Discovery Channel & Maker's Mark® Bourbon Forge Exclusive Partnership for First-Ever National TV Advertising Campaign

SILVER SPRING, Md., May 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Discovery Communications, the world's #1 nonfiction media company, announced today a new cross-platform advertising partnership with Maker's Mark®, America's iconic handcrafted premium bourbon, which will launch on May 10, 2011.  This is Maker's Mark® Bourbon's first-ever entry into television advertising, and its exclusive partnership with Discovery represents the brand's single largest financial commitment to an advertising campaign and totals 100 percent of its 2011 television and online budget.

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"Discovery takes great pride in being selected among all broadcast and cable TV brands to introduce Maker's Mark to the national TV viewing audience," said Joe Abruzzese, President, Advertising Sales, Discovery Communications.  "Discovery Channel's viewers and the Maker's Mark brand fans share so many similar attributes and interests, it was a natural fit.  This, coupled with Discovery's track record of creating engaging, high-quality series that we own and can leverage, helped us create a truly unique partnership for this iconic brand."

The centerpiece of Discovery's exclusive partnership with Maker's Mark is four, 30-second custom content vignettes that bring to life the brand's new advertising campaign, "It is what it isn't," tied to four of Discovery Channel's top series, including Swamp Brothers, Man Vs. Wild, Auction Kings, and Gold Rush.  Produced by Discovery Channel, the vignettes will run, timed to series premieres. The partnership also features a comprehensive suite of digital elements on discovery.com, including a high-profile video "playlist" featuring the vignettes on Discovery's top fansite homepages, and supported by posts on Discovery Channel's robust Facebook and Twitter accounts, which have more than six million "likes" and followers.  Discovery will also distribute the vignettes (including a custom pre-roll) via its online syndication partners including, YouTube, MSN, Fancast and Yahoo.

Said Kelly Doss, Maker's Mark's Vice President Global Marketing, "Both Maker's Mark and Discovery are known for innovation and for bringing experiences to life.  I am confident that the custom content will be well received both by our brand fans and by those less familiar with Maker's Mark.  This is the first time in the history of Maker's Mark that the brand has advertised on television, and we could not have a more synergistic, collaborative and dynamic media partner than Discovery."  

About Discovery Communications

Discovery Communications (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) is the world's #1 nonfiction media company reaching more than 1.5 billion cumulative subscribers in over 200 countries. Discovery is dedicated to satisfying curiosity through 130-plus worldwide television networks, led by Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Science and Investigation Discovery, as well as US joint venture networks OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, The Hub and 3net, the first 24-hour 3D network. Discovery also is a leading provider of educational products and services to schools and owns and operates a diversified portfolio of digital media services, including HowStuffWorks.com. For more information, please visit www.discoverycommunications.com.

About Maker's Mark® Bourbon

In 1954, at a small Victorian distillery in Loretto, Kentucky, Bill Samuels, Sr., made the first 19 barrels of a totally new whisky, using pure, iron-free, limestone spring water and a mash consisting of yellow corn, barley and red winter wheat that, when aged-to-taste over the next six years, would become Maker's Mark bourbon.  Mr. Samuels created a bourbon that brought "good taste" and "taste-good" together for the first time and, in so doing, heralded the modern era of bourbon.  In 2010, in tribute to his father's spirit of innovation Bill Samuels, Jr., unveiled Maker's 46, a totally new bourbon which reflects the distinct character of Maker's Mark but has a bigger, bolder and full bodied taste that is luscious without any hint of bitterness.  Today, Maker's Mark continues to hand make its bourbon exactly the same way Bill Samuels, Sr., did almost 60 years ago, in small batches by skilled craftsmen who hand-cut each label and hand-dip each bottle.  Maker's Mark bourbon whisky (45% alc./vol.) and Maker's 46 (47% alc./vol.) are distilled, aged and bottled by the Maker's Mark Distillery, Inc., in Loretto, Kentucky.  In 1980, the distillery was designated a National Historic Landmark, becoming the first distillery in America to be so recognized, and has also been decreed as the "world's oldest operating bourbon whisky distillery" by Guinness World Records.  The Maker's Mark Distillery is one of the Commonwealth of Kentucky's most popular tourist destinations, attracting more than 100,000 visitors each year.  For more information, please visit the Maker's Mark website (www.makersmark.com).

SOURCE Discovery Communications