CINCINNATI, Ohio (June 6, 2005) -- Intelliseek Inc., a marketing intelligence firm that measures and analyzes online consumer "buzz," has upgraded its BrandPulse(TM) Internet-monitoring solution with richer features that reach beyond the volume and content of consumers' online discussions to discover depth of influence, intensity of emotion/sentiment, message content and relevance, and more.

The new BrandPulse features are a boon for marketers, brand managers and companies interested in measuring the impact of so-called "consumer generated media" (CGM) on other consumers who use the Internet as a research and communications tool.

"The fastest growing media is that which consumers create and share among themselves," said Pete Blackshaw, Intelliseek's chief marketing officer. "The ability to monitor, respond to and even influence CGM may represent one of the most important sources of competitive advantage for marketers in the future. BrandPulse takes text-mining and text analytic technologies to the next level to help brands become world-class listeners."

CGM encompasses millions of opinions and experiences aired in public Internet communities, forums and blogs. Collectively, CGM is more trusted by consumers than traditional advertising, according to 2004 Intelliseek/Forrester research.

BrandPulse, an ASP solution, is tailored for Intelliseek clients to monitor the Internet and internal data sources for consumer "buzz" about themselves and competitors for a key tasks, including new product launches, message effectiveness, reputation management and blog strategies. The upgrades include:

• New content sources: BrandPulse's broader index of sources includes nearly 12 million blogs, more than 45,000 newsgroups and thousands of online message boards spanning tens of thousands of discussion forums. BrandPulse indexes and analyzes more than 1 million consumer postings a day; Intelliseek also manages BlogPulse.com, a portal that analyzes the blogosphere daily.
  
  
• New and improved text-mining technologies: Using improved natural language processing approaches, the BrandPulse tool now mines online postings to detect sentiment on very specific/narrow issues or topics, detects positive or negative quotes in consumers' postings, identifies extraneous/irrelevant material from consumers' postings to measure buzz more accurately, and extracts product-related ideas and suggestions offered by consumers.
  
  
• Enhanced metrics and analysis, including brand sentiment analysis and "influence tracking": Major enhancements in sentiment mining technology deliver a more robust sentiment scoring metric, critical for determining the extent to which consumers reactive positively or negatively to brands, issues or specific marketing events. In addition, the solution's new "Influence Tracker" is able to identify consumers who are also blog authors and to track activity on their blogs by other consumers. A separate "link analysis" function identifies links (news stories, blogs, web sites, images, video/audio clips) that are embedded in consumers' online postings to help determine factors such as influence, reach and impact. BrandPulse also can segment online authors by source or specific groups for more precise comparative data. "The future of marketing is about measuring, tracking and leveraging key, influential consumers," Blackshaw said.
  
  
• An upgraded reporting dashboard for clients: Access to BrandPulse reports is now easier than ever, including a new point-and-click interface to create customized reports and views of different data sets, enhanced abilities to read and tag messages, better workflow capabilities, new search features with built-in filters to eliminate irrelevant material, and the addition of a blog to each client's reporting site for updates and timely communication.

Major companies in the automotive, financial services, consumer electronics and entertainment industries use BrandPulse services and data. Intelliseek's next webinars will discuss "Employee Blogs" on June 9 and "Consumer-Generated Media" on June 23. For more information, call 513-618-6700.

Media Contact: 513-618-6716

Press Contact: Sandra Parrelli; Sandra.Parrelli@nielsen.com; 646-654-7772

Sales Inquiries: sales@buzzmetrics.com; 1.877.999.7335

About Nielsen Online:

Nielsen Online, a service of The Nielsen Company, delivers comprehensive, independent measurement and analysis of online audiences, advertising, video, consumer-generated media, word of mouth, commerce and consumer behavior, and includes products previously marketed under the Nielsen//NetRatings and Nielsen BuzzMetrics brands. With high quality, technology-driven products and services, Nielsen Online enables clients to make informed business decisions regarding their Internet, digital and marketing strategies. For more information, please visit www.nielsen-online.com.

About The Nielsen Company:

The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information (Nielsen Media Research), online intelligence (NetRatings and BuzzMetrics), trade shows and business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands, and New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com.