Matt’s Blog on Cityfriends

SAVE up to 50% and make the summer holidays more affordable with a new range of offers on games, DVDs, books, clothes, travel and more from DiscountVouchers.co.uk

Don’t let the school holidays break the bank this summer, with a new range of special offers and discounts on everything from computer games, music and DVDs to travel ideas, holiday clothes and books, all available at www.DiscountVouchers.co.uk

With the start of the summer holidays just around the corner, parents can keep their children entertained and save money, with offers from over 300 leading brands such as Borders, Game, HMV, Miss Selfridge, and Nike.

Current offers include 20% off books ordered online at Borders – ideal for holiday reading; 10% of CDs and DVDs and free delivery at CDWow; three CDs for £10 at HMV; up to £79 off a Sony camera at Jessops; and up to 50% off a range of clothes at Miss Selfridge and New Look.

DiscountVouchers.co.uk also features a range of travel offerssuch as save up to 40% at Disneyland Paris and up to £100 off Hoseasons holidays for a last minute summer escape.

Simon Terry, managing director of DiscountVouchers.co.uk, says: “The summer holidays can be an expensive time for parents, but a bit of savvy shopping can make them much more affordable in terms of entertaining children at home or overseas. DiscountVouchers.co.uk is continually updating the site with new offers, so whether parents need DVDs and games, or savings on holiday clothing, the site features easy to search discounts in one place.”

All offers on DiscountVouchers.co.uk are updated in real time to ensure visitors get the latest summer holiday savings as they are launched. The result is an easy to use site that can quickly be searched by store name, latest deals, and most popular offers.

The site also features a growing range of savings at stores such as Boots, Currys, Debenhams, Heal’s, John Lewis, Play.com, and more.

To get the latest discounts and offers for summer visit www.discountvouchers.co.uk.
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About DiscountVouchers.co.uk
DiscountVouchers.co.uk features the latest offers and savings from a growing range of retailers, all updated in real time. Designed to help consumers save money with both leading high street brands and specialist retailers, DiscountVouchers.co.uk offers one of the widest choices of money saving offers.

Part of ASAP Ventures Ltd, the company behind the award winning Carrentals.co.uk price comparison site, DiscountVouchers.co.uk is committed to offering a growing range of the best savings available online.

For more information visit www.discountvouchers.co.uk


Media Contact
Rachel Builder & Debbie Williams
Context
T: 01625 511966
F: 01625 511967
discountvouchers@contextpr.co.uk
www.contextpr.co.uk - Melanie Bull 03-07-2009

The exceptional antioxidant drink will soon be available online at OCADO

Mile High (www.milehighdrinks.com), which conveniently provides your daily antioxidant requirement in just one bottle, will soon be available to 13.5m households in the UK. The cherry and red grape drink will be on sale at Ocado (www.ocado.co.uk) from 6th July 2009.

**SPECIAL SUMMER PROMOTION: Mile High will be sold for just £1 per bottle at Waitrose and Ocado throughout July 2009**

Stuart Roberts, naturopathic nutritionist, creator of Mile High and director of the company, said: “Mile High is already available at selected Waitrose stores in England and Wales and is growing in popularity month-on-month. Now, we are proud to work with the award-winning online supermarket, Ocado, to ensure our drink is available to even more households nationwide”.

Cherry and red grape Mile High has been available in selected Waitrose stores since September 2008. The drink has proven popular thanks to its delicious taste and exceptionally high antioxidant levels, which appeal to the growing number of health conscious consumers in the UK.

Antioxidant comparison chart

Drink - Average published ORAC* units per 250ml
Mile High - 3,600
Apple juice (cloudy) - 1,500
Orange juice - 1,200
Tomato juice - 275

Each 250ml bottle of Mile High is made with cherries, red grapes, aloe vera and ginger, and is free from preservatives, additives, colourings, artificial ingredients and contains no added sugar.

Roberts said: “We are aiming high with this drink, as we truly believe it is a healthy, nutritious and great tasting product that is perfect for this gorgeous summer weather. People are becoming more interested in boosting their health through nutrition and Mile High offers a convenient option for busy people. Now that Mile High is available online via Ocado we are looking forward to more and more people being able to enjoy our drink”.

