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IRI and Europanel Partner to Form the World's Largest Consumer and Shopper Insights Panel

Business Wire, April 8, 2008

New Partnership Provides Clients Easy Access and Deep Consumer Visibility across Multiple Global Markets and Cultures in Asia, Latin America, Europe, and North America

CHICAGO & LONDON -- Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), the leading global provider of enterprise market information solutions for the consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail and healthcare industries, and the Europanel Association, which has the largest share of the consumer panel market in the world, today announced that they are joining forces to form the world's widest-reaching, single-panel research service. This relationship, effective immediately, combines the IRI Consumer Network[TM] household panel in the United States with Europanel to form a truly global consumer network representing 600 million households in 54 countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Brazil and Mexico. In addition, this is the only consumer panel that covers Russia and China exclusively.

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"It is our mission to be the world's leading provider of consumer, shopper and business insights," said IRI President and Chief Executive Officer John Freeland. "Our new partnership with Europanel, which is the industry standard for international household panel information, solidifies this reality. Together, we now have the largest global consumer panel footprint in the world, providing double the coverage of our closest competitor. This consumer panel will empower clients to see the most in-depth consumer behavior, demographics and attitudes, so that they can act quickly to identify and target shoppers and consumers with the right mix of marketing activity to ultimately win at the shelf."

Europanel is comprised of a consortium of companies that includes two of the largest global market research providers, GfK ConsumerPanel Services and TNS Worldpanel across Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific, and its newest member, the IRI Consumer Network. The panel provides consumer insights covering more than 80 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP) and 88 percent of the global food market.

Specifically, the IRI and Europanel partnership offers clients the following key features and benefits:

* An integrated set of best practices and research designs, including methodologies, analytics, reporting and delivery models.

* An agreement to share data in an open technology environment and to partner closely with clients.

* Unrivalled quality in global longitudinal analysis based on Europanel's targeted focus on consumer panels and significantly high panel retention rates.

* An average international market share of nearly 80 percent in countries where competition exists, positioning IRI/Europanel as the global standard for detailed consumer and shopper insights.

* Vast experience in and development of shopper insights and "individual user" panels to support "best-in-class" measure of on-the-go categories and consumers.

* An ongoing joint investment model to ensure continuous improvements in standards, coverage, and applications.

* Implementation of state-of-the-art collection devices, such as the PalmPilot[TM], Clicker, mobile phones and scanners to facilitate increased information collection in developing countries.

"The North American market is key for many clients, and we welcome the formal admission of IRI to the Europanel Association to fulfil panel research needs in this important region," said Europanel Managing Director Tim Kidd. "The globalization of our clients' markets has driven demand for multi-country research during the past few years and the Europanel Association is constantly developing to meet this need. The Association provides a very valuable information source to a market which has previously found itself having to pull together multi-country research findings from numerous sources."

About the Europanel Association

The Europanel Association coordinates the international network of consumer panel services offered by its members in GfK ConsumerPanel Services and TNS Worldpanel across Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific, and Information Resources, Inc. These consumer panel services measure consumer purchasing behavior on a continuous basis to offer a comprehensive understanding of market movements and their implications. The Europanel Association offers the widest global coverage with presence in 54 countries, each with a focus on delivering the highest quality in data accuracy, client service and provision of actionable insights. Europanel works closely with a wide range of clients including multi-national fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) brand and private label manufacturers, fresh food suppliers, retailers, market analysts and government organizations. The combination of these market strengths enables us to position ourselves as the "Leader in international consumer knowledge."

About IRI

IRI is the world's leading provider of consumer, shopper, and retail market intelligence and insights supporting 95 percent of the FORTUNE Global 500 consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail and healthcare companies. Only IRI offers the unique combination of integrated market information, automated and predictive analytics, innovative enabling technologies, and domain expertise. With IRI, leading retailers and manufacturers are able to quickly discover breakthrough insights driving smarter decisions and actions across the enterprise for breakthrough results. Companies around the world depend on IRI for improved productivity, stronger brands, and dramatic revenue growth. For more information, visit http://us.infores.com/.

Business Services Industry

IRI and Europanel Partner to Form the World's Largest Consumer and Shopper Insights Panel

Business Wire, April 8, 2008

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