Bangkok--13 Dec--Hill & Knowlton Watsons joins forces with leading health, wellness and beauty business partners to launch ‘YOU Awards’ programme in Asia Awards encourage customers in Thailand to take pride in their physical attributes Watsons, Thailand's No. 1 health and beauty retailer, today announced the launch of its ‘YOU Awards’ programme, designed to reward customers in Thailand who celebrate their best physical attributes in five attractive categories; face, lips, eyes, hair and body. Launched in Thailand, this is the first such interactive programme in Asia and will be sponsored by six leading health, wellness and beauty business partners including Nivea for Men, ZA, Maybelline, Olay, Dove and Elancyl. The regional ‘YOU Awards’ programme encourages Watsons’ customers across Asia to express themselves by showing their best ‘physical attribute’ in one of five main categories submitted together with a written account of how they feel about each of these features. Watsons believes that everybody has unique physical qualities that he or she is very proud of. This programme is also designed to help people discover and unleash their inner beauty. Toby Anderson, General Manager of Central Watson Co., Ltd., said. ‘As the wellness category continues to grow, Watsons sees this opportunity to further build on its expertise wellness. This is the major reason we have renamed the Health & Beauty Awards to ‘Health, Wellness & Beauty Awards’ to emphasise our unique brand positioning and as a point of differentiation. Since the Health, Wellness & Beauty Awards aim to recognize and reward our top performance business partners, we intend to reward customers with attractive and exclusive offers," Mr Anderson added. The awards consist of three stages covering recruitment, voting and announcement starting from December 2007 to March 2008. Recruitment begins on 7th December 2007 to 13th January 2008. Interested persons who are aged over eighteen can apply through Watsons stores nationwide, Watsons head office, and YOU Awards website at www.watsonsyouawardsth.com. All short listed candidates will be chosen for a short interview by a panel of judges which include the programme’s suppliers, media representatives, and Watsons management. Once the short listed candidates have been selected, they will have their photos taken again for public voting. They then go through to the second voting stage. Five winners from each category will be selected for final judging. The short listed candidates will be featured in all communications materials for the public to vote via SMS and YOU Awards website starting from 1st February — 19 March 2008. The final announcement of the winners which will be held on 19 March 2008 featuring a LIVE broadcast through YOU Awards website when the public can still vote for their favourite candidates. In addition, the winners will be announced at a special Health, Wellness and Beauty Awards event which will be held in March 2008. Winning prizes include 50,000 baht cash each, one-year's supply products from suppliers. Six winners from five categories will also be one-year Watsons ambassadors to be appear in all communications materials, Mr Anderson finishes. Interested persons are encouraged to apply for entry to ‘YOU Awards’ at any of the more than one hundred Watsons stores nationwide. For more information, please visit www.watsonsyouawardsth.com or contact 0-2665-2099. About Watsons Watsons, the No.1 health & beauty retailer in Thailand, was launched in Thailand in 1996 with the first store located at the Maneeya Center building. Watsons is the country’s leading health and beauty store currently with over 100 stores offering products from consumer goods to health & beauty products. Watsons continually aims to offer top quality products combined with value for money as well as providing high-standard service to every customer. For more information, please contact: Dutduan Jarukakul / Shutchada Chantarangsu Hill & Knowlton Thailand Tel. 0-2627-3501 ext. 114 , 109 Fax. 0-2627-3510 Email: [email protected] , [email protected]