American Greetings wires into more wireless content deals
A move by American Greetings Corp. into more segmented wireless and mobile commerce business initiatives is beginning to pay dividends. In the last year AG Interactive, the new-media and e-commerce arm of American Greetings, which ranks No. 145 on the Internet Retailer Top 400 Guide to Retail Web Sites, has developed business initiatives aimed at the fast-growing Hispanic, African-American and younger wireless markets.
In March 2004, for example, AG Interactive announced a joint marketing venture with Univision Online, the Internet arm of Univision Communications Inc., a large Hispanic broadcasting company, to provide mobile content such as wallpaper and rings tones to Hispanic wireless customers.
Now based on the success of that program, which generated 10 million downloads of personalized Hispanic ring tones, wallpaper and other content in the past year, AG Interactive is launching new services and targeting new groups of cell phone users and other web-enabled wireless devices.
For instance, AG Interactive is rolling out a new wireless content deal with Def Jam Enterprises, a subsidiary of Rush Communications Inc., aimed primarily at younger wireless users. Under the arrangement, AG Interactive will provide personalized greeting content and other services, including marketing, while Def Jam will supply a line of mobile hip hop content such as games, voice tones and music snippets to subscribers using QUALCOMM`s Brew wireless platform.
Beginning in September, AG Interactive and Def Jam will expand the service to include more video services such as video files of hip hop concerts and music videos. Though pricing has yet to finalized, AG Interactive and Def Jam are looking at subscription fees that will average between $3 and $7 per month. "Our pricing will be closer to the middle range," says Bryan Biniak, senior vice president and general manager of wireless services for AG Interactive.
In addition to a monthly video services subscription fee, AG Interactive and Def Jam are looking at additional fees for personalized ring tones and wallpaper downloads priced between $2 and $3 per download.
AG Interactive, which also operates BlueMountain.com, AmericanGreetings.com, and Egreetings.com, sees wireless communications as a growth business for providing personalized content to Hispanic, African-American and younger wireless customers, which represent the market`s fastest growing individual segments.
"Research shows that these groups are the first to purchase new wireless devices and applications and spend twice as much on an annual basis when compared to other segments of the population," Biniak says. "Our new offerings make us a prime player in providing personalized content to Hispanic, African American and other wireless users."
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