Improved Ease of Use and Intuitiveness are Hallmarks of MarketEXPERT(R) XR 6.0 LIVONIA, Mich., Dec. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Valassis (NYSE:VCI), one of the nation's leading media and marketing services companies, announced today an enhancement and user-friendly application of its customer relationship management (CRM) software, that is the most widely used software in the marketplace for high-transaction volume grocery retailers. The release of MarketEXPERT® XR 6.0 by Valassis subsidiary, Valassis Relationship Marketing Systems (VRMS), has been driven by industry trends and strategic initiatives of top clients. "We listened to what our clients had to say and incorporated their insight into our plan," said Michael Renaud, Director of Sales, Marketing and Account Management for VRMS. "As a result, we redesigned the interface to make it easier to navigate. Throughout the update process, our clients helped take this tool to the next level. Today, measurable results and a favorable return on investment are driving marketing decisions and we want to ensure that MarketEXPERT helps our clients achieve their objectives." This robust functionality translates into 65% fewer screenshots or steps, complemented with a fresh new look, while maintaining what clients value most - the effective use of point-of-sale data to evaluate shopping behavior; define targeted programs; and distribute targeted programs to our clients' best customers. This database management system helps identify opportunities and uses of frequent shopper data so retail customers can determine their best, secondary and casual customers as a means of targeting those shoppers with relevant offers. "As a user of VRMS' TargetEXPERT and MarketEXPERT products for the past nine years, we've evaluated the new 6.0 version and like how user-friendly it is, along with its many new features," said Pawan Sanwal, Manager, Corporate Systems and Infrastructure, Buehler Food Markets, Inc. "We plan to take advantage of several new enhancements which we anticipate will increase productivity while allowing us to provide real-time information to our customers and marketing team." In today's increasingly competitive and challenging economic environment, loyalty programs are vital components in the development of marketing plans. Data that points to what items shoppers buy, how much they spend and how frequently they visit given retail locations is being used to build effective, targeted advertising programs. VRMS provides easy-to-use CRM software tools that can lead to increased customer retention and loyalty; incremental purchase activity of program members; and an improved return on investment. 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 interactive offering - redplum.com - consumers will find compelling national and local deals online. 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. Safe Harbor and 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; 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; court approval of the settlement agreement among the parties to the pending ADVO securities class action lawsuit; our current litigation with News America Incorporated may be costly and divert management's attention; 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; reductions of our credit ratings may have an adverse impact on our business; counterparties to our secured credit facility and interest rate swaps may not be able to fulfill their obligations due to disruptions in the global credit markets; 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. DATASOURCE: Valassis CONTACT: Media: Mary Broaddus, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications, +1-734-591-7375, Web Site: http://www.valassis.com/

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