FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Nancy St. Pierre
C I Host
1851 Central Drive Suite 110
Bedford, TX 76021
email: nancys@cihost.com
phone: 888-868-9931 x 9426
web: www.cihost.com

WORLD'S FIRST WALKING, TALKING PERMANENT "HUMAN BILLBOARD" TAKES TO THE STREETS FOR C I HOST

Tattoo photos available online; exclusive interviews available

Bedford, TX - Jim Nelson, the world's first 'human billboard,' endured more than 4 hours of tattoo artistry on the back of his head and has begun his worldwide assignment to bring C I Host's message to the masses.

This unique and first-of-its-kind marketing idea has captured worldwide attention within just the first week of the 'human billboard's' launch. Television and radio stations from across the U.S. and Canada as well as Europe have documented the one-of-a-kind advertising message.

"It definitely has gotten people's attention," Nelson said. "I get stopped all the time by people asking me who C I Host is, what they do and why I have their name on the back of my head."

A good question, indeed.

Nelson received the tattoo after entering into a contract with C I Host to have the company's logo, name and the phrase "Managed Web Hosting" permanently etched into the back of his head. Nelson said he agreed to the unusual use of his head to raise money for a dot.com business he plans to start.

The idea originally came from C I Host CEO Christopher Faulkner who was searching for someone to have the tattoo placed on their forehead.

I couldn't find anyone who would put the tattoo on their forehead but when I heard that Jim was willing to have the work done on the back of his head, I though we'd give that a try," Faulkner said.

And the results have worked very well to date. Nelson gets daily inquiries about C I Host's Web hosting services and product line.

As part of the 5-year contract with C I Host, Nelson is required to keep the tattoo visible at all times and make daily treks outside his Chicago-area home to promote the company. The contract also requires him to make trips through the continental U.S. and Europe to show off the tattoo and promote the company.

"Jim is one of the most aggressive salespeople I have," says Faulkner. "He hands out his own 'human billboard' business cards and flyers for the company on a daily basis!"

Since the tattoo advertising has begun, C I Host has seen an increase of 12% in its Web site traffic and 23 new sales have been directly attributed to the tattoo.

"We have started a new medium of advertising and since we have trademarked the phrase 'human billboard' we own and reserve the rights of future use, this is very exciting for all parties involved," Faulkner stated.

In the past, C I Host has brought Howard Stern back to Dallas radio, put its name on the back of Evander Holyfield's boxing trunks, sponsored a NASCAR race car, held a contest to send the winner to the edge of space in a jet and put a 25-foot high Santa on the roof of its headquarters.

"Whatever we can do to reach our target market and get the word out about C I Host, we will do," Faulkner said. "It's similar to the extra mile we go to bring our customers the most up to date technology and give them the best service."

Photos of the "human billboard" permanent tattoo being administered and the final product are available online and can be downloaded at: http://www.cihost.com/?zone=corporate/human_billboard

About C I Host

C I Host (www.cihost.com), is a Web hosting and Internet solutions provider, domain name registrar (DNR) and application service provider (ASP) serving 190,000 individual consumers and businesses in 179 countries worldwide.

C I Host creates business-class hosting solutions for the small- and medium-enterprise (SME) market, with the broadest portfolio of managed hosting and value-added services in the industry. C I Host is accredited by ICANN to register domain names.

C I Host has been consistently ranked among the Top 5 Web hosting companies out of 16,000 around the globe by c|net's Ultimate Web Host List, HostPulse, WebHostsOnline.com and HostChart.com. C I Host offers turnkey services ranging from initial domain name registration to custom dedicated servers for e-commerce on today's Web. The company offers innovative packages and services to the Internet community.

C I Host operates three diverse data centers across the United States, with its main facility and Network Operations Center in Bedford, Texas. C I Host also has offices in Los Angeles, Baltimore, Chicago and London.

All telco-grade, tier-1 data centers are wholly owned and operated by C I Host and consist of redundant diesel generator backups and a temperature-controlled secure environment with fully redundant UPS capability. All server hardware is fully tested and configured for optimal performance. Daily Web server backups and full fire protection guard against any data loss. To deliver speed and reliability, C I Host's servers are connected to two OC-12 fiber connections, five DS-3 and two OC-3 lines from five diverse Internet backbones for a total of more than 2,000 Megabits of available bandwidth.

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