Andersen Consulting Ramps Up Its Global Ad Campaign to Promote the Realities of the New Electronic Economy.

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 8, 1999--

Andersen Consulting, the world's largest management and technology consulting firm, today announced it will significantly expand its global corporate advertising campaign during the balance of the year to promote a candid and thought-provoking point of view on the emerging electronic economy.

The initiative was unveiled this morning by Managing Partner and CEO George T. Shaheen at the firm's annual management conference here, and coincides with Andersen Consulting's ranking by International Data Corporation (IDC) as the world's leading provider of Internet services.

The firm said that the linchpin of its effort is a targeted ad campaign that will run alongside its well-known corporate image advertising. The firm said that the new ads -- initially seven simple and straightforward print treatments -- are meant to cut through the glut of current eCommerce-themed advertising being run by both hardware vendors and consulting firms. Rather than touting specific products or services, Andersen Consulting's ads focus on the issues and opportunities confronting leaders of both established companies and new entrants in the emerging electronic economy.

By all estimates, the eCommerce market is booming and service providers are rushing daily into the fray. IDC, a leading independent research firm, projected in a comprehensive report on eCommerce ("Worldwide Internet Services Market and Trends Forecast, 1998-2003") that the market for Internet services will grow from $7.8 billion last year to nearly $80 billion by 2003, a compound annual growth rate of nearly 60 percent. The IDC report ranked Andersen Consulting number one among all Internet service providers in 1998, with revenue of $425 million related to interactive and on-line services. IDC ranked Andersen Consulting ahead of IBM Global Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young and EDS, among other Internet service providers.

In an introductory ad that breaks today, a cut-out of the IDC rankings is accompanied by the headline, "Virtual Reality." The full campaign will be launched tomorrow, driven by full-page ads and high-visibility Op-Ed positions in such leading dailies as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the Financial Times. The campaign will also run in key business magazines such as Forbes, Business Week and The Economist, and in leading newspapers and magazines across Europe and in other G7 countries.

The new effort was created by Young & Rubicam, the firm's long-time advertising agency, under the direction of James E. Murphy, Andersen Consulting's Global Managing Director of Marketing and Communications. Spending on the new ads is expected to exceed $10 million over the next six months and supplement a $44 million corporate advertising campaign launched globally earlier this year.

"Our campaign is intended to rise above the noise and own the high ground in eCommerce by focusing on the most critical issues of the new electronic economy," said Mr. Murphy. "Our objective is to provide real insight to the senior management of large, blue-chip global organizations and the fastest growing and most promising mid-size and start-up companies."

Headlines such as "The dinosaurs never see it coming," "Unlearn something old every day," and "How much longer will Wall Street reward your unprofitability?" help deliver core messages about the key business issues and success factors in the new economy. The ads suggest to established players that nimble new competitors, launched and based in the new economics, can create faster, better, cheaper value propositions and steal significant market share, and that wrenching change is necessary to transition from the old economic realities to the new. The ads also suggest that having achieved initial market success, new entrants must simultaneously build scale and develop innovative value propositions without opting for the short-term payoffs of acquiring physical assets, reducing experimentation or competing solely on price.

The campaign is a continuation of Andersen Consulting's 10-year record of ground-breaking advertising and brand development within the professional services sector. Along with its status as the first professional services firm to use mainstream advertising, Andersen Consulting has been a leader in the use of other brand-building initiatives, including the firm's sponsorship of the blockbuster "Van Gogh's Van Goghs" Exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship involving the world's top professional golfers. The firm last year instituted a program to more sharply differentiate its marketplace image through a refined corporate positioning and a new, more modern graphic identity.

Andersen Consulting is an $8.3 billion global management and technology consulting organization whose mission is to help its clients create their future. The organization works with clients from a wide range of industries to link their people, processes and technologies to their strategies. Andersen Consulting has approximately 65,000 people in 48 countries. Its home page address is http://www.ac.com.