• Pink Panther™ to Break Silence, Drive Business Your Way
• Energizing the Opportunity in Re-Insulation
• Karel Czanderna Named Group President for Building Materials
• Cramer Still “Mad” about Owens Corning
• Owens Corning Reports 2008 Second Quarter Results
• Leaders Showcase Business for Investors
• Bob Vila Builds with QuietZone® Products
• Paula “Pink Panther” Creamer Wins the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic
• Compton Plants Are “Modern Marvels”

Stand back—the Pink Panther™ is about to break his silence.

And when he does, homeowners across the U.S. will receive a clear message about the opportunity they have to make a significant contribution to reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

“In our research, consumers consistently show that they don’t know what is the biggest user of energy and the leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions,” says Roy Dean, president of the Insulating Systems Business. “Understanding reality will motivate consumers to take action and have an impact.”

The build-up to the Panther’s big rant begins next week and he is scheduled to break his silence on Oct. 9. It’s all part of this year’s fall insulation campaign that is designed to break through the clutter of messages that typically bombard consumers each fall, make a splash in the market and give insulation a big lift during the prime re insulation season.

Another feature of the fall campaign this year will be advertising from the company and your business that will be coordinated in content and placement to maximize impact. The company’s part of the campaign includes search engine and online banner advertising, along with traditional television and print ads.

A Marketing Tools web site has also been created to allow you to access product information and marketing materials via the Internet. A separate communication has been sent with information about accessing the site. If you have questions about this, contact your Owens Corning sales representative.

“The campaign is designed to appeal to interested buyers with messages that end their procrastination,” explains Dean. “And by joining forces with you to coordinate messaging and spending, we’ll all have a much stronger voice in the marketplace.”

To organize the combined effort, Owens Corning sales and marketing teams have hosted meetings in dozens of heating markets across the country this summer.

When programs are coordinated, you benefit from the company’s brand presence in your market, and Owens Corning benefits when consumers see your recognizable, local availability. The result is intended to be fun and, more importantly, change consumer perceptions in a way that drives them to your business.

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Earlier this month, Owens Corning launched a full set of business solutions to help you easily, efficiently and profitably capitalize on an emerging and growing market category – re-insulation.

“Despite major strides in energy efficiency, the number one user of energy continues to be buildings—more than industry and more than transportation,” said Roy Dean, president of the Owens Corning Insulation Systems Business.

“Nearly 80 million U.S. homes are estimated to be under insulated according to Department of Energy standards and the launch of these re-insulation solutions focus on changing this reality,” continues Dean. “This is a tremendous opportunity for you, given that only about 4 percent of the re-insulation opportunity is currently captured each year.”

After extensive research and nearly two years of development, the Owens Corning solutions are designed to enable you to accelerate your current re-insulation business, or leverage your current non-insulation home improvement business to expand into re insulation. The solutions incorporate a range of everything you need including: products, marketing and sales tools, including the Owens Corning AttiCat® Expanding Blown-In PINK Fiberglas™ Insulation product and portable machine. The offering is designed to create a market of buyers, sellers and services to make insulation retrofit easy, approachable and affordable.

Owens Corning has been market testing specific solutions for each distribution channel and gaining insights to ensure that the marketing and technology solutions are best tailored to meet your needs. Following are highlights of the solutions for each channel:

Insulation Contractors. Owens Corning is providing a host of marketing solutions from direct selling materials to access to customer targeting data such as Clairtas, to help you better and more surgically leverage what you do best—insulate homes. The new tools will enable you to focus on re-insulation opportunities.

Roofing Contractors. The new Owens Corning Top of the House™ roofing program plus AttiCat Expanding Blown-In Insulation solution allows you to bring more value to your customers by adding insulation in the attic at the same time the homeowner is already upgrading the exterior appearance and performance of their roof.

HVAC. Like roofing contractors, you are already in the home selling duct solutions and HVAC systems. The new Owens Corning AttiCat Expanding Blown-In Insulation solution allows you to extend your services to include attic insulation at the same time you're upgrading your customer’s energy performance—ultimately maximizing the performance of their HVAC improvements.