-Ends-

Notes to editors:

*Antioxidant strength is measured in Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) units. ORAC measures how many oxygen radicals a specific food can absorb and deactivate. The more oxygen radicals a food absorbs, the higher its ORAC score, and the better a food is at helping our bodies fight diseases like cancer and heart disease.

For samples, high resolution images, more information on the ORAC test results, a copy of the media kit or to arrange an interview with Mile High Drinks, please contact Helen Lewis at helen@milehighdrinks.com or call +44 (0) 7904801669.

Mile High typically retails for £1.49 per bottle.

Mile High Drinks is an official sponsor of The Vulcan To The Sky Trust (www.vulcantothesky.org).

Further information can also be found at http://www.milehighdrinks.com.
Sales and distribution enquiries should be directed to info@milehighdrinks.com
Stuart Roberts, managing director – stuart@milehighdrinks.com +44 (0)7880755774
Clare Pughe, sales manager – clare@milehighdrinks.com +44 (0) 7734489522

- Helen Lewis 03-07-2009

Award winning web design agency, Fabric Interface, today announces the launch of their new website: www.fabricinterface.com

Interface was founded in 2006. Since then, it has grown into a significant agency with a reputation for graphic design excellence alongside expertise in online and web-based marketing. The agency’s portfolio includes clients from a diverse range of different industries, including arts & media, education, recruitment, charity, finance and retail.

The new site showcases examples from the London-based agency’s portfolio, and also provides insight into Interface’s core values and the structured processes it works to throughout the course of a project.

Founder and Managing Director, Mike Staines (FRSA), comments:

“In addition to developing a traditional agency site with a strong focus on showcasing portfolio examples, we also wanted to provide visibility of the processes we work to, as these define how we work with our clients and underpin each project and its success.”

“Our clients frequently comment on the high level of project management and ongoing support we provide and we wanted to use the new site to bring these aspects of how we work to people’s attention alongside actual examples of our design and development work.”

Interface’s new website also features news of the recent launch of Interface Container – a new hosted application designed by the agency’s developers which provides secure online file-sharing and file-storage, developed with digital media and film agencies in mind.

Says Mike Staines: “Interface Container has been developed following a number of conversations we’ve had with business looking for a simple to use digital asset management application they can use to share documents and files of different types either internally or with trusted partners.”

Usage of Container ranges from film companies who want to demonstrate cuts and edits to clients, through to photographers who want to preview images to picture editors and also financial companies who want to share private documents - both internally and externally.

Mike concludes: “So far, the feedback we’ve received has been incredibly positive and now news of Container is appearing on the new site, we are anticipating significant take-up.”

Fabric Interface is a subsidiary of Fabric Technologies and news of the launch of the new website and release of Interface Container has been welcomed by group Chairman, Simon Kentish who comments:

“Mike and his team have designed a fantastic new website which is every bit as visually impressive as it is content-rich and easy to navigate. This, alongside the launch of Interface Container marks a milestone in the company’s continued growth and success.”

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Note to Editors

Fabric Interface provides astute web design and application development, helping businesses reach and interact with their market.

In line with the Fabric philosophy, Interface make technology work for the people who use it, not the other way round.

For all press enquiries, please contact Nick Hardy:

Email: nickh@fabrictechnologies.com
Telephone: 020 7841 6752
Mobile: 07764 476188
Web: www.fabricinterface.com

- Mike Staines 03-07-2009

Standards-based Approach Enables Real-time Localization of Ads Using Digital Overlays SAN FRANCISCO & SUNNYVALE, Calif. - RGB Networks, the leader in network video processing, and OpenTV (Nasdaq:OPTV), a leading software and technology provider of advanced digital television solutions, have developed a joint demonstration that shows how cable television operators can use the companies’ advanced, standards-based advertising [...]

European performance-based marketing specialist Aedgency is rolling out its integrated portfolio of online marketing services to a sixth European market, Switzerland. Its local market specialists will be introducing Swiss advertisers to its results-driven business model. Aedgency has invested in an entirely new web presence in both French and German to help clients to better understand how to deploy Aedgency’s EDGE method to maximise results.

Aedgency’s services provide privileged communication channels between brands and online consumers. The company’s integrated technology suite provisions a branded range of EDGE Communications Channels that deliver targeted offers, cashback and email marketing. Aedgency is able to differentiate its offering through an investment in a bespoke analytics engine that supports extremely granular targeting across all of these channels.

