Creative Digital Group Clients to Realize Audience of Over 60 Million U.S. Households.

ATLANTA -- Rich media technology gains popularity as more U.S. households and businesses log on with high-speed connections

Creative Digital Group, a leading full-service interactive marketing and communications company, recently announced 2004 net research findings to their growing list of clients. Of particular interest was the expansive growth in broadband Internet connections in U.S. households and businesses. According to Nielsen/NetRatings more than 51% of the American online at-home population connected using high-speed Internet access. Similarly, nearly 80% of all U.S. workers log onto their business computers using a broadband connection. This growth in high-speed Internet access has allowed Creative Digital Group to offer substantially more interactive and digital marketing options to their clients such as video playback, motion and sound in an interactive format which significantly assists marketers in developing brand relationships with targeted audiences and repeat customers.

Until recently, television was the only medium that offered companies millions of consumer eyes while using the convergence of sight, sound and motion within their ads, important components for effectively delivering marketing communications. With the growth in user bandwidth, advertisers can now effectively use rich media in their online ads, DVDs and CDs to more profoundly reach out to their customer base. An earlier study conducted by Nielsen/NetRatings showed that narrowband users who switch to broadband spend more than 23% more time online, accounting for a dramatic 130% rise in page views per user.

"Marketers that use rich media within their digital campaign, find that they can be as effective as television ads in terms of immediate recall, brand positioning and exposure," says Creative Digital Group's Senior Managing Partner Barry Sikes. "Unlike television, rich media offers direct response benefits both online and in digital formats such as instant, detailed feedback for our clients including as many as 24 user-defined actions such as the time users spend viewing an ad, click-through rates and products sold."

Rich media is digital technology that inserts sound and motion into an interactive element like a banner ad, Web page, DVD or CD. Creative Digital Group has led the way in producing digital marketing communications that utilize rich media in order to deliver an enhanced interactive experience between advertiser and consumer. A recent survey by DoubleClick, an online provider of digital marketing and Internet advertising technology and services, found rich media generates substantially greater brand recognition and higher sales activity than static ads. In fact, the company found that on average one in 79 Internet users who view a rich media ad clicks on it, compared to one in every 370 for other ads. DoubleClick also found that users who don't immediately click-through were still more likely to visit an advertiser's Web site or purchase their product.

"Advertising is an investment that businesses make in order to maintain relationships, build brands and attract customers," says Creative Digital Group's Director of Client Services Mary Brown. "Digital communications - delivered via DVDs, CDs or on the Web - can enhance advertising assets such as repurposing television commercials and delivering them digitally to targeted customers, increasing brand exposure and enhancing awareness of specific products."

Unlike targeted direct mail campaigns that use DVDs and CDs to communicate a message to a particular customer, television commercials are often delivered to a broader demographic group. The ability to target a specific customer base and deliver a message digitally using rich media can increase sales and build customer relationships for many companies. Even more attractive to marketers is the variety of rich media advertising delivery vehicles available.

"The norm of waiting for a page to load has gone by the wayside through increased broadband access," says Marc Ryan, senior director and analyst, Nielsen/NetRatings. "With high speed access in the majority, we're likely to see the richer, more interactive content becoming the standard."

Creative Digital Group, an award-winning interactive marketing and communications company, develops Web-based and interactive solutions that effectively market, brand and advertise businesses and services. The company's combination of using video rich programming and Internet technologies have allowed their clients to develop interactive sales tools and training applications delivered via DVD, CD or Web-based formats directly to targeted decision makers. Key to the company's success is its experienced staff of producers, directors, writers, and sound engineers. Creative Digital Group is proud of the organization's ability to create marketing solutions from script to screen. The company has also been recognized for its proprietary distance learning product called DAVID (digital, audio, video, Internet, device) which incorporates all of its creative assets into an online training program that offers full screen video, testing and reporting. For more information, visit www.creativedigitalgroup.com or call Mary Brown, Director of Client Services at [phone].