MARCO DE COMUNICACION AS WINS THE TOURISM OF PORTUGAL AND CLICKDREAMING ACCOUNTS

The most awarded agency for five consecutive years amplifies its solid portfolio of tourism clients with the incorporation of two new accounts

Barcelona/Madrid April 26, 2010. Marco de Comunicación, the most awarded Spanish PR agency for five consecutive years, has just added the Tourism of Portugal and ClickDreaming to its portfolio of clients

After the success achieved with the campaigns for the Tourism of Madeira, an account that is currently nominated for a European Sabre Award 2010 and which has already won thirteen awards at a national and international level, Tourism of Portugal has decided to confide in Marco de Comunicación´s ample experience in this sector for the development of Portugal´s communication campaign in Spain.

The most awarded Spanish agency for five consecutive years gains the account after an extensive public competition in which three other agencies from Spain participated. The public relations and communication plan is based primarily on press room activities, press trips, and special events as well as promoting the Tourism of Portugal´s participation in tourism conferences. The regions of focus include Porto and Northern Portugal, the center of Portugal, Lisbon, Alentejo, Algarve, Madeira, and Azores, giving coverage to the whole Lusitanian territory.

The team will be led by Diana Vall as Account Director, with Pablo Hernández as Account Manager and Bárbara Aineto as Account Executive.

Along with this, Marco de Comunicación will also manage the offline and PR 2.0 public relations campaign for ClickDreaming. The team will be directed by Patricia Montero as Account Director and Marta Fernández as Account Executive.

ClickDreaming offers its clients exclusive and high-quality photography vacations, taking especially care of every last detail. Each journey is led by a professional photographer who helps improve the photographic technique of participants. Along with photographic activities, ClickDreaming includes a complete program of activities, culture, and leisure on its trips.

Furthermore, ClickDreaming specializes in the organization of photography classes with a team of premier photographers.

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MARCO DE COMUNICACION AS ACHIEVES 3 CAMPAIGN FINALISTS IN THE EUROPEAN SABRE AWARDS 2010

• Marco de Comunicación is the only Spanish PR agency with multiple nominations in the European Sabre Awards
• Marco de Comunicación is hopeful to repeat as the most awarded independent Spanish PR agency for the sixth consecutive year after also having won 3 Global Mercury Awards last week

Barcelona, Madrid April 14, 2010. Marco de Comunicación obtains 3 finalist awards in the prestigious European Sabre Awards that recognize the best communication projects on a European level

These 3 finalist European Sabre Awards, in addition to the three Mercury Excellence Awards obtained at the beginning of this year, put Marco de Comunicación in position to repeat as the most awarded Spanish agency for the sixth consecutive year after having done so for the past five years in a row

Furthermore, Marco de Comunicación represents the only Spanish PR agency with multiple campaigns nominated in the Sabre Awards. Marco de Comunicación is a finalist in the categories “Travel and Tourism” for the public relations campaign “Body. Mind. Madeira. See It”, developed for the Tourism of Madeira and which has managed to double the number of Spanish tourists traveling to Madeira; the category “Advocacy, Crisis and Issues Management” for the campaign  “Beating Terrorism” for Ibatur which achieved minimizing the impact of the terrorist attempt in Mallorca and maintained the same number of tourists and visitors to the island as before the attempt; and finally, the category “Iberia” for the “First Free Store in Europe” campaign that launched the free-store, Esloúltimo that obtained massive popularity.

For Didier Lagae, General Director of Marco de Comunicación, “these new nominations recognize the strength of a great team as well as much dedication and enthusiasm put forth in order to achieve the best results for the clients of Marco de Comunicación. We share these awards with the Tourism of Madeira, Ibatur and Esloúltimo since their success is also ours”.

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MARCO DE COMUNICACION AS STRENGTHENS ITS CREATIVE TEAM

The most-awarded agency for the fifth consecutive year strengthens its creative team

Marco de Comunicación, the most awarded Spanish PR agency for 5 consecutive years, has fortified its creative team with the addition of Bárbara Guillén and Óscar Villalobos. Both new members support Marco de Comunicación´s structure which currently contains more than 40 employees shared between its head offices in Madrid and Barcelona. Both Guillén and Villalobos will work for the current clients of Marco de Comunicación pertaining to the consumer, corporate, internet, health, technology, and tourism sectors. They will also carry out communication and corporate identity campaigns, publicity campaigns, viral marketing, graphic design, and editorial design.

