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Specific Media Underpins Leadership in Continental Europe with Strategic Senior Hire

Online advertising network recruits industry veteran to drive European growth

London, UK – 5 May 2010 – Specific Media, the pioneering online advertising specialist, today announced the appointment of Philippe Besnard as Managing Director (MD), Continental Europe (CE). Within the newly-created role Besnard will drive the company's strategic growth policy across the region and oversee the existing French and German operations. Besnard will report into Colin-Petrie-Norris, MD - International.

The senior hire is indicative of Specific Media's commitment to its strategic development across Continental Europe, as well as providing innovative solutions and its unique focus on best-in-class service to advertisers and publishers.

Besnard brings more than 16 years experience to the role, having worked most recently as Managing Director, Southern Europe at AOL, where he successfully developed and integrated the three advertising businesses of the group, namely the network activity, the owned & operated business and the performance network branch. He previously held the same position with Advertising.com before it merged with AOL - and achieved a 200 per cent revenue increase during his two-year tenure.

Prior to this Besnard has been the COO for Laureate International, a US-based investment company specialising in education and e-learning, as Managing Director for the French office.

Previously he held the position of Senior VP for AOL's Interactive division. During this time he was instrumental in spearheading the company's expertise in the content and online advertising space. He was also one of the co-founders of the SRI (Syndicat des Régies Internet), the French trade body for online sales houses.

Before his time with AOL, Besnard worked as President for European toymaker Meccano in the United States. Besnard started his career in corporate finance and in consulting, respectively at Financière de Serbie and the Boston Consulting Group.

"Specific Media is at an incredibly exciting stage in its growth, as we continue to expand our European footprint and achieve great success year-on-year," said Colin Petrie-Norris, MD - International for Specific Media. "With his outstanding expertise and solid foothold in the online sector, Philippe is perfectly placed to help us get to the next level in this region and of course in the UK. I am thrilled to welcome him to the team."

"Over the course of my career I have developed a genuine passion for the fast-paced and ever-changing nature of the online advertising space and believe that 2010 will see some exciting developments within the sector across Europe. I am impressed by Specific Media's growth and results. I also like very much Specific Media's unique situation: the only global, independent player in this field," said Philippe Besnard, MD - Continental Europe. "I'm delighted to be joining Specific Media and feel proud to be part of a team which continually strives to be the best in its field by offering advertisers an unrivalled package of technology, insight and service."

Philippe Besnard replaces Rupert Staines who, as Vice President Europe, successfully led Specific Media's strategic development in both Germany and France. Staines, who joined the company in 2005, takes on a new role within the company as Senior Vice President of Client Development. Working alongside Eric Clemenceau, Staines will focus on developing Specific Media's strategic relationships across Europe and the US.

Specific Media is a global technology and online media company that enables advertisers to reach target audiences with unprecedented scale and accuracy. The company connects advertisers with target audiences across its premium network of name brand publishers through advanced demographic, behavioural, contextual, geographic and retargeting technologies.

About Specific Media

Specific Media, the pioneering European online advertising specialist, leads the industry with ground-breaking technology which enables advertisers to target consumers throughout Western Europe and North America based on demographics, behaviours, geographic locations and the contextual relevance of websites visited. Specific Media's Premium Network reaches more than 33 million consumers each month in the UK, more than 100 million across Europe and over 260 million consumers globally. The combination of reach and proprietary targeting technologies allows Specific Media to create highly customised audience segments for advertisers. Since 1999, Specific Media has been enabling advertisers to build relationships with their target audiences across the top consumer branded publishers. Visit www.specificmedia.com.

Media Contact:
Will Campbell and Fran Kirkham
Band & Brown Communications
Tel: 020 7419 7000
specificmedia@bbpr.com

Christine Schoultz
Specific Media
949 861 8898
cschoultz@specificmedia.com