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New Survey Indicates That Lack of Time, Measurement Tools Plague Marketers; Unica and AMR Research Identify Marketers' Major Challenges

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 September 2005, 12:00 CDT

While a majority of senior marketers believe they have good visibility into all their marketing activities, just 29 percent can easily access and use marketing program performance data to guide future plans and investments. Only 33 percent feel they can confidently account for the value driven by marketing within their organizations. In addition, "not having enough time to focus on strategy" is a top obstacle to achieving marketing goals this year. These issues and more explain why spending on marketing-related technologies and overall marketing improvements increased from 2004-2005.

These are among the key findings of "People, Process and Technology Challenges for Marketing Executives," a study commissioned by Unica Corporation and conducted by AMR Research. The study surveyed 120 marketing executives from a variety of industries including financial services, manufacturing, IT services, travel/hospitality, retail and others.

Among the survey findings:

-- 61 percent of marketers lack confidence that marketing resources and dollars are used efficiently

-- Lack of coordination between departments is the top process-related challenge for meeting marketing goals

-- Nearly 40 percent can deliver targeted marketing offers during customer service interactions

-- Only 34 percent of respondents are able deliver consistent and coordinated marketing offers across all customer interaction channels

-- A majority (65 percent) plan to invest in marketing technology this year - campaign management, customer analytics, marketing resource management and reporting are priorities

"The increased level of spending for marketing-related IT investments clearly indicates that technology is becoming even more important to the success, measurement, and precision of marketing organizations. Those that have not invested in marketing technology to improve operations must reconsider that decision," says Laura Preslan, research director, AMR Research, in a July 29 AMR alert entitled "Marketing IT Investments Are Growing."

"As the marketing function continues to grow in importance, it is imperative that organizations equip marketers with the necessary technology and support to achieve marketing objectives and deliver on corporate goals," said Carol Meyers, Unica's vice president of marketing. "Using enterprise marketing management (EMM) solutions to operationalize common marketing processes allows marketers to work more efficiently, freeing up time to develop new strategies to drive profitability and growth."

EMM software, designed exclusively for marketers to support demand generation, customer analytics and marketing resource management, can help automate and measure all aspects of marketing, providing insight to guide future plans and creating more time to focus on growth strategies. EMM helps an organization transform its entire marketing process - from budgeting and planning, to production management and workflow, real-time execution and closed-loop reporting - for brand, product, direct and event marketing. With EMM, businesses increase revenues and improve the efficiency and precision of their marketing operations.

For an executive summary of survey results, please visit www.unica.com/amrsurvey.

About Unica

Unica Corporation is a leading global provider of enterprise marketing management (EMM) software designed to help businesses increase their revenues and improve the efficiency and measurability of their marketing operations. Unica focuses exclusively on the needs of marketing organizations and our Affinium software addresses the principal functions of EMM including marketing and customer analytics, demand generation and marketing resource management. Approximately 300 companies in a wide range of industries use Affinium to manage the complexities and processes of marketing and facilitate the operations of a customer-centric business. Our customers include ABN AMRO, Capital One, Choice Hotels, Comcast, Debitel, Halifax Bank of Scotland, Lands' End, Nordstrom, Reader's Digest, Scotiabank, Vodafone and Wanadoo. We have offices across the United States including our corporate headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts, as well in the United Kingdom, France, and Singapore. For more information, call 781-839-8000 or visit www.unica.com.

Copyright 2005 Unica Corporation. Unica and Affinium are registered trademarks of Unica Corporation. All other product names, service marks, and trademarks mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

This is a "safe harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon Unica's historical performance and its current plans, estimates and expectations. The inclusion of this forward-looking information should not be regarded as a representation by Unica, its management or any other person that the future plans, estimates or expectations contemplated by Unica will be achieved. These forward-looking statements represent Unica's expectations as of September 13, 2005. Subsequent events may cause these expectations to change, and Unica disclaims any obligation to update the forward-looking statements in the future. Matters subject to forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including the possibility that the market for enterprise software does not develop as anticipated; the volatility of our stock price due to the difficulty in predicting operating results and the long sales cycle for our software; failure to develop new software products or enhance existing products; failure to retain our chief executive officer, key management and board of director members; the failure to maintain historical maintenance renewal rates; and the failure to properly protect our proprietary rights and intellectual property. These and other factors, including the factors set forth under the caption "Risk Factors" in Unica's prospectus dated August 2, 2005 and declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 2, 2005, could cause Unica's performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

Source: Business Wire

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