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Dialog Puts Market Research Sector Under the Spotlight with Series of Customer Workshops
Leading Information Providers and Customers Share Ideas At Dialog Event

LONDON, UK, 13 May, 2002 — Dialog, a Thomson business and a leading worldwide provider of online-based information services and integrated information solutions long active in Europe, last month held the first in a series of high-level Market Research customer workshops aimed at forging closer ties between providers and users of market research data.

The first event, held at Dialog's European headquarters near London Bridge, brought together some of the world's leading market researchers including Frost & Sullivan, Datamonitor, Informa Telecoms & Media, Key Note and Euromonitor.

Corporate users were drawn from a number of industries, with the financial sector particularly well represented. Participants from Societe General, Warburg Dillon Read, HSBC Investment Banking, Merrill Lynch, Sedgwick Europe Risk Services and ING Barings attended, as did professionals from such other leading companies as Calor Gas, Granada Media, SmithKline Beecham and PA Consulting Group.

David Frigstad, Chairman of Frost & Sullivan, warned workshop delegates of the perils of adopting a 'head-in-the-sand' approach to the recessionary economic landscape.

"Every time there's a recession, people take the easy, knee jerk response and get out of market research and competitive intelligence. The whole Internet bubble and burst could have been avoided if investors and companies had applied simple, basic market research principles to the valuation of Internet businesses. But they didn't and, as a result, $1 trillion worth of shareholder value has been lost."

He added: "When times are tough, people need more measurements, more data — not less. The smart companies are not cutting back on their market research budgets, but relying on them more heavily than ever to deliver the statistics and analysis they need to keep smart and stay ahead of the competition."

Dialog is a leading provider of market research intelligence, supplied by a wide range of information providers covering market sectors that include technology, pharmaceutical and biotechnology.

Viji Krishnan, vice president of content development at Dialog, said: "Thankfully, Britain, the U.S. and other major economies seem to be emerging from the recession now. And as we do, marketers should be prepared to articulate the value of marketing research and competitive intelligence with renewed vigor and enthusiasm.

Dorothy Briggs, Dialog's London-based vice president of marketing, said that Dialog will hold additional workshops for suppliers and users of marketing research.

"As a major third party supplier, Dialog is ideally situated to act as a catalyst, bringing together big name providers and major corporations in the same room," she said. "We want to encourage the sharing of experiences, challenges and opportunities.

"There's no denying that in recent months, market research has been too often overlooked by shortsighted organizations seeking to cut corners," Briggs added. "But, as our workshop clearly demonstrated, a continued investment in this area of activity can mean the difference between success and failure — no matter what the economic climate."

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About Dialog
Founded in 1972 by Dr. Roger K. Summit, a pioneer in developing the technology behind electronic information retrieval, Dialog is the world leader in providing online-based information services to organizations seeking competitive advantages in such fields as business, science, engineering, finance and law.

Today, Dialog's three online platforms -- Dialog®, Profound® and DataStar™ -- offer users the ability to precisely retrieve data from more than 1.2 billion unique records, accessible via the Internet or through delivery to enterprise intranets. The content available ranges from articles and reports published in thousands of publications to in-depth repositories of patents, trademarks and other intellectual property data.

Corporate librarians, knowledge managers and other information professionals at more than 25,000 business, professional and government organizations in more than 100 countries prize Dialog services for their breadth and depth of content, precision searching and speed.

Headquartered in Cary, N.C., USA, with direct operations in 32 countries throughout North American, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, South Africa and the Asia Pacific, Dialog is a business of The Thomson Corporation. For more information about Dialog, please visit www.dialog.com. Or, please call (U.S./Canada) 800-3-DIALOG or (U.S.) 919-462-8600. Dialog's London office may be reached at (44) (0) 207-940-6900.

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About The Thomson Corporation
The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), with 2001 revenues of $7.2 billion, is a leading provider of integrated information solutions to business and professional markets worldwide. The Corporation's common shares are listed on the Toronto (TSE: TOC) and London stock exchanges.

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