Cognos (Nasdaq: COGN; TSX: CSN), the world leader in business intelligence (BI) and performance management solutions, and The Nielsen Company, the world leader in consumer and media information services, today announced a multi-year strategic agreement under which Nielsen will deploy Cognos 8 Business Intelligence in the technology architecture it uses to deliver integrated information services to its clients.

Nielsen will also use Cognos 8 BI and Cognos Go! Mobile internally to measure business performance in key areas such as finance, operations and sales.

'Working with an industry leader such as Nielsen is a privilege,' said Derek Morrison, Regional General Manager, Cognos Middle East. 'Nielsen has a long, proven track record of technology innovation and is very sophisticated and selective about business intelligence solutions. We look forward to teaming with Nielsen to strengthen its BI capabilities and accelerate development of client solutions that create clear and measurable business benefits.'

The Nielsen Company provides its clients with a wide range of services, including audience measurement for the television industry and information, insight, analysis and advice about consumers for packaged good manufacturers and retailers. Nielsen also serves clients in print media, online and mobile services, entertainment, books, video and the music industries, and is a major provider of business publications and trade shows.

'Our partnership with Cognos will deliver significant benefits to Nielsen and our clients,' said Joe Willke, President, Global Consumer Product Leadership, The Nielsen Company. 'Cognos is not only the world leader in BI, its technology is highly complementary with our existing information architecture. Adopting Cognos 8 as our standard BI solution will enhance and accelerate the growth of our current services, especially Nielsen Answers™, and it will help us move faster to integrate information assets from across The Nielsen Company to provide clients with innovative, high-value services.'

Nielsen Answers™, a web-based platform, is designed to put the best information, analysis and advice into clients' hands quickly and easily. The recently released Nielsen Answers 5.0 has been praised by industry observers as the most complete information solution for the consumer packaged goods industry. The integration of Cognos 8 into the next release of Nielsen Answers will further enhance the functionality that Nielsen delivers to its clients as well as provide opportunities for integrated and enhanced solutions across the media, consumer, on-line, mobile and business media segments of The Nielsen Company.

Cognos 8 BI's open, standards-based service oriented architecture (SOA) made it the ideal solution for Nielsen's enterprise-wide BI standardization initiative. Cognos 8 BI's zero footprint and web services architecture will speed deployment of Nielsen Answers, and its full range of BI capabilities will provide rapid access to consistent data, integrated from any source and customizable for every user's needs. Cognos Go! Mobile will also help users make more informed decisions in context when mobile, while enabling IT to further leverage existing investments in Cognos 8 BI to continue lowering the overall cost of ownership.

'As we continue to mobilize resources to bring broader, deeper solutions to our clients, leveraging commercial technologies like Cognos will play a key role in our success. Nielsen's investment in industry leading tools has always distinguished us from our competitors, and this is another step in that tradition,' said Mitchell Habib, Executive Vice President, Global Business Services at The Nielsen Company. 'With a common platform, our teams will be able to focus on our unique expertise - the rapid development of applications and solutions for the clients and markets we serve. We are looking forward to working with Cognos as a partner to extend our solutions, serve our clients better and target new markets.'
Photocaption: Derek Morrison, Regional General Manager, Cognos Middle East.

A ground breaking analysis and research by Arab Advisors Group calculates the average rates for each region using each country’s local average rates for a whole day. Looking at the peak rates of each region, the Gulf and the Levant come very close. The peak terrestrial TV ad rate in the Gulf falls between 21:00 and 22:00 and is offered to advertisers at an average of US$ 1536. This is close to the Levant’s peak rate between 20:00 and 21:00 offered at US$ 1533.

The regional average terrestrial TV advertising rate represents the mean for a 30 second commercial spot for the eight countries discussed in the report. The peak regional average terrestrial TV advertising rate falls between 20:00 and 21:00 and stands at US$ 1339. The types of programs usually broadcast in the evening range from first run popular series and movies to the daily comprehensive news coverage. In addition, live shows such as talk shows and contest shows broadcast during the evening period. All rates used in the Arab Advisors’ analysis correspond to a 30 second commercial spot on a Tuesday since this is a work day for all countries in a region where weekend times differ.