Bárbara Guillén, a Fine Arts Major from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and with extensive experience in different disciplines including graphic design, multimedia, and advertising, will lead the agency´s Creative Direction. Bárbara started her career as a multidisciplinary artist exposing her work in galleries such as the Kreisler of Madrid or the Foyer Gallery of London before later falling into the more creative side of the design world. Before joining Marco de Comunicación, Bárbara worked for the publicity and events agency Pool CME and Tragsega of Grupo Tragsa among others, carrying out integral development projects for online and offline plans. She has also collaborated on the development of campaigns for Naturgas, Palacio Euskalduna, Le GrandMag, Incoesa, Ihobe, Reccon, Sharp, farmaconsulting Ministerio de Medio Ambiente and Medio Rural and Marino, Comunidad de Madrid, Junta de Andalucía, Junta de Extremadura, and Parques Nacionales.

Óscar Villalobos is Marco de Comunicación´s new Designer for the development of online campaigns in the creative department. Óscar has a degree in Publicity and Public Relations from the Universidad San Pablo CEU and a Masters in Art Direction from CICE. Before joining Marco de Comunicación, Óscar worked in the graphic design department for publicity agency Bassat Ogilvy as well as for the editorial Negocio al Día as graphic designer fronting online corporate identity and editorial design projects.

In addition, Marco de Comunicación´s previous Creative Director, Fernando Vaquero, will be relocating to London where he will continue to collaborate with the agency doing freelance designing.

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PADOVANI CONFIDES IN MARCO DE COMUNICACION AS THEIR CHOSEN PR AGENCY

The most-awarded agency for the fifth consecutive year has gained the Padovani account

Marco de Comunicación starts the new year in full-force with the incorporation of PADOVANI to its client portfolio in the consumer sector. At the start of the year, the Italian jewelry brand confirmed that it will confide in Marco to carry-out its public relations objectives.

PADOVANI brings a dynamic and modern twist to the world of jewelry and accessories with their fashionable, high-quality pieces made for both women and men. The women´s line is directed to she who is determined, daring, and confident in herself. PADOVANI is defined as a complement to fashion rather than simply a piece of jewelry. Each PADOVANI Donna collection is named after a woman and is characterized by lightness with a subtle touch of seduction.

Men should not be forgotten, as PADOVANI shows how men´s jewelry and accessories continue to be an evermore popular trend. Its men´s line consists of the collections SPECIAL, SPORT UOMO, SPIRIT OF ITALY, and LUCKY YOU, UOMO. The PADOVANI man is one who is original and elegant, fashionable and cares for his image.

Marco de Comunicación is excited to form a partnership with the Italian brand and plans to spread the brand´s awareness while generating maximum visibility amongst PADOVANI´S clients. The agency has high expectations for the success and growth of the brand.

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MARCO DE COMUNICACION ADDS 3 NEW MERCURY EXCELLENCE AWARDS TO ITS EXTENSIVE COLLECTION

Marco de Comunicación repeats as most awarded agency for the fifth consecutive year

Marco de Comunicación achieves recognition in one of the top public relations and corporate communications competitions

Marco de Comunicación continues to be the most awarded PR agency in Spain, recently obtaining three new Mercury Excellence Awards in the 23rd Annual International Mercury 2009/2010 Awards competition for the Tourism of Madeira and Disney Store campaigns.

The campaign entitled "Body. Mind. Madeira. See It", adds 2 new awards to its collection, including a Bronze Mercury Award in the “Publicity: Holiday Media Coverage” category and an Honors Mercury Award in the “Special Events: Media/Press Tour” category. Last year the company achieved a Golden Mercury Award as well as 2 Golden and 2 Bronze Mercury Awards the previous year, now totaling 7 Mercury Awards for Madeira Tourism. The PR campaign, which focused mainly on press trips to Madeira, drew over 200 media appearances, including 94 features on television for a total of more than 12 hours, thus reaching a total audience of over 213 million contacts. The real advertising value in media coverage is 6.4 million Euros. The campaign´s ROI achieved over 8100% percent and the number of Spanish tourists going to Madeira has increased by 105% over the last three years as a direct result of the PR campaign.

Furthermore, the media event "Experience the Magic: It Wouldn’t be Christmas Otherwise" for Disney Store obtained an Honors Mercury Award in the “Special Events: Brand Awareness/Recognition Category,” adding to last year´s Silver Mercury Award. The media coverage generated 121 clippings, including 7 TV and 7 radio broadcasts. Total LIVE prime time TV reporting on leading TV Channel Tele Madrid totaled over 18 minutes with a total reach of 42,495,143 Opportunities To See and Total Real Advertising Value of the coverage was over 2 million Euros. The campaign tripled the originally established coverage objectives and obtained a ROI of 14.850%.

