CareerMosaic Unveils Television Advertising Campaign; Ads Are Part of a Yearlong, Multimedia Campaign for No. 2 Employment Site.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 10, 2000

Recognizing the impact a career has on one's life, CareerMosaic (www.careermosaic.com), the first employment site on the Web, announced today that it is kicking off its first television advertising campaign with the energetic and optimistic message, "Happy in a career. Happy in life."

Created by New York-based advertising agency, Merkley Newman Harty, the campaign breaks March 13 in Dallas and Atlanta, and will also air in New York, Chicago and San Francisco starting April 3. The spots will appear on major network affiliates and on cable, including CNN, CNBC, FX, TNT, E Entertainment, VH1 and FOX Sports. Approximately 65 spots will run weekly, mostly during prime time, throughout the yearlong campaign.

"Our move to television triggers the next phase of our ongoing strategy to build the CareerMosaic brand," said Bernard Hodes, president of CareerMosaic. "CareerMosaic's message shines through with an optimistic view of the impact work has on our psyche and in our lives," he added. "The campaign resonates with everyone because it's based on such a simple human insight - if you're happy in a career, you're happy in life. It's also markedly different from the rest of the online recruitment category which focuses on the negatives of being stuck in a bad job."

The campaign features three 30-second commercials designed to show how much happier people are when they get a new satisfying job. The spots are titled: "Psychologist, "Dance," and "Firecracker."

The spot called "Psychologist" opens with a man listening to a phone message from a woman ending their relationship because she's changed and she's happier now. The camera pulls back to reveal that the man is actually the woman's psychologist, whose services are no longer needed. It ends with "Happy in a career. Happy in life."

In "Dance," a man and woman almost collide on a city sidewalk. What begins as an awkward two-step between strangers, ends with the woman doing a jig because she's happy that she's found a job through CareerMosaic.

In "Firecracker," a man locks the door to his apartment and proceeds to the rooftop. Unexpectedly, he lights a bottle rocket that illuminates the sky, elated that he too has become, "Happy in a career. Happy in life."

The commercials are part of a yearlong multimedia advertising program created to drive traffic and foster site loyalty. Begun on January 2, a series (4-6 print executions) of full-page, page dominant, and quarter page ads appeared in newspapers including: The New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle and The Los Angeles Times. The creative ads will also be part of CareerMosaic's online marketing effort.

Since the onset of the advertising campaign, CareerMosaic has posted record traffic levels and now ranks as the second most visited online recruitment site, according to Media Metrix. The findings also report that CareerMosaic reached 2.2% of the entire Web universe in January, an increase of 160% compared to December.

About Merkley Newman Harty

Merkley Newman Harty is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Omnicom Group, Inc. (NYSE: OMC), the world's largest advertising organization. Founded in 1993, Merkley Newman Harty has more than $280 million in billings and more than 210 employees in its New York headquarters. Clients include: American Museum of Natural History, BellSouth, BMW Motorcycles, Camdens, CareerMosaic.com, Citigroup, computer.com, Fila USA, Fila Holdings, Forbes, Forbes.com, jetBlue Airways, M&M/Mars, Mercedes-Benz USA, National Thoroughbred Racing Association, NeuVis Inc., Oxford Health Plans, Pitney Bowes, PSEG, Salomon Smith Barney Asset Management and Travelers Insurance. MNH also operates: Atlanta-based Bayless/Cronin, with $43 million in billings and 40 employees; New York-based Consumer Healthworks, a $38 million DTC healthcare agency with 30 employees, with clients such as Bristol-Myers Squibb and Glaxo Wellcome and Team South with $70 million in billings and 60 employees with clients such as BellSouth, Pitney Bowes, Oxford Health Plans, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Jose Cuervo, Cerruti and GenerationA.com.

About CareerMosaic

CareerMosaic pioneered the online recruitment category when it launched on July 4, 1994. As the premier employment site on the Web, CareerMosaic has nearly 5 million visitors each month, according to Nielsen/IPRO, the independent Internet site auditor. CareerMosaic is the recipient of numerous awards for ease of use, functionality, and design. It averages up to 550,000 job searches a day, over 100,000 job listings from tens of thousands of employers around the world and more than 140,000 current resumes to search and free resume-posting. CareerMosaic also offers online job fairs with immediate opportunities with top employers, career resources, and a special feature for college students. It has a global reach, with individual sites in more than a dozen countries in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. It offers industry-specific sites, including accounting and finance, healthcare, human resources, insurance, sales and marketing, public sector and technology.