O2 Ideas CEO Shelley Stewart named Ad Man of the Year by Birmingham Ad Fed

(August 18, 2006) O2 Ideas chairman and chief executive officer Shelley Stewart was named Advertising Industry CEO of the Year, Ad Man of the Year and Mentor of the Year by the Birmingham Advertising Federation in its fourth annual Peak Awards ceremony.

The Peak Awards is held to specifically honor those employed by advertising, marketing, public relations, promotions, media sales, printing, and production entities. The awards are judged by experts in the advertising, marketing and public relations fields in states outside Alabama. Stewart is the first African-American to receive the Federation's highest awards.

Stewart overcame impoverished beginnings and family tragedies as a child to eventually become one of Birmingham's best-known radio personalities and one of America's most prominent African American businessmen. In the deeply segregated city of Birmingham in the 1940s, he survived witnessing his own mother's murder, suffering abandonment as an infant, and severe abuse as a child.

Out of this story of poverty and neglect emerged a man who taught himself to read. Eventually finding employment as a disc jockey in the 1950s, his radio broadcasts during Birmingham's human rights struggles of the 1960s served as a critical communication path for young African Americans involved in street protests there. Stewart's "parallel career" in advertising also began in the 1960s. Joining forces with John Zimmerman in the 1990s, Stewart is now Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of O2 Ideas, a multicultural advertising and public relations firm based in Birmingham. Shelley's lifetime odyssey is chronicled in "The Road South," a book by Time Warner.

"There is no one person in Birmingham more deserving of this award than Shelley Stewart. He is by far a legacy among his peers, a pioneer for those who now attempt to walk in his path and a true inspiration to all others. Shelley's utter determination to leave the world a better place than he found it is obvious in his personal and professional endeavors. Shelley's integrity and involvement in the creative realm raises the bar of standards for the industry as a whole," said Dawn Reeves, president of the Birmingham Advertising Federation.

In his acceptance remarks, Stewart thanked the Federation and recalled "not being aware of anything special I was doing," when he united black and white youth in Birmingham through the medium of music in the 1960s and 70s. "I've always been - and continue to be - more focused on the quality of a person's character than the color of their skin. That's how we have built our company and will continue to grow it."

O2 Ideas, based in Birmingham, AL, is one of the nation's largest multicultural communications companies, with offices in Chicago and in Greenville, SC in addition to Birmingham. Clients include Verizon Wireless Great Lakes Region, BI-LO and Bruno's Supermarkets, Captain D's, Home Depot, Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, Intuit, Verizon Wireless GA/AL, and charities such as the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and the 16th Street Baptist Church. For more information on O2 Ideas, visit the Web site at www.o2ideas.com.


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