October 22, 2001

A New Standard in Marketing Research
Abt Associates Makes A Strategic Commitment to Bernett's Online Services

BOSTON: Bernett Research Services Inc. today announced that the Business Research and Consulting (BRC) Group of Abt Associates Inc. (Cambridge, MA) has made a strategic commitment to use and integrate Bernett's data collection and online monitoring and publishing services in its marketing research operations.

Abt Associates is the tenth-ranked full-service marketing research firm in North America. It's clients are leading corporations in a wide range of industries including financial services, healthcare and technology, as well as most U.S. and many foreign government agencies. A premier data collection specialist, Bernett Research provides web survey, call center, focus group, data processing and online services.

"Data collection is our core capability" says Bernett Research co-CEO Andrew Hayes. "The online services we have developed support our data collection services and allow our clients to extend the services they offer to their own clients," he says. "We know that for us to succeed, our customer have to succeed. Abt can now use our online services to generate new business for Abt which, in turn, generates new business for Bernett. This is a win/win for both our companies."

"Bernett Research already gets the lion's share of our data collection business," says BRC vice president of marketing Dick Pace. "It's innovative new online services have made us want to work even more closely with Bernett in the future. We provide the design and analysis and they provide the data collection and online services."

To showcase their combined capabilities, Bernett Research and Abt Associates are collaborating on a national survey that will provide a detailed look at how American households are reacting financially to the enduring economic uncertainty that has now been compounded by the ongoing U.S.-led global war on terrorism. Each company focuses on its particular skills: Abt designed the questionnaire which Bernett will field through its call centers. The results of the survey will be analyzed by Abt consultants and the analysis will be published online by Bernett.

"The marketing research industry is going through a major transition that started long before the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in September," says Hayes. "To succeed in the new age that we are just now entering, marketing research companies will have to be able to turn research into useful information faster and easier. A key to accomplishing that mandate is using the Internet-not just for web surveys-but for project management and communications. This is where marketing research is going. We have those tools now."

Bernett's strategic relationship with Abt is a model for the kind of relationship Bernett Research is developing with its premier clients. "We have optimized the marketing research supply," Hayes says. "We each do what we do best."

Bernett Research Services, Inc, 2 Seaport Lane Boston, MA 02210 (617) 746-2705 www.bernett.com