Reader's Digest Selects MessageMedia for E-Messaging, E-Commerce Initiatives
Global Publisher to Use Messaging as Integral Part of New Internet Strategy
PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 6, 1999--The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.(NYSE: RDA, RDB) today announced that it has selected MessageMedia Inc. (NASDAQ: MESG) to provide services for its e-mail communications with customers and potential customers and its e-commerce database marketing.
Based in Boulder, Colo., MessageMedia is a leading provider of e-mail based customer relationship management and direct marketing services. MessageMedia will be responsible for supporting the management of Reader's Digest's e-mail list, providing technical services for sophisticated, permission-based e-mail marketing, performance measurement and reporting, and online newsletter and mailing list services. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
''Partnering with MessageMedia will enable us to move more rapidly and effectively into online marketing, deepen our relationship with millions of customers and provide better products and services for them -- as well as for new customers,'' said Keith Fox, director of New Media for Reader's Digest. ''As more consumers turn to the Internet for information and to buy products, we want our trusted Reader's Digest brand name to stand out.''
''Working with an established leader like Reader's Digest is a wonderful assignment,'' said Robin Green, MessageMedia's vice president of sales and marketing. ''Our mission is to help companies build customer relationships online, and we look forward to helping Reader's Digest develop and implement innovative e-commerce strategies and communications.''
Reader's Digest early this year outlined an aggressive five-point growth strategy aimed at developing new channels to market existing and new products and services to consumers, especially via the Internet. Reader's Digest is investing heavily in website development, enhancing existing sites and creating new ones. Last week, the company announced an alliance with WebMD, Inc. to develop a new Reader's Digest health site and exchange health-related information. The global publisher has more than 20 websites and a database of about 100 million households worldwide.
MessageMedia works with other publishers, including Standard & Poor's, Bertelsmann and CMP Media, as well as many leading Internet companies. ''Publishing is a classic one-to-one direct marketing business,'' Green said. ''Publishers enjoy a direct, personal relationship with their customers, so it is natural and beneficial to extend that relationship to the Internet.''
The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. is a global publisher and direct marketer of magazines, books and home entertainment products that inform, enrich, entertain and inspire people of all ages and all cultures around the world. Worldwide revenues were $2.6 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1998. Global headquarters is in Pleasantville, New York. The web site is readersdigest.com.
MessageMedia (NASDAQ: MESG - news) is a leading provider of e-mail-based customer relationship management and direct marketing services. The company offers a comprehensive suite of outsource messaging services for information delivery, e-commerce services, permission-based direct marketing and ongoing customer communications using industry standard Internet protocols. MessageMedia's customer portfolio includes clients from the financial services, publishing, direct marketing, retailing and electronic commerce industries. Clients include E*TRADE, GeoCities, Intuit, Barclays Bank, Yahoo! and Standard & Poors. The company's web site is messagemedia.com.
SOFTBANK and its affiliates own approximately 49% of the outstanding common stock of MessageMedia Inc. Pequot Capital Management, a Connecticut-based research-intensive investment firm with more than $5 billion in assets under management, is also a major investor in MessageMedia.
MessageMedia's ''Safe Harbor'' Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act: With the exception of the historical information contained in this release, the matters described herein contain forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties. These risk factors include, but are not limited to, the integration of a new senior management team, MessageMedia's limited operating history, the integration of recent acquisitions, risks associated with pending and future acquisitions, the anticipated fluctuations in operating results, the uncertain acceptance of new services being offered, and undeveloped and rapidly changing market and other factors detailed in MessageMedia's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1998 and its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. All companies and product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. MessageMedia undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
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Contact:
MessageMedia Inc.
Beth Mayfield, Dir. of Corporate Affairs, 303/381-7500
investor@messagemedia.com
or
Edelman Public Relations Worldwide
Herb Ritchell, Vice President, 312/297-7443
herb_ritchell@edelman.com
or
The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.
Lesta S. Cordil, 914/244-5161
lesta_cordil@readersdigest.com |
