Monkey mania dominated at ADWEEK's second annual BUZZ Awards, held yesterday at The Next Big Idea Conference in New York. CareerBuilder.com's wildly popular Monk-e-Mail campaign took top honors, winning not only its own category -- Best Internet Campaign -- but going up against the winners in 14 other categories to claim the top prize as Best Overall Campaign of the Year.

More than 360 entrants competed in the BUZZ Awards, designed to celebrate campaigns that invade the pop-culture consciousness and generate a deafening buzz in the marketplace. Monk-e-Mail.com, the viral site featuring "build your own" animated cartoon chimpanzees who deliver verbal messages to recipients, proved to be a crowd favorite.

CareerBuilder.com, in conjunction with Cramer-Krasselt, launched Monk-e-Mail in January 2006 to generate additional hype around its infamous "I work with a bunch of monkeys" Super Bowl ads. Without any media dollars behind it, Monk-e-Mail quickly snowballed into a national sensation with more than 60 million Monk-e-Mails played to date.

"Monk-e-Mail is poised to go down as one of the most successful viral campaigns in advertising history," said Richard Castellini, Vice President of Consumer Marketing for CareerBuilder.com. "In an era challenged by consumers opting out of marketing messages at a record pace, we need to introduce more innovative and creative communications programs to engage our audience in meaningful ways. Monk-e-Mail is a critical component of our success, having engaged nearly 10 million unique visitors for approximately 6 minutes each. By staying at the forefront of technology, we have enabled consumers to feel part of the experience and, in turn, have more memorable ties to the brand."

"The entire industry is lauding this campaign, and at this spring's AAAA's conference of agency CEOs, my colleagues repeatedly cited Monk-e-Mail as the new face of advertising," said Peter Krivkovich, CEO of Cramer-Krasselt. "This campaign has tapped into the collective consciousness of working Americans. Anyone who has ever had a job understands the humor in sending or receiving a Monk-e-Mail. It has allowed millions of people to blow off steam and make their daily grind more endurable, and perhaps reflect on the fact that they too at times work with a bunch of monkeys -- a good reason to start thinking about a job change."

CareerBuilder.com is back in the national advertising lineup this fall. In addition to primetime network and cable TV flights, the company will incorporate local radio, print and stadium advertising, conduct mobile tours and receive advertising support from its newspaper owners to amplify its brand experience.

About Cramer-Krasselt

Rapidly growing Cramer-Krasselt is the fourth-largest independent agency in the United States, with billings exceeding $642 million in 2005. Several major new business wins have contributed to a 25 percent growth rate in 2006, catapulting annual billings to nearly $800 million. Frequently featured for its creativity, the agency is headquartered in Chicago, with offices in New York, Milwaukee and Phoenix. The agency is on a creative winning streak this year that has notched two Gold and one silver Effie, two Bronze Lions, the 2005 Athena campaign of the year and recognition as one of three finalists for the O'Toole Award. C-K's client list is representative of major brands across virtually every industry. They include: AirTran Airways, CareerBuilder.com, Cellular South, Corona Beer, EFFEN Vodka, HBO Video, H. J. Heinz Co., Hyatt Hotels, KeyBank Corp., Master Lock, Spice Islands, Ski-Doo, Takeda Pharmaceuticals' Rozerem, WellCare Health Plans and [yellow tail] wine. Cramer-Krasselt's public relations subsidiary, CKPR, is ranked among the nation's top 15 agencies. For more information, visit Cramer-Krasselt at http://www.c-k.com/ .

About CareerBuilder.com

CareerBuilder.com is the nation's largest online job site with more than 23 million unique visitors and over 1.5 million jobs. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. , Tribune Company , and The McClatchy Company , the company offers a vast online and print network to help job seekers connect with employers. CareerBuilder.com powers the career centers for more than 900 partners that reach national, local, industry and niche audiences. These include more than 150 newspapers and leading portals such as America Online and MSN. More than 250,000 employers take advantage of CareerBuilder.com's easy job postings, 18 million-plus resumes, Diversity Channel and more. Millions of job seekers visit the site every month to search for opportunities by industry, location, company and job type, sign up for automatic email job alerts, and get advice on job hunting and career management. For more information about CareerBuilder.com products and services, visit http://www.careerbuilder.com/ .

  Media Contacts:
  Jennifer Sullivan
  CareerBuilder.com
  773-527-1164
  Jennifer.Sullivan@careerbuilder.com

  Susanna Homan
  Cramer-Krasselt
  312-616-2371
  shoman@c-k.com

SOURCE: CareerBuilder.com