PRESS RELEASE
Monheim, November 21, 2007
LACP Spotlight Awards: Cognis communication wins big
At this year’s League of American Communication Professionals (LACP) Spotlight Awards, Cognis’ communication was ranked among the best in the world: The global specialty chemicals supplier won a total of nine awards, and five of the top 100 entries were from Cognis. Among the winners were the company’s relaunched intranet and several campaigns from each of the strategic business units (SBU) Care Chemicals, Nutrition & Health, and Functional Products.
The star performer among the Cognis entries was the company’s new intranet: Not only did it win platinum in both the “Web/Intranet site” and “Best debut” categories, it also finished third overall. Elements used in the intranet such as tag clouds and content syndication – a global news feed to all country portals – ensure that all employees stay up to date with both specifically local as well as global, company-wide news. According to the LACP jury, these features “make the flow of information more transparent and create social benefits for intranet users.”
The Cognis 2006 Annual Report as well as the Sustainability Report were among the Gold award winners, and this is the fifth time that they have been recognized by the LACP. The Care Chemicals SBU also won a Gold award for its advertisements for environmentally sound APG surfactants. Furthermore, the “Feelosophy” ad campaign, run by Care Chemicals to show how Cognis meets the wellness needs of the market, and the accompanying microsite (www.feelosophy.cognis.com) were both honored with Bronze awards.
“Newtrition” is the name of Nutrition & Health’s major campaign, which was awarded Silver. It is designed to make the company’s ingredient brands for functional foods and dietary supplements better known in the key markets. Functional Products’ business unit Polymers, Coatings & Inks also won a Silver award for the marketing campaign highlighting its core competencies.
Cognis Vice President Corporate Communications Susanne Marell comments: “Being awarded nine times overall and having placed five entries among the top 100 is a great success for us, especially considering the enormous competition from many companies that are bigger and better known. It is our aim to combine an optimal support for our businesses in positioning them in their markets with excellence in communications. We feel honored that these efforts are recognized by renowned associations such as the LACP.”
The relaunch of Cognis’ Intranet was designed in cooperation with Cologne-based NetFederation agency. All the campaigns were produced in conjunction with Duesseldorf-based agency XEO creative communication.
About the LACP
The League of American Communications Professionals (LACP) is a trade association based in San Diego, California, with an international orientation. LACP clients include more than 33 percent of the so-called “Fortune 1000 companies”. The organiation is committed to recognizing and encouraging the effectiveness and quality of corporate communications worldwide. To this end, it runs various awards for communicative excellence, which are highly respected in the USA, and which represent an important and reliable tool for the North American media to evaluate the quality of corporate communications. Over 900 campaigns from around the world were entered for this year’s LACP Spotlight Awards for print, video and web communications.
About Cognis
Cognis is a worldwide supplier of innovative specialty chemicals and nutritional ingredients, with a particular focus on the areas of wellness and sustainability. The company employs about 7,700 people, and it operates production sites and service centers in 30 countries. Cognis has dedicated its activities to a high level of sustainability and delivers natural source raw materials and ingredients for food, nutrition and healthcare markets, and the cosmetics, detergents and cleaners industries. Another main focus is on products for a number of other industries, such as coatings and inks, lubricants, textiles, as well as agriculture and mining. The subsidiary Pulcra Chemicals offers specialized chemical products and process expertise to customers in the fiber, textile, and leather industries. Cognis also holds a 50-percent stake in the joint venture Cognis Oleochemicals, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of oleochemicals.
Cognis is owned by private equity funds advised by Permira, GS Capital Partners, and SV Life Sciences. In 2006, Cognis recorded sales of 3.37 billion euros and an Adjusted EBITDA (operating result) of 394 million euros.
Contact
Susanne Marell, Vice President Corporate Communications
Cognis GmbH
Phone: +49-2173-4995-222
E-mail: susanne.marell@cognis.com
Internet: www.cognis.com