CMS and Yankelovich Partners Form Strategic Alliance to Deliver New Information-based Marketing Services; "Living Cube" First Tool to Integrate Attitudinal Research with Behavioral Data for Dynamic Customer Management.

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 15, 1996--Customer Management Services (CMS), an advanced database marketing company, and Yankelovich Partners Inc., the recognized leader in custom segmentation research, today announced a strategic alliance that will leverage the two companies' unique strengths to deliver new information-based marketing services that, for the first time, merge attitudinal research with behavioral data.

The companies also introduced today The Living Cube(SM), the first new service offering resulting from the alliance. The announcement will be made at the annual National Center for Database Marketing (NCDM) conference in Chicago this week.

CMS, based in Chapel Hill, N.C., is known for its comprehensive services including database management, modeling, and targeted communications program design and tracking, all aimed at providing marketers with a competitive advantage and maximizing customer value. Yankelovich Partners, of Norwalk, Conn., has been a pioneer of social research since the 1950s, and offers custom consumer and business-to-business strategic market research, public opinion polling, the Yankelovich MONITOR(R) annual consumer survey, and syndicated research studies.

Both firms realized the need to close the gap between finding answers to the "who," "when," and "how" questions of behavioral modeling (CMS' strength) and the "why" questions answered through attitudinal research and segmentation studies (Yankelovich Partners' strength).

"We have found CMS to have the most sophisticated behavioral modeling and database management capabilities," said John Struck, CEO of Yankelovich Partners. "Equally important, they share our quest to provide the very best insights and marketing solutions to our clients. We believe that together CMS and Yankelovich have a service offering that clearly exceeds what has been available in the industry to date. We know our clients will be extremely interested in this alliance," he said.

The companies will work with existing and new clients in a team approach to deliver the optimal blend of services to meet the client's objectives, beginning with applications of The Living Cube, which is a synthesis of CMS' Living Model(SM) and Yankelovich Partners' Strategic Cube(TM) methodology.

"Now we can paint a much more complete picture of our clients' customers than was possible before," said Tim Toben, president of CMS. "Now we can see -- and, more important, anticipate -- customer motivations and behavior patterns of the millions of individuals that make up a client's business, that can make or break their competitive position and profitability. We believe The Living Cube represents for our clients virtually millions of dollars of new insight, opportunity and profit," he said.

CMS' Living Model is a proprietary tool for capturing and monitoring behavioral data Living Models are continuously updated based on changes in individual customer behavior and to reflect any marketing actions carried out with target customers. The Living Model has been become a primary tool for retaining customers and gaining additional business for clients in fast-changing industries such as telecommunications and financial services.

The Strategic Cube methodology from Yankelovich Partners models customer attitudes, motivations and perceptions, producing clear insights on the positioning of a client's company, brands and products. Linked with CMS' Living Model, this attitudinal data becomes part of a dynamic segmentation tool that accurately reflects changes in the marketplace and guides decision-making.

The CMS/Yankelovich Partners strategic alliance was facilitated through the companies' common relationship with private New York investment firm Wand Partners Inc. Wand Partners' portfolio is focused on growing companies in the intelligent marketing services industry. Wand is a minority investor in CMS and a majority investor in Yankelovich Partners, with additional investments in Neodata Services, Nestor, and Information Management Associates (IMA).

Founded in 1991, CMS manages customer relationships and targeted marketing strategies for over 40 database marketing clients in the telecommunications, wireless, utilities, financial services, consumer products, cable, and travel and leisure industries. CMS' Web site address is http://www.cmsnet.com.

Yankelovich Partners Inc. is one of the world's premier marketing research and consulting organizations with a diverse client list and experience in many industries. Yankelovich Partners has offices in Atlanta, Claremont, Calif., Dallas, New York, and Washington D.C. Web site address: http://www.yankelovich.com.

CONTACT: Brodeur & Partners

Janet Swaysland, 919/873-0938