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KBM Group Acknowledged in New Research on the Emerging Customer Engagement Agency Landscape

KBM Group Closely Conforms to New Definition of CEA Model Along With Parent Company Wunderman

KBM Group, the global leader in knowledge-based marketing solutions, has been recognized in Forrester Research, Inc.'s February 13, 2012 report, The Evolution of The Customer Engagement Agency.

According to the report, the demand is growing for customer intelligence to support next-generation marketing, which is focused on appealing to customers through relevancy rather than campaign selling and on continuous customer engagement and dialog. The report explores how the shifting marketing environment has impacted organizational needs for different kinds of services from their marketing partners, specifically from marketing service providers, direct agencies and digital agencies. The shift is from a narrow focus on data and managing data to a more strategic, analytically driven focus on understanding customers and insightful customer intelligence.

Within Forrester's definition of customer engagement agency, KBM Group -- in concert with its parent company, Wunderman -- is positioned as conforming closely to the study's model of customer engagement agency in the digital space.

Analytics-Driven Customer Intelligence
KBM Group's expertise in data- and analytics-driven customer intelligence has enabled the company to play a key role in designing and deploying customer engagement strategies for its clients and their various agency partners as well as for Wunderman. In addition, KBM Group is the architect of an integrated, flexible customer engagement "engine" -- a delivery platform as a service -- that processes data to deliver real-time insights to marketers as they engage with their customers.

Gary S. Laben, CEO of KBM Group, says, "Today's dynamic consumer environment is driven by mobile, social and personal technologies. This puts our clients' customers, whether B2C, B2B or B2B2C, at the center -- and often at the beginning -- of the marketing dialog. Customer knowledge is key to successful customer engagements, whether in acquiring customers or continuing the marketing dialog with them to earn their loyalty and advocacy. Data and analytics, as well as an integrated view of the customer, are at the heart of all successful customer engagements."

KBM Group has been ranked a leader in The Forrester Wave™: U.S. Database Marketing Service Providers, Q1 2011, (January 2011), with the highest rankings in strategy and global strategy. According to the report, KBM Group consistently delivers strong service and gets positive feedback from its clients. The company delivers "strong capabilities across the array of database, analytics, data, strategy and operations."

About KBM Group
KBM Group is the global leader in knowledge-based marketing solutions. Expert in both digital and traditional direct marketing, KBM Group helps companies manage, analyze and optimize marketing data to engage more effectively with their customers and prospects. KBM Group's integrated, world-class solutions include strategic consulting, digital services, database services, analytics, marketing management, creative, agency services, response services, data and marketing outsourcing. The company has 35 offices in 21 countries serving global, enterprise and B2B2C-focused companies. KBM Group's parent company, Wunderman, is part of Young & Rubicam Brands and a member of WPP (NASDAQ: WPPGY). www.kbmg.com.