Stella Artois dominates New York Festivals Innovative Advertising Awards wining eight gold world medals for stellaartois.com

LEUVEN, Belgium – 21st April 2007 – Stella Artois, the Gold Standard European lager which traces its roots back to 1366, today celebrated achieving new levels of excellence by winning eight Gold World Medals, including Best Consumer Targeted Website, for its ground-breaking and immersive www.stellaartois.com at the New York Festivals Innovative Advertising Awards. No other campaign or brand has ever been awarded with eight Gold World Medals in one year at this celebrated awards ceremony. This prestigious organisation recognises the world’s best work in advertising and programming.

Neil Gannon, global brand manager for Stella Artois, commented: “We are delighted to be recognised by such a high-profile group for the site we have developed and are so proud of. This only adds to the success and feedback that we’ve seen from the online community. We would like to thank the industry for recognising Stella Artois’ vision and innovation – we think our work is one of the first steps in the future of immersive websites.”

Three aspects of the site were acclaimed in this year’s New York Festivals awards. La Bouteille, a short film created especially for the site that provides revolutionary navigation around the www.stellaartois.com and will never be seen in traditional advertising slots; Le Courage, which provides a series of challenges online to inform and entertain visitors to the way in which Stella Artois might have been made in the past; and Le Passage, an interactive narrative regarding the development of the brewery in Leuven, Belgium through history, as told by its founder.

The full list of Gold World Medals won by www.stellaartois.com are as follows:

* La Bouteille – Best Consumer-Targeted Website – Gold World Medal
* Le Courage – Beverages: Alcoholic – Gold World Medal
* Le Courage – Best Consumer-Targeted Website – Gold World Medal
* Le Courage – Best Integrated Campaign – Gold World Medal
* Le Passage – Beverages: Alcoholic – Gold World Medal
* Le Passage – Corporate Information – Gold World Medal
* Le Passage – Best Design – Gold World Medal
* Le Passage – Best Integrated Campaign – Gold World Medal

A multi-national team from Lowe Worldwide’s agencies in Stockholm, London and South Africa created and oversaw production of the website, which launched in September 2007 to online critical acclaim. Since its launch the site has experienced a ten-fold increase in visitors over the previous site, with each visit average of close to six minutes, well above the industry standard of 45 seconds.

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About Stella Artois

Stella Artois, a brand of ‘Supreme quality and worth’, is one of InBev’s global brands. It sold 10 million hl in 2007. With roots tracing back to the Den Horen brewing enterprise in 1366, in the Belgian city of Leuven, it is now available in over 80 countries. For further information, visit www.stellaartois.com

About New York Festivals

The New York Festivals, formerly known as the Interactive and New Media Awards, recognizes the best innovative marketing and advertising ideas in non-traditional media. New York Festivals was the first to create an international competition recognizing the importance and marketing value of innovative media. New York Festivals (NYF) now in its 51st year, is an International Awards Group (IAG) Company. Recognizing The World’s Best Work™ in advertising and programming, IAG and its other advertising brands, AME, Globals and Midas, honor advertising and marketing in global communications through eight annual competitions.

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