For Immediate Release
D&M Holdings Inc. Announces “Makeshifters”
Online Home Theater Contest for Boston Acoustics and Denon
— Video-Sharing Contest Offers Total “Home Theater Makeover” for Grand Prize Winner —
MAHWAH, NJ, May 29, 2007 — D&M Holdings Inc. (TSE I: 6735) is launching an innovative web-based contest for Boston Acoustics and Denon Electronics in which consumers will be able to share homemade videos and photo essays for a chance to win a “Home Theater Makeover” featuring electronics gear, furniture and installation worth more than $17,000. The “Makeshifters” contest includes the participation of both consumer electronics giant Circuit City and leading furniture company La-Z-Boy.
Tell Your “Home Theater Horror Story”…
Consumers will be able to enter the contest via a specially created web site, www.makeshifters.com, where they’ll be able to post homemade videos and photo essays that tell personal “home theater horror stories” about their makeshift home entertainment systems. Such makeshift systems might include a mix-and-match of outdated components (for example: a 13″ CRT television hooked up to your grandfather’s 1960s-era stereo system, with PA speakers left over from your high-school garage band days).
In addition to being able to share their home videos and photos at the makeshifters.com web site, visitors will also be able to utilize Web 2.0 social networking features to interact by tagging, rating and reviewing entries, as well as virally spreading them, linking them to other sites and embedding them in emails or blogs. Entrants with the highest rated videos will be rewarded with a variety of prizes. The Grand Prize Winner will receive a total “Home Theater Makeover” that will include a high-performance flat-screen TV from Circuit City, premium electronic components from Denon and a complete Boston Acoustics surround-sound speaker package. Circuit City will provide the Grand Prize winner with a variety of DVD movies and music CD’s, and send its professional FiredogSM technicians to install the system in the winner’s home. The First Runner Up prize in the video contest will feature a La-Z-Boy recliner and a $500 Circuit City shopping spree; and four third-prize winners will each receive selected home entertainment components from Denon and Boston Acoustics. (The total value of all prizes is over $25,000.)
Noted Mike Angiletta, VP, Strategic Marketing, D&M Holdings, North America. “With the Makeshifters campaign, we’re getting consumers involved in a fun interactive contest that lets them express themselves and share their stories while learning about how Boston Acoustics and Denon products can help enhance their lives. The goal of the campaign is to highlight the visibility of both the Denon and Boston Acoustics brands, reach out to new, particularly younger audiences, and educate consumers about our premium quality home entertainment solutions. By utilizing an exciting and fun new Internet medium, we’re also hoping to help eliminate some of the intimidation people might feel about home theater in general.”
Rewards will also be available through monthly “Quiz Prizes, ” as well as “Everybody is a Winner” Circuit City $10 Gift Cards for all entrants. For more information about contest rules and available prizes, please visit www.makeshifters.com.
To create the Makeshifters viral video and photo sharing contest, D&M Holdings utilized vSocial’s advanced “vConnect Powers” online video-sharing technology, a complete Web-based offering that includes uploading, encoding, hosting, publishing, branding tools, user/usage tracking and even in-video advertising. It includes video channel, micro-site and community building tools, proven scalability for enterprise environments, and can be completely private labeled for large-scale deployments. With vConnect, licensees can set-up, customize and launch their own online video community in as little as an hour.
For further information, contact:
Adam Weissman
DBA Public Relations
1-212-388-1400
aweissman@dba-pr.com
About D&M Holdings Inc.
D&M Holdings Inc. (TSE I: 6735) is based in Kawasaki, Japan with North American headquarters in Mahwah, NJ and owns the Denona, Marantza, McIntosha Laboratory, Boston Acousticsa, Snell Acoustics, D&M Professional, D&M Premium Sound Solutions, Denon DJ, ReplayTVa and Escienta brands. Denon, Marantz, McIntosh and D&M Professional are global industry leaders in the specialist home theater, audio/video consumer electronics or professional audio markets, with a strong and long-standing heritage of manufacturing and marketing high-performance audio and video components. Boston Acoustics, with its signature The Boston Sound, is a leader in premium loudspeakers for home and automotive audio markets. Snell is a super premium speaker brand. The ReplayTV and Escient brands represent award-winning technologies in digital home entertainment. D&M Premium Sound Solutions manufactures high-quality, Hi-Fi audio products for the B2B automotive and consumer electronics markets. Additional information is available at www.dm-holdings.com.
Denon and Marantz are registered trademarks of D&M Holdings Inc.; McIntosh is a registered trademark of McIntosh Laboratory, Inc.; Boston Acoustics is a registered trademark of Boston Acoustics, Inc. and ReplayTV and Escient are registered trademarks of Digital Networks North America, Inc.
LA-Z-BOY
La-Z-Boy Incorporated is one of the world’s leading residential furniture producers, marketing furniture for every room of the home. The La-Z-Boy Upholstery Group companies are Bauhaus, Centurion, England and La-Z-Boy. The La-Z-Boy Casegoods Group companies are American Drew, Hammary, Kincaid and Lea.
The corporation’s proprietary distribution network is dedicated exclusively to selling La-Z-Boy Incorporated products and brands, and includes 340 stand-alone La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries stores and 207 La-Z-Boy In-Store Galleries, in addition to in-store gallery programs at the company’s Kincaid, England and Lea operating units. According to industry trade publication In Furniture, the La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries retail network is North America’s largest single-brand furniture retailer. Additional information is available at http://www.la-z-boy.com/.
CIRCUIT CITY
Circuit City Stores, Inc. (NYSE: CC) is a leading specialty retailer of consumer electronics and related services. The domestic segment operates through 643 Superstores and 12 other locations in 158 U.S. markets. The international segment operates through approximately 800 retail stores and dealer outlets in Canada. Circuit City also operates Web sites at http://www.circuitcity.com, http://www.thesource.ca and http://www.firedog.com.
Statements in this news release regarding D&M Holdings Inc. that are not statements of historical fact may include forward looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of the company. We wish to caution you that such statements are just predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. Forward looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties surrounding the integration of the company’s acquisitions, competitive and industry conditions, targeted cost savings programs, market acceptance for the company’s products, technological changes, developing industry standards and other factors related to the company’s businesses
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