JWT Worldwide Announces Launch of JWT BOOM: Boomers & Beyond

New Boomer Division Announces Strategic Partnership With ThirdAge Inc.

March 25, 2007 (San Francisco, CA)

JWT Worldwide, the largest advertising agency in the United States, today announced the launch of JWT BOOM: Boomers & Beyond, the only integrated communications agency focused on the Boomer 40+ market segment within a global agency network. The group is managed by veteran thought leaders Lori Bitter (formerly SVP of Age Wave Impact), Helen Foster (real estate industry expert) and Mary Brown (formerly of Imago Creative).

JWT BOOM: Boomers & Beyond specializes in reaching consumers ages 40+, providing results-driven strategy and execution to help clients build profitable and lasting relationships with Boomer and mature consumers. The agency's former Mature Marketing Group becomes part of the new group, which is headquartered in JWT's San Francisco offices.

"Boomers, the largest and most affluent demographic in history, represent more than $2 trillion in consumer spending in our country alone. With this Boomer market focus, backed by the fully integrated agency services of JWT and the entire global WPP family, we are uniquely positioned to help companies effectively reach and grow their market share of today's most powerful demographic segment," says Lori Bitter, Senior partner for JWT BOOM. "At our core, we are a niche agency, but our specialty demands that we provide services unique to our segment. Not only do we provide thought leadership through our consulting and published work, we also have developed marketing tools like our Boomer Heartbeat -- a trend monitor, and our first of its kind national database tool. We're aware of no other competitors with capabilities that come close to our offering."

Strategic Partnership with ThirdAge Announced

As part of its launch, JWT BOOM has entered into a strategic partnership with ThirdAge Inc., a leading online media, marketing and consumer insight company who has been exclusively serving the boomer and aging marketplace online for over a decade. Through its flagship property www.thirdage.com and its sister site, www.menopause-online.com. ThirdAge attracts over 500,000 unique visitors a month and has over one million newsletter subscribers who are redefining what it means to get older on their own terms. The company focuses on living, loving and learning with content features around community, health and wellness, relationships and life stage transitions. Over 75% of the ThirdAge audience is between 40 and 65 years of age and the audience skews female (approximately 69%).

"We chose to partner with ThirdAge because they have pioneered the online boomer space and because they have a highly respected and trusted brand -- valuable assets newcomers do not have. With their long history of being passionate about and genuinely connected with Boomers, their depth of knowledge around aging issues and opportunities -and their range of topical and relevant content - we know we have the ability together to provide marketers with data, nuance and valuable perspectives, all of which will help them create rich, unique and effective marketing programs", says Bitter.

Under the terms of this new partnership, the companies plan to develop six pieces of proprietary research each year that provide distinct insights into Boomer trends and aging lifestyles - including relationships, communities, and life-stage transitions. In addition BOOM and ThirdAge will explore and publish emerging trends that are critical to marketers seeking to engage with this dynamic population and offer consulting services aimed at turning exploratory insights into successful, commercial projects.

"This is a very exciting venture", comments Whiteley. "To collaborate with a world class organization such as JWT BOOM, who is also the premiere advertising agency in the field of aging, is an opportunity itself . The fact that we both are also "live" operating companies dynamically engaged with the marketplace daily, affords us many points of access to boomers and ThirdAgers that other research firms and development think tanks simply do not have. Combining our windows into these interior worlds will expand our vistas and our ability to deliver outstanding results to our clients and constituents".

As part of the partnership, ThirdAge and JWT will also create in-market laboratories, and design campaigns complete with messages, images and test them in real-life media venues prior to investing in more expanded launches.

JWT BOOM Specialty Offerings

In addition to offering fully integrated agency services, JWT BOOM presents Beyond the Numbers: Boomer Market Summit. Now in its sixth year, the 2007 Summit, Boomers 2.0 -- Reaching 40+ Consumers Today, is being held March 26 and 27 at The Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, and addresses the impact of the digital age on the boomer lifestyle.

The two-day Summit brings together the experts who are shaping digital technology and new media to provide marketers with insights and expert information on how to leverage digital technology to better target, reach and sell to this dominant market. Participants in this year's Summit include Chris Shipley, Executive Director at DEMO; Tanya Giles, SVP at TV Land; futurist Marian Salzman, EVP at JWT; Jack Barrette, Category Development Officer at Yahoo!; Brad Knight, President of Retirement Living; Dan Rexford, EVP at Erickson; Genevieve Bell, Director of User Experience at Intel; Jeff Taylor, CEO at Eons, Inc.; Tom Asacker, author of A Clear Eye For Branding; and Nancy Carr, VP at Kodak, among many others.

Also being released at this year's Beyond the Numbers Conference is the second Boomer Heartbeat, JWT's annual trend monitor that takes the ever-changing pulse of the Boomer segment. This in-depth research study explores Boomers' views and perceptions on life, work, health and wellness, travel, technology and finances.