Polar Design Acquires Web Design and Content Management Agency Grand Image Marketing, Inc. in all Cash Deal.

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – January 5, 2006 – Polar Design (www.polardesign.com) today announced that it has acquired privately held Grand Image Marketing, Inc. (GIM – www.gimweb.com ), a seven-person web site design and content management solutions provider also based in North Andover with a New England and national client base. The acquisition of GIM will expand Polar Design’s client base, as well as its local sales, project management, design and development resources, strengthening the level of service that it offers to existing clients.

Under the terms of the agreement, Polar Design purchased substantially all of GIM’s assets in an all cash deal. GIM’s senior level management will remain with Polar Design on a consulting basis to ease the transition. GIM provides interactive web design and content management solutions to regional financial institutions and a range of small businesses. The addition of GIM’s team will bring a range of expertise developing financial industry portals, banking web sites, and expand the support available to Polar Design’s hosting clients. Although no reduction in force is planned, significant cost savings will provide Polar Design additional resources to continue improvements to its InsightBuilder® (www.insightbuilder.com) content management and e-commerce platform.

“Since inception in 1999, Polar Design has always pursued a strategy of small, smart acquisitions like GIM,” said Mark J. Jaklovsky, Managing Director and Managing Partner. “We grew the company with acquisitions in Russia and Europe in 2000 and 2001, allowing us to acquire technology and development resources at a time when the cost to produce quality web software prohibited small startups like ourselves from development, and today, we’re continuing this strategy to grow our US team as the pendulum swings back toward favoring US based web development for certain types of projects.”

"We are excited to team up with Polar Design to allow both companies’ client base to benefit from the efficiencies of the larger development team provided by Polar Design as well as our famous local support that we have provided to New England businesses since 2003,” noted Marc Bourassa, CEO of Grand Image Marketing, Inc.

The acquisition further is expected to increase Polar Design’s client base by 100% and grow its revenues by approximately 50% in 2006. Robert Molnar, Managing Director and head of production, explained the rationale for the purchase, "business is a key to success in the interactive space – with ongoing consolidation, firms with larger client bases can offer greater specialization, quality, and more innovative solutions to their clients."


About Polar Design
Polar Design (www.polardesign.com) is a mid-sized interactive agency with offices in the United States and Europe, founded in 1999 with the mission of elevating corporations' and non-profits' Internet communications. Our 25 employees serve the web marketing and e-commerce needs of Fortune 1000 and small businesses alike through their diverse specialties, from identity and concept development, to graphic and multimedia flash design, to programming and database development. In addition to custom design and development, Polar Design provides a range of marketing solutions, an affordable “hosted” content management and e-commerce platform, as well application hosting with twenty-four hour support.

For further inquiries, please contact:

Mark J. Jaklovsky
Managing Director
Polar Design
Tel: +1(978)682-4211 x202
pr@polardesign.com

web: www.polardesign.com