January 19, 2001 – agencyfinder.com Appoints New Director of Agency Services

Richmond, VA — Business Partnering International, Ltd., owner/operator of agencyfinder.com, today announced the appointment of James (Jay) H. Mangan, Jr. as Director of Agency Services.

As an Advertising Manager at Ethyl Corporation, then GTE Wireless (Verizon), Jay recruited and retained agencies such as Arnold, Grey and BBDO. In addition, his expertise as new business development director at local ad agencies and as an adjunct professor in Advertising at Virginia Commonwealth University, makes him ideally suited to assist Certified Agencies and those that apply.

October 2, 2000 — A PLEASURE TO ANNOUNCE

We promise confidentiality to searching clients, so it’s not often we get formal press. This appeared in ADWEEK, then AdAge and the NYTimes late last week.

DETROIT – Owens Corning has consolidated its $40 million advertising account with Doner in Southfield, Mich., after a review, sources said. The company previously used about 30 small agencies around the country.

agencyfinder.com conducted the review for the business, which includes direct, trade, consumer, interactive, collateral, sales promotion and point of sale. Doner was also assigned media planning and buying. The company is planning a major repositioning and rebranding, sources said.

The Toledo, Ohio-based company manufactures such building materials as insulation, roofing and siding. The company has sales of $5 billion and employs approximately 20,000 people worldwide.

May 19, 2000 — InTRAVELnet.com Inc. Selects MMG Worldwide as its Marketing Communications Partner

Kansas City, MO — Clayton Reid, president, MMG Worldwide, today announced that the advertising and marketing communications firm has been selected as the brand-marketing partner for the $11 million inTRAVELnet.com account. MMG was chosen after a review of national agencies.

inTRAVELnet is a leisure travel and information services company that will offer real-time vacation interval marketing, exchange and auction capabilities via the Internet. The company is traded on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol ITVRF.

inTRAVELnet’s products and services will enable the consumer to browse vacation interval listings, tour specific vacation ownership resorts, and buy, sell, exchange or rent intervals. The site will also feature all the e-commerce elements needed to help consumers make and finance their vacation package choices as well as book related travel needs.

MMG Worldwide will begin work immediately for inTRAVELnet. The company will define inTRAVELnet’s brand positioning as well as communications in print and broadcast advertising, collateral, promotions, public relations and database marketing.

“We are tremendously excited to be working for one of the leaders in vacation interval exchange,” said Reid. “As an advertising and marketing communications firm specializing in the destination and hospitality industry, MMG will provide inTRAVELnet with comprehensive product and service support in the international travel marketplace.”

MMG Worldwide, founded in 1981, is a Kansas City-based marketing communications firm specializing in the hospitality, travel and tourism industries. The $80 million firm also operates offices in Philadelphia, Las Vegas and St. Louis, and employs 100 people.

inTRAVELnet retained agencyfinder.com to conduct an online search for marketing communications firms; parent company, Business Partnering International, Richmond, Virginia, provided additional off-line assistance. MMG Worldwide was selected as inTRAVELnet’s agency of record on the basis of vertical market experience, market specialization, range of services, media experience, and the ability to service the account throughout North America. The agencyfinder.com database represents the pre-screening and certification of more than 4,000 top-ranked international agency offices.

March 15, 2000 — agencyfinder.com Moves to New Quarters

Richmond, VA — Business Partnering International, Ltd., owner/operator of agencyfinder.com, announced their move to new offices this week. J. Lee Poates, Director Agency Services confirmed that operations moved to 4327 Cox Road, Vantage Place, Innsbrook Business Park in Glen Allen, VA 23060, a Richmond suburb. Phone, fax and e-mail contacts remain unchanged.

The move allows for the consolidation of marketing operations, previously located in New York. The Technology Center continues to operate from offices in Washington, DC. At the Glen Allen location, agencies registered in the Directors Club are automatically entitled to submit client work for rotational wall display; Iridium agencies may make written request.

February 28, 2000 — PiNGPoNG.CoM drops FCB, Switches $30 Million Account to Doner

Fountain Valley, CA — Doner, Newport Beach, has taken over an estimated $30 million national advertising campaign for Fountain Valley-based Internet startup PiNGPoNG.CoM following the Internet company’s split this month with FCB Worldwide in Costa Mesa. Two months after it selected FCB as its first advertising agency, PingPong has parted ways with the OC ad shop citing “fundamental creative differences.”

“They had developed some creative specs for us, but no ad work,” said David Kwan, an executive at PingPong. The company, which has more than 20 employees, was formed by a group of former Kingston Technology executives. Its products are designed to make using the Internet easier.

Jim Harrington, FCB’s executive vice president and general manager, said the agency and PingPong “agreed it was not in either of our best interests to work together” We just flat-out disagreed about how to position this product, so it didn’t make sense to continue. It makes more sense to work with someone that has a similar position as they do. We didn’t agree on how to position it.”

When PingPong was shopping its business a few months ago, the company interviewed Doner, FCB and three other semi-finalists: Townsend & O’Leary in Irvine; J. Walter Thompson USA in San Francisco; and Arnold Ingalls Moranville in San Francisco.