Vincent Labey, CEO of Aedgency, explained: “During this period of economic downturn we have a pragmatic vision of online marketing. Our exclusive technology-based strategy focuses on data analytics and behavioural segmentation. This allows Aedgency to offer customers personalised services at precisely the right time, helping us to increase our conversion ratio and drive clients’ profits.”

With this rollout Aedgency is now serving an opt-in user base of over 14 million consumers across France, Spain, the UK, Germany, Italy and Switzerland providing market-specific expertise across each of these territories.

“We have been offering interactive marketing services in Europe since 2004 and have already built an opt-in user base of over 14 million across the Continent”, said Labey. “We’ve been expanding steadily, but in stealth mode, over the past five years and our move into our sixth national market signals our intention to put the company at the forefront of the European online marketing scene.”

Notes for Editors:

The privileged communication channels that Aedgency offers in each market include:

Contextual Offers: By generating its own traffic in Europe, Aedgency offers smart targeting to enable segmented offers on the basis of context.

Email marketing: Aedgency helps brands engage with consumers directly by sending relevant offers direct to a user’s inbox within twenty four hours of them running a web search on similar products or services as identified by Aedgency’s analytics engine.

Aedgency Cashback: Consumers receive contextual offers from vendors in Aedgency’s shopping network either through customer-facing web portal Deenero or via a downloadable toolbar.

For full details of Aedgency’s integrated product suite please visit www.aedgency.com

About Aedgency

Headquartered in Dublin with offices in Barcelona, Aedgency offers performance based digital marketing which offers a gateway to privileged communication channels between brands and e-buyers.

Founded in 2004 Aedgency has been growing rapidly ever since and now operates across six European markets. Aedgency’s focus is on increasing advertisers’ conversion rates and it places equal emphasis on monetising its publishing networks and independent publishers’ websites.

Aedgency offers brands access to millions of online consumers across Europe. Its bespoke analytics engine uses deep contextual segmentation to closely target users through the communication channel that is most likely to get a result. Through Aedgency’s deep understanding of data it is able to predict exactly what a web user is looking for and offers four routes to a sale, Contextual offers, Email marketing, Aedgency Cashback and Aedgency Publishing.

For full details of Aedgency’s integrated product suite please visit www.aedgency.com/

For further press information, please contact:

Andy Riley, AxiCom
T: +44 208 392 4073
E: andy.riley@axicom.com - Stephen Orr 02-07-2009

PR Company Punch Communications recently bolstered its SEO offering to clients through the employment of a Social Media and SEO specialist to join the agency’s expanding team.

Alex Smith has joined Punch to create and manage SEO campaigns for new and existing clients in order to boost Google rankings and drive traffic to their websites.

As the recession shows no signs of abating any time soon, businesses across the UK are looking for alternative methods of driving additional traffic to their sites in an effective and cost-efficient way. Through an effective SEO campaigns Punch clients have already seen themselves listed on the first page of Google which has had a significant effect on website traffic.

Pete Goold, Managing Director of Punch Communications, commented: "Here at Punch we have always prided ourselves on being at the forefront of technological developments and Tech PR but with the employment of an SEO and social media specialist we can now offer a complete SEO function to our clients which is an integral part of any PR campaign, particularly as the recession continues and businesses are increasingly looking for alternative ways to drive traffic to their websites and boost sales. By coupling traditional PR methods with digital PR businesses can continue to have a print and online presence helping them to ride out the recession.”

Since its beginnings in 2003 Punch has grown year-on-year and now employs eight members of staff at its Leicestershire offices working with clients from a variety of sectors including Automotive, Construction, Retail and Professional Services amongst others.

Punch is continuing to thrive in these tougher economic times and as a result is hiring again, for further details on PR Jobs and a career with Punch, please visit the website at punchcomms.com or call the office on 01858 411 600 and ask for Pete.
- Pete Goold 02-07-2009

In bed with... Volume One

The most seductive soundtrack ever, hand-selected by art, fashion, media and music luminaries and raising funds for Shelter.

