GIRLS INC. FORMS NEW ALLIANCES

GIRLS INC.® FORMS NEW ALLIANCES:
Three Corporations Play Pivotal Roles in Girls Lives

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

March 7, 1999

In April of 1998, Girls Incorporated reaffirmed its vision of empowered girls and an equitable society and restated its mission:

Girls Incorporated inspires all girls to be strong, smart, and bold.

As part of the seven goals set out in the Girls Inc. 1999–2002 strategic plan, we pledged to affect positively the lives of at least one million girls each year, to make the Girls Incorporated mission, name, and logo synonymous with a commitment to girls as advocates, and to progress toward an equitable world.

Starting in January of 1999, Girls Inc. has begun making great strides toward reaching these goals and living our mission. We are doing so by being strong, smart, and bold as an organization and by forging new partnerships to reach out to girls wherever and whoever they are. We may not be able to bring all of the 33 million American girls into our centers, but we can make sure that as many of them as possible will have at least a little Girls Inc. in their lives.

As a first step, we have made the bold move of forming strategic alliances with three corporations that play critical roles in shaping the lives and futures of girls—Mattel, Nabisco's SnackWell's Brand, and Conde Nast's SELF Magazine. Through these alliances, and others like them, we are looking to accomplish two very far-reaching goals:

• First, we bring our advocacy and expertise to their product development and marketing processes, where we can promote positive change in corporate attitudes toward girls.

• Second, we can deliver our own product—our message of empowerment and our acclaimed, time-tested program materials—to the vast audiences of girls reached by these corporations.

Mattel

Mattel, Inc. is the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture, and marketing of toys for children, whose core brands include: Barbie, Fisher-Price, Disney, Winnie the Pooh, Sesame Street, See''N Say, Magna Doodle, View-Master, Power Wheels, Matchbox, Tyco Radio Control, Tyco Electric Racing, and Hot Wheels.

The Girls Inc. relationship with Mattel, which will be publicly launched on February 7, 1999, is a three-year collaboration that focuses on combining the two organizations' strengths to inspire all girls to be strong, smart, and bold through educational events, specially developed products, and distribution of Girls Inc. materials and messages on and/or in Mattel's packaging and marketing materials.

Nabisco's SnackWell's brand

With sales of $7.7 billion, Nabisco is the ninth largest packaged-food company in the world. The company markets such familiar and popular brands as Oreo, Ritz, Fig Newtons, Triscuit, Grey Poupon, and A1. In 1993, Nabisco introduced SnackWell's, a line of low-fat and fat-free cookies and crackers. The brand became an instant success and has evolved to continue to meet Americans' changing nutritional habits.

The Girls Inc. relationship with SnackWell's focuses on life skills, including economic literacy, and the importance of mother-daughter communication. This is a two-year, broad collaborative effort that brings together the strengths and resources of both organizations to empower girls through interactive workshops, distribution of Girls Inc. materials and messages, and public education.

Conde Nast's SELF magazine

Conde Nast is the leading publisher of consumer magazines in the U.S., with such renowned publications as The New Yorker, Vogue, GQ, Architectural Digest, Gourmet, and Vanity Fair. SELF magazine was launched in 1978 as an educated, strong-minded publication on health and fitness for young women. For 20 years, the magazine has championed strong, bold women.

Girls Inc. and SELF have come together to produce a book that will encourage readers, especially young women and girls, to celebrate the self. The partnership of our two organizations for this project could not be more logical—and both SELF and Girls Inc. will share in any profits from this book, to be published in October 1999 by Stewart, Tabori & Chang.