Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia to Unveil Cross-Platform Opportunities for Marketers at Upfront Event

NEW YORK, March 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- At an upfront event to be held today at its New York City headquarters, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (NYSE: MSO) will present 12 integrated cross-platform opportunities to reach MSLO's coveted audience of "women who do," women who are passionately engaged in all aspects of living -- from entertaining to cooking to decorating to living a well-balanced life -- and who take action.

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As part of the presentation to marketers, MSLO also will preview a new eight-episode, unscripted series "Help Me, Martha!" in association with Mark Burnett Productions. The hour-long program will feature Martha Stewart and a new cast of home and lifestyle experts tasked with solving some of life's most difficult challenges in and around the home, at work or at play. The episodes will focus on everything from planning last-minute parties and home transformations to averting wedding disasters.

Mark Burnett, an award-winning television producer, has worked with Martha Stewart and MSLO on a number of TV projects, including Martha Stewart's syndicated daytime show, "The Martha Stewart Show," and "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart."

As part of the company's digital strategy, MSLO also plans to offer a first look at its vision for a digital magazine, scheduled to launch in late 2010. This special issue publication, entitled "Boundless Beauty," will provide users with touch-optimized navigation and will be able to support video as well as audio content. It will demonstrate the beauty of everyday living using innovative digital media to inform and inspire with extraordinary imagery that can be distributed on digital tablet devices.

These opportunities continue MSLO's momentum in the media marketplace. In January, MSLO and Hallmark Channel announced a multi-year strategic partnership to exclusively televise original episodes of the Emmy™ Award-winning, popular daytime home and lifestyle series "The Martha Stewart Show" on Hallmark Channel beginning September 2010. As part of the agreement, MSLO will also develop a range of new and original series and prime time specials. In addition, MSLO recently announced a new relationship with ION Television, which will produce its first original non-scripted series, "The Emeril Lagasse Show," a new weekly, primetime, entertainment television show featuring celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse.

"What sets Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia apart is our unique ability to translate exceptional creativity seamlessly across multiple platforms," said Janet Balis, MSLO EVP of Media Sales & Marketing. "We are focused on offering marketers an unprecedented opportunity to reach 'women who do' -- dynamic, passionate women who we know take action based on the ideas and inspiration we provide. We take an idea-centric, platform-agnostic approach to developing programs for marketers. We also help them cultivate relationships with consumers who will make a difference to their business goals."

"Women are increasingly searching for better ways to live and work while enjoying family and friends. MSLO provides a tremendous amount of sensible and thoughtful solutions and information to those consumers," stated Founder Martha Stewart. "We're delighted to offer the creativity that is MSLO's signature to marketers who seek fresh ways to reach our desirable audiences and to connect with them across all of our media platforms."

Commenting on his new series with MSLO, Mark Burnett said:  "Working with Martha on this new series was a natural evolution from our experience with 'The Martha Stewart Show.'  It was clear to us that if we were going to go into people's homes and transform their lives that we had to do it with the help of experts who are the best in the business.  And the best resource for that kind of talent is definitely Martha Stewart and the members of the MSLO family."  

The company will also announce developments within the healthy living space, where its popular magazine, Body + Soul: Whole Living and its wholeliving.com website have been experiencing increasing strength among consumers. Over the past five years, the magazine's circulation has increased more than 200%, while traffic on wholeliving.com has grown 119% year-over-year. To better align the magazine with its popular wholeliving.com website and daily radio show "Whole Living" on Sirius XM's Martha Stewart Living Radio, MSLO will emphasize the "whole living" portion of the brand, and publish the magazine under the name Whole Living starting with the June 2010 issue. This will allow the company to further capitalize on opportunities across platforms.  

