thinkLA Honors Horizon Media's Zachary Rosenberg as Southern California Advertising Leader of the Year

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - November 19, 2008) - thinkLA, the largest advertising industry organization for Southern California, today announced that Zachary Rosenberg, Executive Vice President, General Manager of Horizon Media's Western Region, has been named 2008 Leader of the Year. The industry's top honor, the award is given annually to recognize creative thinking and innovation in marketing and media.

The thinkLA Leader of the Year is honored at an annual awards ceremony for exemplifying the organization's goal of establishing Southern California as the premier source for the best and most original ideas in the nation. Previous winners include: Carisa Bianchi, TBWA\Chiat\Day; Mike Sheldon and Eric Hirshberg, Deutsch LA; Rob Schwartz, Executive Creative Director, TBWA\Chiat\Day; Robert LePlae, President of TBWA\North America; Jo Muse, Chairman/Executive Creative Director of Muse Cordero Chen & Partners; Lee Clow, Chief Creative Officer of TBWA\Worldwide; and Scott Gilbert, Chief Executive Officer of Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles.

Zach will be honored in February 2009. Date and location TBA. For more information, please visit www.thinkla.org.

Nomination Process and Selection Criteria

The Leader of the Year Committee sends out a call for nominations to the entire thinkLA membership. Eligibility is open to all advertising executives at agencies, media companies and public or private organizations. Nominations are reviewed by the Committee and presented to the thinkLA Board of Directors for a final vote of approval.

The thinkLA Leader of the Year is active within the advertising, media and marketing community, admired by those who work for and with them, and inspires others to do great work. By their actions, they should contribute to making Southern California a world-class advertising community.

About Zachary Rosenberg

Zach Rosenberg began his career over 25 years ago in account management on the full service agency side working at JWT, DDB and Chiat/Day. Zach handled a wide array of clients in categories including retail, travel, entertainment and healthcare.

While at Chiat/Day in the early '90s, Zach was hand-selected by Jay Chiat to be an integral member of the prestigious "Agency of the Future" task force, which helped to create the "virtual office" concept.

After a decade on the creative side and foretelling a wave of media specialization, Zach left in 1995 to join Initiative Media (formerly Western International Media) in Los Angeles as Senior Vice President, Group Account Director to manage the Walt Disney business spanning 30 divisions of the company.

As EVP, General Manager, Zach has led the West Coast operation of Horizon for the past eight years and has spearheaded the rapid growth of the Los Angeles office managing a diverse client base including NBC Universal, Jack in the Box, So. Cal. Honda Dealer Association, Vivendi Games, MGA Toys, HealthNet, Breast Cancer 3-Day Walks and IHOP, to name a few.

Zach has led the development of expanded communications services at Horizon over the last years. Capitalizing on the growing importance of promotional campaigns as part of clients' marketing strategies, Zach drove the evolution of Horizon's promotions group into an experiential marketing team called Event Horizon, which has already developed programs for clients such as NBC Universal and Sobieski Vodka. Zach also led the development of Horizon's Synergy Insights Group which specializes in building promotional partnerships between Horizon's clients and non-roster advertisers.

For the second consecutive year, Zach's leadership has been recognized by Mediaweek's Media Plan of the Year Award for best use of radio for NBC Universal. In addition, in the last year alone, his work has been honored with two Effie awards, a gold award for the Jack in the Box account and a silver award for the So. Cal. Honda Dealer Association for best media plans in their category as well as two Creative Media Awards for radio for NBC Universal and for branded content/product placement for Vivendi Games from Media Magazine.

About Horizon Media

Founded in 1989, Horizon Media, Inc. is the largest U.S. independent media services company. Dedicated to helping clients sell products and build brands through insightful marketing counsel, media-neutral strategic planning and effective negotiation and placement, Horizon's exceptional holistic approach to brand marketing and development has resulted in estimated billings of $1.85 billion and established the company as the fastest growing agency in the industry. Headquartered in New York City with a full service office in Los Angeles, Horizon also has offices in Orlando, San Diego and Amsterdam, Netherlands. Horizon is also a founding member of Columbus Media International, a multi-national partnership of independent media agencies. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.horizonmedia.com.

About thinkLA

Formed in 2006 by the merger of the Los Angeles Advertising Agencies Association, Los Angeles Ad Club and the Magazine Representatives Association -- thinkLA is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Los Angeles as a world center of creative thinking and innovation in marketing and media.

thinkLA's membership includes professionals and companies in the media arts industry communicating with consumers and motivating them to purchase via creative messages. Members work at diverse companies including advertisers; print, broadcast and online media; entertainment and production companies; advertising and marketing agencies; and the industry suppliers. Through advocacy, education, networking and outreach, thinkLA aims to be a leader in bringing new business to the region and expanding existing business. More information is available at www.thinkLA.org.