The Mercury Excellence Awards represent the international recognition of the most successful public relations campaigns and enhance the brightest industry professionals worldwide. On the call this year, the Excellence Awards received over 760 entries from 21 countries including Antigua West Indies, Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, People's Republic of China, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. Reni L. Witt, President and Founder of the Mercury Awards highlights: "The merit of achieving a Mercury Award is a significant recognition of the distinction –a distinction of which one has to be proud of-. It is a privilege to be part of the firms regarded internationally as the best in what is a exemplary practice of communication".

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MARCO DE COMUNICACION CONTINUES GROWING WITH NEW INCORPORATIONS TO ITS MADRID OFFICES

Marco de Comunicación, the most awarded independent Spanish PR agency for five consecutive years, announces new additions to its Madrid offices. The new incorporations strengthen the structure of Marco de Comunicación which currently consists of more than 40 professionals shared between its bases in Madrid and Barcelona.

Laura Ardanaz, appointed as Senior Account Executive of the communication plan division for InterfaceFLOR and Habitat. Laura has a Degree in journalism from the Universidad de Navarra. Before joining Marco de Comunicación, Laura gained experience by working for Diari de Tarragona and Televisión de Tarragona. In the past two years, she has worked in corporate communication for Román y Asociados.

Ruth Alonso, joins the Marco de Comunicación team as Account Executive for the TRESsemé and Cyden accounts. Ruth graduated with a Degree in Translation and Interpretation from the Universidad Alfonso X and completed a Masters in Publicity and Business Communication from ESIC. She has worked for Bassat Ogilvy in the consumer department and as Junior Account Executive for Medialuna Pleon´s health department.

Paula del Rio is incorporated to Marco de Comunicación as Account Executive and will realize the communication plans for Disney Store and Mentirosa. Paula graduated from the Universidad San Pablo CEU where she studied Audiovisual Communication, later continuing to receive a Masters in Publicity and Business Communication from ESIC. Before joining the Marco de Comunicación team, Paula worked in the communication department for Pfizer pharmaceuticals and as director in the film department of Sogecable.

Andrea Bagney joins Marco de Comunicación as Account Executive for the Easy Viajar, Valle d´Aosta, and Mucho Viaje accounts. Andrea has a Degree in History and Politics from the University of London. Before starting at Marco de Comunicación, she worked for the weekend section of Diario Expansión as well as on a cooperation project for the South of India, including the ¨India City¨ event where numerous businesses collaborated.

With these new additions, Marco de Comunicación will continue relying on their strong human team in order to separate itself from the restrictive trends dictated by the crisis, meanwhile confronting a new year with optimism.

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MARCO DE COMUNICACION ACKNOWLEDGED BY EL PUBLICISTA AS MOST AWARDED PUBLIC RELATIONS AGENCY

Marco de Comunicación repeats as most awarded agency for the fifth consecutive year

Marco de Comunicación shares the podium with publicity agencies Shackleton, Publicis, MPG, McCann Erickson, and Euro RSCG

Marco de Comunicación is confirmed as the most awarded Spanish public relations agency for the fifth consecutive year according to a ranking published this week by El Publicista.

Marco de Comunicación is the only Spanish public relations agency to have won a European Excellence Award both in 2007 and in 2008. Furthermore, it is the first and only Spanish public relations agency to have received a Global Mercury Award. The agency obtained 4 Global Mercury Awards in 2008 and 5 in 2009 for various communication campaigns recognized as the best at a world level. Additionally, it has been the only Spanish agency to have won a European Sabre Award two years in a row, both in 2008 and 2009.

In 2009, Marco de Comunicación was the only European agency to complete the milestone of climbing the finalist podium at the European Sabre Awards with campaigns for three distinct clients: Monster, Tourism of Madeira, and The Body Shop. In this same year, the work of the agency again received the European Sabre Award for the best campaign in the Travel & Tourism category for the second consecutive year.

It´s work throughout recent years for Tourism of Madeira, which caused the number of Spanish visitors to the archipelago to double in only two years, has been widely recognized at both a national and international level, attaining it a total of three Global Mercury Awards, a European Excellence Award, and a European Sabre Award.

In 2009, Marco de Comunicación further received two silver Global Mercury Awards for The Disney Store and The Body Shop, and two bronze Global Mercury Awards for Disney Channel and eBay, adding to the two golden Global Mercury Awards and the two bronze awards received in 2008.

