PHOENIX, Ariz. - June 29, 1998 - WavePhore, Inc. (NASDAQ: WAVO) the leader in data broadcasting and content delivery, today announced a major print and on-line advertising campaign to promote its revolutionary new WaveTop consumer broadcasting service. The WaveTop campaign, including a sweepstakes giveaway of a Volkswagen New Beetle, broke in The Wall Street Journal, San Jose Mercury News and on numerous consumer-oriented web sites on June 25 to coincide with the launch of Microsoft's Windows 98. WaveTop's software is included as a feature in the Windows 98 operating system.
WaveTop, a free, advertising-supported broadcasting service delivers "best of the web" news and rich multimedia content through the television airwaves directly to home PCs equipped with TV tuners. Consumers can purchase TV tuner add-on cards at their local computer stores or online retailers for as little as $79. WaveTop, which began broadcasting content on April 6, 1998, currently reaches 85 percent of U.S. households and is expected to reach more than 99 percent of households by year-end.
WaveTop expects to spend more than $2.0 million in the third quarter of 1998 on the consumer ad campaign developed by K2 Design (NASDAQ: K2WO). The advertising campaign is aimed at building consumer awareness and generating registered users. WaveTop will also run a trade campaign promoting its ability to deliver high-bandwidth multimedia ads for advertisers. WaveTop expects to extend both of these advertising campaigns in the fourth quarter of 1998. In addition, starting June 25, WaveTop branding will appear in a separate multi-million dollar Windows 98 ad campaign launched by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) in print and online media.
"Our advertising campaign is designed to spread the word that, for the first time, consumers have fast, free and easy-to-use access to the best of the World Wide Web without having to tie up a telephone line or deal with the delays of using the Internet ," said David E. Deeds, chairman, president and CEO of WavePhore, Inc. "At the same time, we want to tell interactive advertisers about this exciting opportunity to break away from the bandwidth limitations of the Internet to create truly compelling, media-rich ads on the WaveTop network."
On-line banners, which began appearing at leading websites on June 25, will link directly to a WaveTop mini-site (www.getwavetop.net) with a demonstration of the WaveTop service and information on how it works, how consumers can access it and the technical requirements for using it. Banner ads will appear on the following sites: AOL, ZD Net - At Home, Yahoo, News.com, Wired News, Jumbo, CMP Net, CNN (Investors), Wall Street Journal Investors, NY Times, Infoseek, LookSmart, 100Hot, Win 98mag.com, ZD Net Windows 98 Microsite, Diamond Multimedia, Pointcast, NECX, CNet, Double Click Direct, and CliqTech.
In addition to ads in the San Jose Mercury News and The Wall Street Journal that appeared on June 25, consumer print ads will begin running in Equip (Computer Life), Wired, Yahoo! Internet Life, Family PC, Internet Computing, Smart Computing, Windows Magazine, Interactive Week, PC Computing, Internet World, and Popular Science. Industry ads will appear in Upside and Red Herring Magazines. Trade campaign ads will also appear in the print versions of Advertising Age and Adweek, as well as the online version of Advertising Age.
The "Win With WaveTop" sweepstakes for a 1998 VW New Beetle will be featured throughout the consumer advertising campaign for the third quarter. Users who install and register to receive WaveTop automatically are entered into the sweepstakes and have the opportunity to win a promotionally-driven 1998 Volkswagen New Beetle. The New Beetle will feature the WaveTop logo specially designed for the car.
"WaveTop represents a new way to receive content and K2 is very excited to continue our long relationship with WavePhore by participating in launching this 'must-consider' technology to consumers," said Matt de Gannon, president and vice chairman of K2. "WavePhore has spent the last year laying the ground work for this advertising and promotional campaign by securing outstanding brand name content partnerships and creating the national data broadcasting network for consumers."
WavePhore also recently announced a joint marketing and promotional agreement with CompUSA, America's Largest Computer SuperstoreSM retailer. Under the agreement, WaveTop will provide CompUSA with its own branded storefront channel on the WaveTop network. In addition, WaveTop will conduct a variety of in-store promotions and advertising initiatives in conjunction with CompUSA's 157 Computer Superstores across the United States, including in-store demos, shelf displays, and newspaper ads.
HOW WAVETOP WORKS
WaveTop's PC data broadcast service works by embedding data streams into the unseen portion of existing broadcast television signals using the Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI). WaveTop has partnered with PBS National Datacast to broadcast data over the television signals of its 263 PBS member stations. Using a simple browser interface and a broadcast ready PC (a standard PC with a built-in TV tuner or equipped with an add-on TV tuner card), users will interact with automatically downloaded information, entertainment and software. Computers equipped with TV tuners and WaveTop software transparently receive, decode and cache content without the bottleneck of the Internet or tying up a telephone line.
SPEED MATTERS
According to a study just conducted by Arlen Communications, Inc., a Bethesda, Maryland, research firm, WaveTop's data broadcasting service accesses selected Web sites an average of six to ten times faster than dial-up connections on the Internet, even when using a 56 kbps modem. Additionally, WaveTop's access to some sites was as much as 30 times faster than access via regional or national Internet Service Providers. "This study confirms that WaveTop offers a much faster route to selected Web content than the Internet," said Gary Arlen, president of Arlen Communications.
RICH CONTENT
WaveTop content providers are among the world's leading media companies, including Time Inc. New Media, which includes the on-line versions of People, Time, Entertainment Weekly, Money, Fortune and Sports Illustrated for Kids and ZDNet News, on-line versions of ComputerLife, Family PC and Yahoo Internet Life. Also providing content are USA TODAY, The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, CBS SportsLine, PBS ONLINE, Warner Bros. Online, Bloomberg L.P., The Weather Channel, N2K's Music Boulevard, BarnesandNoble.com, Universal Press Syndicate - Comics, Women's Wire and Prevention's Healthy Ideas, ParentTime, Supermarkets Online, NECX, Astrology.Net, Dummies Daily and UltimateTV.
ABOUT WAVEPHORE
WavePhore, Inc., (NASDAQ: WAVO) is the global leader in connecting people with compelling information in the office and at home. The corporation is headquartered in Phoenix, AZ and composed of three business units: WavePhore Networks, WavePhore Newscast and WavePhore WaveTop. WavePhore Networks, the industry leader in data broadcasting provides flexible, high-speed data delivery for information publishers, to more than 80,000 sites worldwide. WavePhore Newscast is the Web's premier business infosource for enterprise-wide use. WavePhore WaveTop is the first free, advertising-supported, nationwide data broadcast system to deliver multimedia content to broadcast ready PC's in the home.
Additional information on WavePhore is available via the Internet at wavephore.com, wavetop.net, wavo.com and newscast.com.
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