DC Comics And Sargento Snacks Team Up For A Super-Powered Justice League Promotion

(April 21, 2003 – Burbank, CA) – DC Comics and Sargento will launch a year-long Justice League promotion featuring DC Super Heroes as part of a fully-integrated on- package, online and retail merchandising effort on select non-refrigerated and refrigerated Cheese Snacks beginning in April 2003. The on-package effort features the Justice League characters on all seven packages of non-refrigerated Cheese Snacks, including Cheeze and Crackers, Cheeze and Pretzels, S'mores, Cheddar and Sticks, Cheeze and Sticks, Strawberry and Sprinkles and Chocolately Chip, as well as on eight SKUs of refrigerated Cheese Snacks, such as mozarrella, colby jack, twists and string cheese. The package will also announce a compelling special offer for a free Justice League hat, a $12 value custom hat being produced only for Sargento Snacks. Over 7,000 free-standing displays in major grocery retailers nationwide will support the strong retail merchandising campaign for this program. “Combining the Justice League’s powerful recognition with the quality of Sargento Snacks will make for a strong promotion,” said Dave Hedrick, vice president, promotional marketing for Warner Bros. Consumer Products. “People of all ages will love the Sargento Cheese Snacks with the ever-popular DC Super Heroes who continue to inspire new generations of fans.” “Teaming up with DC Comics is a great way to showcase Sargento Snacks and bring excitement to the category,” said Barbara Gannon, vice president – corporate and marketing communications at Sargento. “Cheese lovers can simply log onto sargento.com and redeem proofs-of-purchase for a variety of merchandise featuring their favorite Justice League Super Heroes.” The promotion’s online merchandise continuity program on sargento.com will carry the free hat offer, as well as offer consumers an additional assortment of exciting Justice League merchandise including Justice League videos and DVDs, the Justice League GameBoy Advance game, a Justice League t-shirt and a free limited-edition Justice League comic book. The merchandise may change from time to time with new offerings. The promotional effort will be leveraged with strong media support for the program. Support includes two months of advertising in DC Comics, an ad in the “Justice League Adventures” comic book distributed at Six Flags parks this summer and with spot feature and banner ads on dccomics.com. DC Comics will also distribute a promotional poster to the top 1000 comic book shops in the US. There will be over 14 million impressions for this effort. The Warner Bros. Animation produced series, “Justice League” is a Cartoon Network audience favorite with children and adults alike, ranking consistently in the network’s top ten performers. The monthly “Justice League of America” comic book and “Justice League of America” graphic novels continue to be one of DC Comic's best-selling titles, consistently ranking among the top ten in industry sales. “Justice League Adventures,” the companion comic book to the show is one of the industry’s top selling kids comics. About Sargento Sargento Foods Inc., based in Plymouth, Wis., is a leading manufacturer, packager and marketer of natural shredded, sliced and snack cheeses, cheese appetizers, ingredients and sauces. Sargento recently won the Gold Taste Award for its superior quality shredded cheese in the 2002-2003 Quality Institute International competition, formerly the Awards of the Americas. A family-owned company, Sargento has net sales of $534 million. About DC Comics DC Comics, a division of Warner Bros. an AOL Time Warner Company, is the largest English-language publisher of comics in the world and home to such iconic characters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Sandman. These DC superheroes and others have starred in comic books, movies, television series (both animated and live-action) and cyberspace, thrilling audiences of all ages for generations. DC Comics’ Web site is located at www.dccomics.com. # # #