WINNER OF THE ERNST & YOUNG 2002 ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR AWARD

Montreal, October 25, 2002 – The Optima Group, a marketing firm that specializes in geomarketing and market analysis, is pleased to announce its victory in the final round of the "Ernst & Young 2002 Entrepreneur of the Year Award" competition in the Technology and Communication category. The competition, Canada’s pre-eminent program for recognizing entrepreneurs, honours business leaders who have distinguished themselves by their outstanding vision, dynamism, innovation, and originality over the last year.

"First, we must thank our clients and partners for their strong contribution to our success. This is a reward for teamwork, and the efforts made to deliver quality marketing products and services oriented toward customer satisfaction," said Pierre Dessureault, one of Optima's two partners.

In fact, 2001-2002 was consolidation of Optima's development strategy. With the launch of the Focus market segmentation solution, the company now ranks among the geomarketing industry leaders who are able to offer a flexible, effective, Canada-wide market segmentation system for corporations whose goal is to optimize their marketing strategy on both the national and provincial levels.

This year, among other things, Optima developed its client portfolio and created strategic partnerships enabling to broaden its scope. The company has established an alliance with the Print Measurement Bureau, enabling the development of new modules for the Focus market segmentation solution.

Based on the PMB survey about Canadian consumer habits (24,000-respondents, 110 publications and 2500 products and brands in Canada), Focus provides information on consumption patterns of its 20 market segments. For example, you can identify the market segments that drink imported beer and find out about their investments and holiday preferences. The data enables companies to connect their customer base with the market universe so as to optimize their client-centred approach through more precise, cost-effective, and therefore more profitable targeting.

Today, the marketing firm acts as marketing consultant for a variety of Canadian corporations and institutions, such as Bell Canada, Sobeys, Réno Dépôt, Héma Québec, Mouvement Desjardins, Gaz Métropolitain, the National Bank of Canada, the newspaper Le Devoir, and the Canadian Museum of Civilization, among others.

"Our next move will be to form international alliances through which we can not only export our expertise, but also serve foreign companies that want to get established in Canada," Eric Trepanier stated. "In addition, we will continue to emphasize on market research and development so that we can offer powerful and innovative marketing products that will deliver quality market information to our clients."