Gillette and Major League Baseball Team up to Take on Prostate Cancer; Gillette and Major League Baseball Renew Longest Running Sponsorship in Sports History

Business Wire, June 7, 2006

NEW YORK -- Gillette, part of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG), and Major League Baseball today announced a nationwide effort to help raise awareness of the risks, symptoms and benefits of early detection of prostate cancer. Gillette will become the presenting sponsor of the annual Major League Baseball Father's Day prostate cancer awareness initiative.

The joint Father's Day initiative, which benefits the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF), includes a league-wide recognition of prostate cancer awareness on Father's Day featuring exclusive blue-ribbon on-field branding. The "Home Run Challenge," now entering its tenth year, benefits the PCF and invites fans to make monetary pledges for each home run hit during select Major League Baseball games between June 7 and June 18. The "Home Run Challenge" has raised nearly $23 million to date.

The joint initiative features Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith as the spokesman. Ozzie is featured in a Public Service Advertisement which will air during select MLB telecasts. Gillette's support of the Father's Day initiative is an extension of the recently announced Gillette Prostate Cancer Challenge, a nationwide effort to help raise awareness of prostate cancer, the second leading cause of cancer deaths in American men.

"We're proud to continue our long-standing association with Major League Baseball and to be able to team up with the national pastime to raise awareness of prostate cancer," said Eric Kraus, Vice President of External Relations, Gillette.

"Gillette has long been a key partner of Major League Baseball and we are pleased to continue this unprecedented partnership," said Tim Brosnan, Executive Vice President, Business, Major League Baseball. "While many things have changed since our association began, Gillette's increased commitment to Major League Baseball and our prostate cancer initiative clearly illustrates how our relationship remains a key thread in the fabric of the national pastime."

Gillette and MLB today also announced a new three-year sponsorship agreement which will extend Gillette's designation as an official sponsor of the national pastime through the 2008 Championship season.

The new deal gives Gillette exclusive rights in several brand categories, including blades and razors, antiperspirant/deodorant, household batteries and men's skin care products. As part of the agreement, Gillette will make significant media commitments to national Major League Baseball rightsholders, as well as to "This Week in Baseball" Presented by Pepsi, produced by Emmy(R) award-winning Major League Baseball Productions, and to publications created by MLB Properties. Gillette also will be a participating sponsor of MLB All-Star FanFest, the interactive baseball theme park that opens Major League Baseball All-Star Week. This year, MLB All-Star FanFest will take place at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from Friday, July 7, through Tuesday, July 11.

Gillette- A Sports Marketing Pioneer

Gillette's partnership with Major League Baseball continues the proud history of sports marketing that dates back to 1910, when Gillette featured baseball greats like Honus Wagner in ads for the original Gillette Safety Razor. By the 1930s, Gillette was sponsoring sports on the radio - first boxing in 1935, followed by exclusive broadcasts of the World Series in 1939.

Since then, Gillette has maintained a close relationship with Major League Baseball, while also sponsoring World Cup soccer, NCAA basketball, NCAA football, NASCAR, the PGA TOUR, Champions TOUR, LPGA TOUR and the National Hockey League.

In 2002, Gillette became the exclusive naming rights sponsor to the home stadium and sports complex of the New England Patriots of the National Football League and the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer. Under the terms of the agreement, "Gillette Stadium" became the exclusive name of the 68,000-seat, state-of-the-art open-air facility in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

About P&G

Three billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world. The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers(R), Tide(R), Ariel(R), Always(R), Whisper(R), Pantene(R), Mach3(R). Bounty(R), Dawn(R), Pringles(R), Folgers(R), Charmin(R), Downy(R), Lenor(R), Iams(R), Crest(R), Oral-B(R), Actonel(R), Duracell(R), Olay(R), Head & Shoulders(R), Wella, Gillette(R), and Braun. The P&G community consists of almost 140,000 employees working in over 80 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.

About Major League Baseball Properties

The Major League Baseball Clubs formed Major League Baseball Properties (MLBP) in 1966 as the Club's agent for marketing and trademark licensing and protection. Major League Baseball Properties is responsible for managing consumer licensing activities, developing national advertising campaigns, cultivating sponsorship opportunities with major consumer brands and corporations, growing the game and the business of baseball outside the United States and creating national marketing programs in conjunction with Clubs, broadcast rightsholders and national sponsors. MLBP also operates a full-service video and audio production unit (Major League Baseball Productions), a publishing division and stock photo licensing agency, and manages logistics for the All-Star Game and World Series as well as all other special events. For more information on Major League Baseball, log on to www.MLB.com.