DALLAS and AUSTIN, Texas, August 7, 2000 (PRIMEZONE) -- After a highly competitive review, Austin-based Hoover's, Inc. (Nasdaq:HOOV), which operates the businessperson's portal Hoover's Online (http://www.hoovers.com), has named Publicis in Mid America as its agency of record for integrated marketing communications. Hoover's, which is looking to Publicis to help generate worldwide awareness of Hoover's Online as the businessperson's primary destination on the Web, thoroughly reviewed the capabilities of six agencies before selecting Publicis to handle its account.
As part of its relationship with Hoover's, Publicis will take a highly integrated approach to communications, focusing on both online and offline advertising, interactive marketing promotions and direct marketing. Publicis will combine its advertising resources with those of Publicis Dialog for direct marketing, Publicis Optimedia for strategic media planning and buying, and Publicis Technology for strategic interactive marketing.
"We are thrilled that Hoover's has decided to go with Publicis. Hoover's Online is a truly outstanding product, which makes our job of marketing Hoover's that much more satisfying," commented Steve Price, president/COO of Publicis in Mid America. "Our focus will be to continue successful efforts to simultaneously build a strong identity for the brand while we help achieve Hoover's business objectives of driving traffic to its site and developing direct marketing campaigns to promote Hoover's Commercial Licenses."
"This was a tough decision, but after reviewing several outstanding agencies, we believe Publicis is the best fit for our needs," said Jani Farlow Spede, Hoover's senior vice president of sales. "Our site's user demographics show that Hoover's Online already enjoys strong brand awareness among sales and marketing professionals, executives and investors in the U.S., and Hoover's Online is a must-have resource for anyone in business. We're confident that with the help of the team of experts at Publicis, we'll be able to make our marketing dollars work harder and take the Hoover's Online brand to the next level, so that businesspeople around the world will know to visit Hoover's Online before calling a prospective client, making a sales presentation, researching an investment, or making any other important business decision."
About Publicis in Mid America
Publicis in Mid America is a $425 million communications agency with offices in Dallas, Chicago and Indianapolis. It is part of Publicis Groupe S.A., which, following conclusion of the recently announced acquisition of Saatchi & Saatchi, will be the fifth largest agency in the world, with global billings of $15 billion and offices in 152 cities in 92 countries.
About Hoover's, Inc.
Hoover's, Inc. (Nasdaq:HOOV) operates Hoover's Online, the businessperson's portal, which provides approximately 3 million businesspeople with timely and reliable information that allows them to make informed decisions. Hoover's then provides an e-commerce marketplace in which businesspeople can act on those decisions to purchase information, products and services. At the core of Hoover's Online lies a proprietary database of authoritative business knowledge about the world's largest, most influential and fastest-growing companies and industries created by more than 120 writers, editors and researchers. Hoover's uses its proprietary searching and sorting technology to combine that database with high-quality third-party business information, including news, a directory of business Web sites, and biographical and product information, as well as business travel, personal finance and career tools, to make Hoover's Online the one-stop source for businesspeople seeking to get their jobs done. Hoover's Online is also available through several Internet services, including America Online, Dow Jones, Microsoft, Reuters and Yahoo! Hoover's investors include Time Warner (NYSE:TWX); Media General (AMEX:MEG.A); NBC, a unit of General Electric (NYSE:GE); and Knowledge Universe, through its Knowledge Net Holdings and Nextera Enterprises (Nasdaq:NXRA) units.