BNC -Bragman Nyman Cafarelli- Honored with PR Industry's Top Award; Agency's Breakthrough Campaign for Norman Lear's 'Declare Yourself' Receives Best of Silver Anvil.

NEW YORK -- BNC (Bragman Nyman Cafarelli), one of the nation's most respected and influential communications agencies, won the industry's most prestigious award - "The Best of Silver Anvil" - for its successful year-long youth voter initiative, Declare Yourself. Presented by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the Silver Anvil recognizes the very best in strategic public relations planning and implementation.

The winning campaign was selected as the best of the 100 public relations programs receiving Silver Anvil Awards, the icon of best public relations practices. On hand to accept the award for BNC, Declare Yourself's public relations agency, were Chris Robichaud, president and COO, Doug Piwinski, senior vice president/group media director, and Elizabeth Rosenberg, senior account executive.

"We are honored and thankful to Norman Lear and Declare Yourself for choosing us as their partner for this incredible initiative," said Robichaud. "We knew even a great PR campaign wouldn't be enough - we needed to create a movement. It's incredibly gratifying to know that BNC's strategies and ideas moved both millions of young people, as well as the judges of the PRSA."

Founded by legendary producer and philanthropist Norman Lear, the breakthrough nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign empowered a new movement of young voters to participate in the 2004 election. At the heart of Declare Yourself was an original copy of the Declaration of Independence, printed the evening of July 4, 1776 and purchased by Lear in June 2000. Using history to make history, this unprecedented effort creatively fused technology, education, entertainment and information to rally Americans between the ages of 18 and 29, especially first-time eligible voters, to find their reason to register to vote.

The campaign was launched in November 2003 with an objective to motivate one million people to download voter registration forms at www.declareyourself.com; secure target-right local and national publicity and help drive 20 million young Americans to the polls on Nov. 2, 2004.

As a result, more than one million verifiable voter registration forms were downloaded in less than one year. In addition, the campaign's yearlong efforts garnered more than 350,000,000 media impressions in top-tier youth-focused and mainstream media outlets. The campaign also succeeded in driving more than 20.9 million young Americans to the polls, representing an increase of 4.6 percent since the 2000 election, the highest youth turnout in more than a decade.

"PRSA is extremely proud to honor Mr. Lear, his dedicated team at Declare Yourself and BNC, with the 2005 Best of Silver Anvil Award," said PRSA President & CEO Judith T. Phair, APR, Fellow PRSA. "The campaign's results were phenomenal - they indicate the power of public relations in communicating the importance of voting to the young people of America."

"The Declare Yourself campaign was chosen by a panel of judges as the Best of Silver Anvil because it clearly demonstrates the power and effectiveness of a well-researched, planned and executed public relations program," said David M. Imre, APR, 2005 PRSA Silver Anvil chair and president, Imre Communications, LLC. "This campaign motivated and enabled hundreds of thousands of Americans to register to vote in the 2004 election and that's a powerful reminder of what public relations and the Silver Anvil Awards are all about."

ABOUT BNC

Celebrating its 15th Anniversary, BNC is one of the top entertainment marketing and public relations firms in the country. The company is a member of the Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG) of agencies. With 130 employees in Los Angeles and New York, BNC has expertise in the entertainment, sports and lifestyle/pop culture arena.

BNC Consumer Marketing clients include Sony Computer Entertainment America (PlayStation), General Motors, T-Mobile, Columbia House, Tom Joyner's Reach Media Inc., Academy of Country Music, MAGIC/Advanstar, Jordan (Nike) and Guthy-Renker.

BNC Entertainment clients include Whoopi Goldberg, Cameron Diaz, Kate Hudson, Jessica Simpson, Jimmy Kimmel, Rebecca Romijn, Wayne Brady, Endemol, Paramount Home Entertainment, Maxim Magazine, ESPN, Vanity Fair, In-Style Magazine, TV Guide, That '70s Show, and Extreme Makeover-Home Edition.