Retail. While DIYers have long shopped for energy efficient solutions, with the addition of the AttiCat system you now have a solution that makes the job even easier for them, which is a key in helping to generate additional sales.

Pro-Dealers. The new construction builder has been a core customer for your business and you now have an opportunity to create a profitable business extension by supplying the AttiCat Expanding Blown-In Insulation solution to your remodeling contractors. They can use the AttiCat Expanding Blown-In Insulation solution to help expand their business and profits in an otherwise difficult home remodeling market.

Already, customers who have been in controlled market tests throughout the course of 2008 are reporting significant progress and opportunity in re-insulation.

“In the retrofit market there is a huge opportunity to create sales in an environment where new construction is at its slowest since the 1970s,” says Dave LeHotan of All Construction Services, an Owens Corning customer who has long been a proponent of upgrading insulation to today’s standards. “We have positioned our company to take full advantage of the re-insulation opportunity, and with this launch Owens Corning will be providing a solution to fully tap the market.”

Doug Derrick, owner of Advance Roofing, who has extended his roofing contractor business to include re-insulation with the Owens Corning Top of the House program, agrees. “It’s a no-brainer,” said Derrick. “I tried to purchase the demo AttiCat system right off the floor and ordered it that day. We are poised for an incredibly successful upcoming season.”

Adds Dean: “Other companies may be talking with their customers about the soft economy but we are having a much different conversation. We are talking about an opportunity to expand and grow your business and providing the tools to make it happen today.”

To learn more about the re-insulation market opportunity and how your company can work with Owens Corning to enter the market, visit our web site.

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Karel Czanderna has joined Owens Corning as Group President for Building Materials. In the newly created position, Czanderna is responsible for all the component businesses of the Building Materials group, which includes insulation, roofing and asphalt, masonry products and construction services. By organizing the group under a single leader, Owens Corning can fully leverage a unified approach to winning with its customers and strengthening the brand.

“We need to have the organizational capacity to grow,” said Thaman, introducing Czanderna at ae recent internal meeting. “We need someone who can help us innovate faster, who can help us listen to what our customers are telling us and help us build our business faster. We need a single leader who can leverage a fully aligned building materials organization, ensuring that we act in a bold and powerful way to grow our customers’ businesses and operate in a lean and efficient way.”

Roy Dean, Insulating Systems Business; Sheree Bargabos, Roofing and Asphalt; Chuck Stein, Owens Corning Masonry Products; and Bill LeBaron, Owens Corning Construction Services, will remain in their current roles as business presidents and manage their individual businesses. Czanderna will work with them to leverage resources. In addition, Frank O’Brien-Bernini, chief sustainability officer, will report to Czanderna.

Prior to joining the company, Czanderna held progressive leadership roles in high tech and consumer industries, including Eastman Kodak Company and Whirlpool Corporation. At Kodak, she developed international technology partnerships that helped the company transition from the chemical- to digital-photography market. During Whirlpool’s acquisition of Maytag, she integrated the product lines and executed the largest all-kitchen product launch in the history of the major appliance industry.

Czanderna’s first day on the job at Owens Corning was Monday, Sept. 8.

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“Mad Money” host Jim Cramer underscored his bullish position on Owens Corning, citing the company’s presence in the wind power industry and the larger green market. Cramer reiterated the company’s position among the 11 stocks in his “Wind-ex” fund portfolio, marveling “How do you like this: A company that’s involved with housing guided up!”

Watch the clip of Cramer going mad over Owens Corning.

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Recently reported second quarter results reflected continued strength across Owens Corning businesses, with consolidated net sales increasing 23 percent to $1.6 billion, compared with $1.3 billion in the same quarter of 2007.

Highlights included robust global demand for glass-fiber reinforcements that supported a 70 percent net sales increase from 2007 for the composites business. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) from continuing operations were $71 million, versus $26 million during the same period in 2007.

