Boutique Interactive Marketing Firm, The Usman Group, Wins Best Internet Advertising Campaign Tempo Award from the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing

Campaign helps The RoomPlace achieve triple-digit percent ROI; Usman Group beats
out much larger competitors and exemplifies innovation on a budget.

CHICAGO--(Business Wire)--
The Usman Group, a boutique interactive marketing firm won "Best Internet
Advertising" campaign during the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing`s
(CADM) 38th annual Tempo Awards. Winners were honored during a June 3, 2009
ceremony held at the Museum of Contemporary Arts.

The campaign utilized paid search and email marketing to increase in-store sales
for The RoomPlace, a 22-location furniture store. The complete RoomPlace case
study is available here: http://www.theusmangroup.com/work/roomplace.html.

There were three main objectives to the six-week program: 1) Sales - Increase
new-customer acquisitions and drive offline sales via online marketing; 2)
Visibility - Increase brand awareness for The RoomPlace; and 3) Leads - Grow the
opt-in e-mail marketing list.

The results of the campaign were measured using five different factors: 1)
Number of ad impressions; 2) Number of text and banner ad clicks; 3)
Click-through rate (CTR); 4) Number of e-mail signups; and 5) In-store sales
figures related to the campaign.

Dozens of professionals from Chicago`s direct marketing community judged entries
in 17 award categories, rating both creative achievement and marketing results.

"We came from virtually nowhere and beat the big guys, including DDB," explained
Naveed Usman, founder and president of The Usman Group. "This serves as a huge
validation that a smart, focused and creative strategy without a big budget can
produce great results."

"The Usman Group greatly exceeded our expectations," stated Valerie Berman,
marketing manager for The Room Place. "This campaign drove in-store sales, which
was most important to us. It really broke some of our pre-conceptions that
online promotions would mostly just drive online sales."

THE CAMPAIGN

Challenge:

The RoomPlace wanted to increase its online brand presence with customers who
had never heard of the store, and who had never considered it as a destination
point in the furniture market. It wanted to increase its offline sales using
online strategies, but needed a fresh approach to lead generation.

Solution:

To meet The RoomPlace`s marketing needs; the Usman Group developed a cohesive
e-marketing plan, incorporating keyword bidding/management, paid search
advertising, search engine optimization, web design and email-marketing
strategies. Yahoo, Google, MSN and other major search engines were utilized to
reach consumers in the Chicagoland area.

Methodology:

Two campaigns were developed and tested during a six-week period. Strategically
selected keywords with high search volumes and conversion potential were
utilized to increase ad rankings for The RoomPlace on the various search
engines. Additionally, The Usman Group monitored each keyword`s performance on a
daily basis, securing The RoomPlace`s position and ensuring conversion goals
were being met.

Results:

The RoomPlace realized an impressive triple-digit percent ROI, far exceeding
traditional offline advertising methods. In addition, it received several
thousand email sign-ups, and new customer acquisitions increased by 63 percent.

"The Internet Advertising Campaign category is an emerging media type of award
and very prestigious in the Chicago advertising community," stated Andrew C.
Stoppels, membership services manager with the CADM. "The Usman Group developed
a very creative campaign."

About The Usman Group

The Usman Group is a full-service, online business development company,
specializing in the creation of unique online experiences and marketing
solutions since 2005. Through innovative ideas, interactive design and targeted
search queries, The Usman Group helps organizations optimize their online
marketing efforts. It is committed to providing excellence in interactive
marketing strategy, high-end creative design and exemplary customer service.
www.theusmangroup.com

About The RoomPlace

Headquartered in Lombard, IL, The RoomPlace (www.theroomplace.com) is best known
for its total-room concept, providing online and in-store customers an easy and
convenient furniture-buying experience. It has 18 Chicago-area stores and four
in Indiana. Customers can choose from a wide variety of designs. While
individual pieces are available and sold separately, customers actually save
money when purchasing a complete room.

About CADM

More than 1,100 members strong, CADM is the largest regional direct marketing
association in the United States, and the only broad-based direct marketing
association in the Chicago metropolitan area. www.cadm.org.

SHERMAN communications & marketing
Jason Sherman, (708) 445-8598
jason@shermancm.com
www.shermancm.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009