spending and consumer behavior. He will also continue to share thought leadership through his blog at jefflanctot.com.

Lanctot is also listed in today’s MEDIAWEEK 50, the 2nd annual list of top media innovators who, according to the magazine, drive revenue, establish standards, create new models and generate buzz. Honorees were chosen by industry experts who compiled and evaluated information on each executive’s management duties, ad sales data and overall impact on the industry.

About Avenue A | Razorfish
Avenue A | Razorfish is one of the largest interactive marketing and technology companies in the world, and also one of the largest buyers of digital advertising space. With a demonstrated commitment to innovation, Avenue A | Razorfish counsels its clients on how to leverage digital channels such as the Web, mobile devices, in-store technologies and other emerging media to engage people, build brand loyalty and provide excellent customer service. The company is increasingly advising marketers on Social Influence Marketing™, its approach for employing social media and social influencers to achieve the marketing and business needs of an organization. Its award-winning client teams provide solutions through their strategic counsel, digital advertising and content creation, media buying, analytics, technology and user experience. Avenue A | Razorfish has offices in markets across the United States, and in Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom. Clients–many of them served in multiple markets–include Carnival Cruise Lines, Coors Brewing Company, Kraft, Levi’s, McDonald’s and Starwood Hotels. Visit http://www.avenuea-razorfish.com for more information.

New York, NY September 17, 2008 — Avenue A | Razorfish, one of the largest interactive marketing firms in the world, has announced that it will sponsor Advertising Week V, North America’s largest and most prestigious annual gathering of industry decision-makers, which takes places in New York on September 22-26 and also speak on September 23 at MIXX Conference and Expo, the official interactive event of the Week.

Social Advertising at MIXX Conference & Expo
Terri Walter, vice president of emerging media at Avenue A | Razorfish, will take a hard look at social advertising during her panel discussion at the MIXX Conference on September 23. Walter will move past the buzz surrounding sites such as Facebook and Twitter and answer the question that really matters to marketers: Is social advertising producing results?

The MIXX panel details are as follows:
Social Advertising – Does it work?
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Crowne Plaza Hotel, New York
1:30-2:15 pm ET
Workshop 5
Room 404, 4th floor

Avenue A | Razorfish and Levi’s Named Finalist in the MIXX Awards: Awards Gala Is September 23
Avenue A | Razorfish is being recognized for its innovative work in the design and development of a widget for the 23/501 Levi Strauss & Co® campaign. The campaign was chosen as a finalist for the MIXX Awards category “Widget Marketing.”

The nominated widget featured one-click scrolling through a gallery of 23/501 product shots, a countdown icon that marked time until the products were available for purchase and store location information. It also incorporated a soundtrack of popular hip-hop tracks from Sony’s Jive Records, chosen specifically to appeal to the 23/501 target demographic. All Gold, Silver and Bronze winners will be announced during Advertising Week at the MIXX Awards Gala on September 23.

Adverting Week’s Futures Program
Avenue A | Razorfish is participating in this year’s Advertising Futures Program, designed to connect the ad industry to high school students with an interest in marketing, advertising and graphic design.

Since 2004, Futures has been a staple of Advertising Week as a way for the industry to give back to the community and also show its commitment to fostering talent and diversity. Avenue A | Razorfish and its team of students from In-Tech Academy in New York, along with the 19 other agency-student teams, is tasked with creating a print ad for “Boost Up,” a public-service campaign that seeks to change the perception of dropping out of school by chronicling a student’s fight to graduate.

The students will present the ad to a live audience and a panel of judges during Advertising Week, where a winning team will be selected. The winning ad will run in The New York Times and be turned into a Flash presentation that will go live on AOL.

