The acquisition of Wallace Marx provides CMR with the capability to further expand its offerings to the consumer packaged goods (CPG) segment-a major component of CMR's Advertiser customer base.

"The acquisition of Wallace Marx adds a strong component to CMR's total marketing information offerings," said David Peeler. "Combining Wallace Marx's long-term experience in coupon promotions' intelligence with CMR's expertise specific to Television, Radio, Internet, Consumer Magazine and Newspaper tracking, we have the utmost potential to provide significant opportunity, to our client base, via the delivery of the complete marketing picture of competitive advertising activity."

"We are pleased with our new relationship with CMR. For the first time, marketers will have a single source for marketing intelligence. Through the merging of media and promotional information, clients will be able to closely view the cause and effect relationships of competitive marketing programs," said Wally Marx, Managing Director of the division. With the addition of Wallace Marx to its operations, CMR's ability to now report on advertising in the highly competitive arena of couponing, in side by side comparison with multimedia advertising information, can offer unique insight and value to the CPG community, which includes such leaders as General Mills, Colgate, Kraft and Procter & Gamble.

Just as CMR has chartered an aggressive path toward Internet-based delivery systems, Wallace Marx has also ventured into the web arena, tracking Internet couponing. This acquisition brings closer the potential of building a joint, Internet-based application that combines coupon promotions and multimedia intelligence to provide advertisers the most powerful and flexible view of competitive activity.

Founded in 1982, Wallace Marx & Associates, based in Minneapolis, provides syndicated database research and competitive intelligence services related to coupon promotions, primarily for fmcg companies. The information covers coupons distributed via free-standing inserts, in-store coupon machines and direct mail. Wallace Marx also gleans information about additional activity from a sample of consumer magazines and Sunday newspaper magazines. As well as tracking promotions, Wallace Marx reviews new marketing activity and has recently introduced pretesting of couponing.

Competitive Media Reporting (CMR), a Taylor Nelson Sofres company, offers strategic advertising intelligence to advertising agencies, advertisers, broadcasters and publishers. The company's tracking technologies collect occurrence and expenditure data, as well as the creative executions of over 900,000 brands across 15 media. CMR is headquartered in New York City and maintains sales locations in major markets throughout the United States. For further information, visit http://www.cmr.com.

Through its international network of more than 150 offices in over 40 countries, Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) provides market information services in over 80 countries to national and multi-national organizations. It is ranked as the fourth largest market information group in the world. For further information, visit http://www.tnsofres.com.