First of its Kind Survey Reveals Supermarket Media Preferences

LIVONIA, Mich., July 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Valassis (NYSE: VCI), one of the nation's leading media and marketing services companies, announced results of a study indicating that today 90% of grocery retailers use weekly circulars as their promotion of choice although they clearly expect the increased influence of social media and digital to greatly impact their promotion tactics within the next five years. This was among the findings of the Supermarket Media Usage Study of 60 leading grocery decision makers, representing approximately 50 national and independent grocers/chains. The survey was executed on behalf of Valassis by Stagnito Custom Media.

"This is the first survey of its kind seeking input from decision makers in the grocery retail sector and provides insight into their promotions, success metrics and future promotional strategies," said Pierce Hollingsworth, Editorial Director, Retail Leader.

When it comes to effectiveness, the study revealed that 75% of grocery retailers realize increased results from print circulars, driving their preference. More specifically, 50% indicated increased sales and 25%, increased customer retention.

AVERAGE RANK OF MEDIA TO MEET
WEEKLY SALES OBJECTIVES (1=BEST)

The study also found that grocers are adapting their media tactics in response to declining paid newspaper circulation, and have decreased their newspaper-distributed circulars within the past year. As a result, 26% of respondents reported increased usage of mail-delivered and online promotions.

Grocers are developing targeting and distribution strategies for their circulars through a combination of internal sales data and consumer insights with 90% saying customers plan differently by trip type – 82% believe consumers are making more decisions at home than three years ago. Two-thirds of respondents also indicated they expect that social media/Internet will be a more significant component of their media plans within five years. Sixty-five percent of respondents expect that over the course of the next five years, social media/Internet will be the medium of choice for grocers to meet sales goals

"The consumer decision-making journey is more involved than ever," said Therese Mulvey, Valassis Vice President, Marketing Intelligence. "Media preferences are changing, due in great part to consumers' desire to be connected. It is no longer a 'how we use print versus digital' question. It is a 'how do we best optimize our marketing dollars to maximize the ROI on both.'"

Additional highlights of the study revealed efforts grocers have put in place to address the changing consumer landscape:

• 65% have ethnic marketing initiatives;
• 60% have initiatives to address varying shopping trip types; and
• 35% have generationally-based initiatives.

Mulvey recently conducted a webcast on the "Media & Consumer Landscape – Navigating the Path to Purchase." To view the webcast and learn more about the consumer's influence from awareness to purchase, go to http://bit.ly/ISPbDJ.

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 digital offerings, including redplum.com and save.com, consumers can find compelling national and local deals. 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, NCH Marketing Services, Inc. and Brand.net. For more information, visit http://www.valassis.com, http://www.redplum.com and http://www.save.com. To learn about advertising opportunities with RedPlum, please call 1-800-437-0479.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-looking Statements
This document contains "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 preferences for different promotional materials, strategies or coupon delivery methods, including, without limitation, as a result of declines in newspaper circulation and/or increased competition from new media formats including digital; 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; certain covenants in our debt documents could adversely restrict our financial and operating flexibility; 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, including, without limitation, high levels of coupon redemption rates; 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; possible governmental regulation or litigation affecting aspects of our business; clients experiencing financial difficulties, or otherwise being unable to meet their obligations as they become due, could affect our results of operations and financial condition; 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.

SOURCE Valassis