ACXIOM TO PROVIDE IBCONSUMER INFOBASE DATA FOR IBM'S Business Discovery OFFERING.

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 6, 1997--

Marketers Cut Costs and Increase Response with Greater Insight into

Consumer Behavior

Acxiom(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ACXM) today announced at the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) Fall show, that it will provide IBConsumer(R) InfoBase(TM) marketing data to IBM's Business Discovery Solutions (BDS), a suite of applications that help businesses use data from customers and products to better understand consumer behavior and strengthen customer relationships.

Acxiom's Consumer InfoBase, with information on over 95% of U.S. households is the premier multi-sourced data enhancement product in the market and is the largest collection of information of its kind in the world.

The agreement between IBM and Acxiom signals the first partnership of its kind, merging the powerful data analysis capability of IBM with Acxiom's marketing intelligence. Industry watchers agree that such a partnership is likely to be replicated by other industry players in an attempt to combine advances in information technology with more comprehensive sources of marketing data.

The combination enables businesses to turn raw data resources into knowledge with which to direct their marketing efforts. For example, a bank receiving low response to direct mail credit card offers might turn to BDS and InfoBase solution to create better targeted and more accurate mail campaigns. By running their data against BDS applications and InfoBase data, the company would be able to more effectively identify the characteristics of consumers who would likely be responsive to the credit card offer and would also be profitable credit card candidates.

BDS utilizes novel data mining statistical and visualization tools to explore very large databases to uncover patterns and relations that characterize customer behavior. Coupling these tools with task-specific application templates attrition, acquisition, cross-selling, etc., BDS frees the database marketer from tedious analysis and allows him or her to concentrate instead on how to best act on the discovered trends. Coupled with Acxiom's industry-leading InfoBase, which includes a wide range of demographic, socioeconomic and lifestyle data, BDS gives marketers a more precise view of the consumer marketplace.

"This relationship with IBM provides Acxiom with an excellent opportunity to develop a new data distribution and delivery channel," said Dave Wilson, leader of Channel Partner Relationships for Acxiom. "IBM is the leader in providing fully integrated business intelligence solutions. While many companies provide component parts of a marketing solution, such as decision support or data mining software, a data warehouse package or direct marketing technologies, IBM has integrated all of these technologies within BDS to provide both business strategy-and analytical applications in a closed loop solution, with a user-friendly interface designed specifically for marketers," Wilson added.

"This partnership will benefit database marketers in all industries," said Evangelos Simoudis, vice president of IBM's Global Business Intelligence Solutions unit. "Companies are constantly convinced of the value of having strong relationships with their customers. The BDS/InfoBase combination provides them with a unique solution for better understanding their customers and establishing strong and profitable relations with them."

Marketers using BDS with InfoBase are now better equipped to make more strategic decisions covering the full range of marketing disciplines:

identify micro-markets and prospects;

create effective promotional campaigns for cross-selling, customer

activation and win back and new customer acquisition;

determine the life time value of a prospect.

Acxiom utilizes research methodologies that provide maximum protection of consumer privacy. All Acxiom information is projected from aggregated data that has been obtained from reliable private and public sources. The firm complies with federal and state laws regarding data privacy, and supports the ethical standards of the Direct Marketing Association.

Acxiom Corporation provides a wide spectrum of data products, data integration services, mailing list services, as well as data warehousing and decision support services to major firms in the United States and United Kingdom. Founded in 1969, Acxiom is headquartered in Conway, Arkansas, with operations throughout the United States and the United Kingdom.

Acxiom's World Wide Web address is (URL) http://www.acxiom.com or E-mail: [e-mail]. Acxiom's toll free number is 1-800-922-9466.

CONTACTS: Flora Public Relations 

Sandy Flora, 512/990-8811, [e-mail]

or

Acxiom Corp.

Marice Gardner, 501/336-1264, [e-mail]