Cherry-picked by Mr & Mrs Smith's favourite tastemakers

‘It’s not everyday you get asked to get into bed with Lauren Laverne and Howard Marks. The Smiths asked some of our favourite bon viveurs to reveal their bedtime musical secrets and the result is a staggeringly enjoyable and brilliantly surprising romp through a genre-hopping array of the classic and the contemporary where Marc Almond, The Do, Neon Neon, Terry Callier and Television all turn out to be unpredictable but perfect bedfellows.’
Rob Wood, Mr & Mrs Smith’s Tunesmith/Music Concierge

Eclectic bedfellows

V V Brown, Jo Wood, Dylan Jones and Russ (Cuban Brothers) are among those revealing their sexiest tunes on this new album from boutique travel experts, Mr & Mrs Smith. A compilation as inspiring as the Smiths’ hotel recommendations…

Marc Almond That Dress (exclusive track) - chosen by Roland Mouret (designer)
Sufjan Stevens To Be Alone With You - chosen by Lauren Laverne (DJ/broadcaster)
Television Marquee Moon - chosen by Natasha Law (artist)
The Dø On My Shoulders - chosen by Tom Aikens (chef)
Neon Neon I Lust U - chosen by James Lohan (founder of Mr & Mrs Smith)
Jenny Lewis Black Sand - chosen by Tamara Salman (creative director Liberty)
Love Alone Again Or - chosen by Howard Marks (author and bon vivant)
Terry Callier Dancing Girl - chosen by Tiffanie Darke (editor Sunday Times Style)

‘After our ‘Something for the Weekend’ music series came to an end, we wanted to create a new collection of compilations with a similarly eclectic track list, but through a more diverse and imaginative selection process. And the fact we can make a contribution to Shelter is close to all our hearts. As for the line-up, it is genuinely inspiring and we really don’t think you’ll find any other albums quite like it out there. A huge thank you to all involved.’
James Lohan, founder Mr & Mrs Smith

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

• Over 20% of the profit from every CD sold goes to Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity (shelter.org.uk; 0808 800 4444)
• Released through Spark (0870 460 5439; spark-me.com).
• Priced £12.99 available from www.mrandmrssmith.com/shop
• See the full Smith hotel collection at mrandmrssmith.com/all-our-hotels
• Follow the Smiths at Twitter.com/smithhotels
• Read our Blog at blog.mrandmrssmith.com
• Book a hotel through the Smith Travel Team on 0845 034 0700
• For more information on Spark contact Matthias Bauss on 0870 460 5439.

AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW

James Lohan (managing director Spy Publishing, aka Mr Smith)

James began his professional life organising legendary London clubnights ‘Come Dancing’, (voted the best party in the world by FHM Magazine back in 1999) and DJing at clubs across the country. Before becoming one half of the couple behind Mr & Mrs Smith, James ran his own company, Atomic Events and in 2001, co-founded the White House, South London’s first members bar and restaurant. As his stamina started to fade he swapped guest lists for guest books and naturally, he turned his attentions to boutique hotels. While he has officially hung up his headphones (apart from friends’ weddings, bar mitzvahs and anywhere else that will take him), he continues to be a keen music aficionado and he loves working with Rob Wood, Smith’s resident Tunesmith, in bringing the Smith CD series to life.

Since Mr & Mrs Smith’s first guidebook was published under the Spy Publishing imprint in 2003, Smith has grown under James’ entrepreneurial eye from a labour of love to a multi-faced boutique travel provider.

The introduction of an online booking service in 2005 and an in-house reservations team in 2006 shifted the business in an exciting new direction. The company has developed a three-tiered membership programme, which includes a full travel and lifestyle concierge service, and has attracted over 75,000 active members. The Smiths’ latest projects include launching the Smith brand in the USA and opening an office in Australia to expand into the Asia-Pacific region, as well as introducing a 24-hour telephone booking service for luxury travellers worldwide.

‘What a fantastic set of tracks. I am thrilled to be involved – and how brilliant that a donation goes to one of my favourite charities, Shelter.’
Michelle Ogundehin editor-in-chief, Elle Decoration

www.mrandmrssmith.com/inbedwith

For review copies, information or artwork, contact Sabine at Spy Publishing
email: Sabine@mrandmrssmith.com direct line: +44 (0)20 8987 6980 - Sabine Zetteler 02-07-2009

London, 2 July 2009 – Scotland’s Royal Highland Show, in cooperation with RURAL TV - the world’s rural channel - now reaching into over 10-million homes in the UK, ran a pre-event advertising campaign that helped this year’s show attract a record smashing attendance.

