hawthorne direct Named Chris Awards Winner by the Film Council of Greater Columbus’ 53rd Columbus Film & Video Festival

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fairfield, IA- hawthorne direct, the direct response TV advertising agency, received recognition from The Film Council of Greater Columbus’ 53rd Columbus International Film & Video Festival, also known as the Chris Awards, for DRTV commercials for Evinrude E-TEC (with Cramer-Krasselt and Group Mojo), Wagner Control Spray, Hydro-Edge and AARP Finance & Well Being.

“We are pleased to earn recognition from the Chris Awards and look forward to continuing our quality of work,” said Timothy R. Hawthorne, founder, chairman and executive creative director of hawthorne direct.

hawthorne direct received the Chris Bronze Plaque for the Evinrude E-TEC infomercial (with Cramer-Krasselt and Group Mojo) and the Chris Honorable Mention for Wagner Control Spray, Hydro-Edge and AARP Finance & Well Being pieces.

Evinrude E-TEC Infomercial

This infomercial introduces a new and advanced outboard motor from Evinrude that is faster, tougher and needs less maintenance than other leading outboards. The objective was to create a documentary-style long form advertisement that highlights the design advantages of the new Evinrude E-TEC 2-stroke engine. The program compares the new E-TEC to the competition in head-to-head comparisons including a drag race between the Yamaha and Mercury 225 engines against the 225 E-TEC. All of the competitions were adjudicated by third party involvement and were independently documented by a separate documentary film crew. The creative features beautiful footage from speeding boats and overhead shots from a helicopter. The target audience was men 25-60, who love to fish and want the best, most efficient and reliable outboard motor available.

Wagner

This infomercial introduces the Wagner Control Spray, a revolutionary paint sprayer with “lock n’ go” technology that allows you to paint smart and paint fast. It gives you maximum control of both spray volume and pattern while delivering more paint, stain and sealer onto your weekend projects and less into the air. Demonstrations show how easy it is to use, and makes changing paints and stains, and clean up, fast and simple.

The show presents a backyard challenge with one family using brushes for a list of painting projects and their neighbor using the Control Spray to paint the same number of projects. The Control Spray finished all the projects before the family got half way through their projects.

Another demonstration features the painting of a local baseball field, with volunteers divided up into teams to seal wooden bleachers, paint the dugout and stain benches, and freshen up the concession stand over a weekend. Using the Control Spray, all projects were finished in one day.

A third head-to-head challenge features outdoor louvered shutters to be pained – one with a brush and one with the Control Spray. The Control Spray finished the job before the brush has finished one third of said shutter.

The Control Spray, for medium size projects, is appropriate for painting sheds and fences as well as painting crafts and personal projects. The unique design of the product dramatically reduces over-spray and allows for quick painting and cleanup.

Hydro-Edge

This two-minute spot introduces Hydro-Edge, the new lawn edging that also waters your garden. It comes with a built-in watering system that guarantees your plants will get properly watered. It is easy to set up, just put the Hydro-Edge around your garden area, install the sprinkler nozzles and attach to your garden hose. Each two-way sprinkler can be individually adjusted to reach plants near or far away.

The product includes 20 feet of edging, and it is possible to connect up to six 20-foot sections together for larger gardens. The spot shows how easy it is to set up the product in your garden to create a customized edging and watering system for $19.95. Bonuses include five additional adjustable nozzles and 10 Jobes outdoor fertilizer spikes.

It is easy to forget to water our flowers and plants and sometimes we just don’t have the time. With Hydro-Edge, just turn on the faucet and your garden will get watered properly. Hydro-Edge offers great results with less work, saves money and conserves water.

AARP Finance & Well Being

AARP was still primarily known as the “retired persons” organization. They had the image of a group devoted to the problems of elderly people and had a political image, which was not necessarily mainstream.

AARP tasked hawthorne direct with the revitalization of their new member acquisition program. By developing a DRTV campaign to specifically target 50 - 59 year olds to join AARP, the agency provided the middle aged audience with a new perspective about the advantages of membership and AARP’s value as a strong lobbying presence for them in Washington, D.C.

We focused on the issue of financial security, which is a burning question for people in their 50s who are thinking about what their financial situation will be like after retirement. Actual AARP members from the targeted demographic age range were used as talent to express their generation’s concerns about the financial issues related to retirement and their positive feelings about how AARP's various publications about retirement and discounted financial and health related services have helped them develop a more comprehensive plan for retirement.

The campaign created a nationwide educational push regarding AARP’s services and created a buzz in the media because of the new membership campaign targeting younger Americans. New memberships were acquired at an acceptable level of Cost Per Acquisition and ran from October 2004 through March 2005.

The Columbus Film Council was founded in 1950, by the late Dr. Edgar Dale, Professor Emeritus of The Ohio State University and other professionals interested in promoting the use of 16mm motion pictures. Two years later, the Columbus Film Festival was born. Since its inception, the objective of the Film Council has been to encourage and promote the use of 16mm motion pictures and subsequently, video tape in all forms of education and communication, not only in the local community but throughout the world. During these many years of continuous operation, the Festival has honored thousands of film and video producers. The Festival has grown in scope, becoming international in 1972, in the late 80s adding video, and in 1997 adding the CD ROM format. In 2004 the Festival added DVDs to its list of accepted formats.

The Chris Awards have made it a point to remain current with trends in production and distribution. The Festival also recognizes the written word, incorporating two key elements of the creative process, writing and marketing through its screenwriting and media of print divisions.

hawthorne direct is a full-service direct response advertising agency, specializing in creative and production, long and short form media buying, telemarketing/fulfillment management and integrated marketing.

For more information about hawthorne direct please see: www.hawthornedirect.com.