About Avenue A | Razorfish
Avenue A | Razorfish is one of the largest interactive marketing and technology companies in the world, and also one of the largest buyers of digital ad space. With a demonstrated commitment to innovation, Avenue A | Razorfish counsels its clients on how to leverage digital channels such as the Web, mobile devices, in-store technologies and other emerging media to engage people, build brand loyalty and provide excellent customer service. The company is increasingly advising marketers on Social Influence Marketing™, its approach for employing social media and social influencers to achieve the marketing and business needs of an organization. Its award-winning client teams provide solutions through their strategic counsel, digital advertising and content creation, media buying, analytics, technology and user experience. Avenue A | Razorfish has offices in markets across the United States, and in Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom. Clients–many of them served in multiple markets–include Carnival Cruise Lines, Coors Brewing Company, Kraft, Levi’s, McDonald’s and Starwood Hotels. Visit www.avenuea-razorfish.com for more information.

SEATTLE – In its fourth annual digital outlook guide for marketers and advertisers, Avenue A | Razorfish, one of the world’s largest interactive agencies and buyers of digital online media, reports that domestic advertising media billings for the agency grew to $735 million on more than 1,800 web sites in 2007, up 36 percent from 2006. Publisher web site spending slipped to 19 percent of billings, down from 24 percent in 2006. Register to receive the 2008 Digital Outlook Report and visit Jeff Lanctot’s blog to stay informed about media trends throughout the year.

“Last year was an indicator that marketers must wisely invest their digital dollars across a broader range of web sites to keep up with the everywhere customer,” said Jeff Lanctot, editor of the report and senior vice president of Global Media at Avenue A | Razorfish. “Customers don’t live on a handful of web sites or portals anymore. Advertisers still value large sites, but they realize the web presents a seemingly endless number of advertising options.”

The broad range of vertical web sites that saw increased traffic, included entertainment sites and those focused on video sharing, gaming, music and social networks. Growth on search engines was attributed to improved flexibility for testing advertising relevance, targeting and campaign management. The agency also continued to consolidate its spending in the ad network category with the five largest online ad networks, as billings increased to 71 percent in 2007, up from 63 percent in 2006.

The comprehensive, eight-chapter report provides commentary, predictions, research and recommendations from agency thought leaders and discipline leads across the world to help marketers improve the effectiveness of online campaigns. Specific insights from the report include:

* Social Influence Marketing – examines how communities will change the way marketers do business in 2008 and whether consumers will be compensated for their social prowess.

* Targeting & Measurement – explores effective ways to move beyond behavioral targeting tools that work in silos.

* Search Gets Strategic – provides recommendations for how to implement multi-media search across video and rich media.

* Technology Changes the World – shares inspiring examples of how marketers are using technology to become more socially responsible and accountable.

New additions to the report this year include conversations from the “Connected Class,” a sampling of 18-34-year-olds who share anecdotes of how they engage in digital media. We believe this demographic will help predict future digital behavior. The agency also shares suggestions from the leading search providers about how marketers can be successful at Local Search and engaged Forrester Research Inc., to include an excerpt from its upcoming book, “Groundswell,” which explores the way social technologies are changing the world.

Other notable highlights include the “publisher of the year” distinctions, media trends to watch, emerging opportunities in mobile, video and rich media and commentary from Clark Kokich, CEO, Avenue A | Razorfish about what the marketer of the future will look like.

Lanctot concluded, “Consumers aren’t for sale. As digital media continues splintering in thousands of directions, the marketer who follows their consumer and engages with them in thoughtful, personal and meaningful ways will win.”

About Avenue A | Razorfish

Avenue A | Razorfish is one of the largest interactive marketing and technology services agencies in the world. The company helps industry leaders such as Starwood Hotels, Kraft, Ford Motor Company and Carnival Cruise Lines use digital channels to acquire and service customers. Avenue A | Razorfish’s full suite of digital offerings includes online advertising, Web site design and development, email and search engine marketing, emerging media strategies, and enterprise portal development. Its award-winning client teams have a great understanding of customer needs and provide solutions through distinct business disciplines, which include: analytics, strategy, technology, media, creative design and user experience. Avenue A | Razorfish has offices in markets across the United States, and global operations in Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom. Visit www.avenuea-razorfish.com for more information.