itemus invests half a million dollars in Trailervision
Money helps launch new site that pokes fun at ads
TORONTO, July 26 /CNW/ - itemus inc. (TSE:ITM, OTCBB:ITMUF) is pleased to announce today it has made a C$500,000 investment in Trailervision Inc., a move that reflects the company's commitment to rich new media and the evolving broadband opportunity.
"Trailervision.com is a cult classic on the web. It is one company that understands that `long form' programming on the web lasts just 90 seconds -- or less," said itemus Executive Vice President Tony Iantorno, who will now
join Trailervision's board of directors. "itemus is excited to have Trailervision as part of our investment portfolio. We look forward to having them work with other itemus investee companies, including our content acceleration efforts."
Trailervision Inc. President Albert Nerenberg says the itemus investment is helping the company launch Zapavision.com, a spin-off Web site featuring
advertisements for products that don't exist.
"Ads can be simply annoying or amazingly entertaining," Nerenberg said. "But it's always been a one-way medium. It's never been possible for people anywhere to make ads -- until now, that is. With Zapavision, we can advertise back."
The premise behind Zapavision is simple. It lets anyone take part in producing new ads for fake products by using a bulletin board "thread" system, similar to those found in newsgroups and chat forums. When a new ad is posted on Zapavision.com every week, visitors are asked to come up with their own version of a commercial for the same fictitious brand. Based on that input, Zapavision will then produce a string of satirical "ad/counter ads."
About Trailervision
Trailervision Inc. is based in Toronto, Ontario and was founded by director Albert Nerenberg in April, 1999. The company's first Web site, Trailervision.com, is consistently ranked among the top 10 trailer sites on
the Internet. Praised by entertainment critics around the world as "blindingly fun" and "the next step in cinematic evolution." Trailervision has been endorsed by both Netscape and Yahoo!. It has also received international
media coverage, including feature stories on CNN and in Entertainment Weekly. For more information, please visit www.trailervision.com or www.zapavision.com.
About itemus
itemus inc. is an "Internet Operating Company" which seeks to create value for shareholders by building and investing in companies with leading applications and revolutionary business models for the Internet. The company operates through wholly-owned itemus Solutions, providing services and applications in the areas of security, network infrastructure, application management and rich media. itemus inc. also focuses on identifying and
investing in promising Internet technology and content companies. itemus is positioned as a value-add investor, offering ideaPARK R&D Environments and Acceleration Services to its investee companies in order to accelerate
their growth and development. For more information, please visit the company's Website at www.itemus.com.
/NOTE TO PHOTO EDITORS: A photo accompanying this release is available on the Canadian Press Photo Network/
/For further information: media should contact Mark Blanchard, Counsellor, Cohn & Wolfe at (416) 924-5700 x. 4052, by cellphone at (416) 725-1080 or by email at: mark_blanchard(at)ca.cohnwolfe.com; Investors
should contact Susan Wilson, Investor Relations at 1-888-894-9911 or by email at investors(at)itemus.com/(ITM. ITMUF)
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