XM Satellite Radio Awards Creative and Media Advertising Accounts
WASHINGTON, May 19, 2003 -- XM Satellite Radio Inc. , America's number-one satellite radio service, has awarded its creative advertising account to Mullen (Wenham, MA) and its media account to Carat North America (New York, NY).
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Mullen, a full-service advertising agency and a member of New York-based Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. holding company, logs an estimated $640 million in capitalized billings. Mullen is a top national agency with a long history of helping build leading brands in emerging categories.
"XM Satellite Radio is leading the way in a category that is on the verge of explosive growth," said Joe Grimaldi, CEO of Mullen, "and there's nothing more exciting to us than to have the opportunity to help build the defining, dominant brand in an emerging category."
Carat is the largest independent media planning and buying group in the world with global billings of over $8 billion.
"We are really proud to be partnering with a company that is revolutionizing the future of radio. There is no question in our mind that with XM, the sky is the limit," said David Verklin, CEO of Carat North America.
"As XM continues to build its brand and rapidly grow to 1 million subscribers this year, we feel confident that Mullen and Carat are the right agencies to help us deliver these results," said Steve Cook, XM Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing.
The other agencies that made final presentations in the creative review were Hill, Holliday and Modernista (both from Boston, MA). The other media finalist was MediaVest (New York, NY).
Pile and Company, the Boston-based management consulting firm, managed the review.
About XM Satellite Radio
XM is America's #1 satellite radio service. With more than one-half million subscribers today, XM is on pace to have more than one million subscribers later this year. Whether in the car, home, office or on the go, XM's loyal listeners enjoy 101 digital channels of choice: 70 music channels, more than 35 of them commercial-free, from hip hop to opera, classical to country, bluegrass to blues; and 31 channels of premiere sports, talk, comedy, kid's and other entertainment programming.
XM's strategic partners are leaders in the automotive, retail, consumer electronics and media industries. Currently available on 25 of General Motors' 2003 models, XM will be featured on 44 of GMs most popular models beginning later this year. Honda is making XM available on the Honda Accord, Honda Pilot and Acura RL, Acura TL and Acura MDX models. Toyota, Isuzu, Infiniti, Nissan, Audi and Volkswagen will offer XM to their customers. Consumers can also purchase XM's leading-edge car, home and portable audio receivers, including the critically-acclaimed Delphi XM SKYFi Radio, at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City and other major retailers nationwide. XM's strategic investors include General Motors, American Honda Motor Co. Inc., Clear Channel Communications, DIRECTV and The Hearst Corporation.
For more information about XM, visit our web site at www.xmradio.com. About Mullen
Mullen, an Interpublic company, is a full-service agency known for its interdisciplinary team approach to building brands. Mullen's client portfolio includes General Motors, Wachovia, LendingTree, Eddie Bauer, Sealy, Swiss Army Brands, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, T.J. Maxx, The Stanley Works, Fortune and Pennsylvania Department of Tourism. Headquartered in Wenham, MA, the agency operates full-service offices in Winston-Salem, NC, Detroit, MI, and Pittsburgh, PA. For more on Mullen, visit www.mullen.com.
About Carat
Carat North America is a leading media services company with over $4.5 billion in media billings. Carat provides a full range of services including media research, planning and buying; interactive; business to business; multicultural; direct response; speaker placement; event management; market mix modeling; and corporate trade and works with many market-leading companies such as Pfizer, RadioShack, New Line Cinema, CBS Television, Alberto-Culver, Hyundai Motor America, Kia Motors America, Orbitz and Midas International. For more information about Carat, please visit the website at www.carat-na.com.
Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements in this press release include demand for the company's service, the company's dependence on third party vendors, its potential need for additional financing, as well as other risks described in XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.'s Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on 3-31-2003. Copies of the filing are available upon request from XM Radio's Investor Relations Department.
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