Hawthorne Direct DRTV Spot for Medifast Earns "Best in Category" Creativity Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Short Form spot for Medifast's new "5 & 1" weight-loss plan earns Platinum Award in the Infomercial category in the annual Creativity Awards competition.

FAIRFIELD, IA – Hawthorne Direct announced this week that the 2007 Creativity Awards competition has recognized its Medifast direct response television spot with a coveted Platinum Award. The spot that Hawthorne produced for Medifast's innovative new weight-loss program brought home the Platinum in the Video/Film: Infomercial category.

There are numerous awards advertising excellence competitions, but a Creativity honor remains highly prized. To win a Platinum Trophy, the Creativity Awards jury of design and advertising professionals must judge an agency's work as "Best of Category." Accordingly, the competition awards only one Platinum Award per category each year.

Hawthorne infused its Creative and Production departments with even more talent early last year, bringing in three industry-tested leaders -- Creative Directors Paul Allen and Don Dougherty, and Executive Producer Steve Schott. Allen and Schott were responsible for fashioning the award-winning creative that formed the foundation for Medifast's winning campaign. Hawthorne designed the Short Form ad to generate direct sales of the Medifast program.

The spot introduced Medifast's clinically proven weight-loss program, designed to take off pounds gradually so they stay off for good. For its "5 & 1 Plan," Medifast sends meals directly to your door--enough for five meals a day, and a sixth you can eat with your family. Medifast balances its meals' carbohydrates and proteins in advance, so the only thing participants have to do is eat the meals that the program provides.

According to Founder, Chairman and Executive Creative Director Timothy R. Hawthorne, the Creativity Award will assume an honored position in the agency's increasingly crowded trophy case. "When your peers judge you the best -- not one of the best, but the very best -- it's a tribute to the whole Hawthorne team. Plus it's great recognition that we did our very best for the fine folks at Medifast."

Hawthorne Direct is a full-service direct response advertising agency specializing in Short Form television, Long Form television, Digital, Mail and Print. Hawthorne is celebrating 21 years of excellence in direct response television. The agency is a founding member of the Electronic Retailing Association (ERA) and a valued member of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and the DMA Broadcast Council. For more information about Hawthorne Direct, go to www.HawthorneDirect.com.