Press Release: About Organic, Inc.
September 7, 2001
LONDON -- Organic, Inc. (Nasdaq:OGNC), a leading international Internet professional services firm, and Thistle
Hotels, one of the United Kingdom's premier four-star hotel companies, announced today that the hotel's website
(www.thistlehotels.com) has doubled its online revenue following Organic's
recent redesign of the company's website.
In the first four weeks after the redesign, the revenue from the online channel increased by 201% (up 458% from
the same period in 2000). Organic began the online redevelopment project in April. Organic concentrated on redeveloping
key revenue-driving pages, including the home page, individual hotel pages, and the booking pages. Additional improvements
also included photograph and image enhancement, revised marketing text, prominent privacy and security policies,
and the application of new layouts and designs.
``We are, of course, delighted with the results because the numbers speak for themselves,'' said Euan Mitchell,
Director of Distribution for Thistle Hotels. ``The Internet is a primary channel of growth for us and this is our
first step in a series of a significant improvements for Thistle Hotels online in the coming months.''
``Thistle is an excellent example of our Business Performance Acceleration strategy at work,'' said John Baker,
Managing Director for Organic's United Kingdom office. ``By analyzing existing site performance and focusing on
areas which we know will make the biggest difference for our clients, we are able to turn around online business
performance. The Thistle Hotels project will pay for itself in the same time it took to rebuild - seven weeks.''
The increase in online revenues, which surpassed all expectations, was primarily attributable to a much-improved
look-to-book ratio on the site, which increased by 72%.
About Thistle
Thistle Hotels plc. is the largest hotel group in London with 22 hotels in prime locations throughout the Capital
and has hotels in key regional cities of England, Scotland and Wales. There are 56 hotels in the group with a total
of 10,723 bedrooms. In London, Thistle has 6,014 rooms in 22 hotels and in the regions, 4,709 rooms in 34 hotels.
Thistle's London hotels include the Thistle Tower, the Thistle Charing Cross, the Thistle Marble Arch, the Thistle
City Barbican, the Thistle Victoria and The Royal Horseguards. Thistle has hotels in Aberdeen, Bristol, Birmingham,
Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle among other regional centers as well as hotels
at airports in Aberdeen, East Midlands, Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton and Manchester.
About Organic, Inc.
Organic, Inc. (Nasdaq:OGNC), is a global digital services firm providing premium business solutions, resulting
in a positive measured impact for a client's business. Professional services include multi-platform user interface
design and marketing, online media buying and management, software engineering and technical program management,
systems integration, data analysis and reporting and customer relationship management. Organic has gained significant
experience working with leading companies in the automotive, retail, financial services, media, and telecommunications
industries, and has performed award-winning work for DaimlerChrysler, Washington Mutual and Target Corp. Other
industry leading clients include Federated Department Stores, Inc., British Telecommunications plc, General Electric
Financial Assurance Holdings, Inc. and PlayStation.com (America), Inc. In the Internet professional services industry,
Organic (www.organic.com) has a history as an innovator. Having developed a number of Web sites that were the first
in category, Organic also created Yahoo!'s user interface and logo, and contributed to the development of Apache,
the leading Web serving application. Founded in 1993, Organic is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in
the U.S., Canada, Europe and Latin America.
Note to Editors: ORGANIC is a service mark or registered service marks of Organic, Inc. or its subsidiaries in
the United States and in other countries. Other trademarks and service marks referenced are marks of their respective
owners.
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Contact:
Gentry Communications, LLC (US)
Pamela Gentry, 415/332-2081, ext. 302
pam@gentrycommunications.com
or
Organic Online Ltd. (UK)
Nick Sparey, +44 (20) 7644 2511
nsparey@organic.com
or
Thistle Hotels plc (UK)
Euan Mitchell, +44 (20) 7895 2136
euan.Mitchell@thistle.co.uk