Compete Customer Day Declares Madison Avenue Is Not A One Way Street Anymore.

BOSTON -- Consumers Tell Marketers: Ask My Permission, Be Personally Relevant, Be Valuable To Me

Compete, Inc., a leading online market research firm, today announced the conclusions from its third annual Customer Day: New Technology Takes on Madison Avenue. Marketers from leading brands were united in their assessment that the road to corporate growth and success does not run up Madison Avenue. Rather, it follows the consumers themselves who are ready for personalized marketing efforts delivered through the routes that they choose.

Leaders from companies including Ameriprise Financial, BzzAgent, Carlson Hotels Worldwide, Communispace, Digital Influence Group, E-LOAN(R), InPhonic, Jack Morton Worldwide, MSN, One to One Interactive, Sprint Nextel, Subaru of America, Inc., Third Screen Media, Upromise(R), Verizon Wireless , W2 Group and Wells Fargo, shared their experiences in marketing roundtable discussions. The event, held at the Boston Harbor Hotel, addressed new ways for marketers to capture consumer interest by leveraging digital channels to engage today's elusive consumer.

"While Madison Avenue admits consumers have taken charge of marketing, the agencies still spent 91 percent of advertising dollars where customers spend only 65 percent of their time in 2005," said Don McLagan, CEO of Compete. "The agencies spend just 9% advertising dollars on the Internet where consumers spend 35% of their time. Compete Customer Day 2006 opened a dialogue between leading brands and innovative marketers on the next generation of consumer-inspired marketing."

Highlights of Compete's Customer Day 2006 include:

--Consumer Media Leads the Way: The morning's keynote speaker, author and W2 Group Chairman and CEO, Larry Weber, described the rise of unpaid media and customer influence in the marketing landscape. "Marketers are becoming constituency managers as consumers increasingly shape opinions. In this new context, traditional means of marketing will move to the peripheral area of communicating with customers, and marketers will turn to the digital environment to engage in a meaningful dialogue."

--Consumers are Empowered and in Power: Carrie A. Johnson, Research Director of Forrester Research, delivered the afternoon keynote. "As online consumers engage less with traditional push media, they pull information with new forms of 'social computing.' This changing significance of traditional media is forcing marketers to design new, participatory campaigns."

--Permission, Relevance and Conversation: Thomas Anderson, CEO of Upromise gave the group a CEO perspective on transforming relationships. "Our members have given us permission to market to them which allows us to build relationships with individual and families over many years. Our members, and consumers in general, now have the power and they want things that are relevant for them right now. Our use of Compete's Voicebox as the basis for the Upromise toolbar, allows us to continue to innovate to create continuous, positive interaction between us and our members.'

"To reach consumers today you must be transparent, authentic and deliver clear benefits", said Diane Hessan, Communispace president and CEO in an afternoon panel of top innovators in digital marketing. These new breed of marketing services companies highlighted how they help marketers to listen and learn from their customers and discussed leading-edge strategies and techniques to engage customers online, on mobile phones and at events.

Tom Burgess, CEO, Third Screen Media said, "It's an exciting time to be involved in changing the way marketing is used to reach the consumer. It's clear that leading-edge marketers are exploring the possibilities of the mobile and online channels to engage consumers in ongoing dialogues."

About Compete, Inc.

Compete, Inc. extends online market research to transform the way that consumers and brands communicate. By combining permission marketing, predictive analytics and the industry's largest consumer behavior database, Compete helps marketers identify and reach their target consumers. Compete delivers conversant marketing solutions that increase profitability and customer loyalty and result in measurable and effective marketing programs. Headquartered in Boston, Compete's customers include leading brands such as Carlson Hotels Worldwide, DaimlerChrysler, Hyundai Motor America, Toyota Financial Services and Upromise(R). For more information, please visit http://www.compete.com.