The four day show, a signature fixture to Scotland’s year-long series of homecoming events, set a new attendance record over its four days with 176,522 people coming through the gates at the Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston, Edinburgh. The figures far exceeded the previous record set in 2006 by over 15,000 and the 2009 attendance was 15,496 more than last year’s 161,026.

Show Manager David Dunsmuir said of the promotional ads run on RURAL TV, its web site and other outlets, “With increased exposure on television, the show once again re-inforced its position as one of Scotland’s top events. There may be a recession out there, but we are obviously offering something that’s in demand, both by the farming and the general public.”

Since launching in the UK in March of 2009, RURAL TV has solidified its place as the world’s rural channel, offering innovative programming specific to rural, farming and equestrian lifestyles. In addition, the channel has earned a dedicated following for the variety of country music and entertainment programmes it currently offers, nearly exclusively, to the UK and Europe.

RURAL TV helped the Royal Highland organisers deliver the central messages of the show, including broader marketing for Scotland’s Homecoming events. “We worked with the show’s promoters to cut and air compelling adverts that spotlighted the best aspects of the Royal Highland, as well as focusing on the unique features of the local agricultural community ,” said Dan Kripke, VP and General Manager for RURAL. “Our channel is unique in that it is able to effectively deliver innovative and unique programmes of broad interest to a core audience. RURAL TV caters directly to the rural world and provides the perfect platform for delivering strong advertising messages to the heart of the rural community.”

RURAL TV, is available in the UK on Sky 279 and Freesat 403. The channel has begun airing promotions for their next event, the Royal Show, running July 7 to 10 at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire. For more details, please visit: www.ruraltv.tv.

-ends-

Notes to Editors: For more information and a complete programme schedule, please visit www.ruraltv.tv. For additional information, photos or images, please email: sarah@ruraltv.tv

About RURAL TV, Ltd.: RURAL TV is the World’s Rural Channel. Launched in the United Kingdom in March of 2009, RURAL TV is the first 24-hour international, multi-media television channel dedicated to farming, equestrian, rural lifestyle, and traditional country entertainment programming. Located on SKY channel 279 and Freesat 403, RURAL TV is distributed into over ten (10) million television homes throughout the UK. RURAL TV’s operation headquarters are located in London, England. Video streaming and VOD originates on the company’s web site www.ruraltv.tv. RURAL TV is owned and operated by Rural Media Group, Inc..

About Rural Media Group, Inc.: Rural Media Group, Inc. is a privately held Delaware-based “C” corporation which owns and operates the world’s largest portfolio combining rural-based satellite/cable delivered media and entertainment companies including RFD-TV (2000) which reaches over 40 million U.S.homes, RFD-TV The Magazine (2003) published bi-monthly with 155,000 paid subscribers, RFD-TV The Theatre (2007) headquartered in Branson, Missouri, and RFD HD (2008) which produces and delivers high-definition video content. Corporate headquarters are located in Omaha, NE with production operations in Nashville, TN, and affiliate sales originating in Dallas, TX.

RURAL TV
1 Stephen Street
London W1T 1AL
+44 (0)20 7131 6695

Rural Media Group, Inc.
3201 Dickerson Pike
Nashville, TN 37207
001(615) 227-9292


- Sarah Chase 02-07-2009

the Rubicon Project opens London office; Justin Thomas recruited as Director of UK Publisher Development

Former Commercial Director of Xelector named as first appointment in the UK

LONDON, UK – July 2, 2009 - the Rubicon Project, the Internet advertising infrastructure company, has made its first UK hire. Justin Thomas has been appointed as Director of UK Publisher Development with responsibility to strategically support publishers in the UK to help them optimise and monetise advertising inventory.

Justin Thomas brings ten years of UK internet experience from previous roles at AOL and Xelector across disciplines including commercial strategy, business development, sales and marketing. He will be based in London, reporting to the company’s new Vice President and General Manager, International, Jay Stevens who recently joined from MySpace.

