Ipsos Hires Leading Marketer to Head Global Forecasting and Modeling Division

Paris, France - Ipsos Co-Chairmen Didier Truchot and Jean-Marc Lech today announced Dr. Randall Emond has joined the company as Chief Executive Officer of the Ipsos Forecasting, Modeling and Consulting global division, which includes the Ipsos-Novaction and Ipsos-Vantis modeling and forecasting practices. The combined Novaction and Vantis companies employ more than 100 professionals and consultants worldwide. Dr. Emond comes to Ipsos after five years based in the Netherlands with Philips Consumer Electronics. He was Senior Vice President and Worldwide Director of Consumer and Market Intelligence and also a senior member of the Chief Marketing Office. Previously, Randy was a Partner in the Marketing Group of Mercer Management Consulting in New York and spent time in senior roles with advertising agencies such as BBDO and Foote Cone Belding. Emond who earned his undergraduate degree from Fordham University, and has a Master's degree and Doctorate in Statistics and Psychological Measurement from Rutgers University, started his career at AT&T in business research and marketing. He was one of the original members of AT&T's Marketing Science Organization where he developed methods and analyses to research the long distance consumer and business market. Didier Truchot is particularly pleased to welcome Randall Emond : "Randy will manage all Ipsos activities in the field of modeling and forecasting research, offered by Ipsos-Novaction and Ipsos-Vantis but also by all the teams across the Group who are currently working on theses high added value issues". "Unified under Randy's management, the Ipsos Forecasting, Modeling and Consulting global division, will deliver to our clients consulting and model-based research - market simulation, positioning and forecasting models - in order to help them identify, select, grow, validate and manage winning ideas and brands". "His areas of expertise are corporate and brand positioning, communications strategy, new product development and evaluation, consumer behavior, marketing modeling, and measuring the impact of the marketing mix, exactly the kind of hands-on experience our clients expect from a global consultancy like ours," Truchot added. "These are exciting times for Ipsos and challenging times for anyone trying to reposition existing brands and launch new ones," Emond said. "Our role is to realize revenue opportunities primarily by supporting new product development and estimating business impact for our clients in consumer products and services. This division's unique capability lies in the quality of its analytical and modeling tools and products. They are leading edge and well-validated. They set the gold standard for the industry." For more information on this release, please contact: Dan Maceluch VP, Corporate Communications 604.257.3200 Catherine Roussiиs Director of Communications +33 1 53 68 28 05 About Ipsos North America With more than 3,000 professionals and field staff in North America, Ipsos offers a full suite of research services--guided by industry experts and bolstered by advanced analytics and methodologies--in advertising, customer loyalty, marketing, and public affairs research, as well as forecasting and modeling. Member companies also offer a full line of custom, syndicated, omnibus, panel, and online research products and services. To learn more, visit: www.ipsos-na.com. About Ipsos Ipsos is a leading global survey-based market research group, with revenues of 538.5 million euros in 2002. It offers a full suite of research services, guided by industry experts and bolstered by advanced analytics and methodologies in advertising, marketing, public opinion and customer loyalty research, as well as forecasting and modeling. Member companies also offer a full line of custom, syndicated, omnibus, panel, and online research products and services. To learn more, visit: www.ipsos.com. Ipsos is listed on the Euronext Paris Premier Marchй, and is part of the SBF 120 and Next Prime Indices as well as eligible to the Deferred Settlement System (SRD). Euroclear code 7329, Reuters ISOS.LN, Bloomberg IPS FP