October 7, 2005, New York City
NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- XA, Inc. (XA) (OTCBB:XAIN), a major national event marketing firm that serves many Fortune 500 companies, reports that it has been selected by BT as the production and event agency of record for their third annual Gala benefiting Project Renewal in New York City on October 7, 2005.
This will be BT's third annual charitable gala and auction, titled "Connecting for a Better World - A Celebration of Life and Hope." Generous contributors helped raise $100,000 last year and all proceeds from this gala benefit Project Renewal, one of the nation's most effective organizations working to end homelessness in New York City.
The October 7th event will be at Capitale in lower Manhattan, with a cocktail reception, dinner, dancing, and both silent and live auctions. Sotheby's renowned auctioneer, C. Hugh Hildesley, will again conduct the live auction.
Live Auction packages will include sold-out tickets to the 2006 World Cup along with an impossible-to find four-night hotel reservation at Le Meridien in Munich. Among the other amazing items on the auction block is the chance to drive the car of your dreams for a day - with choices ranging from a Ferrari 360 Spider, to a 360 Modena or a Lamborghini Gallardo. The day will finish with a drive up the Hudson to Blue Hill at Stone Barns for a complimentary dinner at this working farm and exclusive restaurant located in the spectacular surroundings of the old Rockefeller estate.
Silent Auction packages will include a Shaquille O'Neal autographed jersey, a Links of London watch, a resort stay in Jamaica, an exclusive painting by Alexandre Charriol and a personal shopper from sHeBuys.
This spectacular event will also feature a musical performance by Debbie Harry of Blondie.
Sponsors purchasing full tables for $10,000.00 include Allstream, Avaya (NYSE:AV), BT, BT Infonet, BT Radianz, Cisco Powered (Nasdaq:CSCO), Hogan & Hartson LLP, iPass (Nasdaq:IPAS), Level 3 Communications (Nasdaq:LVLT), Paul Hastings, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, Proskauer Rose LLP, and the Pol family.
Sponsors purchasing partial tables are AT&T (NYSE:T), Broadwing (Nasdaq:BWNG), Celergy, CMMB, Financial Times, HSBC, Lanautilus, McAfee (NYSE:MFE), Morgan Franklin, MRINetwork, PR Newswire, Project Renewal Board Member -- Joan Ades, Project Renewal Board Member Alan Belzer, Ruder Finn, Scom, Starcomm Worldwide, Symantec (Nasdaq:SYMC), Synaptitude, and The Experiential Agency (OTCBB:XAIN).
Marketers spent $152 billion in event marketing in 2003, up about 15% since 2002. In 2003, budgets for event marketing reached an average of $901,935, according to PROMO's 2004 Event Marketing Study. (Source: PROMO Magazine, January 1, 2005)
About Project Renewal
Project Renewal's mission is to end homelessness in New York City. Since its founding in 1967, this pioneering organization has focused its efforts on the most vulnerable and neediest New Yorkers - men and women who, in addition to being without a home, cope with mental illness and addiction to drugs or alcohol. Project Renewal is unique in being able to provide "under one roof" all of the services that homeless people need to get off the street and attain health, homes, and jobs. This holistic progression of services begins on the street where mobile psychiatric and medical outreach teams - each of which was among the first of its kind - reach out to homeless people where they are struggling to survive. Once connected, Project Renewal's clients then move into residential programs to recover their health and learn to manage their mental illness or achieve sobriety. From there, they enter a comprehensive employment program, which helps them to prepare for, find, and keep good jobs. Permanent housing - which Project Renewal builds and operates - is the last element in this progression, completing clients' return to a self-sufficient life in the community. With a staff of nearly 600 - of whom over 35% are formerly homeless clients - Project Renewal reaches out to more than 13,000 homeless New York men and women each year.
About BT
BT is one of the world's leading providers of communications solutions serving customers in Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific. Its principal activities include networked IT services, local, national and international telecommunications services, and higher-value broadband and Internet products and services.
BT consists principally of three lines of business:
-- BT Retail, providing a comprehensive range of communications and
related services to more than 20m UK consumers and businesses.
-- BT Wholesale, providing network services and solutions within the
UK to more than 600 fixed and mobile operators and service
providers including the provision of broadband and private
circuits.
-- BT Global Services, providing networked IT services to meet the
needs of multi-site organizations globally. BT Global Services
operates in more than 130 countries and also offers international
carrier services.
In the year ended 31 March 2005, BT Group's turnover was (Pounds)18,623 million with profit before goodwill amortization, exceptional items and taxation of (Pounds)2,085 million.
BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York. British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group.
For more information, visit www.bt.com/aboutbt
About XA
XA is a holding company for several wholly-owned subsidiaries, one of which is The Experiential Agency, Inc., an Illinois corporation. The Experiential Agency, Inc. has offices in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles from which it provides corporations and highly visible brands with comprehensive event marketing, design and production services. Since 1989, the XA team has been the creative force behind prestigious, national projects for such clients as The NBA, Disney, McDonald's, British Telecom, Song Airlines, Eurex, Olympus, Salvatore Ferragamo, Vogue, W Hotels, ABN AMRO and Emirates Airline. In 2003 and 2004, Special Events Magazine ranked XA as one of the "Top 50 Powerhouse Event Companies in the World."
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In particular, when used in the preceding discussion, the words "believes," "expects," "intends," "will," "anticipated," or "may," and similar conditional expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Act and are subject to the safe harbor created by the Act. Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations and assumptions contained in the foregoing are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. It is possible that the assumptions made by management are not necessarily the most likely and may not materialize. In addition, other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include the following: business conditions and the amount of growth in the company's industry and general economy; competitive factors; ability to attract and retain personnel; the price of the Company's stock; and the risk factors set forth from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including but not limited to its annual report on Form 10-KSB; its quarterly reports on Forms 10-QSB; and any reports on Form 8-K. XA, Inc. (OTCBB:XAIN) takes no obligation to update or correct forward-looking statements and also takes no obligation to update or correct information prepared by third parties that is not paid for by the Company.