Success of Client Strategy Roundtables Leads To New Product Introduction for Lothair Advertising.

Business Editors

BLUE ISLAND, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 25, 2001

Lothair Inc., a marketing communications firm headquartered in the Chicago area, announced today that its CommStrat 20/20 strategy roundtable is now available as a one-time service to marketers in several business-to-business categories. Previously, the product had been used as a method to establish baseline knowledge and set strategic communications initiatives for the company's full-service clients.

CommStrat 20/20 is a way to "create a new starting point," said Bill Fahrenwald, Lothair's Executive Director. By bringing together the four to six key people whose jobs are most closely linked to sales, marketing, business development, and customer service, the strategic roundtable assesses recent promotional activity, analyzes competitive climate, gauges current industry trends and the client's positioning, and studies the market's most important audience groups.

Perhaps most intriguing, noted Fahrenwald, is the roundtable's tendency to become a forum for long-held ideas and concepts that, until then, had no place to surface. "The great ideas generated by the participants is sometimes amazing. We can then pull them all together, add our own expertise, and get the client's communications program on the right track."

Lothair has conducted numerous CommStrat 20/20 roundtables over the past year. Harold Friedman, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for CorPay Solutions, participated in one such session and is sold on the process - and Lothair. "The Lothair roundtable session permitted us to organize our thinking and our communications planning without throwing out everything we had done to date. It not only helped us get our armies marching in the same direction, but also got them wearing the same color uniforms. We're very pleased with what the CommStrat 20/20 session brought to us."

A roundtable typically runs one-half to three-quarters of a day. Prior to the session Lothair and the client work together to assemble industry information and background material. Within a few weeks after the session a report - complete with strategic recommendations - is delivered to the client and reviewed during a final consultation. The cost for the full CommStrat 20/20 session is under $10,000.

"This is exciting news for companies that are unable to commit to long-term client-agency relationships because of a cautious philosophy, budget constraints, or an uncertainty about the benefits of a particular agency," Fahrenwald commented.

He noted that there are many companies who understand that their marketing communications programs are confused, or executed in an ad hoc manner. "These firms know something is wrong, or could be better, but don't know where to start and are too busy to do it themselves. So their communications programs continue to either bumble along or get shelved because no one has the time to straighten them out."

      The CommStrat 20/20 roundtable is available for companies engaged
in the following industries:

-   Logistics, Transportation, and Supply Chain Management
-   Pharmaceutical and Healthcare
-   Steel and Steel Fabrication
-   Banking and Financial Services
-   Automotive
-   Printing
-   Cultural Institutions

Lothair is a full-service marketing communications, advertising, and media relations firm. Its officers have extensive experience in business-to-business marketing in multiple industries. For further information please contact Bill Fahrenwald at 708-597-6800 ext. 17.