Valassis Named to InformationWeek 500 List of Top Technology Innovators Across America

LIVONIA, Mich., Sept. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Valassis (NYSE: VCI), one of the nation's leading media and marketing services companies, announced today that it has been named to this year's InformationWeek 500 list, an annual listing of the nation's most innovative users of business technology. Valassis' submission focused on the innovation of our patent-pending Integrated Media Optimization (IMO) engine, the first and only product of its kind in this industry. IMO uses advanced mathematical models to calculate and analyze objectives, budgets, targeting criteria and media scores to produce media recommendations, complete with detailed maps and charts. In its inaugural listing, Valassis ranked in the upper half at 197 out of 500 companies on the list.

"Valassis began as an entrepreneurial enterprise 40 years ago based on innovation and it remains the foundation of our business strategy," said Steve Carrington, Valassis Vice President, Chief Information Officer. "To be recognized among industry leaders for our advances in technology and eye toward innovation speaks to our continual commitment to grow technologically to serve our clients seamlessly and provide excellent customer service. IMO has reduced the time to deliver optimized media plans and options to our clients and has delivered significant value to both our clients and our business."

In its 23rd year, the InformationWeek 500 tracks the Information Technology (IT) practices of the nation's most innovative IT organizations, examining the business practices of firms across areas of operations including technology deployment, IT budgets, business-technology infrastructure and IT strategies. InformationWeek identifies and honors the nation's most innovative users of information technology with its annual 500 listing and also tracks the technology, strategies, investments and administrative practices of America's best-known companies.  

The InformationWeek 500 is by invitation only, and to make the list, a company must demonstrate a pattern of technological, procedural and organizational innovation. Organizations with $250 million or more in annual revenue are invited to participate in the study. The list examines the technology strategies and initiatives of companies across 21 industries (excluding government and education).

Additional details on the InformationWeek 500 and a complete list of 2010 winners can be found at http://www.informationweek.com/iw500/ .  

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, 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 or http://www.redplum.com. To learn about advertising opportunities with RedPlum, please call 1-800-437-0479.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-looking Statements

Certain statements found in this document constitute "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; 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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