BrandIntel Identifies "No Country for Old Men" as Consumers' Choice for Best Picture Oscar

TORONTO--(Marketwire - February 11, 2008) - BrandIntel, a leader in online market intelligence solutions, today announced the release of a new research report that measures audience sentiment for this year's Academy Award Best Picture nominees. Based on an analysis of online consumer discussion share and sentiment expressed in blogs, discussion forums and other social media outlets, consumers believe that "No Country for Old Men" should receive top honors from the Academy, with "There Will be Blood," "Juno," "Atonement" and "Michael Clayton" following behind.

The BrandIntel report titled, "2008 Best Picture: Audience Engagement Analysis," focuses on consumer insight and opinions around all five of the Best Picture nominees. Based on an analysis of consumer-created content, the report captures data from January 22, 2008 to February 4, 2008. This analysis revealed several additional key findings.

--  Based on audience opinion, "No Country for Old Men" is lauded for its
    characters, cast (especially Javier Bardem) and originality, as well as its
    quiet simplicity and tension.
--  While "There Will Be Blood" generated a significant amount of
    discussion at very positive levels, due in part to discussion associated
    with Daniel Day Lewis, consumers believe that the film will finish a
    distant second to "No Country."
--  Despite high sentiment for "Juno" among smaller audience groups,
    consumers do not perceive the film to be a legitimate contender for the
    award, due to a historical lack of success for "lighter" films in the Best
    Picture category.
    

"While it's a fact that the Academy is solely responsible for selecting Oscar winners, year-over-year we continue to see audiences weigh in on who they believe should be honored," said Alan Dean, VP of research at BrandIntel. "As such, the Internet has provided consumers with a viable outlet to voice their opinions on not only who is deserving of an Oscar and other awards, but their sentiment regarding movies in general. This, in turn, creates a surplus of unscripted and unaided research data that can prove extremely valuable to movie executives, as it provides actionable insight into consumer beliefs around various elements of a film -- cast, plot, soundtrack, etc. -- which can be leveraged to optimize a movie's success, including how it is marketed as an Oscar nominee."

For the Oscar Report, BrandIntel tracked more than 39 million raw search results on the Internet but refined those results through technological filters and human analysis to utilize only the highest quality data -- totaling more than 2,000 consumer mentions focusing on Best Picture Oscar nominees. BrandIntel analyzed the most pertinent consumer-created content on the Internet to measure for assigned sentiment scores and share of discussion, rating the physical and emotional value of the results (positive or negative). For entertainment companies, this is especially important in properly assessing audience beliefs and behaviors, and is effective in forecasting trends in the market place.

For more information about the "2008 Best Picture Report," please contact Alicia Libucha or Brittany Bevacqua of Lois Paul & Partners at 781-782-5000.

About BrandIntel (www.brandintel.com)

BrandIntel, a Brandimensions Inc. company, translates consumer-created content into reliable intelligence, enabling businesses to advance the science of decision-making. The company offers an information-delivery platform combining human intelligence with award-winning technology for the most trusted market data in the industry. The BrandIntel data helps businesses validate critical business decisions, uncover new opportunities for value creation, and get closer to customers. BrandIntel works with Fortune 1000 companies and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with offices in the United States.

Contact Information: CONTACTS: Alicia Libucha For BrandIntel 781-782-5703 alicia_libucha@lpp.com