Talk City, MyPoints.com Team Up for Co-Branded Loyalty and Incentive Program
Talk City User Base to Receive Incentives for Business Services,
Market Research, and eCommerce Programming
SAN FRANCISCO and CAMPBELL, Calif., Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- MyPoints.com, Inc.
(Nasdaq: MYPT) and Talk City (Nasdaq: TCTY) today announced a strategic partnership to
operate a co-branded incentive program for www.talkcity.com, the consumer community site
of Talk City, Inc. The program, called MyPoints(R) by Talk City, will support the
company's Business Services offerings and enable Talk City users to earn points for
taking part in market research, focus groups, eCommerce, and online shopping activities
that support the company's Business Services clients. The program will also be used to
reward activity within certain areas of the company's consumer site.
MyPoints.com (www.mypoints.com), a leading provider of Internet direct marketing,
incentive and loyalty products, will manage the MyPoints by Talk City program (
talkcity.mypoints.com ).
Talk City's Business Services offering is a portfolio of interactive services -- from
online events and online focus groups to online customer support and fully customized
community programming -- which allow companies to have more immediate and direct
interaction with their customers. Some of Talk City's major Business Services clients
include Novell, Nokia, Kemper, and Starbucks, among others. Talk City's consumer
audience, which frequents the www.talkcity.com community, is often tapped for market
research, online panels, and polls to support the company's Business Services clients.
"Our ability to use the consumer audience and the online moderators of
www.talkcity.com as a real-time, always available market research panel is unparalleled
in the industry, and a key component of our Business Services strategy. We chose
MyPoints.com as our incentive partner because their program was easy to implement and
cost-effective, provided very targeted market possibilities, while at the same time was
generous to the consumer who enrolled in it," said Christopher Escher, Talk City's
Marketing vice president. "MyPoints by Talk City is just one of the many ways Talk City
is rewarding its users, enhancing its Business Services offering, and giving consumers
more reasons to keep coming back to our online community."
Under the MyPoints by Talk City program, Talk City users will have the opportunity to
earn loyalty points in a variety of ways, including:
-- Online focus groups
-- Transacting online with advertisers through the MyPoints by Talk City
Program
-- Online polls
-- The creation of homepages, group tools, and other retention-based
activities on www.talkcity.com
-- The registration to become a member of Talk City and the MyPoints by
Talk City program
Points earned through MyPoints by Talk City may be redeemed for a wide variety of
products and services, such as travel awards, gift certificates, and prepaid phone cards
from more than 50 name-brand rewards providers.
"We are excited to add Talk City to our expanding network of top-notch Web sites who
have turned to MyPoints.com for cost-effective online incentive solutions," said Steve
Markowitz, Chairman and CEO of MyPoints.com. "MyPoints by Talk City gives Web users yet
another reason to deepen their relationship with Talk City and gives its Business
Services clients an even more targeted audience for the online market research."
About MyPoints.com
MyPoints.com, Inc. is a leading provider of Internet direct marketing, incentive and
loyalty products. The Company operates MyPoints(R) (www.mypoints.com), an Internet direct
marketing membership program, as well as Internet loyalty point programs based on the
Company's technology. MyPoints.com serves more than three million consumers and 200
advertisers and partners through its programs.
The Company's flagship MyPoints Program offers marketers an approach to Internet
advertising that integrates targeted email (MyPoints BonusMail(R)) and Web-based offers
with the infrastructure to give consumers points as an incentive to respond to those
offers. Points earned through the MyPoints Program may be redeemed for a wide variety of
products and services, such as travel awards, gift certificates, and prepaid phone cards,
from more than 50 rewards providers, including Hilton HHonors and Macy's. MyPoints.com's
loyalty technology -- known as the Digital Loyalty Engine(TM) -- has been chosen to power
the online rewards programs of leading Internet companies such as GTE, NextCard, Prodigy,
Talk City, USA.NET and XOOM.com.
About Talk City
Talk City is a provider of online communities and interactive services for businesses
and consumers. Talk City offers businesses a wide range of services that help them
develop and expand online relationships with customers, suppliers and employees. These
services include designing fully integrated, customized communities, producing online
events, conducting online market research and facilitating online meetings. For
consumers, Talk City operates a network of online communities located at
www.talkcity.com. The network includes 20 topical categories, over 50 themed communities,
50 co-branded network participant communities and thousands of user-generated
communities. Some of the Talk City network participants include Cox Interactive Media,
The Hearst Corporation, the National Broadcasting Company, Inc., WebTV Network,
Excite@Home and AT&T WorldNet.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:
Statements in this press release regarding MyPoints.com, Inc.'s business which are not
historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties.
For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to
differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the
Company's Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year.
Talk City Safe Harbor -- Forward-looking information contained herein concern the
Company's future prospects and other forecasts and statements of expectations. Actual
results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward looking statements made
by the Company as a result of, among other things, the Company's ability to maintain and
enhance the attractiveness of its product offering, to retain and expand its moderator
network, to maintain and increase its audience of loyal and engaged users, improve or
maintain audience or traffic measurement metrics, maintain differentiation from other
online community providers, maintain or improve the number or quality of network partners
and customers, as well as other risk factors described in the Company's prospectus filed
with the SEC and dated July 19, 1999.
NOTE: MyPoints and BonusMail are trademarks of MyPoints.com, Inc. Other product and
company names herein are trademarks of their respective owners.
/CONTACT: Geoff Ossias, VP Corporate Relations of MyPoints.com, Inc., 415-676-3700,
ext. 210, or geoff.ossias@mypoints.com; or Mary Devincenzi of Krause Taylor &
Associates, 408-871-4254, or mary@krause-taylor.com, for Talk City, Inc./
07:00 EDT |