“We said that composites margins would approach double digits for 2008. They were 11 percent in the second quarter, supporting that goal,” observed Mike Thaman, chairman and chief executive officer. Thaman listed other promises kept, such as the capacity expansion of the company’s composites facility in Russia, profitability for the insulation business, continued strength in the corporate balance sheet, and improved workplace safety.

Also of note, a surge in storm-related roofing activity allowed the Roofing and Asphalt business to return to profitability. Net sales for the quarter were $475 million, up from $414 million during the same period in 2007. EBIT from continuing operations were $37 million, compared with $29 million a year ago.

Read the full press release.

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A room filled with investors and analysts heard Owens Corning leaders review their businesses during the company’s second annual Investor Day, held Sept. 9 in New York City.

“We love telling the story of Owens Corning,” Mike Thaman, chairman and chief executive officer, told the group of about 100 institutional investors, with others listening via a webcast. “Investor Day is an opportunity for us to present a broader view of our company; where we see opportunities for growth in the business; where we see the ability to improve our business; and to demonstrate that we are in very good businesses.”

The event also allowed the company to introduce members of the management team. Following are capsule comments about five of the presentations:

Karel Czanderna, group president for building materials, said she will spend her time making sure the business delivers during the current difficult housing market and is ready to take full advantage once it rebounds.

Sheree Bargabos, Roofing and Asphalt president, said the business is managing cost to recover price inflation and using innovation to fuel customers’ success. The business is improving margins by enhancing the product mix and increasing roofing accessory sales.

Roy Dean, Insulating Systems Business president, said customer focus, cycle management and innovation are keys to success. He discussed current projects to help grow the customers’ business and promised that the business is “poised to provide energy-efficiency solutions.”

Chuck Stein, chief marketing officer, told investors that with 80 million homes in the United States under-insulated, the re-insulation opportunity is “massive.” Owens Corning will go after this market during October, which is Energy Efficiency Month, and through the fall advertising campaign when The Pink Panther™ speaks out.

Frank O’Brien-Bernini, chief sustainability officer, told investors that the company is greening its operations through engaged employees who are reducing energy and through proprietary technology and processes that are decreasing energy intensity.

A replay of the webcast and a printable file of the slide presentations are available at the company’s website for investors.

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A new online video posted on BobVila.com shows DIY home improvement guru Bob Vila using Owens Corning QuietZone® Noise Control Batts and SOLSERENE® Fabric Ceiling Systems to create an ideal Podcasting studio. The video and accompanying instructions teach homeowners how the noise-reduction systems work and how to install them in their own homes. In the video, Owens Corning products and materials are used to transform an open, echo-producing space into a studio with exceptional acoustics for recording sound. The Web site rates the DIY project two out of five “hammers,” or “easy.”

BobVila.com receives about 3 million visits—or 1.7 million unique visitors—per month. A typical how-to video on the site receives about 10,000 plays per month.

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Paula Creamer—known in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) as the “Pink Panther”—won the 2008 Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic (JFOCC). Sponsored for this tournament by Owens Corning, Creamer had earned the moniker because she wears pink, uses a Pink Panther™ golf club cover, and hits a pink ball.

Creamer shot a 16-under par 268 on the par-71 Highland Meadows Golf Club course in Sylvania, Ohio, a career best for her and a tournament record. The victory was Creamer’s seventh LPGA career win.

This was the fifth year in a row that Owens Corning was the title sponsor of the JFOCC. Over the past 24 years, the tournament has raised $5.8 million for more than 100 children’s charities in northwest Ohio. Organizers expect to surpass the $6 million mark this year.

ESPN2 provided coverage of the tournament throughout the weekend. Owens Corning ran 21 commercial spots during the tournament in addition to a one-minute message from CEO Mike Thaman. Click the links to watch two of the commercials, on roofing and on insulation.

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A recent episode of the History Channel’s popular “Modern Marvels” program featured Owens Corning roofing and asphalt plants in Compton, Calif. The “Secrets of Oil” episode shows Bobbi Alkire, director of innovation for Roofing and Asphalt, explaining the market leadership of asphalt shingles over other types of roof coverings, the benefits asphalt brings to shingles and their manufacturing process.

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