American Business Media Unveils New Comprehensive Online Site Registration Form; Leading B2B Media Organizations Develop First-Ever Standardized Online Registration Form.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 25, 2000

American Business Media (ABM) announced today the development of a comprehensive and standardized registration form for online data collection efforts.

By providing a template for developing site visitor profiles, this form will simplify and expedite data collection, increasing the value of a publisher's database. The registration form, created in cooperation with three leading B2B media organizations, is now available for publishers, Internet companies and other B2B entities at http://regserver.bpai.com.

ABM worked closely with B2BWorks, the premier full-service B2B online advertising network, BPA International, the leading audit firm for B2B media, and Database Marketing Concepts, a leading B2B market list management and brokerage company to create the form.

"The development of this form is a critical step in self-regulation for our industry," states Gordon Hughes, ABM president and CEO. "ABM developed industry privacy standards in 1998, which have been available to the publishing community via our Web site, www.americanbusinessmedia.com. As a result of this cooperative effort, publishers also have the ability to conform to ABM's privacy standards by utilizing this form. The form contains two check boxes where users can opt out: one is for sending news to registered users, and the second is to opt out on making lists available to third-party vendors. This is a key part of our self-regulation standards."

"E-mail registration needs to start gravitating to the type of forms that have worked for B2B controlled circulation publishers and trade show companies for years," notes Bill Giacalone, B2BWorks' co-founder and senior VP site relations. "The sites can develop new and better revenue streams, Web users are assured their data is appropriately used and that they are receiving appropriate business information, and advertisers can effectively utilize the data to reach their target marketplace."

Adoption of this registration form is a simple process. For access, publishers should visit http://regserver.bpai.com, download the form and tailor it to their specific industry.

"This comprehensive online registration form works for all types of B2B marketers," explains DMC president Peter Candito. "The form supplies a variety of options for B2B sites to choose from -- a list of job functions and industry segments make the form truly a universal menu for B2B marketers in any vertical market."

The lists are compatible with standard BPA magazine audit classifications.

"Publishers need to view their database as an effective marketing tool and a revenue generation tool. This type of standardized database format can be BPA audited and make a database more valuable to its owner," adds Peter Black, senior VP of marketing, BPA.

"We anticipate the B2B publishing community will embrace this initiative wholeheartedly," adds Hughes.

About American Business Media

Founded in 1907, American Business Media is the industry association for global information providers that produce magazines, Web sites, trade shows, newsletters and other media. These providers reach an audience of more than 39 million professionals and generate more than $16 billion in industry revenues.

About B2BWorks

B2BWorks (www.b2bworks.net) is the premier full-service online B2B advertising network that gives marketers one-stop access to a wide range of the most popular business-content sites owned by leading trade publishers and associations. B2BWorks helps business marketers meet their targeted advertising and branding needs through focused banner campaigns, microsites, newsletter and custom content sponsorships, double opt-in e-mail lists, pop-up ad creatives and other innovative marketing avenues. B2BWorks currently delivers more than 75 million page views and reaches over 17 million unique business executive visitors monthly through its network of 500+ site affiliates serving more than 50 vertical industry segments. B2BWorks is headquartered in Chicago with offices in New York, Boston and San Francisco.

About BPA International

A not-for-profit organization since 1931, BPA International is the measure of success -- the preferred global provider of audited data for the marketing and media/information industries. Media owners, advertisers and advertising agencies govern the tripartite organization. Our international membership consists of more than 2,500 media properties (print, electronic, face-to-face, wireless, databases) and 2,800 media buyers in over 20 countries. Visit www.bpai.com for the latest audit reports, membership information and news.

About Database Marketing Concepts

Database Marketing Concepts (www.dmclist.com) is a direct response services company specializing in database and list management, brokerage, database construction, list fulfillment and e-mail lists for the B2B markets. DMC is affiliated with the Communication Concepts Group (CCG), a $100 million group of direct response service companies whose products and services include lists, printing, mailing services, computer services and printing disaster recovery.