Circle.com Develops HITEC Service Guinness Launches First Campaign; High Impact Targeted Email Campaigns Now Available.

BALTIMORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 17, 1999--

Circle.com, (Nasdaq: CIRC) a leading Internet professional services company, today launched HITEC, which is designed to deliver a ri ch and compelling brand experience via the desktop that is far above the traditional media. By using technologies such as Flash, Generator and XML, HITEC drives users both to audio and video content, providing a framework for the merging of narrow and broadband delivery. HITEC also guarantees that the communication is self-targeted by bringing the Website to the customer rather than insisting the customer return to the Website.

Guinness launched the first HITEC campaign "G" (www.getg.com) with the principal objective of increasing awareness of Guinness among the online community and establishing brand credibility in cyberspace. Going forward, "G" will become a direct marketing tool, supporting targeted communications aimed at driving real-world traffic to points of distribution and consumption. While in the first phase "G" follows the traditional 1-to-many publishing model, it is designed to become increasingly tailored. This allows Guinness to begin pushing area specific information to its customers, creating opportunities to drive traffic to points of consumption, in particular, pubs.

Subscribers for "G" are invited to register their area code and email address. Circle.com is then able to refer them to places and events that are pertinent to where they live or work. Delivered as an email attachment, "G" is also viewable online. It is expected that over time it will grow as a hybrid of online and offline content and services. Over 10,000 have registered subscription requests in the first ten days since its launch and a target of 50, 000 has been set for the end of the year. "G" can be previewed by US visitors at http://www.getg.com/preview.

In contrast to Web browser technology, email marketing remains at the level of user experience that the Web offered with HTML 2.0 three years ago. As bandwidth restrictions ease, compression techniques improve and authorizing systems become more stable and flexible, HITEC will challenge the orthodoxy of what constitutes email marketing by linking into intelligent asset management systems.

An equally compelling aspect to HITEC is that it enables the customer experience to be completed offline at their leisure and shared with others. By linking the product with existing online transactional services, HITEC will also be used to build direct sales channels. For example, it is possible to link HITEC content directly to shopping basket software to facilitate direct selling offline.

Bob Wilke, chief executive officer of Circle.com said, "We are extremely excited about the potential of HITEC for our clients. A whole range of opportunities for driving successful customer relationships now exists for high-image brands for which email was not a credible marketing tool. HITEC technology ends the belief that interactive experiences are only possible on a Website. We can now deliver a tailored interactive experience to the desktop without the user needing to return to the URL. It is similar to combining CD-ROM and e-mail, only better."

"Circle.com has the proven ability to stay well ahead of the rapidly changing pace of the Internet in ways that are very beneficial to our clients. We build our services to take full advantage of great technology products like Flash and Generator and extend their use for the benefit of our client's businesses. With Circle.com's recent acquisition of NetMarquee, an Internet direct marketing company specializing in customized content development and management, we are poised to offer the most powerful technology available on the Web," Mr. Wilke concluded.

Circle.com, a division of Snyder Communications, Inc (NYSE: SNC), is a leading provider of customer relationship management solutions on the Web, providing complete end-to-end Web enabling services for leading companies. Major clients include: adidas, British Tourist Authority, Bell Atlantic, E

RADE, Guinness, HSBC, IBM, OfficeDepot,
Peugeot, Talbots.com, UPS., and Wall Street Journal.com. Circle.com
employs over 400 people in offices worldwide, and is headquartered in
Baltimore, Maryland.

     NOTE TO EDITORS: An asterisk appears between the "E" and the
"TRADE" in the company name E*TRADE.