ROI wins 2005...

ROI WINS "BEST IN SHOW" & TWO GOLD MEDALS AT SECOND ANNUAL SERVICE INDUSTRY ADVERTISING AWARDS

Annandale, VA Agency's Work For The Ritz-Carlton Hotels And The National Football League Takes Top Honors

January, 2005: A panel of more than 40 judges for the international Service Industry Awards (www.SIAAwards.com) has awarded its "Best In Show" trophy to Return On Investment (ROI) for a body of work it created and produced for The Ritz-Carlton Hotels of Greater Washington, D.C. to promote special facets of their food and beverage offerings. Hotels represented by the work include The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, D.C., The Ritz-Carlton, Georgetown, The Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner and The Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City. The Annandale, VA-based marketing communications agency also received two gold medals and two merit awards in the competition among some 1,300 entrants from marketing agencies, companies and organizations in the United States and abroad.

ROI's "Best In Show" submission representing The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, D.C., The Ritz-Carlton, Georgetown, The Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner and The Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City included A La Carte, a lifestyle-focused newsletter with information of upcoming events; All Mixed Up, a bound copy of special cocktail recipes; Thought For Food, a bound copy of recipes from the four hotels' respective executive chefs and a direct mail piece promoting holiday events.

ROI also received two SIAA individual category gold medals. In the Newspaper category, the agency won for its North-East Corridor, a quarterly, lifestyle-oriented newsletter created for the nine Ritz-Carlton Hotels in Washington, Philadelphia, New York and Boston. ROI also received a gold medal in the Collateral/Special Publications category for the "marketing campaign in a box" it created in support of the National Football League's launch of its rewards-based, Extra Pointsi(TM); Visa® credit card. ROI's mission was create, produce and deliver in one, self-contained package all media needed to empower each of the League's 32 teams to market Extra Points(TM), the first-ever, sports rewards-related credit card program, in their respective local markets. Contained in the Extra Points(TM) Toolkit box, media created included customizable (by team), digital and print ready "take one" applications, direct mail, newspaper ads, radio scripts, telemarketing "voice blast" scripts and a coded promotional e-mail for online use.

In addition, ROI received two Merit Awards for its brochure work on behalf of Buckingham Mortgage (McLean, Virginia) and for an event invitation created for BEA Systems (New York). Other entrants into the SIAA competition included Four Seasons Resorts, Public Broadcasting System (PBS), The Kamber Group, Pacific Power, Medtronic, PacifiCare, La Salle Bank, Nuveen Investments, Verizon Wireless, USAA Insurance, Jet Blue Airways, Southern California Edison, Six Flags, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, The Edelman Group, Martin-Schaffer, Inc., Busch Gardens, Citi Financial, Banc of America Securities, Rocket Science Design, American Cancer Society and MetLife.

Headquartered in Annandale, Virginia, ROI is a full-service marketing communications agency serving local, regional and national clients in industries ranging from hospitality, telecommunications and automotive, to hi-tech, real estate and specialty retail. ROI also owns bullz-i(TM), a full-spectrum, online direct marketing service working with a range of public and private sector clients.

For more information, please contact David M. Nellis, Principal, at 7857 Heritage Drive, Suite 220, Annandale, VA 22003, at 703-813-5643, x223, at dnellis@roiadvertising.com or visit www.roiadvertising.com.