AirTouch Cellular "Easy Call to Make" Advertising Campaign to be Honored by the California Governor's Committee for Employment of Disabled Persons During Their 15th Media Access Awards.LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 24, 1996--In recognition of AirTouch Cellular's "Easy Call To Make" brand advertising campaign, the California Governor's Committee for Employment of Disabled Persons will present AirTouch Cellular and its national spokesperson, Rick Boggs, with The Governor's Award of Excellence during their 15th Media Access Awards on October 29, 1996, at the Universal City Hilton Hotel & Towers, 6:00 PM. The Governor's Award of Excellence in the past has been awarded to such organizations as the IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) Corporation, National Council on Disability and the Hallmark Hall of Fame. It recognizes a body of work for its excellence in the portrayal of the disability experience, and the transcendence of stereotypic stereotypic /ster·eo·typ·ic/ (ster?e-o-tip´ik) having a fixed, unvarying form. language and images of people with disabilities. "AirTouch Cellular's `Easy Call To Make' campaign is an outstanding example of the positive social message a corporation can send through its advertising," said Nancy J. Covert, Chair for the California Governor's Committee for Employment of Disabled Persons. "AirTouch Cellular's commitment to the positive portrayal of disabled persons made honoring them with the `Governor's Award of Excellence' an `Easy Call To Make,'" Covert continued. Established in 1978 by the California Governor's Committee for Employment of Disabled Persons, the Media Access Awards acknowledge productions, individuals and corporate activities in television, film, radio, theater and print. The awards recognize excellence in the portrayal of the disability experience, and the shattering of negative images of people with disabilities. The awards also honor media who employ disabled persons in front of the camera and behind the scenes. The AirTouch Cellular "Easy Call To Make" Campaign, which debuted in May 1996, was developed by AirTouch and TBWA TBWA Tampa Bay WorkForce Alliance (Florida) TBWA The Big What Adventure TBWA Texas Bottled Water Association TBWA Tampa Bay Water Authority (Florida) TBWA Tiny Bubbles With Attitude Chiat/Day to convey the idea that great cellular service is about things you can't see such as clear calls, easy to use features and friendly, knowledgeable service representatives. "We wanted to focus potential customers on buying AirTouch Cellular service not just the cellular phone and proposed a brand advertising campaign featuring a blind spokesperson as a metaphor for cellular service," said Nancy Hill, Account Director, TBWA Chiat/Day. After a nationwide search with over 150 other actors Rick Boggs was selected for the role as national spokesperson. "In the initial campaign development we realized that Rick's unique background and diversity of accomplishments could be effectively incorporated into a bold campaign that breaks through the clutter of traditional telecommunications advertising with a memorable, humorous and distinctive approach." Hill continued. Rick Boggs has been blind since the age of five, and he was one of the first totally blind students to be mainstreamed into an elementary school elementary school: see school. in the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. . His hobbies include pitching baseball and he can make shots from the free throw line, as he does in the AirTouch commercials. He has earned college degrees in both Broadcasting and Music and expects to receive his third degree in Ethnomusicology ethnomusicology Scholarly study of the world's musics from various perspectives. Although it had antecedents in the 18th and early 19th centuries, the field expanded with the development of recording technologies in the late 19th century. . He has his own music publishing The contractual relationship between a songwriter or music composer and a music publisher, whereby the writer assigns part or all of his or her music copyrights to the publisher in exchange for the publisher's commercial exploitation of the music. business and plays and teaches keyboards, guitar, drums and vocals. He is currently building a computerized recording studio that will enable him to create, mix and produce music independently without assistance from a sighted person. AirTouch Cellular is a subsidiary of AirTouch Communications, a global wireless corporation providing cellular and paging services to more than 7.2 million customers in 11 countries. AirTouch Communications was spun off from Pacific Telesis
Pacific Telesis Group was one of the seven Regional Bell Operating Companies created after the 1984 breakup of AT&T as a holding company for Pacific Bell and Nevada Bell. in 1994. The "Easy Call To Make" brand campaign currently airs in 15 states and will expand to Michigan and Ohio in November. In addition, Rick Boggs and his on-air guide dog Jake, are featured in new promotional radio and TV advertising designed to target local markets where AirTouch offers cellular service. For a fax coy coy adj. coy·er, coy·est 1. Tending to avoid people and social situations; reserved. 2. Affectedly and usually flirtatiously shy or modest. See Synonyms at shy1. 3. of this or other recent AirTouch press releases, please call 1-800/344-7531, or visit the AirTouch web site at http://www.airtouch.com. -0- Note to Editors: Copies of the ads and background on Boggs available upon request. CONTACT: AirTouch Communications Amy Damianakes, 510/210-3645 or EIN EIN Employer Identification Number EIN Employee Identification Number EIN European Ideas Network (think tank) EIN Environmental Information Network EIN Equivalent Input Noise EIN Elderhostel Institute Network SOF SOF abbr. sound on film Communications Tari Susan Hartman, 310/578-5955 or TBWA Chiat/Day Laurie Coots COOTS Conference on Object-Oriented Technologies and Systems , 310/314-5828 |
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