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Press Release

TAMRON LAUNCHES NATIONAL TELEVISION CAMPAIGN

Campaign Promotes AF 28-300mm XR Zoom Lens “The smallest & lightest in its category”

June 1, 2004, Commack, NY—Tamron USA, Inc. announced that the company will air its first television commercial on nationwide cable TV. The 30-second spot is scheduled to air during this year's peak gift-giving seasons.

In an effort to capture increased Father's day and Holiday gift sales as well as vacation planning purchases, the commercial will run from June 7 through early July and again in late Q4, 2004. The TV spot targets men aged 25-54 and will air on the following cable networks:

Tamron's TV advertising will deliver over 170 million gross household impressions and will reach the target audience with more than 60 million targeted impressions. The commercial will air in 66 million cable households (65% of the total US cable homes) with a concentration on higher income households in all of the country's top markets.

"This is an enormously exciting project for Tamron," stated Stacie Errera, Chief Marketing Officer. "In terms of increasing brand recognition and product awareness, television is one of the most persuasive and ubiquitous mediums available." Typically, Tamron has relied on print advertising, public relations efforts, trade shows and mentor photographers to spread the word about Tamron products.

Tak Inoue, president of Tamron USA, Inc. is looking for new ways to expand the sales of Tamron products. "This is the first step to broaden the appeal of Tamron lenses beyond the typical photo enthusiast," he remarked. "My intention is to challenge our traditional marketing efforts and to look for new ways to grow our market share. This will be accomplished in a number of ways, including the restructure of management, embracing new marketing tools, and more."

The TV ad will feature Tamron's award-winning AF28-300mm XR, a high ratio zoom lens that covers a wide to ultra telephoto range. A very versatile and easy to use zoom, the lens has been admired by photo enthusiasts since it was first launched in 1999. In 2002, Tamron released a second generation version that is the smallest and lightest in the category. The sales of the lens increased dramatically due to the 28% size reduction and increased macro capabilities over its predecessor. The Tamron 28-300mm is widely used on both film and digital SLR cameras.

Tamron dealers can request a 1-hour looped DVD for in-store playback, which is known to increase product sales by as much as 32%. Dealers may also post a QuickTime of the commercial on their websites. To see the QuickTime of the 30-second TV commercial, visit www.tamron-usa.com.

Tamron is a leading manufacturer of lenses for photographic, industrial, laboratory, video, digital and scientific applications. Among its many optical and mechanical innovations since the start of the company in 1950, Tamron's development of mass produced hybrid aspherical elements in 1997 paved the way for high magnification zoom lenses. The technology was incorporated into the ground-breaking 28-200mm. Two years later the first 28-300mm was introduced. Tamron has won more awards for these two lenses than all other lens manufacturers combined.

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6/04