Bic Partners with Asphalt Media to Launch Mobile Media Campaign in New York

NEW YORK (November 17, 2003) - BIC Consumer Products USA has engaged Asphalt Media to launch its first mobile media marketing campaign featuring the BIC Grip Permanent Marker. The three-month campaign, that starts today, will feature 53-foot long ads on the sides of trailers in the New York area and register nearly 23 million impressions.

This is the first time BIC has used mobile media as part of its corporate marketing efforts.

"While putting ads on the side of trailers may seem well-traveled ground, Asphalt Media has brought mobile media to a whole new level by providing validated numbers for ad impressions," says BIC Senior Stationery Product Manager, Janel Olsen-Lewis. "Asphalt Media delivers our message close to points of purchase at shopping centers, on heavily traveled commuter arteries and on urban streets via a fleet of trucks that each day travel the exact same routes to and from key national retailers. Asphalt provides qualitative and quantitative research to prove that our ads are not only seen, but that they drive retail sales."

The ads for the tractor-trailer campaign were a partnership between BIC and Donovan/Green, a branding and marketing communication company specializing in launching new products, developing and executing brand strategies, and creating experiences around brands. BIC provided the original ad concept to Michael Donovan, founder of Donovan/Green, and then the two companies worked together to create the final ad. Donovan/ Green then created the ad panels for the trailers. Asphalt Media is a division of Donovan/Green.

"It is a unique challenge to produce 1000 square feet of brand messaging," Mr. Donovan says. "Not only are these mammoth messages seen by millions of drivers and pedestrians, 85% of them assume that 'What's on the outside is on the inside.' Even though the trucks may be carrying anything and everything from apples to desk chairs, consumers seeing the BIC ads think, Man, that is a lot of markers being shipped to stores.

Asphalt Media includes in its Post Performance Report a range of studies to prove that mobile media keeps its impression guarantee, including In-Market Digital Photography, Anecdotal Video Interviews, Dedicated Route Demographic Mapping, and a validated impression count utilizing the Traffic Audit Bureaus MARG software.

Among Asphalt Media's other mobile media clients are NBC, MGM and XM Satellite Radio. Asphalt delivers mobile media messages to every major DMA in the nation.

BIC Consumer Products (www.bicworldusa.com), a division of BIC USA Inc., headquartered in Milford, Conn., is a leading distributor of stationery products, lighters and shavers.

Based in New York, Asphalt Media was founded in 2002. Its parent company, Donovan/Green, created the packaging for Barneys' New York, and helped launch and supported the customer cardholder communication for American Expresses' Platinum Card. They created the retail/destination environments for both American Girl Place in Chicago and Sony's Metreon in San Francisco. They bring to Asphalt Media nearly 50 years of collective experience in understanding how consumers interact with brands and how to deliver messages with efficiency and imagination.

Contacts:

Asphalt Media
George Simpson
georgehsimpson@worldnet.att.net
(212) 309.9068

BIC Corp.
Jill Klimack
jill.klimack@bicworld.com
(203) 783-2051