Cisco Announces 'Digital Cribs' Video Competition Winners

SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire - February 13, 2009) -

Highlights/Key Facts:

• Today, Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is announcing the winners of the Digital Cribs video contest in partnership with New York University's ProMotion Pictures and the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.



• Eight teams from NYU and USC submitted nonfiction short films in December 2008 featuring "digital cribs" that depict how people from all walks of life use consumer technology and their home network in new and exciting ways.



• There were two categories for the Digital Cribs video contest with NYU and USC:



• A brand winner from each university was selected by a panel of three Cisco judges. The judges critiqued videos based on adherence to a creative brief, the quality of casting, storytelling and originality. The brand winners each receive $5,000.



• A viewers' choice winner from each university wins a percentage of $10,000 in prize money, determined by the percentage of the total votes that their video received on digitalcribs.com. For example, a submission that received 80 percent of the total votes cast would receive 80 percent of the prize money, or $8,000.



• Brand Winners:



• NYU: Jacob Robinson, Ryan Heller, Heather Jack, Claire Harlam, Benedetta Arese Lucini, Anne Becker, Jessica Shain: "David Malan: Coolest Geek at Harvard"



• USC: Michael Koerbel: "David and Amy Wenzel"



• Viewers' Choice Winners:



• NYU: "Digital Architect" by Ryan Silbert and Matt Greenbaum received 31 percent of NYU video submission votes to win $3,100.



• USC: "Tim Ferriss's Digital Lifestyle" by Ross and Jeremy Cohen received 23 percent of USC video submission votes to win $2,300.



• Cisco partnered with NYU and USC to tap into the talents of aspiring film makers to show the experience of living a connected life.



• All Digital Cribs video submissions are posted on digitalcribs.com.



• "Digital Cribs" aims to demystify home technology and inspire conversations about how consumer technology and home networks enhance consumers' daily lives.

Tags/Keywords:

Cisco, Cisco Consumer, Digital Cribs, film school, USC, NYU, film community, connected life, video, video contest, human network, home network, consumer technology, Shane Battier, Meghan Asha, Lincoln Schatz, digital life, visual networking, webisodes, video sharing, ProMotion Pictures, School of Cinematic Arts

Links:

• DigItAll Consumer Blog Post: Digital Cribs Contest with NYU and USC - Vote For Your Favorite Videos Today!
• Check out the Cisco Web series Digital Cribs
• Follow Digital Cribs on Twitter
• Catch excerpts of Digital Cribs on You Tube
• Become a fan of Digital Cribs on Facebook.
• Read more on the DigItAll Consumer Blog and Cisco Consumer Web sites
• Click here to view the "Digital Cribs" webisodes social media release.
• Subscribe to Cisco's RSS Feed

Quotes:

• Ken Wirt, vice president, consumer marketing, Cisco


"Digital Cribs provides consumers with compelling examples of how a home network enables more visual, social and personal experiences," said Ken Wirt, Cisco's vice president of consumer marketing. "Whether from the viewpoint of student filmmakers, celebrities or end users, Digital Cribs films educate and inform consumers on the power of home networking technologies."


• Samuel Craig, Catherine and Peter Kellner Professor in Entrepreneurship and Arts and Media Management, Deputy Chair, and Marketing Director, Entertainment, Media and Technology Program at NYU Stern.


"Through this year's partnership with Cisco, NYU's graduate business and film students worked together to create edgy short films, tailored to today's consumers and suitable for both traditional distribution as well as viral marketing campaigns. Tapping into the student community, a representative subset of Cisco's target audience, these budding producers and aspiring film makers are pushing the boundaries of branded entertainment and promotions."


• Brenda Goodman, Senior Lecturer, USC


"Digital Cribs gave our students at the USC School of Cinematic Arts a chance to tell short, compelling stories about interesting people and their use of technology. Cisco and the Digital Cribs contest created a bridge between the professional world and film school and was a great opportunity for our students."

Embedded Videos and Images:

• "David Malan: Coolest Geek at Harvard"

NYU: Jacob Robinson, Ryan Heller, Heather Jack, Claire Harlam, Benedetta Arese Lucini, Anne Becker, Jessica Shain

http://www.youtube.com/v/E1JFh7m24mE&hl=en&fs=1


• "David and Amy Wenzel"

USC: Michael Koerbel

http://www.youtube.com/v/f-KCoJ_egg0&hl=en&fs=1


• "Digital Architect"

NYU: Ryan Silbert and Matt Greenbaum

http://www.youtube.com/v/V2WZxg8wte4&hl=en&fs=1


• "Tim Ferriss's Digital Lifestyle"

USC: Ross and Jeremy Cohen

http://www.youtube.com/v/zX3YAPZcSuU&hl=en&fs=1

About Cisco:

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.

About NYU ProMotion Pictures:

Created by Stern alumni Jeffrey Grossman (MBA '04) and Russ Axelrod (MBA '05), the NYU Stern ProMotion Pictures Film Competition brings together business and creative talent from the graduate programs at NYU's Stern School of Business and Kanbar Institute of Film & Television to produce branded entertainment films for major companies. Already in its sixth installment, the competition is sponsored by a different company each year and awards up to $150,000 to winning teams to produce the short films, which can be used as part of the company's marketing campaign. Past sponsors include Volvo, Verizon, Unilever's Axe and Heineken.

About the USC School of Cinematic Arts:

Established in 1929 and currently celebrating its 80th anniversary as the nation's oldest university-based cinema program, the USC School of Cinematic Arts has fueled and mirrored the growth of entertainment as an industry and an art form. The school offers comprehensive programs in directing, producing, writing, critical studies, animation & digital arts, production, and interactive media, all backed by a broad liberal arts education and taught by leading practitioners in each field. Its more than 10,000 alumni are among the world's most distinguished animators, scholars, teachers, writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, editors, sound experts and industry executives. Since 1973 not a year has passed without an alumnus or alumna being nominated for an Academy Award.

Cisco, the Cisco logo, and Cisco Systems are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document or Website are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company.

For direct RSS Feeds of all Cisco news, please visit "News@Cisco" at the following link:

http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/rss.html

Contact Information: Press Contact: Johanna Fry Cisco 408 527-7372 jofry@cisco.com Industry Analyst Contact: Ben Culp Cisco 949 823-3787 beculp@cisco.com