Citi Cards Announces New Additions to Its Ad Campaign

Citi
Citi, the leading global financial services company, has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Citi's major brand names include Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Smith Barney, Banamex, and Nikko. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com or www.citi.com.


	Printer Friendly Page		FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) April 15, 2008 Citi Cards Announces New Additions to Its Ad Campaign New York, NY – Citi, the leading global financial services company and world's largest provider of credit cards, announced the extension of its successful advertising campaign today with the U.S. release of its first national advertising for the Citi CashReturns Card, debuting Monday, April 14, 2008. The CashReturns Card allows customers to earn and redeem unlimited cash back automatically. Publicis New York developed the overall advertising campaign and continues its storytelling theme in the CashReturns communications. Atmosphere, Citi's digital agency-of-record, developed the online components of the new advertising. "The central idea is how Citi Cards help our customers live life in ways that create stories worth telling," said Lisa Caputo, Chief Marketing Officer at Citi. "This advertising suggests, actually, that your card can help generate stories about you and your life." The two new commercials that kick off national advertising for the Citi CashReturns Card are appropriately titled "Safari" and "Redecorate." In "Safari," a family visits a drive-through safari park, only to a have a run-in with one of the park's more sizable residents. In "Redecorate," a young woman redesigns her living room, only to realize that it's her husband who needs a bit of a makeover. The new work, directed by David Frankham at Smuggler, makes strong use of Citi's symbolic red arc, a visual metaphor for connecting human aspirations to realities. "The advertising illustrates how Citi Cards enable our customers to enjoy new experiences and create stories of their lives. The stories being told range from everyday situations to more extraordinary experiences," said Ed Garofalo, Executive Vice President, Citi Cards. "It shows the range and flexibility of Citi Cards, and we're excited to see how this new platform connects at an emotional level to support our key strategic products." "The key elements of a great story are: a great setting, an interesting plot twist, engaging characters and a strong point of view. This new work adds new stories that demonstrate how Citi Cards help people live the life they want, in their own unique way," said Rob Feakins, President, Publicis New York and Chief Creative Officer, Publicis and Publicis Dialog NY. A broad print campaign supporting the TV creative content addresses customers' passion points with relevant stories in targeted publications. Media support will be national. Atmosphere is responsible for leading the development and launch of the digital advertising portion of the new Citi campaign. This body of work compliments print and TV efforts with breakthrough interactive rich media and standard advertising putting the CashReturns card at the center of the communications. The advertising will be running across mass media sites such as Yahoo, ESPN and Weather.com. The ads range from interactive ad units that let users calculate their possible cash back directly in a banner to more standard ad units that deliver relatable and human stories such as the cash savings parents get from everyday baby purchases. "The opportunity in the online space is to both add dimension and personalize the Citi Cards value proposition," said Stuart Krull, Creative Director at Atmosphere. "Beyond telling consumers that the Citi CashReturns Card can help you write your story, we let them discover exactly how much of a story they'll be able to write. Every aspect of the micro-site gives prospects a personal preview of how the card could potentially work for them." Additionally, a micro-site destination has been developed, which is quite literally the story of the Citi CashReturns card. Through the use of interactive tools that let users understand, calculate and maximize the cash back they'll receive, the destination helps highlight the broader value proposition of the card in a related way. # # # Citi Citi, the leading global financial services company, has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Citi's major brand names include Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Smith Barney, Banamex, and Nikko. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com or www.citi.com.