In recent weeks, the Rubicon Project announced plans for international expansion to allow online publishers in the UK and Europe to benefit from its Ad Network Optimisation (ANO), which is powered by patent-pending SmartMatch™ technology. This uses billions of pieces of proprietary market data to match each online publisher advertising impression to the best money-making opportunities from online advertising networks. Thomas will also introduce the Rubicon Project’s brand protection programme to resolve issues of online advertising quality, channel conflict and advertising network serving speed for premium publishers in the UK.

Thomas joins from online price comparison service Xelector, where he implemented strategic partnerships with publishers including Tesco, MSN and The Telegraph, delivering significant revenue growth for the company. As Commercial Director he had overall P&L responsibility, defined the strategy and proposition and spearheaded marketing activity including the launch of new product offerings. Prior to Xelector, Thomas spent seven years at AOL Europe in sales and business development roles creating bespoke online advertising initiatives, including microsites and targeted sponsorships, for major advertisers such as Interflora, DatingDirect, GAME and Blockbuster.

Jay Stevens, Vice President and General Manager, International for the Rubicon Project, comments, “Online publishers in the UK could be achieving higher CPMs and greater revenue than they are now. the Rubicon Project is the perfect solution for premium publishers trying to build an effective sales channel management model. Justin’s industry experience makes him suitably placed to work with online media to help them effectively manage their sales channels, improve the performance of online advertising networks and increase the yield from their online advertising inventory.”

Justin Thomas, Director Publisher Development, UK the Rubicon Project, adds, “My background includes developing new revenue streams for online publishers and working for a major international publisher, so the opportunity to apply that experience to help premium web publishers increase their revenue from online advertising seems like the right next step in my career. I was attracted to the pedigree of the people working for the Rubicon Project and the innovation of the technology. I recognise how valuable the product will be in helping UK premium publishers manage, optimise and increase their advertising sales revenue.”

Thomas began his career at AOL in 1999 as a partner marketing executive and has a BA in Business Economics from University of California at Santa Barbara. He will be based in offices at 48 Charlotte Street, London W1 2NS. the Rubicon Project is seeking further staff for its London office.

The Rubicon Project is sponsoring the AdMonsters Network Ops Forum, co-hosted with IASH, taking place at 60 Cannon Street, London, EC4N 6JP on July 15, 2009.
Interested in meeting with Justin Thomas and other members of the Rubicon Project team? Follow Justin Thomas on twitter at @JustintRProject for more details on times and location of various events being hosted by the Rubicon Project during the week of July 13th and throughout the summer.

About the Rubicon Project
Based in Los Angeles, the Rubicon Project launched in 2007 and set on a mission to automate the $65 billion global online advertising industry. Responding to one of the largest problems plaguing website publishers today – monetising ad space that goes unsold (as much as 70 - 80 percent) across a fast-growing number of global ad networks – the Rubicon Project pioneered the category of Ad Network Optimisation (ANO). Backed by $33 million in funding from Clearstone Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, and IDG Ventures, the Rubicon Project developed its patent-pending Smart Matching™ technology, which uses billions of pieces of proprietary market data to match each publisher ad impression to the best money-making opportunities from ad networks.

The company serves more than 1500 premium customers (publishers like Gannett, CareerBuilder, Washington Post/Newsweek Interactive and YellowPages.com) by optimising more than 40 billion ads each month across hundreds of demand sources. Reaching more than 500 million unique Internet users, the Rubicon Project is one of the largest sources of ad inventory and reach on the Internet and the preferred source of targeted, audience-segmented inventory for ad networks and other resellers, many exclusive, around the world. The unique combination of demand optimisation and SmartMatch™ technology drives revenue lift ranging from 30-300% for the Rubicon Project’s customers.

Contact:
the Rubicon Project
Devan Fearman
Devan@rubiconproject.com
+ 310-207-0272

Joanna Burton
Crescent Communications
Joanna.Burton@CrescentCommunications.co.uk
+44 20 3170 5617

- Joanna Burton from Crescent Communications 02-07-2009

Canadian Dakar team Rally4Life will put this offroader through its paces at the Bowler test facility in Derby, UK on 8th July.

Canadian rally driver Mark Jennings-Bates teams up with Dakar veteran Mick Extance next week in the UK to get an introduction to the vehicle they will be driving in the 2011 Dakar for the Bowler-Offroad team.

