University of Maryland and Ballena Technologies receive NACMA award

June 15, 2007

COLLEGE PARK, MD - The National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) awarded the University of Maryland and Ballena Technologies, Inc. for their outstanding efforts in the online promotion category.

Initiated in 2003, the NACMA Awards program honors outstanding achievement in marketing and promotions. Awards are presented in 16 categories, with each category divided into three groups based upon school size and conference affiliations to promote fairness. A total of 922 entries were received for the 2006-07 year.

Maryland Sports Marketing teamed up with Ballena Technologies, Inc. to create an interactive seating map of Chevy Chase Bank Field at Byrd Stadium for umterps.com. The Seats3D tool is intended as a general guide to seat selection for prospective new football ticket buyers and current season ticket holders visiting the website. Additionally, Maryland Sports Marketing became the first Ballena collegiate client to utilize the Ticketing Table — which allows Universities and professional sports teams to run specific ticket discounts, collect additional customer data and also allow ticket buyers the option of placing an order and being contacted directly by either a Ticket Office representative or Terrapin Club representative. "The Seats3D tools have significantly increased our online customer service, helped brand our football facility as fan-friendly and increased ticket revenue," said Nick Lofaro, the Associate Director of Sports Marketing for Maryland Athletics.

Ballena Technologies, Inc. of Alameda, CA is positioned as the market leader in interactive venue visualizations, using extremely high-resolution 3D computer-generated models. Seats3D interactive venues are currently in use on 13 sports league facility websites including the NCAA, NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA and NASCAR. "We are extremely proud to provide our Seats3D tools to increase ticket revenue for the University of Maryland and all of our clients," said Jeff Sherratt, the Director of Business Development for Ballena Technologies. "The NACMA awards features the nation’s top ideas and products, to be selected with the University of Maryland is truly a great honor," Sherratt said.

The winners were presented their awards during NACMA’s 16th Annual Convention, June 7-10 in Orlando, Florida. NACMA provides educational and networking opportunities, enhances acceptable operating standards and ethics, and establishes the overall prestige and understanding of the profession of athletics marketing administrators.