Hearst Magazines Digital Media Launches Cosmo Fake Calls
Mobile Service Helps Women Get Out of Bad Dates
NEW YORK, April 30, 2007 - Hearst Magazines today announced the launch of Cosmopolitan Fake Calls in partnership with San Francisco-based Moderati, a Bellrock Media company. Part of the company's new mobile rollout for the Cosmopolitan brand, Cosmo Fake Calls is a scripted call-back service that young women can book when they need to escape from a really terrible date. The announcement was made by Cosmopolitan Editor in Chief Kate White and Chuck Cordray, vice president and general manager of Hearst Magazines Digital Media (HMDM).
"Cosmo is the relationship bible, so we pride ourselves on helping our readers with dating advice through a variety of platforms," said White. "Every woman has been on a date from hell at some point. Now it's as easy as picking up your cell to bail."
Starting today, consumers can program Cosmo Fake Calls through their mobile phones via a link on the Cosmopolitan mobile Website via the mobile operators' portals on-deck at Verizon Wireless and Sprint or off-deck by entering the URL http://m.cosmopolitan.com directly on the mobile device. The calls are simple to activate and can be scheduled to come in immediately or in 5, 15, 30 or 60 minutes. Consumers can select their choice of caller, such as a boyfriend, girlfriend or fake French lover. There will be a small charge of $0.99 for each scheduled Cosmo Fake Call.
"We view the cell phone as a 'mini computer,' a mobile companion you have with you at all times," added Cordray. "Through research we found that 25 percent of our readers now have mobile Web-enabled cell phones, and we feel there is huge potential as the market grows for us to use mobile media to provide content and services to our readers."
"We are thrilled to be working with Hearst to launch Cosmopolitan Fake Calls," said Cindy Mesaros, senior vice president, marketing, Bellrock Media. "As Cosmo has 15 million young female readers, many of whom are single and dating, we expect there will be a need for this 'mobile best friend' when those dates don't all go as planned. The whole experience is scripted and utterly believable!"
The new mobile site for Cosmopolitan launched in February and offers daily horoscopes, reader confessions, Cosmo Shirtless Guys to download as wallpaper, and more.
Hearst Magazines Digital Media is a unit of Hearst Magazines dedicated to creating and implementing the online and mobile strategy for the company's magazine brands and other sites which serve Hearst's various audiences. Hearst Magazines is a unit of Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com) and one of the world's largest publishers of monthly magazines, with a total of 19 U.S. titles and nearly 200 international editions. Hearst reaches more adults than any other publisher of monthly magazines (73.4 million according to MRI, fall 2006). The company also publishes 20 magazines in the United Kingdom through its wholly owned subsidiary, The National Magazine Company Limited.
One of the top mobile media companies in North America, Moderati has unparalleled distribution through the decks of 14 U.S. carriers for its personalization products. The company delivers content under carrier brands, partner brands, or its own brands, including Modtones (ringtones and wallpaper) and Mobile Faker, an entertainment product that turns mobile phones into social weapons. Moderati was acquired by Bellrock Media in 2007. Bellrock Media creates and distributes proprietary content for mobile and broadband platforms throughout North America and Japan, with a unique catalog of digital media, products, and services that set the bar in the world of wireless entertainment.
About Moderati
Moderati is a mobile entertainment pioneer. One of the top mobile media companies in North America, Moderati has unparalleled distribution through the decks of 14 U.S. carriers for its personalization products. The company delivers content under carrier brands, partner brands, or its own brands, including Modtones (ringtones and wallpaper) and Mobile Faker, an entertainment product that turns mobile phones into social weapons. Moderati products have received several industry awards for quality and creativity. Moderati was founded in 2001 as a wholly owned subsidiary of publicly traded Japanese corporation Faith, Inc. www.moderati.com
Moderati, Mobile Faker, Faux Calls and Faux Numbers are trademarks of Moderati Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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Contact:
Sibel Sunar / Craig Sinel
fortyseven communications
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sibel@fortyseven.com / craig@fortyseven.com
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