Catalyst & Valvoline Instant Oil Change Honored for Ingenuity, Creativity in the Analytics & Modeling Applications Category

December 9, 2008, Rochester, NY - Catalyst Direct and client Valvoline Instant Oil Change (VIOC), have been awarded the Silver award in the Analytics and Modeling Applications Category by the National Center for Database Marketing (NCDM), according to Managing Partners Mike Osborn and Jeff Cleary, Catalyst Direct. The NCDM Database Excellence Awards were announced today at the NCDM Conference which is organized and presented jointly by DIRECT and the Direct Marketing Association. The Database Excellence Awards honor organizations that have demonstrated ingenuity and creativity in leveraging their marketing databases. This year a jury of 11 leaders in the Direct, CRM and Database Marketing fields judged submissions from organizations around the world, bestowing a total of 11 awards. This is the first time Catalyst Direct has made a submission to the NCDM awards.

Commenting on the win, Mr. Osborn stated, “It’s an honor to be recognized for our work, but even sweeter to share this award with our friends at VIOC, a client with vision, passion and courage to create change. Analytics has been a rapidly growing segment of our business at Catalyst. We believe we have one of the strongest in-house analytics teams and this award is a tangible testament to their skill and craft. We are thrilled and thank the judges and executives at NCDM for this award. It will be proudly displayed in our lobby!”

Laura Carpenter, Director, Direct Marketing, Valvoline Instant Oil Change, commented, “Our partnership with Catalyst Direct is one of those rare relationships where we truly sync on all levels. The talent and intellectual horsepower of their team allows us to both envision, and execute, new, highly innovative programs. They really are an extension of our marketing team here at VIOC. We are proud of this recognition, and the honor it brings to both our companies.”

About Catalyst Direct:
Catalyst Direct is a full-service direct/digital marketing agency specializing in knowledge-based solutions designed to acquire, retain and maximize customer relationships for its clients. Catalyst is positioned as the DM 2.0 agency. Founded in 1990, the company employs close to 100 professionals and is headquartered in Rochester, NY. The company’s client roster includes Eastman Kodak Company, GE Money, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, HSBC, M&T Bank, Scotts Lawnservice, Valvoline, and Weyerhaeuser.

About Valvoline Instant Oil Change:
There are more than 825 VIOC service centers nationwide, each of which offers the highest standard in automotive fluid maintenance services with an emphasis on speed. VIOC is a business of the Valvoline division of Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH), a fortune 500 company. For more information, visit www.vioc.com.

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