News

HD DVD Turns Up The Heat with 'The Look and Sound of Perfect' Marketing Campaign (18/7/2006)

Leading Content, Consumer Electronics and Information Technology Companies Unveil New HD DVD Marketing Organization and Multi-Million Dollar Advertising and Publicity Campaign; Hollywood Studios Showcase Upcoming HD DVD Titles

Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Warner Home Video, Paramount Home Entertainment, HP, Intel, Microsoft and Toshiba today announced the formation of a new trade organization, the North American HD DVD Promotional Group, Inc., at the Video Software Dealers Association 2006 conference. The non-profit group will promote the companies' common interests in the success of HD DVD and to educate consumers on the quality and value of HD DVD.

A new advertising and marketing campaign, also unveiled today, showcases HD DVD as "The Look and Sound of Perfect(TM)". The campaign will be the cornerstone of efforts to be undertaken by the group. The group and its member companies plan to back the campaign with an anticipated $150M in trade and consumer marketing, advertising and promotion through the 2006 Holiday season and into 2007. The campaign will promote the format across all major consumer media outlets -- television, print, online, and outdoor -- co-marketing HD DVD hardware with hundreds of HD DVD titles expected on store shelves by year-end 2006.

"Following this spring's market introduction, we're now adding advertising and marketing muscle to HD DVD to demonstrate our full commitment to bring consumers the best in high definition entertainment," said Craig Kornblau, President of Universal Studios Home Entertainment. "Surveys are showing that HD DVD is already the #1 recognized brand name for high definition packaged media. In addition, the continued support from Hollywood, CE and IT industries will make HD DVD a true win for consumers this Holiday season."

In the shadow of a huge 18-wheeler called the HD DVD Mobile Experience, the group also announced a nationwide publicity campaign that will hit the road this summer. The HD DVD Mobile Experience will be equipped with the latest in high definition home theater technology, PCs, laptops and the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system, enabling audiences throughout the country to experience first-hand "The Look and Sound of Perfect".

"I welcome the formation of the North American HD DVD Promotional Group," said Yoshihide Fujii, Chairman of the HD DVD Promotion Group. "More and more consumers are buying large-screen high definition TVs, and their expectations for better, more realistic picture quality is increasing. The wide-ranging activities of the new group will take HD DVD into the homes of people across North America, and make it crystal clear that HD DVD is the future in movies, home entertainment, computing and gaming."

The award-winning advertising agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners will work for the North American HD DVD Promotional Group, Inc. in planning and executing its marketing campaign. The agency, based in San Francisco, is widely recognized for its "Got Milk?" campaign, and as one of the world's leading advertising and marketing communications agencies, has a long tradition of offering integrated services and creative campaigns for clients such as HP, Saturn, Comcast, Motorola, Netflix, and Starbucks.

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