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Valassis Selects Coupons, Inc. to Power New Online Savings Portal

Press release from the issuing company

May 22, 2007 -- MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.-- Coupons, Inc., the world's leading provider of printable coupon marketing and technology solutions, today announced it has partnered with Valassis Communications Inc., the nation's leading marketing services company, to provide secure coupon printing for its new online savings portal. The portal will be a destination for shoppers to get valuable deals, savings, coupons and information on products. An undisputed leader in providing value-oriented content to consumers, Valassis solutions combine targeting, integrated media and multiple distribution methods to meet marketing objectives. Valassis serves 96 of the 100 leading U.S. advertisers with national, regional and local reach. Strengthened by its recent acquisition of ADVO, the nation's leading shared mail provider, Valassis now reaches 79 million households weekly and up to 114 million households monthly with ADVO's shared mail program. A pioneer in the coupon industry, Valassis created and standardized the free-standing insert (FSI) that 60 million households have come to expect in their weekend newspapers. To extend that reach across the growing number of households that see the Internet as their primary source of information, Valassis will use products and services from Coupons, Inc., the industry leader in printable coupon solutions. Valassis will conduct a beta test of this offering in late summer 2007 with a planned rollout in January 2008. Coupons, Inc. enables more than 99% of online printable coupon offerings. Its Digital FSI(TM) platform is by far the largest coupon distribution platform on the Internet, and it provides the most flexible, secure set of services to coupon-enable any type of online promotions or advertising. This partnership with Coupons, Inc. will allow Valassis to quickly bring its multi-faceted approach to national and local coupon promotions to its online initiatives. "As consumer media consumption and engagement continues to shift to the Internet, this is the right time to enter the online space and Coupons, Inc. is the right partner," said Brian Costello, President of Valassis Interactive. "Coupons, Inc.'s reputation in the market with leading brands is unparalleled for online promotions. In addition, their technology will allow us to realize the vision we have for our online portal. Our partnership with Coupons, Inc. and the introduction of our offering will allow clients to reach the widest audience through a mix of online and offline coupon distribution." The partnership builds on a long-term relationship between Valassis and Coupons, Inc. Valassis invested early in Coupons, Inc. The two companies have worked together on several initiatives, but this portal is the first major program the companies have launched together in the United States. Valassis joins Yahoo, Grocery Shopping Network, Couponstar UK, and others in using Coupons, Inc.'s CLIP(TM) technology to power a major coupon destination site. CLIP is a rich suite of web services that enable destination Web sites to seamlessly integrate coupon and related promotional content into their sites, giving brands greater opportunities to reach consumers with information about their products, while offering promotions and savings. "We're proud and excited to be working with Valassis on this project. They have always been the innovator in coupon promotions, and our platform provides them the opportunity to be a leader online as well," said Coupons, Inc. CEO Steven Boal. "Our new CLIP(TM) web services platform, Concordance(TM) contextual targeting engine, and other innovative products fit perfectly with Valassis' goals for their online services. Together we will offer the best destination on the web for shopping tools and value, and we will offer our many mutual clients a great way to create integrated online and offline promotional campaigns." Coupons, Inc. works with more than 600 brands, including top consumer packaged goods (CPGs), pharmaceutical, electronics, retail, entertainment, and media companies. The Coupons Inc. Digital FSI(TM) Network is the world's largest coupon network with thousands of consumer Web sites reaching more than 75 million shoppers. Its recent acquisition of Boodle and technical developments such as enhancing its coupon format and enabling its partners to create new and creative ways to present coupon offers to consumers through its CLIP(TM) service have further extended the company's leadership in the printable coupon industry.