Innovative, Customizable Cross-Platform Opportunities

MSLO's cross-platform opportunities provide integrated marketing solutions across its media that resonate with "women who do." Each concept provides a powerful starting point for the creative dialogue with marketers about how best to position and drive their brands. Some of the cross-platform concepts MSLO will discuss today include:

• "At Martha's Table" brings the world's finest chefs to the table every week. Across MSLO's media platforms, the world's finest chefs have a seat at the table, from MSLO's Emeril Lagasse, Lucinda Scala Quinn, and Sarah Carey to guests like Jamie Oliver and Lidia Bastianich. This promotional program includes segments on "The Martha Stewart Show," Emeril's weekly satellite radio show, special event programming on Martha Stewart Living Radio with talent including Mario Batali, Anthony Bourdain, and Eric Ripert, as well as a new original Web series that will feature Emeril Lagasse. MSLO will also provide an opportunity to partner on holiday hotlines and live broadcasts based at the country's most important food festivals where consumers can get expert tips and techniques that can be used at home.

• "Martha Celebrates America" will discover treasures in towns across the country. MSLO will tap its audience to find treasures that are uniquely American--people, places, and things that are special to their hometowns. This summer, consumers will submit photos and videos of their local favorites, creating the ultimate treasure map and enabling users to rank and rate one another's finds online. Then, on "The Martha Stewart Show," Martha will surprise one lucky town when she celebrates her newest discovery with a special event.

• "Cooking for Kids" celebrates the joy of cooking for family. MSLO's Emeril Lagasse will "kick it up a notch" in the kitchen as he cooks with E.J., his adorable seven-year-old son, every month in Everyday Food. Family fun will also be a big part of the entertainment on "The Emeril Lagasse Show" premiering this spring on ION Network. On marthastewart.com and emerils.com, picky eaters will find playful games and their moms will find recipes to keep everyone happy. And in the pages of Whole Living, consumers will discover ideas for family excursions, including a trip to the local farmers' market.

• With "Local, Seasonal, Fresh" MSLO will help consumers discover farm-fresh flavor one vegetable at a time. Across MSLO media, from our magazines, and marthastewart.com to our television shows, MSLO will share its distinctive perspective on how consumers can realize the full potential of fresh ingredients. The message will travel coast to coast as Emeril launches his latest book, Farm to Fork, with a national book tour in June.

• To mark "Martha Stewart Living Magazine's 20th anniversary" in December 2010, MSLO will kick off a year of celebration in the magazine, along with new retail events and special television programming on Hallmark Channel. The multiplatform celebration will look back over the past two decades of American living, and look forward with innovative ideas for the years ahead.

• "Into Your Cart" offers everyday recipes and meal-planning ideas. Across its magazines, on its television shows Everyday Food, "The Martha Stewart Show," and "The Emeril Lagasse Show," and through "Martha's Everyday Food" iPhone app,  MSLO helps consumers put everything they need "into their cart" to make everyday food even better and easier.

About Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (NYSE: MSO) is a diversified media and merchandising company, inspiring and engaging consumers with unique lifestyle content and distinctive products. The Publishing segment encompasses four magazines, including the company's flagship publication, Martha Stewart Living, periodic special issues and books. The marthastewart.com website provides consumers with instant access to MSLO's multimedia library, search and find capabilities, recipes, online workshops, community and personalization, as well as wedding-planning tools powered by WeddingWire and digital invitations with pingg.com. The Broadcasting segment produces such programming as the Emmy-winning daily, nationally syndicated television series, "The Martha Stewart Show," and Martha Stewart Living Radio on SIRIUS channel 112 and XM Radio 157. In addition to its media properties, MSLO offers high-quality Martha Stewart products through licensing agreements with carefully selected companies, including the Martha Stewart Collection exclusively at Macy's, the Martha Stewart Living line of home-improvement products at The Home Depot, Martha Stewart Crafts with EK Success at Michaels and independent retailers, Martha Stewart for 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, the forthcoming Martha Stewart Pets line at PetSmart and more. In 2008, Emeril Lagasse joined the Martha Stewart family of brands; MSLO acquired the assets related to Lagasse's media and merchandising business, including television programming, cookbooks, and emerils.com website and his licensed kitchen and food products. For additional information about MSLO, visit www.marthastewart.com.

SOURCE Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia