GE Silicone II Sponsors Top Ten Angler Brent Chapman

Growing Popularity of Professional Fishing Draws Non-Endemic Sponsorship

Huntersville, NC (March 24, 2006) -- GE is proud to announce the addition of professional bass angler Brent Chapman to the GE Silicone II sponsorship family. Chapman will fish both the ESPN Bassmaster Elite Series and the Wal-Mart FLW Outdoors Tour on behalf of GE Silicone II, representing the first foray into professional bass fishing for GE.

In addition to serving as a spokesperson for GE Silicone II, Chapman will wear a GE Silicone II jersey and use a GE Silicone II-wrapped Triton TR-21X boat powered by a Mercury 250 XS engine for the 2006 season.

GE Silicone II was drawn to professional bass fishing because of the sport’s growing profile and demographics. Silicone is commonly used in the construction of boats. Professional bass fishing offers GE a new platform to reach out to consumers and builders with information about home sealing.

“We saw a lot of similarities and crossover in the demographics for NASCAR and bass fishing,” said Stephan Nelson, Field Marketing Manager for GE Sealants & Adhesives. “The model for professional bass fishing sponsorships seems to be following the same path as NASCAR. We’re very excited to be a part of it.” 

The relationship between GE and Chapman solidified quickly and naturally, based on GE’s search criteria. “Being new to professional bass fishing, we were reluctant to choose one professional tour to sponsor. Both the FLW Tour and BASS Elite Series are fantastic. We decided early on that we wanted to sponsor an angler who would fish both tours. Due to changes in the BASS and FLW tour structures, there is a limited group of two-tour anglers for the 2006 season. We were very fortunate to sign the best of the bunch in Brent Chapman.” Chapman finished the 2005 season by winning the last two major championships of the year - the Busch Shootout and the Top Gun Championship.

Chapman will join Matt Kenseth, driver of the #17 DeWALT Ford Fusion in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, as a key pillar in the GE Silicone II sponsorship family. GE Sealants and Adhesives has been an associate sponsor of the #17 DeWALT Ford since 2003 and saw the opportunity to create synergies between their existing NASCAR sponsorship and a new bass fishing sponsorship.

For additional information about home sealing, print-ready images, or complete survey result contact Jay Osgood at (704) 992-4114 or jay.osgood@ge.com.

About GE Sealants & Adhesives

GE Sealants & Adhesives (GESA) is a division of GE Advanced Materials, a world leader in providing materials solutions through engineering thermoplastics, silicon-based products and technology platforms, and fused quartz and ceramics. GESA offers a variety of premier silicone and acrylic sealants, providing builders and homeowners with the best solutions for sealing the home envelope.