Claritas Announces Second in Its Suite of Internet-Deliverable Products; MyBestCustomers Comes Less Than a Month After the Launch Of MyBestProspects.

Business Editors

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 1, 2000

Less than a month after the introduction of the MyBest... suite of Internet-deliverable products, Claritas, Inc., the premier provider of intelligent marketing information and target marketing services, today announced the activation of its second site in the series, MyBestCustomers. The new sites are a major component of the ClaritasExpress portal site, and in time will significantly contribute to establishing it as the leading portal within the market research industry.

MyBestCustomers allows the user to intelligently analyze an address instantly on the Internet.

"Clients and prospects can enter an address to quickly gain a better understanding of their customer," said Steven Egge, Claritas senior vice president of Business Development and Marketing. "The development of this new series of web-based products underscores our commitment to providing the most timely and highest quality data available, and we are even further committed to activating the sites as soon as possible," he said.

Egge said the address is processed by:

-- Address standardization

-- Appending demographic and expenditure data to help further analyze the
customer's anticipated buying behavior and power.

-- Appending Lifestyle Segmentation Code and Description based upon

PRIZM, including Product Propensity Indexes for specific goods and

services from syndicated profiles.

PRIZM is recognized as the industry standard for lifestyle segmentation. By classifying all U.S. households into one of 62 unique neighborhood types or "clusters," PRIZM makes it easy to identify, locate and target customers and best prospects and realize better results from advertising efforts. It is also being utilized as a tool to eliminate privacy concerns with Internet e-Commerce applications, because the profiles are based upon neighborhoods not individuals, and acts as a common currency allowing the opportunity to link online and offline behavior.

Egge said MyBestCustomers offers access to thousands of syndicated product and media profiles, or the user can load their own profiles.

"Using these profiles, clients can determine which products and services the consumer is most likely to purchase for cross sell opportunities. The information can also be integrated into a client's web site to allow for a more personalized browsing experience, increasing web site `stickiness' and e-Commerce sales. Further, it allows for revenue growth through cross selling additional products and services, increased customer satisfaction by offering products that the consumer will buy and incorporates customer data for strategies in customer retention," explained Egge.

MyBestCustomers uses the same underlying technology as IntelliServ, the newly released application service provider, developed through a joint initiative with Sagent.

"By accessing MyBestCustomers, Claritas clients and prospects can experience the power and technology of IntelliServ in a real-time scenario through XML technology. Currently anyone can analyze a specific address by going to www.MyBestCustomers.com and clicking on Analyze Customers," Egge said.

Up next in the series, is MyBestLists, a comprehensive database of business lists, which is scheduled to be rolled out by late 2000, said Heather Oles, assistant vice president of the eCommerce Division.

"All the sites will be consistent in their look and the platform will support current and future eCommerce initiatives. We have created a robust sensibility within the sites that is a reflection of how rapidly moving and continually evolving the process is for gathering and disseminating actionable marketing information," Oles said.

About Claritas

Based in San Diego, Calif., Claritas Inc. is regarded as the premier worldwide provider of precision marketing solutions, developed, in part, through intricate customer segmentation systems and other such marketing tools. It is a division of VNU Marketing Information, Inc. (VNU MI, Inc), an established leader in providing a wide variety of industries with innovative precision-marketing solutions including geodemographic information and qualitative audience research. VNU MI, Inc. is a subsidiary of VNU, Inc., that also includes Nielsen Media Research, Bill Communications, BPI Communications, SRDS, VNU eMedia, and VNU Expositions.