First Annual AdVision Awards Honors Best Russian-Language Advertising.

Web-based competition draws on entries and viewer input from around the world

NEW YORK -- Global Advertising Strategies, a multicultural marketing communications firm based in New York City, has teamed up with Channel One Russia to launch the first-ever awards competition recognizing the best in Russian-language advertising. The 2006 AdVision Awards will reward the best in TV advertising across the Russian speaking markets in the United States, Canada and Israel.

For AdVision's inaugural year, 167 entries were submitted across eighteen different categories. Submissions from independent producers to major advertising agencies, such as McCann-Erickson Israel and Ethnic Channels Group Canada, will be judged by an impressive panel featuring the most creative and successful figures in the Russian business community. Acknowledging that consumers are ultimately the most important judges, AdVision organizers invited viewers and visitors to rate the entries and show support for their favorite commercials online at AdVision's website (www.advisionawards.com). Viewers from 100 different countries, with significant numbers coming from the U.S., Canada, and Israel, participated in the online contest, demonstrating the growing viewing power and preferences of Russian communities around the world.

"We're extremely pleased by the enthusiastic response we've received from both advertisers and viewers to the launch of this competition," said Givi Topchishvili, CEO of Global Advertising Strategies. "It's a great display of the growing interest in reaching out to this demographic and the large strides being made in Russian advertising."

So far, voting has shown that the most popular commercials have come from companies as diverse as Yoplait to Aeroflot to Northwestern Mutual. The highest rated commercial by viewers will receive a special Viewers' Choice Award. The four highest rated commercials in each of the eighteen categories, which include Hard Liquor/Beer, Telecom and Luxury Goods, will constitute the nominees to be reviewed by the judges' panel. Voting closed on December 3 and the winners for all categories will be announced on Thursday, December 7 at a gala ceremony in New York City.

The 2006 AdVision Awards is focusing on broadcast advertising but expects to cover print, radio, out-of-home and interactive marketing in the years to come, as well as expand to encompass entries from more countries around the world. Through the AdVision Awards, organizers hope to contribute to the continued rise in overall quality and standards of Russian-language advertising in the U.S. and abroad.

Joining Global and Channel One Russia in supporting the event is a list of premier sponsors, including Gevril, Landy Cognac, and Northwestern Mutual.

Selected to this year's judging panel are some of the most prominent figures in the media and business community in Russia:

* Leonid Yarmolnik, actor and producer

* Alexander Shulgin, musician, composer, and TV producer

* Georgey Gavrilov, music video and movie producer

* Constantine Shipov, creative director, BBDO Moscow

* Gabriel Fulopp, chief executive officer of BigBoard advertising agency, Moscow

* Anatoly Deloveri, general representative of Aeroflot in the U.S.

* Leonid Blechman, general director, Israel Plus 

* Ekaterina Vinokurtseva, Editor-In-Chief, Advertising Industry Magazine

* Svetlana Ivanova, vice-president advertising sales, RTVI

With 10.1 million Russian-speaking Americans, the AdVision Awards will unite Americans of Armenian, Azerbaijani, Baltic, Belarusian, Central Asian, Georgian, Jewish, Russian and Ukrainian descent. Research from Global Advertising Strategies indicates that the Central and Eastern European American market is growing 7.4% each year and is expected to spend $810 billion by 2008, surpassing the Asian-American market.

About Global Advertising Strategies

Global Advertising Strategies is a New York City-based consulting, marketing and advertising firm with a unique blend of niche and multicultural capabilities. Founded in 1999 as an expert in reaching Eastern and Central European markets, Global now connects companies with 29 different ethnic markets in the United States and abroad. Global's signature approach is based on creating sophisticated, strategic marketing solutions incorporating proven methodology and a highly informed cultural sensitivity for even the most challenging and complex international and multicultural projects. For more information, please visit: http://www.ethnicusa.com.