San Diego, CA - (April 17, 2008) - Strategically timed to support retailer marketing efforts for the coming summer diving season, the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association will launch the Be A Diver national television advertising campaign on May 5, 2008. The campaign is aimed at helping the Diving Industry acquire new customers and re-activate previously-certified divers.

The 30-second television commercial will air nationwide for six weeks on the Travel Channel and will appear in two separate flights: May 5-25 and June 2-22. To reinforce the national reach with concentrated frequency, the commercial will also air throughout the summer and early fall in target-rich markets in California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C. and Texas. For these areas the commercial will air on the CNBC, MSNBC, Travel Channel and Golf Channel networks in four flights covering a five month period: May 5-June 1, June 9-29, July 7-20, September 1-14 and September 29-October 12.

The markets for the regional broadcast advertising buy were selected based on several important factors including the DEMA Certification Census, which helped determine the areas most able to support a region-wide advertising campaign; and third party affirmed research that revealed the areas that include the highest populations of consumers with the lifestyle, household income, sufficient time, and interest in purchasing the experiences and equipment for activities such as scuba diving. The networks on which the commercial will air were selected similarly, using research on the type of programming and networks viewed by DEMA's target market from Mediamark Research and Intelligence (MRI). The MRI reports indicate that the "target group index" (TGI) rating for DEMA's target market is highest for the Travel Channel, MSNBC, the Golf Channel and CNBC, when compared with national viewer averages.

"We've taken full advantage of the data from our third party-affirmed research to purchase broadcast advertising in the markets that give us the best opportunity to reach the greatest number of target customers within our budget range," said Tom Ingram, Executive Director of DEMA. "Purchasing broadcast advertising both nationally and regionally allows us to reach the most people and drive them to the Be A Diver website with the goal of getting them into their local professional dive center."

As a result of the commercial broadcast advertising buy, traffic to the Be A Diver website is expected to increase significantly. Once on the site, visitors will be encouraged to find a nearby dive center using the Professional Dive Center Locator and learn more about becoming a certified diver. The television commercial was also created to motivate non-active, previously-certified divers to get back into the sport by visiting their local dive center, getting involved in additional or refresher training, updating their equipment, and learning more about upcoming dive travel opportunities.

All professional dive centers are strongly encouraged to purchase local broadcast advertising in order to take advantage of the interest that can be created by DEMA's own media buy. DEMA members are encouraged to utilize the professionally developed commercial, available in two versions, to increase the effectiveness of the campaign in their area. The commercial is available in a full 30 second version as well as a 23/7 second version that allows members to include their own business' contact information. A free DVD copy of the commercial can be ordered online at www.dema.org with special format requests available for the cost of materials.

DEMA, the Diving Equipment & Marketing Association, is an international organization dedicated to the promotion and growth of the recreational scuba diving and snorkeling industry. With more than 1,600 members, this non-profit, global organization promotes scuba diving through many initiatives including consumer awareness programs, media campaigns and sponsorship of the DEMA Show, a trade event open only to companies doing business in the scuba diving, action water sports and adventure/dive travel industries. DEMA Show 2008 will take place October 22-25, 2008 in Las Vegas, NV. For more information on DEMA Show 2008 visit www.demashow.com. For more information on DEMA, call 858-616-6408 or visit www.dema.org.