U S West Dex Partners With DoubleClick to Bring Targeted Web Advertising to Local and Regional Advertisers

Business Wire, August 31, 1998

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 31, 1998--U S WEST Dex, the Internet yellow pages leader in its 14-state region, today joined forces with DoubleClick Inc. (NASDAQ:DCLK), a pace-setting provider of Internet advertising solutions, to provide small and medium-sized businesses easy access to targeted advertising on the Internet.

With its sales force of more than 1,000, and relationships with more than 500,000 advertisers, U S WEST Dex is the first sales partner for DoubleClick's DoubleClick Local product and the exclusive partner in U S WEST's region.

"This is a relationship that makes a lot of sense," said John Kelsey, president of The Kelsey Group, an on-line directory research firm. "I am a huge fan of local advertising's potential, and it is becoming increasingly important on the Internet. This logical partnership will help meet that need as it continues to develop."

"Establishing ourselves as the first sales partner for DoubleClick Local should communicate that we, on behalf of our customers, are dedicated to identifying and offering the best available on-line advertising and marketing tools," said Jim Smith, U S WEST Dex president and chief executive officer. "DoubleClick Local maximizes business awareness and e-commerce potential for small and mid-sized businesses that want to gain local and regional exposure via popular national and global sites. We recognized that and seized the opportunity to be the only provider of DoubleClick Local to those businesses in our region."

U S WEST Dex is the exclusive third-party provider of DoubleClick Local to area small and mid-sized businesses in U S WEST's region. DoubleClick Local will continue to focus on national advertisers and advertisers outside U S WEST Dex's region. DoubleClick will be U S WEST Dex's exclusive network supplier of third-party banner advertising solutions to small and mid-sized businesses. DoubleClick Local, announced last month, helps Internet advertisers target prospects both geographically and categorically. This is accomplished through placement of ads on sites included within the DoubleClick Network, including top branded sites such as AltaVista Search, Travelocity and Automobile Magazine.

For example, a car dealership in Seattle can now reach Seattle Internet users on national sites. DoubleClick Local allows for that car dealer's ads to appear on national sites only when a user in his area code is searching one of DoubleClick's Network sites for information on cars.

"U S WEST Dex, with its unmatched regional sales channel and customer relationships, is the optimal sales partner for us," said Kevin O'Connor, DoubleClick's chief executive officer. "We see this as a tremendous opportunity for us to bring DoubleClick Local to market quickly and effectively."

The DoubleClick and U S WEST Dex partnership also benefits consumers, bringing them relevant information about local products and services.

U S WEST Dex will roll out the DoubleClick Local campaign starting in Salt Lake City in September, followed by Phoenix and Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn. Rollout throughout the balance of the region will begin early next year. Advertising packages will be available for three-, six- or twelve-month durations, and sold in increments of 10,000 monthly impressions. They will be priced between $350 to $500 per month.

For more information about DoubleClick Local sales in U S WEST's region, contact U S WEST Dex's Internet Yellow Pages director of business development and e-commerce, Chad Roffers, at 303/784-2779, or by e-mail at croffer@uswest.com. For information outside of the region, contact DoubleClick Local's general manager, Jonathan Heller, at 212/655-7687.

Additionally, U S WEST is working with DoubleClick to purchase advertising on select DoubleClick Network sites.

About U S WEST Dex Internet Yellow Pages

U S WEST Dex Internet Yellow Pages (http://uswestdex.com) was introduced in June of 1996. The service was developed to provide access to the most accurate business and white pages listings and the most in-depth advertising content on the Internet for U S WEST's 14-state service region. U S WEST Dex is a member of the At Hand Network, an on-line business search service offering the most accurate and reliable nationwide business listings information available. The network is operated jointly by the Internet publishing divisions of Ameritech, BellSouth, SBC Communications and U S WEST. U S WEST Dex is a part of U S WEST Inc. (NYSE:USW), which provides a full range of telecommunications services -- including wireline, wireless PCS, directory services and data networking -- to more than 25 million customers nationally and in 14 western and midwestern states.

About DoubleClick

DoubleClick Inc. (www.doubleclick.net) is a leading provider of comprehensive global Internet advertising solutions for marketers and Web publishers. Combining technology and media expertise, DoubleClick centralizes planning, execution, control, tracking and reporting for online media campaigns. DoubleClick globally serves an average of 81 million ads per day reaching more than 40 million Web users worldwide. DoubleClick Inc. has headquarters in New York City and maintains offices in Paris, Hamburg, London, Tokyo, Madrid, Milan, Oslo, Sydney, Stockholm, Toronto, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and the Silicon Valley, and currently intends to expand into additional European countries and the Pacific Rim.