Valassis Celebrates its Employees in Award-winning Campaign

LIVONIA, Mich., March 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Valassis (NYSE: VCI), one of the nation's leading media and marketing services companies, announced today that its employee-focused "CelebrateUS" campaign has provided the company another reason to celebrate as a winner of  a 2011 Arbor Award for Excellence.

The Arbor Awards for Excellence program is the most prestigious award in the field of Human Resources in Michigan. The award recognizes companies that have implemented innovative best practices and programs within their organizations that drive positive change. Established in 1996, these awards are presented by the Arbor Consulting Group, Inc. and Eastern Michigan University, Master of Science in HR/OD Program.

Following an acquisition in 2007 which doubled the company's employee base, the organization felt it was critical to come together as one company and one culture and placed added emphasis on a unified culture.

"One important reason why mergers and acquisitions fail is a lack of focus on the people side of the transaction," said Joan Moore, President, The Arbor Consulting Group, Inc. and Founder, The Arbor Awards for Excellence. "Valassis is a winner of the 2011 Arbor Award because of their deliberate and successful program, CelebrateUS, which continued to bring together the people and people strategies of two organizations, blending them into one company and one culture."

Valassis' CelebrateUS campaign became the banner for the company's cultural efforts in 2010 and is continuing in 2011. Throughout the year-long program, various aspects of the company's culture were the focus. For example, through posters, events and communications, employees celebrated multiculturalism and the company's mission to be all inclusive as "harmonioUS." Meeting a multi-year financial goal was met with a "victorioUS" theme. The 25th anniversary of its Have You Seen Me?® missing child program, which features the names and faces of missing children across its RedPlum™ product portfolio, was part of May's celebration of a company that is "generoUS." Additionally in 2010, Valassis employees raised over $76,000 for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) for the second consecutive year.  Fund raisers were held throughout the year and funds earmarked for NCMEC.  

"As a company, we are focused on strengthening our award-winning culture and celebrating our employees," said Todd Wiseley, Valassis Senior Vice President and General Counsel. "CelebrateUS provides us with opportunities to do just that. We feel so strongly about Valassis being a great place to work that strengthening our culture is one of our four key corporate goals."

A cross-functional team, under the auspices of Valassis Human Resources, led strategic areas of the campaign. The CelebrateUS team partnered with ECHO, an employee-driven group with a focus on multiculturalism; the Giving Committee, coordinators of the company's philanthropic efforts; and the Green Team, focused on sustainability, to promote a fun and meaningful workplace.

"It is clear that our CelebrateUS campaign had an impact given that our year-over-year employee satisfaction scores increased in all categories," said Leslie Lenser, Valassis Vice President, Human Resources. "Employee pride and camaraderie rose to the top, giving us even more reason to celebrate."

Valassis will be presented the Arbor Award on March 8 at a ceremony at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

About Valassis

Valassis is one of the nation's leading media and marketing services companies, offering unparalleled reach and scale to more than 15,000 advertisers. Its RedPlum™ media portfolio delivers value on a weekly basis to over 100 million shoppers across a multi-media platform – in-home, in-store and in-motion. Through its digital offerings, including redplum.com and save.com, consumers can find compelling national and local deals. Headquartered in Livonia, Michigan with approximately 7,000 associates in 28 states and eight countries, Valassis is widely recognized for its associate and corporate citizenship programs, including its America's Looking for Its Missing Children® program. Valassis companies include Valassis Direct Mail, Inc., Valassis Canada, Promotion Watch, Valassis Relationship Marketing Systems, LLC and NCH Marketing Services, Inc.  For more information, visit http://www.valassis.com, http://www.redplum.com and http://www.save.com.

Valassis Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-looking Statements

This document contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the following: price competition from our existing competitors; new competitors in any of our businesses; a shift in client preference for different promotional materials, strategies or coupon delivery methods, including, without limitation, as a result of declines in newspaper circulation; an unforeseen increase in paper or postal costs; changes which affect the businesses of our clients and lead to reduced sales promotion spending, including, without limitation, a decrease of marketing budgets which are generally discretionary in nature and easier to reduce in the short-term than other expenses; our substantial indebtedness, and ability to refinance such indebtedness, if necessary, and our ability to incur additional indebtedness, may affect our financial health; the financial condition, including bankruptcies, of our clients, suppliers, senior secured credit facility lenders or other counterparties; our ability to comply with or obtain modifications or waivers of the financial covenants contained in our debt documents; certain covenants in our debt documents could adversely restrict our financial and operating flexibility; ongoing disruptions in the credit markets that make it difficult for companies to secure financing; fluctuations in the amount, timing, pages, weight and kinds of advertising pieces from period to period, due to a change in our clients' promotional needs, inventories and other factors; our failure to attract and retain qualified personnel may affect our business and results of operations; a rise in interest rates could increase our borrowing costs; we may be required to recognize additional impairment charges against goodwill and intangible assets in the future; possible governmental regulation or litigation affecting aspects of our business; the credit and liquidity crisis in the financial markets could continue to affect our results of operations and financial condition; uncertainty in the application and interpretation of applicable state sales tax laws may expose us to additional sales tax liability; and general economic conditions, whether nationally, internationally, or in the market areas in which we conduct our business, including the adverse impact of the ongoing economic downturn on the marketing expenditures and activities of our clients and prospective clients as well as our vendors, with whom we rely on to provide us with quality materials at the right prices and in a timely manner. These and other risks and uncertainties related to our business are described in greater detail in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including our reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q, and the foregoing information should be read in conjunction with these filings.  We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Valassis

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