Doner, which set up shop in OC more than a year ago to handle its client Mazda North America’s $250 million account, has added several non-automotive accounts to its roster, including Intellifutures. Doner has also moved its Long Drug Stores account here to defend it in a review.

The agency switch will not delay PingPong’s planned mid-2000 national advertising and product launch that will include interactive, print and online advertising, Kwan said.

January 12, 2000 – agencyfinder.com Announces Partner Search

Richmond, VA — Marketing firm executives looking for a strategic partner to handle anything from media buying or public relations to creating campaigns targeting minority markets now have a new way to find what they’re looking for – fast and free.

Now they too can use the same powerful search and invite process that advertisers have used to find the perfect agency. But now they’ll use it to find the perfect partner (maybe even an agency you’d like to acquire or join forces with in a merger or roll-up).

By clicking at “SEARCH NOW,” and registering as a searcher, by answering a few simple questions, in less than 15 minutes they will have identified a fully qualified list of potential partners — each guaranteed to meet or exceed their needs.

Best of all, this service is FREE to Certified Agencies that have paid their annual registry fee. If not, there’s a one-time search fee of $1,000. For firms selected in a search by a Certified Agency, agencyfinder.com will make the introduction without charge if they’ve paid their annual registry fee. If they haven’t and they’re interested in talking with the searching marketing firm, they pay a one-time introduction fee of $1,000.

December 1, 1999 — PiNGPoNG.CoM Taps FCB

Fountain Valley, CA — PingPong.com, a Fountain Valley, CA Web navigating tool, selected FCB Worldwide, Costa Mesa, CA, part of True North Communications, as first agency for its $30 million account. Other agencies in the review included J. Walter Thompson USA, San Francisco; Townsend & O’Leary, Irvine, CA; Doner, Newport Beach, CA; and other shops.

September 27, 1999 — PiNGPoNG.CoM Picks Finalists In $30 Million Pitch

Los Angeles, CA — A new Internet company with backing from John Tu, owner and founder of computer hardware firm Kingston Technologies, is in the advanced stages of an estimated $30 million agency review. David Kwan, principal and director of strategic planning at Fountain Valley, Calif.-based PiNGPoNG.com, confirmed the review, but would not disclose the value of the account.” The kind of ad budget we’re looking at is significant, but I can’t confirm an actual number,” he said. PiNGPoNG.com will revolutionize how information is exchanged over the Internet, hence the lower case “i” and “o” in the company name, which denotes input and output, Kwan said, declining to give details.

agencyfinder.com assisted with the initial screening of respondents, but most elements of the search are being handled in-house, Kwan said. The review is in its final stages, having been narrowed to five or six West Coast agencies, sources said. A decision is expected this fall. “We prefer geographic proximity, but are primarily looking for the best agencies,” Kwan said. “We’re looking for a likeable team of flexible people who will work well with us. They have to see themselves as part of our organization.”

Expertise launching campaigns across a wide array of media is essential, as is strength in media planning and buying, Kwan said. One source said the company hopes to break a campaign before the end of the year. “We’ll do things rapidly, but not at a pace that will be impossible to achieve,” Kwan said. He declined to specify a launch date for the service. “We will present a company profile at some point in the future. Right now, let’s just say we’re doing some very exciting stuff that will turn the Web around,” Kwan said. Although Tu is a backer, Kingston Technology, which specializes in computer memory products, processor upgrades, storage subsystems and networking solutions, is not, Kwan said.

September 2, 1999 – agencyfinder.com Announces $30 Million Search for PiNGPoNG.CoM

Richmond, VA — Business Partnering International, Ltd., today announced their search on behalf of PiNGPoNG.CoM, a start-up Internet software and service company located in Fountain Valley, California. PiNGPoNG.CoM has pulled together an eclectic team from the computer hardware, computer software, publishing, and academic worlds that together are pioneering the “3rd wave” of the Internet.

Lucas King, PiNGPoNG.CoM Director of Marketing remarked, “With strong financial backing from a first round of venture funding, we’ve developed a new interface to the Internet – a fully customizable control panel called the PowerPanel. The PowerPanel integrates all the things you do on the web into one, easy-to-use interface. It doesn’t replace the browser; it integrates with and goes beyond the browser, providing personalized, dynamic context to access and interact with information on the web. The PiNGPoNG.CoM vision is to turn the Internet from a “go-and-see” into a “come-to-me” medium of communication, one that is completely wrapped around you – the user. Hence the theme: Turn the Web Around.”

Charles Meyst, Chairman and CEO of BPI stated, “beyond the client’s stringent on-line search specifications, we also refined candidates by confirming experience with dotcom startups.” PiNGPoNG.CoM expects to make an appointment for their $30 million account in early October.

August 2, 1999 — Solar Communications Group, Inc. Names Finalists

Millville, NJ. — the Solar Communications Group in Millville, N.J., which has developed a system called PC Room Link that offers on-line services to hotel guests, narrowed the review for the first agency to handle its account. Billings are estimated at $12 million. The three finalists in the review, which is being assisted by the agencyfinder.com unit of Business Partnering International in Richmond, are: Hampel/Stefanides in New York, part of Envoy Communications Group; Tierney & Partners in Philadelphia, a unit of True North Communications, and Trahan, Burden & Charles in Baltimore.