Jennings-Bates who has been active in the Canadian rally scene since 2005 has teamed up with Dakar veteran, Extance for his latest adventure, the Dakar Rally in 2011. Extance, who is the highest placed Briton in the Dakar and holds numerous records from his several attempts so far has agreed to co-drive for the team, something that Jennings-Bates feels is critical to their
success. “As far as I am concerned, the person in that co-drivers seat is driving the car as much as any driver. Without complete cooperation between the driver and the co-driver and an instinctual understanding of how each other works, the optimal speeds for each day of the event can never be attained. As Derek Ringer, WRC co-driver once stated, driving fast in rally is the easiest thing to do! Finishing and placing high is not easy. I am really excited that Mick has agreed to share his wisdom of this prestigious event and work with us” said Jennings-Bates.

With the Bowler factory team offering the duo a seat in their factory Nemesis for 2011, they are now free to focus on their in-car relationship, which starts with a training day in Derbyshire on July 5th. The media are welcome to attend and interviews will be available with driver and co-driver as well as team principal, Drew Bowler.

All the action will be captured by Antares Media, who will producing a two-part documentary on their challenge. It will also have full multi-platform support giving glimpses of progress not only in training for the Dakar and the race itself but the other "challenge" the drivers have set themselves!

Entering the Dakar 2011 is not enough for Mark and Mick. They have decided to highlight the plight of people on this planet who do not have ready access to clean water and sanitation. Every 15 seconds a child dies because of lack of this problem. The number of people in this situation is staggering as at the last count it stood at two billion, six hundred thousand! "Our goal is to raise $4m for FeViva and JustADrop charities to help alleviate these problems" added Leesa Beeson, the teams publicist.

-30-

Contact:

For media access to the test day, please contact:

Drew Bowler ?drew@bowler-offroad.com

Mark Jennings-Bates ?mark@rally4life.org

About Bowler Offroad:
Bowler Offroad is the manufacturer of off road racing vehicles based on the Land Rover Defender, Discovery and Range Rover chassis. The company is located in the village of Hazelwood, near the town of Belper in Derbyshire, in the United Kingdom. The company was founded by Drew Bowler who originally designed and produced the Bowler Tomcat which evolved into the Bowler Wildcat. In December 2007 the manufacturing rights to the Wildcat were sold by Bowler to Qt Services, to provide support to existing Wildcat owners while Bowler concentrated on production of their newer vehicle, the Bowler Nemesis.

About Mark Jennings-Bates:
Since he was a teenager, Mark Jennings-Bates, one of Western Canada’s top rally competitors has been drawn to adrenaline adventures. After emigrating to Canada in 1988, Mark has been actively involved in adventure pursuits including climbing, paragliding, dog sledding, sailing, Himalayan mountaineering and now rally driving. He has always enjoyed the opportunity to be completely focused on a singular goal in these types of adventures. Mark is also successful Realtor in the Okanagan area.

About Mick Extance:
Google his name and you will find all you need to know about Mick Extance from his shoe size to his favorite food and of course his amazing history with bikes. Mick has achieved so much in his lifetime and he is THE most successful British Dakar rider. The Dakar is known for being the hardest rally in the world covering 9000km across some of the toughest terrain on the planet. Mick however, is not content with being the first Brit across the finish line on his last three attempts. Mick’s goal for January 2011 is to be the first British entrant to have ever finished the Dakar on a motor bike and subsequently in a car.

About DAKAR:
The DAKAR began in 1977, when Thierry Sabine got lost on his motorbike in the Libyan Desert during the Abidjan-Nice Rally. Saved from the sands in extremis, he returned to France promising himself he would share his fascination in this area with as many people as possible. He proceeded to come up with a route starting in Europe, continuing to Algiers and crossing Agadez before eventually finishing at Dakar. Due to political instability in Africa, the Dakar was run in South America in 2009, the first time the race took place outside of Europe and Africa.

Since then, the Paris-Dakar has never failed to challenge surprise and excite. Over the course of almost thirty years, it has generated innumerable sporting and human stories. The rally’s history and stories are testament that the Dakar is above all else a sentimental and emotional affair. The competitors are most attached to this dimension. More information and previous DAKAR winners can be found at: www.dakar.com - mark jennings-bates 02-07-2009