Buongiorno finalized the agreement to acquire Flytxt’s UK and US agency operations. Flytxt’s UK and US agency operations will run under the names Buongiorno Marketing Services Ltd. and Buongiorno Marketing Services Inc. The acquisition follows Buongiorno Group’s decision to reshape its original structure, and to consolidate and enhance its position in the Digital Marketing Services. The transaction follows the acquisition of the Dutch HotSMS announced last February 2007. Milan, May 15, 2007 – Buongiorno S.p.A. (MTAX STAR, Italian Stock Exchange: BNG), a leading multinational operating in the market of digital entertainment, announced today the acquisition of UK and US agency operations of Flytxt, a leading company in mobile marketing and advertising. Flytxt was founded in the year 2000 when mobile marketing was in its infancy. Over the past 7 years Flytxt has been at the forefront of creating an industry and delivering a series of mobile marketing firsts along the way: 1st CRM campaign with Smash Hits; 1st on-pack campaign with Cadbury “Txt ‘n’ Win”; 1st text to screen campaign with Channel 5; 1st short code donation campaign for Comic Relief; 1st point collection campaign for Coke “Text to collect”; 1st large-scale coupon campaign with Orange; 1st book publishing campaign with Harper Collins; 1st US magazine publishing campaign with Time Inc.. Following the recent acquisition of HotSMS B.V., an Amsterdam-based prominent player in the mobile advertising and marketing arena, the present acquisition is also being carried out by the new sub-holding Buongiorno Marketing Services Netherland B.V. and will be completed in cash for approx. Euro 4 million. The newly formed Buongiorno Marketing Services Ltd. and Buongiorno Marketing Services Inc. will retain all agency clients and the strong and experienced Flytxt agency team. The operations of Flytxt agency will be migrated to B!3A, Buongiorno’s proprietary technology platform conceived to design, build, manage and provide high quality services to leading businesses and to mobile consumers globally. The B!3A platform provides an extensive set of tools and integration points to deliver large-scale and cutting edge digital marketing programmes and to operate a complete digital content marketplace. Flytxt agency’s clients will greatly benefit from the breadth and depth of the B!3A platform and Buongiorno’s global footprint in delivering mobile marketing. “Flytxt acquisition follows the decision of Buongiorno to put in place a new central structure with the aim of consolidating and enhancing its competitiveness in the Digital Marketing Services. With its presence both in the UK and in the US, it perfectly fits into our strategy to strengthen our marketing services offering and our positioning as a really global player in the mobile advertising and marketing arena as we have already done in the value-added services offering”, states Carlo Frigato, Buongiorno Group Chief Financial Officer. “The mobile market is big - one billion handsets have been sold in 2006 and billions of text messages are sent each day - and it is growing at a very fast pace. Mobiles allow marketers to reach individuals in new ways, which are not possible with other media and open up dramatic new opportunities for marketers to interact with consumers. Flytxt’s work with Orange on its ‘Orange Wednesdays’ campaign is testament to how powerful the use of mobile can be as a marketing and advertising tool”, comments Alvise Zanardi, Head of Marketing Services. Alvise Zanardi, who reports directly to Carlo Frigato, is Head of Marketing Services globally and has been elected as one of the 25 members of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) EMEA Board of Directors for 2007. The MMA is the premier global association - with 400 members representing over twenty countries and including agencies, advertisers, hand-held device manufacturers, carriers and operators, retailers, software and service providers, as well as any company focused on the potential of marketing via mobile devices - that strives to stimulate the growth of mobile marketing and its associated technologies. Buongiorno Marketing Services Inc. will be lead by Flytxt co-founder Carsten Boers. Buongiorno Marketing Services Ltd. will be lead by mobile marketing veteran and m-couponing expert Adhish Kulkarni. Adhish and Carsten commented: “We have built our reputation on the expert advice and service our consultants provide. We are very excited to now be able to bring Buongiorno’s breadth of digital capabilities to our clients.” |