Morning News
ZineZone.com Launches First Network for Trailblazers On
the Web
Business Wire - March 01, 1999 08:45
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 1, 1999--Jupiter Consumer Online Forum
Newest CMGI Web Site Is Destination for Prized Technology and
Entertainment "Early Adopter" Segment
Challenging the dominance of generalist, "one size fits all" portals, ZineZone.com (www.ZineZone.com) today launched a new Network for Trailblazers on the Web. ZineZone.com is aimed at a highly-targeted group of Internet users identified by the Yankelovich Monitor Data
Group as "trailblazers(a)" people who are avid embracers and early adopters of new forms of entertainment, leisure and technology. These consumers represent a significant social trend of affluent, sophisticated people who have a thirst for information and are constantly looking for new ways to enhance both their online and off-line lives.
David Wetherell, Chairman and CEO of CMGI (Nasdaq: CMGI) said: "ZineZone.com is a winning combination of original multimedia content, powerful personalization, highly-targeted commerce and personal publishing. We feel that the time is right for such a distinctively branded offering, and that ZineZone.com will appeal to individuals who want to create their own unique view of the Web."
Not for the faint-hearted, the boring or the bland, ZineZone.com enables trailblazers, who have embraced the Internet from the beginning, to satisfy both their thirst for information and their active search for smarter and quicker ways to find it. "The web has become an increasingly bland and homogenized place," said ZineZone.com CEO, Margaret Heffernan. "In launching ZineZone.com, we are providing a rich, highly-differentiated experience for a large market of dynamic people with distinct attitudes who aggressively seek out dynamic products and services that reflect their rugged individualism. They don't want to waste time sifting through hours of useless and inert content."
The ZineZone.com Difference
Profiled Trailblazers -- At ZineZone.com, users can interact with well-known "trailblazers" -- outstanding innovators whose own risk-taking and determination have led them to redefine their field
and themselves. Each trailblazer, profiled in a multimedia interview, presents their personal "zine" (their view of the web), takes part in an online chat, is the subject of discussion groups, and shares
insight into personal travel and gear preferences. Early trailblazers profiled on the site include Emeril Lagasse, celebrity chef and host of the Food Network's Emeril Live; Bill T. Jones, founder of the
acclaimed Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane dance company and recipient of the 1994 MacArthur 'genius' fellowship; Missy Giove, former world champion downhill mountain bike racer; Tim Smith, CEO of San Francisco-based Red Sky Interactive; South Africa's musical ambassadors Ladysmith Black Mambazo; and adventure traveler and author of The World's Most Dangerous Places, Robert Young Pelton.
Zines -- ZineZone.com enables users to collect information contained in more than 700 zines, compiled by ZineZone.com's specialized editors, to create their own individual zine based on personal interests. Zine subjects range from extreme sports to entertainment, traveling, and digital technology. Each zine is an organized digest of the best Web content, automatically filtered and updated on a 24-hour basis. ZineZone.com is much more than the collection of links so
characteristic of existing search engines; it is an organized presentation of dynamic filters that treat the Web on an article basis, rather than a site basis, while constantly scanning for new information.
Commerce -- ZineZone.com features a deeper integration of multimedia content and commerce than any other site currently on the Web. "Research tells us that people want to be able to buy what they're reading about," says ZineZone.com CEO Margaret Heffernan. "The ability to pursue a passion from reading about, personalizing and discussing it, right through to buying the products associated with it, is one of the chief value propositions of the Web. Everything we do is so highly
contextualized, we're able to produce a seamless, satisfying experience for trailblazers."
About ZineZone.com
Located in Woburn, Massachusetts, ZineZone.com is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CMGI, Inc. (NASDAQ: CMGI). ZineZone.com uses retrieval and filtering software developed with technology
under license from BBN Corporation.
About CMGI
A recognized leader in the Internet arena, CMGI (NASDAQ: CMGI) has built a sizeable base of Internet operating companies and through its @Ventures affiliate, a large number of related and synergistic Internet investments, using the businesses and technologies of these companies to enhance the value of its core operating companies. This unique method of creating equity for its shareholders is what CMGI calls "creating net value." Microsoft, Intel and Sumitomo hold minority positions in CMGI. The CMGI Internet Group consists of its majority-owned subsidary companies ADSmart, Engage Technologies, Navisite, NaviNet, Planet Direct, Magnitude Network and ZineZone.com.
The company's @Ventures affiliates have ownership interests in Lycos, Inc. (NASDAQ: LCOS), blaxxun, GeoCities (NASDAQ:: GCTY), Vicinity, ThingWorld.com, KOZ, Silknet, Chemdex, Speech Machines, Softway Systems, TicketsLive, Critical Path, MotherNature.com, Raging Bull,
Universal Learning Technology, Visto, Virtual Ink, Ancestry.com, ONElist, Furniture.com, Boston Financial Network and Asimba. CMGI also includes CMG Direct, SalesLink, InSolutions and On-Demand Solutions as majority owned subsidiaries in the direct marketing, fulfillment and
turn-key arenas. Corporate headquarters is located at 100 Brickstone Square, Andover, MA, 01810. Tel: 978/684-3600. Fax: 978/684-3814. Additional information is available on the companies website, cmgi.com.
(a) The Online Adventures, Summary of Yankelovich Monitor, December 1998
CONTACT: CMGI, Andover, Mass.
Deidre Moore, 978/684-3655
dmoore@cmgi.com
or
ZineZone.com, Woburn, Mass.
Ellen Bluestein, 781/994-4125
ebluestein@zinezone.com
or
RLM Public Relations, New York
Bridget Fishleigh, 212/741-5106 (x22)
bridget@rlmedia.com
www.rlmedia.com |
