Introduction:
It is unfortunate indeed, that in order to express one's opinion over the internet medium, it is not really necessary to be fettered with any credentials, experience, knowledge of the facts or even good faith. Quixotic, self-appointed critics-at-large have the liberty to wax eloquent on topics that they have no knowledge of, to malign persons they do not know, with regard to facts they are really not familiar with. And other persons, similarly unburdened with either knowledge or common sense, will listen and believe with a piety that would make a Franciscan nun preen with somber pride. And so it is, that it has been brought to our indignant attention that certain (questionable and/or uninformed) parties have been taking advantage of the anonymity and ease of the internet to slander one of our best talent recruitment vendors - AWT.

This memorandum is being issued by AYBC USA as our response - in support of AWT and its Chief Executive Officer, Jed Knudsen.

Who is AYBC and what do we do:
AYBC is a multi-division holding company - encompassing Models, Inc., Promotion Staffing, TradeShow Staffing, etc.

A significant part of our business is staffing Promotional Events, Trade Shows, etc. with models and talent. A lot of this work is staffing booths for our customers with attractive 'model-type' personnel to promote various types of consumer products. Typically, the types of work we do - and our customers' budgets - do not call for the use of celebrity models, but rather, for much less expensive local talent in towns, big and small, across the United States.

In addition to Promo work, AYBC also does a significant amount of work in various other areas, which include Trade Shows, Reality Shows and other Television/Video Productions, etc. But, in dollar terms, Promotional Modeling is our single largest activity group and profit center.

Promotional Modeling:
Promotional Work is one of the main areas of modeling, just like Print Work, Commercials or Haute Couture. But unlike, say, the New York runway shows, which are very la-di-da but do not really touch the lives of average Americans hardly at all, promotions touches the lives of many people everywhere. Promotions sell product, and are swiftly competing with Advertising for America's marketing dollars, and is on its way to becoming the main way in which companies communicate with the public about their products.

Promotional modeling work is also one of the primary ways in which many models and tomorrow's stars get into the industry. Many of Hollywood's best-loved idols came through paying their dues to this industry. For example, one of Super-star Brad Pitt's first jobs as 'Talent' was to dress up as a chicken for a promotion. Actress Cameron Diaz (who now makes about US$30 million a movie) started her career promoting soft-serve ice cream in a grocery store.

AYBC's Customers and work venues:
AYBC's customers are typically larger consumer-product manufacturers/marketers, such as Lever Brothers, Proctor & Gamble, etc. (or their agents). Click Here to see a list of our customers.

A lot of our promotions use Wal-Mart stores as the promotion venues (Note that typically Wal-Mart is not AYBC's customer - we promote the products sold by various Wal-Mart Vendors). The venues are usually distributed widely across the country, and so we require a constant supply of models throughout the country, not just in L. A. and New York City.

Why we use AWT:
Since AYBC is not a recruitment-oriented organization (but rather a company that focuses primarily on booking people for work, generally promotional work, for our customers), we generally do not have our own inventories of personnel adequate to meet our needs. This is where AWT comes in. They go to various areas of the country, recruiting a large inventory of models, and/or persons interested to work as models, for our Promotions/Events, Trade Shows, etc.

What AWT does for AYBC:
Our customers (typically large consumer-products companies and/or their agents) tell us in advance which towns and in which areas they want us to staff. We look at our existing inventory positions of model-grade personnel in those specific areas, and depending on how many people we have there, we tell AWT which areas of the country we need additional personnel in. AWT has generally been very good about sending its recruiting teams to those specific areas in very quick response to our requests.

Once they are in any market that we have asked them to visit, AWT puts on their recruiting drive. Out of the people who apply, AWT basically screens and vets the people who, in their opinion, are the best and most dependable/committed, and these people are signed on ASAP. AWT passes this information on to us soon afterwards. And as soon as our customers' work orders come through, we contact the AWT recruits to see who may be available and interested to work for us.

AYBC's Work Process/Business Model:
When our customers tell us the job and what kind of people they need, we present to them our models that fit the requirements. And then, the decision about which models are to be hired is taken by the appropriate executives of the customer company, and of AYBC.

The way AYBC makes its money is by getting the models work, and keeping a percentage or portion of the money that we bill the models out for. That is AYBC's business model.

AWT's Business Model:
AWT has a very different business model. The starting models who want to get work through us or other companies like us, need certain tools to get started. They frequently do not know anything about the industry, but just have an erroneously glamorous impression about modeling. In order for us to present any model to our customers for any job - at the very least - the model needs to have a portfolio of good professionally taken pictures. Having Comp Cards and some basic training also help. Most important of all, we need some assurance that a model who comes to work for our customers - is truly motivated and professional, that they will not act in a manner that will be detrimental to our customers' needs, nor reflect negatively on our company. AWT, being in the recruiting business, provides these beginning models these crucial tools that they need to get started (and without which, we [AYBC] could not market these models), and us the assurance that we are getting someone who has been vetted by an experienced and informed party on our behalf.

Congratulations to AWT:
Without the great work that AWT does, AYBC would not be able to staff our jobs throughout the country! And the models who come to us through AWT would not get the opportunities that they get. It is our professional opinion that AWT provides an invaluable service by connecting the models to us, and giving the models the tools they need to get started. Without what AWT does today, we would not have the personnel we need, and the models would not be able to get work, at least through us.

We congratulate Jed Knudsen and his team of dedicated recruiters and modeling evangelists at AWT for the often thankless work that they do so tirelessly, and keep supplying people to our company at the cost at which they do. We also thank this team for their unwavering passion, and the professionalism and integrity they bring to an industry riddled with corruption, cluelessness, double talk and unkept promises.

Let's talk Dollars:
In the current quarter (01-Jan-04 -15-Mar-04) alone, models recruited by AWT and accepted by AYBC - have already been billed out by AYBC for work worth over $278,000.

Conclusion:
If you have any questions or need clarification about any of the above, please feel free to call
Deven Scott
Executive Assistant to the Director of Staffing/Talent Sales
AYBC
+1 (310) 268-0800 (Los Angeles),
+1 (212) 986-8100 (New York), or
Toll free: +1 (866) 438-8000, Extension 102.