Furthermore, Marco de Comunicación was a finalist in the European Excellence Awards last year for its crisis communication management for the Balear government after the ETA terrorist attempts last summer.

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MARCO DE COMUNICACION MOVES INTO NEW OFFICES IN MADRID

Marco de Comunicación, the most awarded Spanish PR agency for five consecutive years, announces the change in location of its new Madrid Offices. This move expresses the agency´s choice for renovation and integration which will provide a new surrounding that conforms to the necessities of the company.

The new offices are located in one of Madrid´s business zones on Calle Caleruega 81, joint with Arturio Soria, an area easily accessible by the M11/M30 and A1 as well as by metro lines 1 and 4.

This new location responds to the agency´s innovative spirit and offers a more ample and functional space for both its clients as well as for the diverse teams that frame the company.

Endowed with 365 square meters, the new offices house a total of 30 professionals led by Carolina Beguer as Office Head. Another highlight includes the new Showroom for their clients´ products, with an exclusive Versaflex design. In this way, Marco de Comunicación can develop its strategic and creative capacities in an ideal surrounding.

¨With a new year, we have decided that the moment of change has arrived for the whole Marco de Comunicación team. We want to leave behind a year marked by crisis in the sector and face new challenges and new growth expectations. Therefore, our new offices answer to our intention of continuing as one of the Spanish PR agencies of reference in the market¨, comments Didier Lagae, CEO of Marco de Comunicación.

The agency confronts 2010 with optimism and follows the current trends of the largest companies by moving to a new business-centered zone.

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MARCO DE COMUNICACION WINS 5 GLOBAL MERCURY AWARDS

Marco de Comunicación is the first and only Spanish agency to obtain this award

Marco de Comunicación, the most awarded Spanish PR agency for the fourth consecutive year, has won five Global Mercury Excellence Awards 2009 with the PR campaigns for Tourism of Madeira, The Body Shop, Disney Store, Disney Channel and eBay.

The campaign entitled "Body.Mind.Madeira.See It", which last year was awarded 2 Golden and 2 Bronze Mercury Awards, repeats its success with the recognition of a new Golden Mercury Award. The PR campaign, which focused mainly on press trips to Madeira, drew over 200 media appearances, including 94 features on television for a total of more than 12 hours, thus reaching a total audience of over 220 million contacts. The real advertising value in media coverage is 7.1 million Euros. The campaign’s ROI is superior to 5,000% while the number of Spanish tourists who visited Madeira increased by 68% after 37% increase over the previous year.

The campaign "Nature's Way to Beautiful" for The Body Shop has been awarded with a Silver Mercury Award in the category "Special events: Press Conference". In just one month 155 press cuttings were obtained including magazines, newspapers, televisions and radios. A total of 48 media covered the double press conference, resulting in more than 130 million contacts and a real advertising value of 3,221,076 Euros.

The media event "It Wouldn’t be Christmas Otherwise" for Disney Store has been awarded a Silver Mercury Award in the category "Teens and Tweens". In just one month, the campaign achieved more than 87 media appearances, 7 and 5 interviews on TV and radio respectively. The campaign reached an audience of more than 55 million contacts and obtained a real advertising value of 7,337,391 Euros.

The Street Marketing action entitled "Crisis? Laughter It Off " for LoQUo, eBay Group, was awarded a Bronze Mercury Award, reaching coverage in 63 media appearances, including 13 features on television and 9 on radio. The Laughter Therapy event brought together hundreds of LoQUo users in Madrid to make fun of the crisis, obtaining news bulletin features in international television in Argentina, Slovenia and The Netherlands, among others. With this event Street Marketing reached a total audience of over 49 million.

Didier Lagae, CEO of Marco de Comunicación is pleased with the international recognition of the work quality fulfilled by the agency: "It is a honor for us to have received these recognitions for the second consecutive year. The Mercury Awards is the first international appointment relevant to our industry and these five awards put us in great position to repeat as the most awarded independent Spanish agency for the fifth consecutive year."

The Mercury Excellence Awards represent the international recognition of the most successful public relations campaigns and enhance the brightest industry professionals worldwide. On the call this year, the Excellence Awards have received over 970 entries from 23 countries including the West Indies, Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Spain, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Republic of China, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, UK and USA. Reni L. Witt, President and Founder of the Mercury Awards highlights: "The merit of achieving a Mercury Award is a significant recognition of the distinction –a distinction of which one has to be proud of-. It is a privilege to be part of the firms regarded internationally as the best in what is a exemplary practice of communication".

