Kobie Marketing Wins 8 Davey Awards for Outstanding Marketing Communications for Top Brands

St. Petersburg, FL (November 15, 2009) - Kobie Marketing, a leading loyalty marketing and technology agency, today announced it won eight 2009 Davey International Awards for outstanding marketing communications for Verizon, Bank of America and FairPoint Communications. With over 4,000 entries from across the US and around the world, the Davey Awards honors the finest creative work from the best firms, agencies and companies worldwide that derive their strength from brilliant and effective marketing campaigns, rather than big budgets.

The winning entries included a Gold Award for the Verizon Reward Time Newsletter; two Silver Awards for the Bank of America Perks Advantage Home Page; a Silver Award for the FairPoint Communications Statement Newsletter; two Silver Awards for the Verizon Business Link Rewards Statement Newsletters; a Silver Award for the Bank of America Twice as Nice Postcard; and a Silver Award for the Bank of America Statement Newsletter.

“We were once again excited to honor and recognize the amazing work submitted into this year’s Davey Awards and are humbled by the exceptional work we have grown accustomed to seeing year after year,” noted Linda Day, Executive Director of the IAVA. She added, “Even in these tough economic times, we continue to see top notch, high quality work being submitted, which is a true testament to the dedication and capabilities of our entrants.”

This year’s contest was particularly challenging, as the economic downturn forced many companies to slash marketing budgets and entrants faced stiff competition. In such a tough environment, Kobie Marketing was honored to win eight awards and demonstrated to clients and judges that effective marketing communications can be designed on any budget.

Kobie’s Creative team was integral to the success of this year’s entries and senior members of Kobie’s award winning Creative team, Rya Lauber – Creative Director; Laura Sayegh – Senior Art Director; and Deanna Gray – Senior Web Designer, were thrilled to accept this year’s awards. Said Rya Lauber, Creative Director, “At Kobie we consistently strive to produce highly creative, strategically smart work that generates excellent results for our clients. We are greatly honored when our efforts are recognized by influential members of the advertising community such as the International Academy of the Visual Arts.”

Winning the Davey Awards tops off an award winning year for Kobie Marketing, as it was also nominated for a DMA International ECHO Award and won three international Summit Marketing Effectiveness Awards for its work on Verizon’s, Bank of America’s and FairPoint Communications’ marketing campaigns earlier this year. To win another eight awards from such a prestigious organization, such as the International Academy of Visual Arts, is proof of the sophisticated creative and high caliber work that Kobie’s marketing team consistently provides to its clients.

Winning entries were selected by a panel of expert judges from top-tier marketing organizations including Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Yahoo, Estee Lauder, The Webby Awards, Polo, Brandweek, ADWEEK, MTV, Wired, Insight Interactive and Coach, among others.

About The Davey Awards

The Davey Awards honors the “Davids” of creativity, the smaller agencies, companies, or organizations with annual billings or revenues below certain levels. Each year, The Davey Awards honors winners who derive their strength from big ideas, rather than big budgets.

The Davey Awards is judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts (IAVA), an invitation-only organization consisting of top-tier media, advertising, and marketing professionals from the world’s leading organizations and firms. Current IAVA membership represents a "Who's Who" of acclaimed media, advertising, and marketing firms including: Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Yahoo!, Estee Lauder, Wired, Insight Interactive, The Webby Awards, Bath & Body Works, Brandweek, Polo Ralph Lauren, ADWEEK, Alloy, Coach, iNDELIBLE, MTV, Victoria’s Secret, HBO, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Myspace.com, and many others. Please visit www.iavisarts.org for a full member list and more information.