KETTLER ?MOST INNOVATIVE BRAND 2010?

Highest honours for KETTLER at the Plus X Award, the largest competition worldwide for technology, sports and lifestyle: For the second year in a row the traditional German company was elected the most innovative brand of the year

Cologne, May 27^th, 2010 ? In the course of the award ceremony of the Plus X Award 2010 in Cologne on May 27^th, KETTLER was decorated with the ?Most Innovative Brand Award? for the product group Fitness Equipment for the second year in a row, receiving the highest honours of the renowned international quality seal. A total of nine products of the KETTLER business divisions Sports as well as Toys + Children?s Products were given the Plus X Award 2010 ? more than any other manufacturer. Among them the treadmill TRACK, the crosstrainer ELYX and the unique new KETTQUAD, the world?s first pedal-operated Quad for children aged five to twelve years. More than 1000 selected products were submitted to the Plus X Award 2010, and of these only 200 were able to satisfy the judging panel. As the ?Most Innovative Brand? 2009 und 2010, KETTLER very convincingly emphasizes its leading role in the market concerning innovation, function and quality.

KETTLER: More than 60 years of innovation and highest quality

?We are proud, but not surprised, to have been elected the most innovative brand of the year again,? says Hans-Hermann Deters, the managing director of Heinz Kettler GmbH & Co. KG. ?After all, KETTLER has been standing for trend-setting products of highest quality for more than 60 years. KETTLER has always given impulses to all lines of business. ?Numerous further awards and quality seals, like the Red Dot Award in our product group leisure furniture, or various Stiftung Warentest victories (independent German product testing foundation), already 23 Plus X Awards as well as the ?Most Innovative Brand Awards? 2009 and 2010 prove the innovative power of KETTLER. The important awards won by KETTLER products are the result of a long-term process, consolidating the innovation leadership of the German family-owned business which has always been innovation-driven. These awards honour the ongoing work of the whole KETTLER team, and confirm that with the recent investments in an innovation centre and the building up of an international designer pool Kettler is heading in the right direction.?

Plus X Award: the world?s most important technology, sports and lifestyle contest

Since 2004, the sought-after Plus X Awards have been distributed by an independent panel of experts in the categories which are relevant for dealers and consumers, i.e. innovation, high quality, design, functionality, ergonomics and ecology.

With 144 top-class, industry-neutral jurors from 32 nations, 40 competent partners and an annual marketing volume of more than four million Euros the Plus X Award is the largest technology, sports and lifestyle contest in the world. The Plus X Award honours manufacturers for the quality lead their products have. Products which have been distinguished with the Plus X Award, have verifiable qualities, which only branded products can offer: innovation, excellent design, high quality, user comfort as well as functionality, ecologically worthwhile efficiency and well thought-out ergonomics ? creditable purchase reasons for dealers and consumers.

Plus X Seal: KETTLER - Most Innovative Brand 2010