AG Interactive, the new media
subsidiary of American Greetings Corporation, and Univision Online Inc., the
Internet division of Univision Communications Inc., have launched Univision
Movil, a brand of targeted downloadable services. Verizon Wireless, the number
one carrier for the Hispanic demographic, is the first U.S. carrier to offer
Univision Movil with more carriers expected to join soon.
Univision Movil represents a milestone in the establishment of a mobile
entertainment marketplace. Each product provides a targeted service for
Hispanic wireless subscribers, leveraging the strength and success Univision
has earned with the Hispanic community throughout all of its properties
including television, radio, music, and online media. All six mobile products
were unveiled simultaneously including: mobile game, and ring tone, wallpaper,
audio tone, news, and mobile greeting applications.
The Latin Grammy Awards presentation in Los Angeles has served as a launching
point for Univision Movil, which received a big promotional push at street
parties in Houston, Chicago, New York, Miami, and the host city of Los Angeles,
featuring live performances by Univision Music Group artists including Grammy
nominated Akwid. Local Univision radio stations and Univision Online promoted
a flyaway sweepstakes to the Latin Grammy ceremony and after-party. Verizon
Wireless street teams, adorned with 6-foot jumbo phones, showcased Univision
Movil products, enabling crowds to sample the mobile content first hand.
"The depth and variety of our bi-lingual, branded content, along with the
number one brand servicing the Hispanic community, make Univision Movil the
premiere product offering for U.S. Hispanics," said Josef Mandelbaum, President
and Chief Executive Officer, AG Interactive. "Univision Movil arrives right on
time. Presently, according to Forrester Research, seventy four percent of the
Hispanic demographic in the U.S. currently owns a mobile phone and spends on
average, $10 a month more on mobile services than any other consumer."
AG Interactive and Univision Online soft launched six Univision Movil BREW
applications in August including:
-- Copa Univision: A mobile soccer game offering tournament, single match, and
shoot out play mode featuring famed Mexican soccer goalie Jorge Campos and LA
Galaxy/US Olympian striker Cobe Jones. Consumers control running, passing and
shooting on the offensive end and blocking shots and cutting off passes on the
defensive end.
-- Polyphonic Ring Tones: An extensive Latin music catalog includes Spanish
pop, telenovela theme songs, and such popular genres as Norteno, Tejano,
Ranchera, Bachata, Tropical, Ballads and Billboard-charted music. Selections
were culled from licensing agreements with more than 70 different music
publishers including Univision Music Group, Universal Latino, Warner Music
Latino, EMI International and Sony International.
-- Audio Ring Tones: Univision Movil provides music from popular Latin artists
including Univision Music Group artists Area 305, Jennifer Pena, Lupillo
Rivera, Los Tigres del Norte, Pepe Aguilar, Marco Antonio Solis and Mexiclan.
More than 200 ring tones are now available including audio tones, voice tones,
special effects, instrumental tones and television jingles.
-- Wallpaper: Images of celebrities, models, television and film personalities
are currently available including singer Victor Manuelle, singer/Telenovela
actor Pablo Montero, recording artists Akwid and Rogelio Martinez,
Singer/Telenovela actress Mariana Seone and more. Iconic Hispanic visuals,
including famed landmarks, flags, sports, holiday and spiritual images, can
also be accessed.
-- Greetings: Hundreds of original animated greetings as well as bi- lingual
versions of greetings from American Greetings' 32,000 e-card catalog. Greetings
can be sent from wireless phones to web addresses.
-- News: Eight channels of news with images are available including world,
soccer, entertainment, music, sports, television, and immigration news as well
as horoscopes. Exclusive content is provided from UOL News Channel with more
than 60-80 articles per week. A newsroom staffed 15 hours a day, 7 days a
week, provides timely updates.
AG Names New Vice President of Marketing with Rich Hispanic Marketing
Background
To further meet the needs of the expanding U.S. Hispanic population, AG
Interactive recently announced the appointment of ten-year wireless veteran
Nicholas Montes as Vice President of Marketing for AGmobile. Former Director
of Multicultural Marketing at Verizon Wireless, Montes has developed and
implemented several multi-million dollar marketing and community outreach
campaigns to the Hispanic community. These include the launch of the Spanish
Get It Now applications, the Alejandro Sanz marketing partnership, World Cup
Sponsorship and the Verizon Latino Scholarship program that awarded $100,000 in
scholarships to Latino students. He is considered an expert in his field and
has actively participated in many industry-speaking engagements, most recently
at the 2004 AHHA Conference in Miami. He served as the company's spokesperson
on diversity issues with both English and Spanish language media outlets.
"Both through our partnerships and staffing decisions, AG Interactive is
sending a strong signal that the U.S. Hispanic demographic will be a key growth
area for our company," said Montes.
About AG Interactive
AG Interactive, the new media subsidiary of American Greetings, operates the
network of sites including AmericanGreetings.com, BlueMountain.com,
BlueMountainCards.co.uk, Egreetings.com and Beatgreets.com. Together, the AG
Interactive sites offer over 20,000 high-quality greetings and related social
expression content, and comprise the number one online greeting card
destination, with over 2 million paying subscribers and millions of unique
visitors per month.
AG Interactive also includes business units: AGmobile (the wireless division)
and AG Ventures (the international and new product division). AG Interactive
is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. AG Interactive is a subsidiary of American
Greetings Corporation, one of the world's leading manufacturers of social
expression products. American Greetings companies also include Carlton
Cards(R), Learning Horizons(R), Balloon Zone(R) and DesignWare(R). American
Greetings is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.
About Univision Communications Inc.
Univision Communications Inc. is the premier Spanish-language media company in
the United States. Its operations include Univision Network, the most-watched
Spanish-language broadcast television network in the U.S. reaching 98% of U.S.
Hispanic Households; TeleFutura Network, a general-interest Spanish-language
broadcast television network, which was launched in 2002 and now reaches 79% of
U.S. Hispanic Households; Univision Television Group, which owns and operates
24 Univision Network television stations and 1 non-Univision television
station; TeleFutura Television Group, which owns and operates 31 TeleFutura
Network television stations; Galavision, the country's leading Spanish-language
cable network; Univision Radio, the leading Spanish-language radio group which
owns and/or operates 68 radio stations in 17 of the top 25 U.S. Hispanic
markets and 4 stations in Puerto Rico; Univision Music Group, which includes
Univision Records, Fonovisa Records, and a 50% interest in Mexico-based Disa
Records labels as well as Fonomusic and America Musical Publishing companies;
and Univision Online, the premier Spanish-language Internet destination in the
U.S. located at http://www.univision.com/. Univision Communications also has a
50% interest in TuTv, a joint venture formed to broadcast Televisa's pay
television channels in the U.S., and a non-voting 27% interest in Entravision
Communications Corporation, a public Spanish-language media company. Univision
Communications is headquartered in Los Angeles with television network
operations in Miami and television and radio stations and sales offices in
major cities throughout the United States.
For more information, please visit http://www.univision.net/.
DATASOURCE: AG Interactive
CONTACT: press, Elizabeth Ruttenberg of AG Interactive, +1-216-889-5230,
or ; or Sarah Evans +1-323-988-4701, or
, or Eric Lindbom +1-323-988-4704, or ,
both of CarryOn Communication, Inc.
Web site: http://www.univision.net/
Web site: http://www.ag.com/