Product rollout continues...announcement today about the SMS promotional sale to McDonalds in Netherlands. Nice to see INSP has a relationship with all 5 of the largest carriers there.
Another thing I like about the announcement is the fact that INSP shows they can keep track of the participants who respond to the contest enough to award prizes.
***
( BW)(INFOSPACE)(INSP) InfoSpace Powers McDonald's McMovieQuiz SMS
Promotion
Business Editors
PAPENDRECHT, The Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 30,
2002--InfoSpace, Inc. (Nasdaq:INSP), a provider of wireless and
Internet software and application services, today announced that it is
powering an innovative short messaging service (SMS)-based promotion
for McDonald's that will run over all major mobile networks in The
Netherlands.
The SMS promotion is called, "McMovieQuiz" and is designed to
enhance the McDonald's brand name and drive increased customer
loyalty.
"This SMS promotion is a new activity for McDonald's in The
Netherlands, focusing on teens and young adults," said McDonalds'
marketing coordinator for The Netherlands, Aleks Fiege. "With this
innovative and interactive mechanism and medium we try to tap into
their interests. The first results are very promising."
McMovieQuiz offers McDonald's customers in The Netherlands the
opportunity to test their movie knowledge by participating in an
interactive SMS-based trivia game and win prizes for providing correct
answers. The promotion, printed on McDonald's medium and large
beverage cups, invites mobile subscribers any of the five major Dutch
operators to send an SMS message containing a unique code to a
predetermined number, both of which are listed within the promotion.
After sending the message, the user receives an SMS reply
containing a movie question and three possible answers. The user
responds with their answer and receives another reply stating whether
or not their answer was correct and if they have won a prize. Prizes
for correct answers include discounts on DVDs, videos from an
affiliated mega-store, free trips to Euro Disney and mobile phone
packages from Dutch carrier KPN.
"This service is one example of the innovative ways our robust SMS
platform and wireless data expertise are helping leading companies
leverage the wireless medium to build their brands and establish new
touch points with both current and potential customers," said Jan
Claesson, InfoSpace Executive Vice President, Wireless. "These
services can be of use to a wide range of companies including media
and publishing, travel and leisure, finance and major consumer
brands."
Today's announcement is part of InfoSpace's strategy to provide
Dutch businesses with the ability to interact with existing and
potential customers in new and innovative ways via short messaging
service (SMS). InfoSpace's relationships with all five of The
Netherlands' major mobile operators enables the company to offer
businesses a single point of distribution through which they can reach
the vast majority of Dutch mobile users.
In addition, companies can leverage InfoSpace's wireless
application development knowledge and expertise and robust reporting
capabilities to closely monitor usage patterns and tailor services to
optimize the user experience and best meet the needs of their
customers. Examples of SMS-based services that can be deployed include
opt-in, interactive promotions, games, and personalized coupons and
information alerts.
This initiative reinforces InfoSpace's position as a global leader
in developing and deploying innovative services and applications that
leverage push-messaging standards such as one and two-way
(mobile-originated) SMS. In addition, InfoSpace is developing products
that leverage advanced push-messaging standards such as MMS, WAP-push,
and others.
InfoSpace push-messaging applications range from time and
event-based SMS alerts; to SMS promotional campaigns for major brands;
to 2-way SMS-based interactive applications; to next-generation
multimedia messaging services (MMS). InfoSpace operates push-messaging
services for leading carriers in countries around the world including
the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, The Netherlands,
Switzerland and Mexico.
About InfoSpace, Inc.
InfoSpace, Inc. (Nasdaq:INSP) provides wireless and Internet
software and application services. The Company develops software
technologies that enable customers to efficiently offer a broad array
of network-based services under their own brand to any device.
This release contains forward-looking statements relating to the
development of InfoSpace, Inc.'s products and services and future
operating results, including statements regarding InfoSpace's
agreement with McDonald's, that are subject to certain risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those projected. The words "believe," "expect," "intend,"
"anticipate," variations of such words, and similar expressions
identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean
that the statement is not forward-looking. These statements are not
guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks,
uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Factors
that could affect InfoSpace's actual results include the progress and
costs of the development of our products and services and the timing
of market acceptance of those products and services. A more detailed
description of certain factors that could affect actual results
include, but are not limited to, those discussed in InfoSpace's most
recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, in the section entitled "Factors
Affecting Our Operating Results, Business Prospects and Market Price
of Stock." Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this
release. InfoSpace undertakes no obligation to update publicly any
forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or
circumstances after the date of this release or to reflect the
occurrence of unanticipated events.
--30--KS/se*
CONTACT: InfoSpace
Adam Whinston, Sr. Manager - Public Relations
425/201-8946
adam.whinston@infospace.com
or
McDonald's
Dirk van den Bogaart, +31 (0)20 5642695
KEYWORD: WASHINGTON NETHERLANDS INTERNATIONAL EUROPE
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: SOFTWARE INTERNET
SOURCE: InfoSpace |