A new report, “Terrestrial TV Advertising Rates in the Arab World 2007”, was released by the Arab Advisors Group on July 02, 2007. This report can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 950. The 46-page report, which has 55 detailed exhibits, provides detailed analysis of the terrestrial TV advertising rates in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and UAE. The countries analyzed in the report were selected according to their geographical location to represent the Arab region. Please contact the Arab Advisors Group to get a copy of the report’s Table of Contents.

Any investment in this report will count towards an annual Strategic Research Service subscription – Media should the service be acquired within three months from purchasing the report.

“Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and the UAE respectively have the highest average terrestrial TV advertising rates, all of which lie above the regional average advertising rate of US$766 ” Ms. Lina Juma, Arab Advisors Sr. Research Analyst wrote in the report. “The regional average ad rate is calculated by averaging the regional terrestrial TV ad rates throughout a whole day”. Ms. Juma added.

The Arab Advisors Group’s team of analysts in the region has produced over 840 reports on the Arab World’s communications and media markets. The reports can be purchased individually or received through an annual subscription to Arab Advisors Group’s (www.arabadvisors.com) Strategic Research Services (Media and Telecom). To date, Arab Advisors Group has served over 430 global and regional companies by providing reliable research analysis and forecasts of Arab communications markets to these clients. Some of our clients can be viewed on http://www.arabadvisors.com/clients.htm

Senior business executives in the Middle East are increasingly recognizing the substantial affects of corporate reputation on their businesses, according to Hill & Knowlton's Corporate Reputation Watch Middle East 2007.

Hill & Knowlton Middle East commissioned the survey to comprehensively review attitudes of senior business executives toward corporate reputation-related issues throughout the region. The survey was conducted by YouGov Siraj.

Dave Robinson, CEO of Hill & Knowlton Middle East highlighted that, 'Positive reputation is a requirement to building and sustaining a healthy business and therefore, an essential component for remaining competitive in this marketplace. Perception now holds almost as much value as performance and profit.'

The first of its kind conducted in the Middle East, the survey highlights the current understanding of and approach to corporate reputation in the Middle East, including the identification of contributing factors as well as benefits to businesses.

94% of senior executives believe that customers and consumers consider corporate reputation to be either important or extremely
77% of senior executives believe that corporate reputation is one of the top three factors investors consider to be either important or extremely important
The top 3 benefits from building and maintaining corporate reputation are additional sales, employee recruitment and retention and facilitating strategic partnerships and transaction.
The reputation of a company's Chief Executive Officer and management team is closely aligned with overall corporate reputation.

'Our research indicated almost ninety-five per cent of senior executives in Kuwait believe that corporate reputation is one of the top three factors investors consider to be very important. We see Kuwait as one of the leading GCC countries to recognise the importance of corporate reputation and organisations here actively promote initatives that help develop corporate reputation - such as Corporate Social Responsibility programmes,' said Kevin Hasler, General Manager of Hill & Knowlton in Kuwait.

The study revealed that a high level of importance is attached to management and CEO reputation, execution of corporate strategy, and corporate culture.

Participants included business executives in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Lebanon and Kuwait.

Although the results identify commonalities in the comprehension and approach toward corporate reputation throughout the region, there are very interesting variations between participating countries, reinforcing the fact that the Middle East is far from a homogenous region.

Issues explored include brand alignment, corporate social responsibility, good corporate governance and the role of the CEO. Survey respondents acknowledged the deep connection between corporate reputation and positive supportive behaviour by key stakeholders - in product purchasing decisions, investment decisions and in attracting employees. The results also demonstrate that corporate investment in reputation-related programs is indeed growing as both a strategic and management focus.