Transforming Auto Detroit Auto Show into a Brand-New Experience

DETROIT, Dec. 23, 2005 -- The George P. Johnson Company's design and production of six brand-new exhibits for the 2006 North American International Auto Show will redefine the Detroit event as a new kind of entertainment and theatrical experience. No longer can the word "show" completely reflect what visitors will encounter at the auto industry's premier event next month. Rather than just watching a show, visitors will become key elements of the exhibits and presentations as The George P. Johnson Company (GPJ) sets new milestones for experiential marketing via theatrical choreography, interactivity, media content, and visual excitement in stands for some of the world's most innovative vehicles. The transformation from "show me" into "let me participate" is evident in GPJ's newly created stands for Cadillac, Saturn, Jeep, Honda, Nissan, and Infiniti vehicles.

Theater in the Round and in the Walls

Many GPJ exhibits will resemble theaters and night clubs more than the conventional turntable and platform, with layers of video, motion graphics, dramatic lighting, sonic branding, interactive multimedia, digital media, and creative applications of LED and projected video. For Cadillac, GPJ has created a glass-enclosed high-tech night club environment with MiPIX LED clusters stretching along floors and walls in strips. A long wall of these video LEDs will correlate with video projected on the outer wall for a layered effect. The club will become a theater of amazement with polyvision glass walls that can switch between slightly frosted and opaque. Inside, visitors will be able to view their own individual screens that feature highly-focused sound.

Even the turntable has morphed into a more theatrical experience. The Infiniti exhibit features a fully programmable elliptical turntable that will move in multiple directions. The Nissan exhibit also breaks auto-show convention with a "theater-in-the-round" layout, where all displays face inward, rather than toward the aisles.

Visitors Climb the Walls and Reflect on Designs

Visitors will truly become part of the GPJ exhibits. In the Jeep area, they'll find a 24-foot-high interactive Trail Rated Climbing Wall. For the more reflective visitor, proximity sensors at the Infiniti exhibit will respond to the movement of guests to reveal video that plays within their image in a multimedia mirror. An "interactive sketchbook" at the Nissan display will allow users to "flip" through plasma-screen pages by activating motion sensors built into the exhibit.

Media Content Tells the Story

Again advancing the event beyond a mere show, GPJ exhibits focus on story- telling and content to communicate brand messages in brand-new ways. The Nissan area comprises multiple "story galleries" highlighting the brand's heritage, design, innovation and performance. Saturn's exhibit features a large fiberoptic concrete cube incorporating an LED wall and obscura projection to tell the story of the Saturn's new product design. The Honda space incorporates a Safety Lab using illuminated graphics to relate the story of its Safety for Everyone initiative.

Visuals Come Alive

While auto shows always have been highly visual events, GPJ has advanced exhibits to visuals that live and move in new ways. The Jeep exhibit features four unique waterfalls, including a 24-foot-wide "word-fall," a Concept Waterfall pool, a "Are you Trail Rated?" falls and a falling-water turntable for the Commander. Altogether, more than 3,000 gallons of water circulate through the display every hour. The unusual treatment of MiPIX and LED walls and strips surround visitors with moving video and form backdrops in Jeep and Cadillac areas. Nissan's "media cloud" creates a visually stimulating ambience with large overhead projection screens and LED panels.

Enhanced Experiences

GPJ has also extended the experiences in which guests engage at enhanced stands for Acura, Lexus, Toyota, Scion, Chrysler and Dodge, offering new interactive elements and sophisticated video technology.

About The George P. Johnson Company (http://www.gpjco.com/)

Established in 1914, GPJ is one of the foremost integrated event marketing agencies in the world. Named one of Advertising Age's "Top 25 Marketing Agencies" it provides a full suite of relationship-building event, exhibit and live experience solutions through which it helps Fortune 500 and other premiere companies bring their brands, services and products to prospects and customers around the globe. GPJ provides integrated event marketing strategy, creative, data, and execution services through 13 offices: event marketing services and full-scale production facilities in Auburn Hills, Mich.; Torrance, Calif.; Stuttgart, Germany; and Sydney, Australia; and event marketing services offices in Boston, San Francisco, London, Stuttgart, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Seoul and Bangalore, India. GPJ made history in 1998 when IBM became the first Fortune 10 company to consolidate its global event marketing program into one agency, naming GPJ as their event marketing agency of record. As a result of its work with IBM, GPJ earned the first EX Award for "Best Global Business-to-Business Event Marketing