Research Triangle Park, N.C./Pasadena, Calif. — RTP-based Bayer Advanced won its eighth consecutive trophy with its Salute to the Rose Parade float during the January 1, 2008, Rose Parade. Bayer Advanced makes consumer rose care products that make it easy to grow Rose Parade-quality roses in your own backyard.

Tournament of Roses judges awarded the Bayer Advanced float the Queen’s Trophy for the best use of roses for the third straight year and the fourth time overall.

“We’re on a roll,” says Bayer Advanced Head of Marketing Mark Schneid. “An eighth consecutive trophy is an incredible honor. Phoenix Decorating’s design and floral teams continue to create beautiful floats out of thousands of roses.”

Download the Making of the Bayer Advanced Rose Bowl Parade Float:
Quicktime Version | iPod/iPhone Version
(Note: Both files are approximately 50MB. Right click on the link and copy the file to your desktop.)

Bayer Advanced Salute to the Rose Parade Float on Display at the
Post Parade: Showcase of Floats at the Pasadena High School
Sierra Madre and Washington Boulevards
January 1-2, 2008
www.tournamentofroses.com

Key Features of the Bayer Advanced Float

• A 20-foot-tall sculpted rose that blooms with a pyrotechnic show. Streamer cannons.
• Float riders: A dozen former Rose Parade Queens.
• More than 16,000 roses, including those named after former Rose Parade Grand Marshals Mary Pickford (1933), Charlie McCarthy (1940), Bob Hope (1969), Pele (1987), Reverend Billy Graham (1971), Kate Smith (1976) and Angela Lansbury (1993) are featured on the Bayer Advanced float.
• A rose variety named after Christopher Columbus, who is credited with discovering the New World in 1492.
• The world debut of the 2008 All-America Rose Selections™ winners for best roses of the New Year — Dream Come True and Mardi Gras. www.rose.org.
• Onion seed, ground rice, parsley flakes, ground split pea, lettuce seed, poppy seed and sesame seed in honor of 2008 Rose Parade Grand Marshal Chef Emeril Lagasse.
• Float music: Dancing in the Street by Mick Jagger and David Bowie.
• 55 feet long, 20 feet high and 18 feet wide.
• Michelle Lofthouse of Phoenix Decorating designed all of the Bayer Advanced award-winning Rose Parade floats.

Bayer Advanced Rose Parade Trophies

• 2008, 2007, 2006: Queen’s Trophy for the best use of roses
• 2005: President’s Trophy for the most effective use and presentation of flowers
• 2004: Fantasy Trophy for the most outstanding display of fantasy and imagination
• 2003: Animation Trophy for the best animation and motion
• 2002: Queen’s Trophy for the best use of roses
• 2001: Fantasy Trophy for the most outstanding display of fantasy and imagination

Bayer Advanced to Put a Rose in Space as Part of the Salute to the Rose Parade

As part of the Bayer Advanced salute to the Rose Parade, the brand is putting a rose in space. A rose named after the Tournament of Roses® will be on next mission of the NASA space shuttle Atlantis.

The rose was grown in the Bayer Advanced–sponsored Wrigley Gardens at the Tournament of Roses Association headquarters in Pasadena. Bayer Advanced products are used to grow all the roses in the Wrigley Gardens.

The Tournament of Roses rose, which was dried in preparation for the shuttle mission, will be one of the personal items taken into space on STS–122 by astronaut Rex Walheim on behalf of his brother Lance Walheim. Lance Walheim is the Bayer Advanced garden expert and selected many of the roses on the Bayer Advanced float.

“We want to make the Rose Parade’s Passport to the World’s Celebrations an out-of-this-world celebration,” says Bayer Advanced Garden Expert Lance Walheim.

Technical problems delayed the December 6, 2007, launch of the shuttle Atlantis. The rose was going to be featured on the 2008 Bayer Advanced float. It will now be featured on the 2009 Bayer Advanced float.