Marqui Raises $3M to Address Brand and Campaign Management Services.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia and PORTLAND, Ore. -- Company Closes 'A' Round, Delivers Communications Management Software as a Service

Marqui, Inc., a provider of communications management services with a thriving base of customers such as H&R Block, Enerflex Systems and The Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA), today announces the company's launch and the opening of U.S. headquarters in Portland, Oregon with additional offices in Silicon Valley and Vancouver, Canada. Armed with an existing list of more than 200 customers, partners and an experienced management team, Marqui, Inc. brings category-leading, Software as a Service (SaaS) marketing communications and brand management services to the market. The company is backed by three million dollars in funding lead by Ventures West of Vancouver, Canada. In addition to the company launch, today Marqui is announcing that The Thomas C. Wales Foundation, a nonprofit organization promoting leadership and civic engagement, has selected Marqui's services to help manage their campaign communications.

"Marketing is in a state of crisis," according to Forrester Research Analyst Elana Anderson in her report titled The Marketing Technology Backbone. "New consumer behaviors, interactive channels, pressure to improve the ROI of marketing spending and the challenges of integrating marketing programs require that companies rethink marketing's role, redefine the marketing organization, and build new processes.... Technology is crucial to this transformation."

The problem many organizations face today is guaranteeing brand and messaging consistency through all the communication channels available to them. Communications professionals face many process and technical issues as they distribute information through newsletters and e-mail, to web sites and even to office documents. Marqui addresses this dilemma in a unique way by offering management-defined control over the look, feel, timing, content and distribution of information using a customizable workflow approval process. Marqui sends the approved, scalable content to Web sites, email campaigns, Microsoft(R) Word, XML, phones, PDAs and text messages for a subscription fee that starts at $199 a month.

With an experienced executive team led by CEO Stephen King, formerly number two at Merant, an industry-leading change management provider, Marqui is creating compelling, simple to use products that reflect the workflow of the customer's organization, ensuring content and brand integrity. Delivered as a subscription service, Marqui's unique technology allows customers' data to reside on the customers' server and stay at the location of their choice. Current solutions require the content to reside on hosted servers, outside the customers' control.

Marqui improves controls over branding and messaging via subscription software services (like that of salesforce.com) that ensure the following:

--Powerful communications and media management capabilities with automated approvals working to preserve brand and content integrity.

--Consistency of content (including rich media and documents), Web content management and digital asset management capabilities allowing quick content updates and tight controls.

--The flexibility to interface with and leverage existing software infrastructures including CRM, content management solutions and legacy software.

--Integration and control of internal and external email campaigns eliminating dependence on additional vendors.

--Calendar-based communications management tools that automate time-sensitive campaign communications; for example, launching e-mail campaigns or removing dated information from the Web at the appropriate time.

--Support for virtually any output device, format or language; Marqui works via a scalable software engine that allows text or media files to be input once and repurposed for email, Web, PDAs, printers and more.

"Marqui helps us communicate more effectively," said Angelynn Talcott, executive director for The Thomas C. Wales Foundation. "Our message is our "brand" and we want to concentrate on consistency of that message in all communications. With Marqui, we enter information only once and are able to have the same information consistently routed through a structured approval process and immediately distributed to our Web sites, into personalized e-mails to our donors and supporters, and to our newsletter subscribers, all automatically and accurately."

About Marqui, Inc.

Marqui has helped organizations of every shape and size take complete control of their branded content and communications output. Through an easily implemented service, Marqui's communications management software automates and manages communications by ensuring marketing professionals and business managers consistency and control over their brand and messaging, freeing them to focus solely on improving the quality of their communications, not technology.

Marqui's executive team is led by CEO Stephen King, formerly number two at Merant, an industry-leading change management provider. Marqui also counts a distinguished advisory board including Howard Gwin, former executive of PeopleSoft, Rowland Hanson, former brand guru for Microsoft, Dr. Paul Kedrosky, award-winning author, inventor and analyst and Marc Canter, the founder of Macromind, which later became Macromedia. Hundreds of companies, includingH&R Block, Enerflex Systems, CATA, The Thomas C. Wales Foundation, Brewster and the Community Colleges of Spokane have selected Marqui as their marketing campaign and brand management solution.

For more information on the new company and products visit: www.marqui.com.