Irvine, Calif. — September 29, 2009— Brand Affinity Technologies, Inc. (BAT), the company reinventing the business of endorsement marketing, and The San Diego Union-Tribune, the region's leading local media company, have partnered to give advertisers in Southern California more streamlined access to endorsement talent. Starting immediately, the Union-Tribune's print and online sales force will offer BAT endorsement talent to its client base, reinforcing the media company's commitment to continuously improving its products and services.

The partnership leverages The San Diego Union Tribune's expertise in local targeting and reach, and BAT's simplified endorsement process to give local and regional advertisers the ability to reach consumers with geographically and contextually relevant campaigns.

"The San Diego Union-Tribune and SignOnSanDiego provide advertising solutions that no other local media company can provide," said Mike Hodges, general manager for SignOnSanDiego.com. "This partnership adds to our wealth of offerings, and will allow our advertisers access to San Diego's local sports heroes and celebrities for their campaigns in a simple, cost-effective manner."

National, regional, and local advertisers use BAT's Platform to identify and deploy the most appropriate talent for their brands and markets from a roster of more than 3,000 athletes and celebrities. Once an endorsement deal is offered and accepted, advertisers use video and still assets to build compelling creative. Campaigns can be executed in a fraction of the time it takes for a traditional endorsement deal.

"We're pleased to add The San Diego Union-Tribune to our growing roster of local partners," said Ryan Steelberg, President and CEO of BAT. "Advertisers understand the value of reaching highly engaged local consumers with relevant messages, and the Union-Tribune is by far the top destination to do that in San Diego."

BAT-enabled ad campaigns deliver significant results as measured by both direct-response and branding metrics. In-market analysis found that BAT-enabled online ad campaigns deliver an average of 13.5 times advertisers' typical conversion rates and 3.5 times advertisers' typical click-through rates. BAT-enabled advertising also resulted in a 180 percent increase in brand awareness and a 27 percent increase in purchase intent when comparing campaigns featuring athletes to the same ads with no endorsement, according to an independent study.

About San Diego Union-Tribune

The San Diego Union-Tribune, LLC, is San Diego County's leading local media company, with products reaching 58 percent of all San Diego adults in a given week, which equates to more than 1.3 million San Diegans. The San Diego Union-Tribune won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartoons and earned the first place award from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for General Excellence among major California dailies in 2008. The newspaper has a late week circulation of 303,064, with more than 662,000 daily readers; Sunday circulation is 330,848, with readership of more than 890,000. The newspaper's Web site, SignOnSanDiego.com, is the leading online source for local news, entertainment information and classifieds in San Diego, with more than 29 million page views and 2.6 million unique users in a typical month. Other products include Enlace, the weekly Spanish-language news publication with the largest distribution in San Diego County.

Based on Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) Publisher's Statement ending 3/29/09. (Subject to audit).

About Brand Affinity Technologies (BAT)

Founded in 2007, BAT (http://brandaffinity.net) is reinventing the business of endorsement marketing by making it easy and affordable for advertisers of all sizes to launch ad campaigns featuring athletes and celebrities. Advertisers use BAT's Endorsement Platform to identify, license, and activate the most effective talent for their campaigns, based on brand and targeting considerations. Currently, BAT's Platform features more than 3,000 top athletes and celebrities in markets nationwide, and is used by leading advertisers to build brand value and boost campaign performance. BAT's celebrity roster includes Olympic athletes and marquee active and retired players in nearly every sport, including Drew Brees (NFL), Ian Kinsler (MLB), Paul Pierce (NBA), Brooks Robinson (MLB - Hall of Fame), Emmitt Smith (NFL - retired), and Lennox Lewis (Boxing).