Brand Strategists, Design Gurus & Packaging Experts to Share their Ideas for the Future at Annual Conference; Event Organizers Expecting Biggest Turnout in Event History.

NEW YORK -- Top marketers and designers will convene at the Brand Identity & Package Design conference, April 18 - 20, 2005 at The Plaza in New York City. This annual gathering unites brand strategists, design gurus and packaging experts to share cutting-edge ideas that demonstrate growth and bottom-line impact through innovative brand strategy and design. The theme of the 2005 event is FUSE: The synergy of strategy, design and brand performance.

Headline speakers at the event include design gurus Bruce Mau, Chairman & Creative Director, Bruce Mau Design; John Maeda, Allen Professor of Media Arts & Sciences, MIT Media Laboratory; Clement Mok, Designer and "Instigator of Things"; author Virginia Postrel; anthropologist Grant McCracken; and brand leaders Jay Gouliard, Vice President, Packaging Research & Development, General Mills; Mary Ann Pesce, President, Personal Care Group, The Gillette Company; Jeffrey Keyton, Senior Vice President, Off-Air Creative & On-Air Design, MTV.

The impressive roster of speakers, including the large contingency of corporate practitioners, is what separates this event from other conferences. Insights will be shared by brand and design leaders from Dell, Dow Corning Corporation, Procter & Gamble, Philips, Colgate-Palmolive, Coors Brewing Company, National Basketball Association, SC Johnson, Texas Instruments, Schering-Plough, CVS Pharmacy, Nestle USA, Unilever, Microsoft, Dial, Hallmark Cards, Estee Lauder and Masterfoods USA.

Pre-conference sessions will be held on Monday, April 18, 2005. The multi-speaker symposium will focus on "Capturing the Global Market through Targeted Segmentation, Organizational Alignment & Strategic Design." Featured speakers at the symposium are Stanley Hainsworth, Global Creative Director, Starbucks Coffee Company and Stefan Sagmeister, President, Sagmeister Inc. Jonathan Asher, President, Dragon Rouge, will chair the pre-conference symposium. Two interactive workshops will provide attendees with the opportunity to learn one-on-one with industry experts. Workshop topics include, "Color ... Strategy & Impact" and "Packaging Innovation: How to break out of your brick, box, blister or bottle."

Conference co-chairs are Debbie Millman, President, Sterling Group and Cheryl Swanson, Principal, Toniq. Conference sponsors and supporters include Inwork, Webb Scarlett deVlam, Product Ventures, Harris Interactive, Xyron, Socratic Technologies, LAGA, Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario, Brandchannel.com, IDSA, Color Association of the US, and Packaging Digest.

Conference organizers are expecting the biggest turnout in event history. Registrations are currently being accepted and the $100 discount ends March 18, 2005. Group discounts are available. For more information and to register, call [phone], email [e-mail] or visit: www.iirusa.com/bipd. Please mention your priority code when registering: XM1707XPR 

About the Event Organizer

The Institute for International Research (IIR) is the world's largest conference company and has been the leader in the provision of business information for over 20 years. IIR produces over 5,000 events annually through our network of offices in over 35 countries. For further details please visit us online at www.iirusa.com.