TORONTO: Tourism British Columbia 's direct response television (DRTV) campaign captured the gold award in the Direct Response: DRTV category at the 2005 Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) Awards last Friday. The campaign was created by Northern Lights Direct Response Television in partnership with Cossette West, Tourism British Columbia's ad agency of record, to sell British Columbia as the ideal tourist destination to the Los Angeles market.

The results of the 90- and 60-second commercials were overwhelmingly successful - the call center was overloaded, phone lines had to be doubled, and additional BC Escapes Guides had to be printed. The DRTV campaign achieved 0.72% response rate - triple the industry average for DRTV - and the objective of 3,200 inquiries was exceeded by over 340%.

Ian French, President & Executive Creative Director of Northern Lights, is thrilled by the campaign's success and CMA award. "We're very proud of the work we have done for this campaign," says French. "We always thought DRTV is perfect for tourism, when used with strong visuals, attractive benefits and a risk-free offer."

To see this award-winning campaign, go to www.nldrtv.com/ourWork/.

Northern Lights Direct Response Television is a leading brand-based DRTV agency in North America. Clients include ING DIRECT, Columbia House, Sports Illustrated, Bell, Manulife Financial, TD Bank Financial Group, DIRECTV, Scholastic Inc. and Yves Rocher.

Cossette West is part of Cossette Communication Group, one of the top 15 marketing communications agencies in North America .

For further information: Mr. Ian French, President and Executive Creative Director, Northern Lights DRTV, 416.593.6104, ext. 223. Email: ian@nldrtv.com. Website: www.nldrtv.com.