Penton Acquires EyeTraffic Media

Acquisition Jumpstarts Online Marketing Services Offering

New York, March 10, 2011 - MidOcean is pleased to announce that Penton has completed its first marketing services acquisition with the purchase of EyeTraffic Media, an online marketing firm. Terms were not disclosed.

“Our senior team has felt for some time that a marketing services offering - including online lead generation for our clients was a critical component of our growth agenda,” said Sharon Rowlands, CEO of Penton. “EyeTraffic forms the cornerstone of such an offering. We intend to roll out these services to our more than 20,000 marketing clients and to our five million subscribers, many of whom are small- and medium-sized businesses that are thirsting for online marketing solutions.“

The announcement comes on the heels of the new Outsell annual Advertising Study that highlights how B2B marketers will increasingly rely on publishers as their suppliers of marketing service. According to the study, large B2B marketers expect to increase their usage of publishers from 72% in 2010 to 55% in 2011, and small marketers, from 66% to 80%.

“In addition to investments in measurable online media buying campaigns, client demand for services that can improve and monitor audience engagement, such as search engine optimization and social media analytics continues to grow,” said George Assimakopoulos, EyeTraffic’s founder and CEO. “Joining Penton provides us with an opportunity to immediately reach many more clients with solutions that increase awareness, generate leads, monitor brand reputation, and most importantly, increase sales on the web.”

EyeTraffic, founded in 2004 and based in Washington. D.C., has a blue chip roster of clients including DuPont, Mazda and Georgetown University. The company experienced record growth in 2010 and has recently opened new offices in Arlington, Virginia.

Mr. Assimakopoulos will join Penton as a vice president of digital media services and report to Kim Paulsen, senior vice president marketing services and member of the Penton Executive Committee. “I am so pleased to have George and the EyeTraffic team join Penton.” Ms. Paulsen noted. “Our customers are seeking guidance in the new, complicated world of online marketing. We are excited to have EyeTraffic’s expertise, coupled with our deep market knowledge, to bring to our customers and subscribers across Petnon’s multiple vertical markets.”

About EyeTraffic Media
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., EyeTraffic Media is e performance-driven interactive marketing consulting firm that provides unsurpassed campaign management solutions for companies and organizations seeking to more effectively connect with their target audiences. EyeTraffic boosts lead generation and customer acquisition by leveraging our expertise in search engine marketing, online media buying, email and social media, mobile marketing and web analytics. Acting as a seamless extension of your marketing team, we build, manage, track and analyze interactive marketing campaigns and programs that generate measurable results. For more information, go to www.eyetraffic.com.

About MidOcean

MidOcean Partners is a premier New York-based alternative asset manager specializing in middle-market private equity, structured capital, and alternative credit investments. Since its inception in 2003, MidOcean Private Equity has targeted investments in high-quality middle-market companies in the consumer and business services sectors. MidOcean Credit Partners was launched in 2009 and currently manages a series of alternative credit strategies, collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), and customized separately managed accounts. For more information, please visit: https://www.midoceanpartners.com/