Calgary, AB (September 15th, 2006) — Winnipeg animator Bradley Caruk is changing the face of advertising by turning subway tunnels around the world into filmstrips.

Thanks to Caruk's invention, bored subway riders on three continents now have something refreshing to look at. The medium, developed by Winnipeg-based SideTrack™ Technologies Inc., is opening up prime advertising space and generating substantial revenue for transit system operators in North America, Asia, and Europe.

Caruk, Co-Founder and Vice President of SideTrack™ Technologies Inc., has won a $10,000 Manning Innovation Award, sponsored by Katch Kan Limited, for inventing and developing the new advertising medium.

"As a Canadian, the award exemplifies me and my fellow winners as world contenders in innovation," says Caruk, adding that it also puts a smile on his face. "It lifts ones self-esteem to know that we are not crazy pushing forward with our ideas."

Rob Walker, President and Co-Founder of SideTrack Technologies Inc., had the idea to put something in the tunnels about seven years ago, while watching Paris subway commuters stare out the windows at a blank wall. Back in Winnipeg—which has no subway—Walker mentioned this to Caruk, his business colleague and an expert in producing computer-generated images.

Caruk experimented with computer models and physical models and came up with a solution to make the concept work. Then, supported by friends, family, and the Renaissance Manitoba Capital Ventures Fund, Caruk and Walker set up the first SideTrack™ system in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The SideTrack™ technology works much like a children's flipbook. As the train moves past static images on the tunnel wall, motion-sensitive lights illuminate the pictures. Riders on the train see a moving picture lasting 15 seconds or more.

Viewers can see the panoramic SideTrack™ ads from any window in the train. Unlike competing technologies, the SideTrack™ system produces startlingly clear images, explains Caruk.

"We're not used to seeing clear imagery at high speeds," he adds, "...it just kind of plays with your visual senses."

Caruk's animation company, Digital PictureWorks, creates the ads, which are printed as a series of still images by affiliated company, 'ink BIG. Then, late at night when the train system is shut down, a SideTrack™ crew ventures into the tunnels to post the images on the wall.

The medium is proving more effective than television advertising, according to SideTrack™'s recent study of about 500 people. Commuters recalled the product and brand featured in a tunnel ad for Honda at a rate of 79 percent.

Tunnel ads are successful, notes Caruk, because there is little else to compete for train riders' attention. "You're not competing with making a sandwich," he says, "...You're not competing with switching the station. You're not competing with going to the washroom."

SideTrack™ has tunnel ads in Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and in the United States in Boston, Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has made close to $1.5 million US in two years since signing on with SideTrack™ Technologies Inc. in 2004.

Other companies to run SideTrack™ tunnel ads include Tropicana, Philips, and Hummer. Advertising agencies currently rank SideTrack™ tunnel ads with the top 10 media.

With over 150 urban rail systems world wide, SideTrack™ has plenty of room to expand. New contracts will take tunnel advertising to Moscow, Russia; London, England; and Toronto, Canada.

This year, the Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation will award a total of $165,000 in prize money. Four awards, totaling $145,000, will go to leading Canadian innovators. Another $20,000 will go to Young Innovators with winning projects at the 2006 Canada-Wide Science Fair.

The winners of the 2006 Manning Innovation Awards will be announced throughout September. All will be honoured at the annual gala awards dinner, September 29th, 2006 in Calgary.

The Foundation was established in 1980 in the name of prominent Alberta statesman, Ernest C. Manning, to promote and support Canadian innovators. Since 1982, the Foundation has presented over $3.6 million in prize money through its annual awards program (www.manningawards.ca).

For more information on SideTrack™ tunnel advertisements, visit http://www.sidetrack.ca/ or contact award-winner Bradley Caruk at

204-663-4989 or at brad@sidetrack.ca

For more information about the Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation, contact Bruce Fenwick, Executive Director, at 403-645-8288 or at bruce.fenwick@encana.com