Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. was named the winner of the Dentsu Advertising Grand Award, taking the highest honor in the Japanese advertising industry.
The recipients of the 55th Dentsu Advertising Awards were announced by the Dentsu Advertising Awards Screening Committee, an independent body.

The final selections were made at the General Meeting of the Dentsu Advertising Awards Screening Committee,convening at 11:30 a.m. on May 31 at the Imperial Hotel in Chiyoda Ward,Tokyo. In addition to the Dentsu Advertising Grand Award, Dentsu Advertising Awards, Dentsu Advertising Associate Awards
(for two categories, Newspaper Advertising and Television Advertising), Division Awards and Excellence Awards for outstanding work were determined for six categories: Newspaper
Advertising, Magazine Advertising, Poster Advertising, Radio Advertising, Television Advertising and Sales Promotion.
The awards also include the Public Service Awards and the Special Award for the Year. The latter is selected from among the winners in each category and honors advertising work that created particular excitement in the industry and made a strong impression on consumers.

Area Awards were given for outstanding work in advertising in the three regions of Nagoya, Kyushu and Hokkaido.

The awards will be presented at the 55th Dentsu Advertising Awards Ceremony, to be held on July 1 at the Pamir International Convention Center in the New Takanawa Prince Hotel, in Tokyo.

The winners were selected from among advertisements that ran between April 1, 2001, and March 31, 2002. A total of 2,645 entries were submitted to the Screening Committee, with 587 of these being considered during the final selection phase.

Regional screenings were conducted in the five areas of
Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Kyushu and Hokkaido beginning in November 2001.The works selected during this initial process were then narrowed down to a set of finalists at a meeting of the Final Selection Committee held in Tokyo from May 28 to 31, and these were then presented at the General Meeting of the Dentsu Advertising Awards Screening Committee on May 31 for determination of the final award winners.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., which claimed the Dentsu Advertising Grand Award, was recognized for superior performance in its overall advertising activities.This was reflected in its receipt of a Dentsu Advertising Award in two of the six categories, Newspaper Advertising and Magazine Advertising.Matsushita Electric Industrial also received a Dentsu Advertising Associate Award in the category of Television Advertising, five Division Awards in the categories of Newspaper Advertising, Magazine Advertising, Poster Advertising, Radio Advertising and Sales Promotion, as well as an Excellence Award for outstanding work in the category of Television Advertising.

Other companies receiving Dentsu Advertising Awards were the Japan Railways Group for Poster Advertising, Skymark Airlines Co., Ltd. for Radio Advertising, NTT DoCoMo Tokai, Inc. for Television Advertising, Wacoal Corp. for Sales Promotion
and Suntory Limited for a Dentsu Advertising Associate Award
in the category of Newspaper Advertising.

The winner of the Public Service Grand Award, which is chosen from among advertising works of nonprofit organizations, was the Japan Organ Transplant Network.

The Special Award for the Year, chosen from among all award-winning works and presented to the advertiser whose work had the greatest impact on both the advertising industry and general consumers, went to NTT DoCoMo Tokai, Inc.

55th DENTSU ADVERTISING AWARD WINNERS

Dentsu Advertising Grand Award
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Dentsu Advertising Awards
Newspaper; Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
Magazine; Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
Poster; Japan Railways Group
Radio; Skymark Airlines Co., Ltd.
Television; NTT DoCoMo Tokai, Inc.
Sales Promotion; Wacoal Corp.
Public Service Grand Award
Japan Organ Transplant Network
Special Award for the Year
NTT DoCoMo Tokai, Inc.

[Please note: Photos of the winners of the above Awards are available.Please contact Takafumi Hotta (tel: 81-3-5551-5923).]

All of the award-winning advertising works will be exhibited at the Dentsu Gallery in Tokyo from July 8 to 18 and at four regional offices (Dentsu Inc. Kansai, Dentsu Inc. Chubu, Dentsu Hokkaido Inc. and Dentsu Kyushu Inc.)
according to a schedule to be determined shortly.

About the Dentsu Advertising Awards

The Dentsu Advertising Awards were established in 1947 for the purpose of raising the standard of advertising planning and creativity in Japan.Awards are presented to advertisers who have contributed to progress in the advertising field by conducting superior planning and employing superior techniques in their advertising work during the previous year. The awards are referred to as the "Grand Prix" of Japan's advertising industry, and it is said that "the history of the Dentsu Advertising Awards is the history of postwar Japanese advertising creativity."

Since 1958, selections have been made by the Dentsu Advertising Awards Screening Committee, an independent nationwide organization chaired by Mr. Gaishi Hiraiwa.The Screening Committee membership, which currently has 535 members from various regions of Japan, primarily comprises advertisers, media executives, producers and prominent members of the academic, business and cultural communities.