FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Nancy White
The Natural Marketing Institute
215.513.7300 ext. 225
Nancy.White@NMIsolutions.com

Paul Ray to Contribute to 2003 LOHAS Consumer Research Project

Harleysville, Pa. (December 18, 2002) — Renowned sociologist and author Paul H. Ray, Ph.D., has entered into an agreement with the Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) and Natural Business Communications, a division of Conscious Media Inc., to provide expertise and analysis for the companies' upcoming 2003 Understanding the LOHAS Market research project.

LOHAS is an acronym that stands for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability and describes a growing, $230 billion U.S. market for goods and services that includes natural and organic foods and personal care products, supplements and medicines, renewable energy and transportation, personal development, green building, and other socially responsible and environmentally friendly products.

As part of the relationship, Ray, who coined the term Cultural Creatives and who, with his wife, Sherry Ruth Anderson, Ph.D., wrote The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World, will contribute a series of proprietary consumer segmentation questions for inclusion in the annual LOHAS survey of U.S. households that will provide additional, in-depth analysis of values-based consumers. The information will be included in a new chapter authored by Ray in the 2003 Understanding the LOHAS Market general report, due for release in June 2003.

Additionally, Ray's analysis will help sponsor companies to further target their sales and marketing efforts to this highly desirable consumer group. Ray has more than 15 years of experience in studying and analyzing Cultural Creatives and the values-oriented segment of the population.

The 2002 LOHAS project, based on primary research of 2,267 U.S. general population consumer households and released in May 2002, revealed that 30 percent of the U.S. population — or 63 million adult consumers — are likely to make purchasing decisions based on their social and environmental values and the values of the companies that serve them. As a market, they have more than $1.2 trillion of disposable income, according to Ray's research.

Corporate sponsors for the 2003 LOHAS research project are currently being finalized. Sponsorship allows companies to include their own proprietary questions in the survey and includes other deliverables such as data tables and a custom report/executive presentation – as well as the 150+-page LOHAS general report that investigates consumers' attitudes and beliefs, sources of influence, product usage and reasons for non-usage.

"Paul Ray's contributions to the 2003 project will add tangible new data and analysis to what is already an extremely comprehensive look at values-based consumers," says Steve French, NMI managing partner. "With Paul's insight, the research will provide an even greater window into how companies can identify, target and communicate with this emerging consumer segment."

For information on the 2002 report or on sponsoring the 2003 Understanding the LOHAS Market project, visit www.NMIsolutions.com or contact Steve French at 215-513-7300, ext 214.

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