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IFSA Strongman Increases Broadcast Coverage and Receives Name Brand Recognition on ABC Prime Time; ''Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'' One of Four Significant IFSA Strongman Athlete Castings in the Past 12 Months
Business Wire, June 22, 2006
LONDON -- IFSA Strongman (OTCBB:ISMN), the exclusive manager of the top strongman athletes, rights and events worldwide, reported today that it is starting to get significant traction in casting its professional strongmen in TV and big screen entertainment releases. Several IFSA Strongman professional athletes have been recently featured on popular, mainstream media programs, including the widely popular ABC primetime program, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."
Van Hatfield (USA), an IFSA Strongman pro, appeared April 21 and 22, 2006, on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," singly pulling a semi-truck load of new furniture and appliances down the street with large metal chains. "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" airs on ABC Sundays 8/7 central and boasts over 15.8 million viewers in its second season, an increase of 4.7 million viewers from its first season. The show ranked number one in its hour in the second season for Total Viewers across adult, teens, and kids demographics.
Jon Anderson (USA), another IFSA Strongman pro, appears in a 2006 ESPN commercial advertising ESPN's new mobile service. The commercial was aired during the 2006 Super Bowl, ranking #2 among all commercials aired during Super Bowl XL. ESPN's new mobile service provides access to ESPN via digital video, interactive television, podcasting, and wireless platforms. According to ESPN, the average American spends 48 minutes per day with ESPN. Anderson's appearance promotes recognition and awareness of both himself and the IFSA Strongman brand.
Rene Minkwiz (Denmark) and Juha-Matti Rasanen (Finland) appeared on "l'Ete de Tous les Records" on TV3 in France, a European version of Guinness World Records. Minkwiz and Rasanen are both IFSA Strongman pro athletes.
Recently, Rene Minkwiz also appeared with two of his IFSA Strongman pro team members, Heinz Ollesch (Germany) and Phil Pfister (USA), in a big screen Kung Fu movie produced by Sahamongkol Film International. The three strongmen filmed the majority of this big screen production in Thailand.
Prior to these significant castings over the past twelve months, IFSA Strongmen have been featured in other mainstream television programs, such as IFSA Strongman pros Jeff Dolan and John Anderson participating in "Man Against the Machine," and another pro athlete appearing on MTV's "True Life." Most notably in 2004, previous IFSA Strongman Nathan Jones (a.k.a. "The Megaman") had a "large" role in the blockbuster movie "Troy," starring Brad Pitt. Jones was cast as Boagrius, the enormous 360 lbs, 6'11 1/2" warrior who fought Achilles (Pitt) during the first fighting scene of the movie. "Troy" grossed nearly $500 million worldwide.
Jussi Laurimaa, CEO of IFSA Strongman, stated, "Capitalizing on the familiarity of our athletes around the globe and increasing their 'hero'-appeal through mainstream entertainment releases is central to our strategy. Our fans are beginning to say that the next Hulk Hogan will be a strongman, except that he will be no theatre-piece, but for real." Laurimaa continues, "This all comes on the heels of our core media deals announced last week that will further improve both the quality and reach of our title series."
IFSA Strongman's 2006 television production and distribution will be extended, through a recent agreement with Sports TV Media Distribution and Sports TV Production International, to 219 countries representing 90% of the global market. With the recent appearance of several IFSA Strongman athletes in the mainstream media marketplace, the IFSA Strongman media presence is on a solid path in 2006.
IFSA Strongman - the principal owner of the Strongman brand, sport and entertainment - spent most of fiscal 2004 and 2005 securing the key rights to the strongman sport and athletes through acquisitions and contracting. The Company is now launching its planned growth initiatives, which are expected to grow revenues multi-fold in the coming years. A billion people worldwide have seen the strongman sport, and the Company has an estimated market share of over 77 percent. IFSA Strongman is currently leveraging this exposure and brand recognition through its strategy. The Company is an integrated media, entertainment, and athlete representation company principally engaged in the development, production, and marketing of television programming, pay-per-view programming, live events, and the licensing and sale of branded consumer products featuring both the Company's brand and the brands of the over 80 athletes from over 30 countries it represents. The Company is also widely recognized as the World Governing Body of the strongman sport with over 30 national member federations across the world. For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.IFSAStrongman.com.
Included in this release are certain "forward-looking" statements, involving risks and uncertainties, which are covered by the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to certain factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, events and performance to differ materially from those referred to or implied by such statements. In addition, actual future results may differ materially from those anticipated, depending on a variety of factors, including uncertainties relating to global political conditions, such as terrorism. Information with respect to important factors that should be considered is contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The company does not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this release to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in its expectations, except as may be required by law.
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