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MARCO DE COMUNICACION WINS THE EUROPEAN EXCELLENCE AWARD IN THE CATEGORY RELAUNCH

Marco de Comunicación repeats as European Excellence Award winner with its campaign Nature’s Way to Beautif for The Body Shop

Marco de Comunicación, the most awarded Spanish Independent PR agency for fourth consecutive year, wins an European Excellence Award for its PR campaign for The Body Shop, “Nature’s way to beautiful”.

The European Excellence Awards distinguishes the best PR campaigns in Europe. The 2008 edition received over 1,100 entrees. Among those, Marco de Comunicación succeeded in winning the category Relaunch with The Body Shop and in addition placing another two finalists, in the categories Travel and Tourism and Industry Associations with its promotion campaign for Tourism of Madeira which succeeded in enhancing the island’s popularity with Spanish tourists with a further 68.1% increase in incoming travel from Spain in addition to previous year’s 37% increase.

The PR campaign for The Body Shop, the original ethically committed cosmetic brand, was designed with the specific objective to reaffirm The Body Shop brand values and to launch two new nature-inspired products lines. The PR campaign which lasted from May to October 2008 comes after years of relative silence in terms of media relations and after its acquisition by L’Oréal. The campaign involved creating news through a series of activities. For starters the agency organized a press trip in May 2008 to Paris for editors and directors of top beauty and women magazines to present the new wellbeing range and the new mineral make up line. This was followed by personalized desk visits to key beauty editors to present The Body Shop brand values and identity as well as the product range to journalists who were unable to attend the press trip. During summer, Marco de Comunicación carried out a survey about wellbeing with Spanish consumers, linked directly to The Body Shop new Wellbeing range. After summer, two press events took place on the same day in Madrid. During the first press conference the survey findings and the Wellbeing range were presented. The second press conference presented the new Christmas lines.

Over the 5 month’s duration of the PR campaign a total audience of over 115 million contacts were reached with 142 published articles in print media for a Real Advertising Value of 2.306.835 Euros and a ROI of 14.418%.

Didier Lagae, founder and Managing Director comments:“The European Excellence Awards are together with the European Sabre Awards the most relevant sector recognition. We are very proud to repeat as winners this year with The Body Shop and in addition to have made the finals twice with our PR campaign for Tourism of Madeira, with which we also won a European Sabre Award earlier this year.”

André Sand, The Body Shop Head of PR for Europe, Middle East and Africa added: “It is very rewarding to receive this recognition from the jury of the European Excellence Awards, composed by the best professionals in Europe. Marco de Comunicación’s campaign has been fundamental to reaffirm our brand values and the commitment of The Body Shop with the community while highlighting our innovative nature-inspired products.”

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MARCO DE COMUNICACIÓN HOSTS THE BI-YEARLY ECCO AGENCY NETWORK MEETING IN MADRID

Marco de Comunicación, the most awarded independent agency in Spain for the last three years, has been responsible for organising the Fall 2008 ECCO Network Meeting which took place last week in Madrid. Thirty PR experts from all over the world have gathered to discuss and evaluate the current situation of the PR industry regarding the crisis. ECCO, composed by 35 independent PR agencies, is the fastest growing PR agency network and the 4th largest in Europe according to PR WEEK.

MdC has been a member of the ECCO network for 6 years. ECCO has over 60 million euro in fee billing as a network and presence in over 40 countries all across the globe. The network of independently owned agencies set up as a limited company with several founding agencies as shareholders. ECCO can therefore considered be considered a hybrid combining the best of global O&O PR firms (methodology, structure, reporting), but also involving the finest of independent local agencies that understand their markets and client needs. The combination gives the best local adaptation and execution of a global approach giving the best glocal results.

Fee billing growth for total of 2008 for ECCO overall is forecasted to be in the range of 15%. The fastest grower in the network is its Spanish member, Marco de Comunicación, with 60% growth from 1,2 million euros in 2007 to just under 2 million euros in 2008 for Spain only. These figures do not include the recently launched US operations where Marco de Comunicación opened an office in Miami before summer. Other relevant fee billing growths have taken place in The Netherlands and France, each growing about 20% YTY. This contrasts with countries that already see an impact of the crisis, such as Ireland with a decline of 25% of fee billing in 2008 or UK with a over 5% decline in fees in 2008 compared with 2007.

Forecasts for 2009 are complicated, as the impact of the economic crisis on the PR industry remains unclear. Based on the individual agency member forecasts ECCO looks at am organic growth of 5% in fee billing for 2009, compared to this year’s growth of 15%.

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