New York - July 23, 2008 - Hearst Magazines Digital Media today announced the launch of a new digital advertising program for the back-to-school shopping season. The program features a comprehensive back-to-school shopping guide called "Back-to-School Central" which will launch on Hearst's Kaboodle (www.kaboodle.com), the largest and fastest-growing online social shopping community where people discover, recommend and share products. The guide will feature more than 500 products, many of which will be provided by the program's exclusive retail partner J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE: JCP). Premier media partner Seventeen magazine (www.seventeen.com) will contribute content to the section. Back-to-School Central will also be promoted on other Hearst Teen Group media properties, including CosmoGIRL! (www.cosmogirl.com), Teen (www.teenmag.com), and eSPIN.com.

This program reinforces and builds on Hearst Magazines Digital Media's unparalleled strength and expertise in reaching and serving the teen market online and specifically positions Kaboodle to successfully reach out to teens as they shop online for their back-to-school must-haves. "Hearst Magazines Digital Media offers an unparalleled portfolio of experts. From our editorial experts at each of our magazine brands to the user experts on Kaboodle.com and the expert tools we provide, our back-to-school program touches the teen market not by demographic alone, but also through the passions, needs and interests of JCPenney's target consumer," said Kristine Welker, vice president of advertising sales and marketing, Hearst Magazines Digital Media.

"With jcp.com, one of the largest general merchandising sites on the Internet, JCPenney has a proven competency of reaching the online consumer. Working with Kaboodle - the leading social shopping site - we are able to take this outreach to the next level through a back-to-school program that targets the social online teen audience," said Mike Boylson, chief marketing officer, JCPenney. "We feel Kaboodle's savvy awareness of the online shopper, coupled with its Web 2.0 technology, will further extend the reach of our apparel and products to the online teen shoppers just in time for this important shopping season."

This promotion unveils a newly designed section on the Kaboodle site with brand new functionality created specifically to engage teen shoppers as they search for back-to-school fashion and supplies. For example, Kaboodle's new Styleboard feature easily allows shoppers to create entire outfits based on their specific fashion tastes and to share those creations with others. Kaboodle also launched "What's Hotter?", a poll engine that showcases two popular products and asks teens to vote for their favorite. Seventeen also adds a wealth of information to the site:Teens will be able to stay on top of the newest fashion trends, easily discover what's hot when it comes to young celebrities and engage in fun quizzes and fashion polls.

Back-to-School Central is designed to integrate major retail partner JCPenney and its products into the Kaboodle site and build awareness within the Kaboodle community as well as throughout the Hearst Teen Group online network. The promotion enables JCPenney to reach this active teen market by positioning its diverse collection of products directly into the hands of teens as they are shopping online for the season. Just by selecting an item from JCPenney and adding it to a Kaboodle Styleboard, a shopper is automatically entered to win cash prizes as part of the promotion.

"This is an amazing promotion that brings together a major retailer, JCPenney, and leading teen media properties, allowing us to do what we are really good at - engage the social shopper," said Manish Chandra, CEO and founder of Kaboodle. "Kaboodle is pursuing a brand new audience segment by aggressively engaging the teen market. Teenagers have a tremendous impact on purchasing decisions and will be pulling out their wallets for back-to-school shopping this year. This promotion enables JCPenney to do something more than just traditional advertising, reaches this active teen market online and promotes products as they are making their shopping choices."

About Hearst Magazines Digital Media
Launched in March 2006, Hearst Magazines Digital Media, a unit of Hearst Magazines, is dedicated to creating and implementing the digital online and mobile strategy for Hearst's magazine brands and other sites, which serve the company's consumer audience. The unit has launched, re-launched or acquired 23 Web sites and nine mobile sites for brands such as Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Marie Claire and Seventeen, as well as non-magazine brand sites such as TheDailyGreen.com and MisQuinceMag.com. During this time, Hearst Digital has acquired the eCrush Network, Kaboodle.com, RealAge.com and Answerology.com to round out its growing portfolio of interests for teens and women. Hearst's Teen Network of sites ranks in the top 10 trafficked entertainment sites on the Web, according to Comscore.

About JCPenney
JCPenney is one of America's leading retailers, operating 1,074 department stores throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, as well as one of the largest apparel and home furnishing sites on the Internet, jcp.com, and the nation's largest general merchandise catalog business. Through these integrated channels, JCPenney offers a wide array of national, private and exclusive brands which reflect the Company's commitment to providing customers with style and quality at a smart price. Traded as "JCP" on the New York Stock Exchange, the Company posted revenue of $19.9 billion in 2007 and is executing its strategic plan to be the growth leader in the retail industry. Key to this strategy is JCPenney's "Every Day Matters" brand positioning, intended to generate deeper, more emotionally driven relationships with customers by fully engaging the Company's 155,000 Associates to offer encouragement, provide ideas and inspire customers every time they shop with JCPenney.

Contacts:

Michael Volpatt, 415-994-8864, michael@larkinvolpatt.com

Julie O'Grady, 650-965-1187, julie@ogradycommunications.com