Bangkok--2 Jul--PR & Associates Canon continues to be a major sponsor of the “University League” or ”U League” for the second year, after its success in building an awareness of music, sports and entertainment among teen groups last year. This year Canon will be using more than 30 million baht budget to cover teens from the four regions from June to December 2008 Mr. Wataru Nishioka, President and CEO of Canon Marketing (Thailand) Co. Ltd. said “Young people are key to developing the country in the long term. Canon places great importance on supporting teen activities, such as sports, music and entertainment, so that they can develop their talents in areas other than the academic. This will also train them to use their free time in a useful way, learn to use part of their time in pursuing activities with their peers, to foster unity and use their creativity to work in a team. “Last year Canon was successful in supporting the “Canon U League”. From a survey conducted among university students, we found that university students were aware of and supported U League activities. This is why Canon has extended the music and Miss U League activities to cover every region, with a budget of more than 30 million baht for 6 months, from July to December 2008, ensuring that the Canon U League covers every region and is grander than last year.” Mr. Somkiat Phaphon, Director, Corporate Planning Division added more details. “After the U League 2007 ended, Canon conducted a survey to gather the opinions of students from 20 leading universities and discovered that awareness of the U League was as high as 73%. 65% of the respondents were aware of the football and 59% of the respondents were aware of the Miss U League and 62% of all students participated in the cheering events. When asked about their interest in joining the next event, they were positive. This is why Canon is supporting the UL for the second consecutive year with the goal of reaching out to more students in all regions in order to give them the opportunity of joining in music and Miss U League activities equally. “Canon U League 2008 “will organize road shows to different provinces in the 4 regions, Chiang Mai in the North, Kon Kaen in the Northeast, Hat Yai in the South and in Bangkok prior to the competition in order to invite university students to participate at their universities. The selection of regional representatives will take place at each region’s commercial centre. I believe there will be a high level of awareness and participation this year,” added Mr. Somkiat. For more information please visit www.canonuleague.com About Canon Canon Marketing (Thailand) Co., Ltd, is established in 1994 and the subsidiary of Japan’s Canon Inc, has over 500 employees. Canon Marketing (Thailand) Co., Ltd, continues providing a range of digital imaging equipments and office solutions with a team of direct sales personnel and a network of 160 service centers to provide comprehensive customer service to Canon users throughout Thailand. At Canon we dedicate to the advancement in technology and innovation and commit 10% of its total revenue each year to R&D. Canon has consistently remained as one of the top 3 companies to earn the most number of patents over the last decade. Since 1993, Canon continues to be ranked as one of the world's largest corporations by the Fortune Global 500 Ranking. Guided by its Kyosei philosophy, which focuses on "living and working together for the common good," Canon delivers high-performance and user-friendly products and solutions to improve efficiency both in the office and home environment. More information is available at www.canon.co.th For more information please contact Canon Marketing (Thailand) Co., Ltd Pataneeya Siripraprut Tel. 0 2344 9999 Ext. 134 / [email protected] PR & Associates , Ltd Namtarn Sakulsinghdusit Tel.0 2651 8989 Ext. 225/ [email protected]