Top Talent Backed by Big Brand Signals New Power Play in Wireless Space
March 10 2004 - 5:09PM
PR Newswire (US)
Top Talent Backed by Big Brand Signals New Power Play in Wireless
Space The launch of American Greetings (AG) Mobile Signals a New
Milestone for the Wireless Industry CLEVELAND, March 10
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Greetings Interactive, the new
media subsidiary of American Greetings Corporation, today announced
the formation of its wireless division, AGmobile. Supported by the
creative infrastructure, distribution power and strategic alliances
of AG Interactive, AGmobile enters the hot mobile marketplace with
top talent credibility and start-up expertise. AGmobile is poised
to quickly command a leadership position in the eyes of the
wireless and entertainment industries by leveraging the company's
massive retail and online distribution networks. These networks
include more than 115,000 retail outlets with retail partners and
online marquee partnerships such as MSN and AOL. The AGmobile
entrepreneurial team will continue the nearly century-old strategy
of partnering with the most successful brands in the business to
deliver personal expression products to consumers on various
multi-media platforms. Throughout its past, American Greetings has
grown to be a leader in the retail space through unparalleled
content creativity and strategic relationship management. More
recently, AG Interactive has become the market leader in personal
expression in the online marketplace with brands such as
BlueMountain.com, Egreetings, and AmericanGreetings.com. With the
introduction of AGmobile, AGInteractive is now ready to lead the
wireless world by creating significant new ground in virtually all
areas of branded mobile content including personalization,
entertainment and messaging through existing partnerships with
T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Cingular Wireless, AT&T Wireless
and Vodaphone. By leveraging the substantial retail network,
considerable existing customer base and best-in-class partnerships
with more than 150 of the world's top brands, AGmobile will be able
to quickly deliver onthe promise of innovative personal expression
solutions for consumers. "The creation of AG Mobile is a natural
extension of our business -- helping people connect and express
themselves creatively. By concentrating on the successful formula
of the 3 C's -- high quality content, a great consumer experience
and by focusing on our partner channels -- we have established
ourselves as the leader in expressive content," states Josef
Mandelbaum, President and Chief Executive Officer of AG
Interactive. Leading the charge is Bryan Biniak, Senior Vice
President and General Manager of AGmobile. Biniak, a veteran senior
executive from both the entertainment and wireless arenas and
formerly Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for
Vivendi Universal / Moviso, is joined by senior leaders from
Cingular Wireless, Universal Music Publishing, Disney Internet
Group, Vivendi Universal Games / Universal Interactive and Terra
Lycos. "I am honored to help craft and execute a new sophisticated
and savvy vision of wireless content and entertainment through
AGmobile," states Biniak. "We plan to exponentially raise the bar
in the wireless space by leveraging the massive distribution
network, marketing prowess and existing customer base of this
nearly 100-year-old company to provide new personal expression
opportunities in a variety of categories for the mobile consumer."
In addition, AGmobile oversees the operation of BeatGreets, the
leading provider of music, film and television e-card
entertainment. The BeatGreets high-end arsenal of hip entertainment
properties includes more than 2,000 music greetings from today's
hottest artists such as 50 Cent, Dave Matthews, Beyonce and
Evanescence, as well as film and television properties including
Paris Hilton's The Simple Life, and the George Lopez show. In the
near future, AGmobile will expand these offerings to provide a
variety of additional multi-media offerings including instant
messaging, e-mail and wireless personalization. AGmobile is also in
theprocess of finalizing several high-profile partnerships, which
it expects will exponentially expand their current product lines to
include new audiences and offerings. About American Greetings
Interactive AG Interactive operates the network of sites including,
AmericanGreetings.com, BlueMountain.com, Beatgreets and
Egreetings.com, as well as site partnerships with AOL(R), MSN(R)
Yahoo(R) and Earthlink(R) and content partnerships with brands such
as Warner Bros. Its sites together offer over 20,000 high quality
greetings and other types of expressive content and is the number
one online greeting card destination with over 2 million paying
subscribers and millions of unique visitors per month. About
American Greetings American Greetings Interactive is part of
American Greetings Corporation, one of the world's leading
manufacturers of printed greeting cards. American Greetings is
headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, and has been in the greeting card
industry for more than 95 years. American Greetings companies also
include Carlton Cards(R), Learning Horizons(R), Balloon Zone(R) and
DesignWare(R). visit http://corporate.americangreetings.com/ .
DATASOURCE: American Greetings Interactive CONTACT: Elizabeth
Ruttenberg of American Greetings Interactive, +1-216-889-5230, or ;
or Sarah Evans or Eric Lindbom of CarryOn Communication, Inc.,
+1-323-988-4701, or +1-323-988-4704, or , or Web site:
http://www.americangreetings.com/
http://corporate.americangreetings.com/
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