Continuing its commitment to supporting its customers with aggressive marketing programs, Purolator Filters NA LLC (www.pureoil.com) is once again serving as a major sponsor for ESPN’s wildly popular Bassmaster Classic fishing competition. Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the Classic is the nation’s premier competition for professional anglers, with separate competitions and programs for amateurs, women and youngsters.

Based on 11 "Elite" competitions at lakes and streams around the country throughout the year, the finals for the Classic will take place on 56,000-acre Lake Hartwell in Greenville, SC, in late February. Professional anglers will compete for a total purse of more than a million dollars; the winner will take home more than $500,000. The winner will be determined by the total weight of his catch on the final day of competition.

"Our sponsorship of ESPN’s Bassmaster Classic has proven to be a wonderful means of promoting our brand to a huge audience that, research has shown, to parallel very closely automotive DIYers and those who take particular interest in maintaining their cars and trucks," explains Ramon Nunez, director, Filtration Products for Robert Bosch LLC. Bosch is a joint venture owner of Purolator responsible for the sales and marketing of Purolator branded products and private labeled filtration products within the NAFTA aftermarket channels. "Our sponsorship of this year-long competition at various skill levels will generate more than 100,000,000 brand impressions, helping to draw consumers into the parts stores and repair shops that sell and install Purolator products."

ESPN2 will devote 13 full hours of programming to the Bassmaster Classic throughout the 3-day event, including morning shows on the weekend and same-day coverage of the tournament finals February 22-24, 2008.

Purolator’s sponsorship touches on elements of the BASS program at all levels throughout the year, culminating in this year’s finals — the Classic in Greenville, SC. Purolator’s involvement extends to many levels — television commercials throughout the year, print ads in related fishing and outdoor magazines, on-line banner ads on espnoutdoors.com and bassmaster.com, sponsorship of on-line chat rooms, a box-top program, cash prizes for the single largest catch each day of the finals, and a traveling Purolator exhibit at related events around the country. All of these promotional efforts are carefully designed to promote awareness of, and buying preference for, Purolator filters.

"We are totally committed to supporting our distributor, retailer, and installer customers with promotional activities that help them sell our filtration products," notes Nunez.

Purolator Filters NA LLC, inventor of the first automotive oil filter in 1923, is today a leading filter supplier to vehicle manufacturers and the aftermarket, and offers a complete line of automotive filters — oil, air, fuel, cabin and transmission filters — for automotive, light truck and heavy-duty applications.

Purolator’s advanced aftermarket filters include PureONE and Purolator oil filters, PureONE and Purolator air filters, BreatheEASY cabin air filters, and the ‘forgotten filters,’ including transmission filters, fuel filters and PCV valves.

For more information on Purolator Filters NA LLC, visit www.pureoil.com.