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AG
Interactive Unleashes Fun and Fresh Online Offerings to Spice Up
Holiday e-Communications CLEVELAND, Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- A baby that talks like an urbane adult Brit or hip "valley girl," a virtual assistant who reminds us of key dates and email wallpaper from Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake are just some of the creative messaging options through online "e-products" launching this holiday season on BlueMountain.com and AmericanGreetings.com. AG Interactive, the new media subsidiary of American Greetings Corporation, has launched a wide array of new online e-products for creative messaging that turn conventional emails and invites into fun, expressive and more personal messages. The product launches will continue to expand American Greetings' online business beyond its already robust, two million-strong subscriber base, just in time for the holiday season. AG Interactive already offers free and fee-based eCards and printable greetings on its AmericanGreetings.com and BlueMountain.com sites. "Our new products allow people to personalize their online communications through fresh and hip new visuals as well as innovative audio capabilities," said Sally Babcock, Vice President Product Management and Member Services, AG Interactive Corp. "The technological and creative advances in the offerings enhance the existing deep product line that has made both AmericanGreetings.com and BlueMountain.com the established leaders in online greetings." The four new products are: Talking Heads eCards: The sender types, the character talks! -- Talking Heads utilizes Veepers(C), the dynamic personalized virtual character technology from Pulse Entertainment, allowing the sender to create a customized visual and vocal online greeting by controlling what that character says to the email recipient. The sender chooses from a gallery of 12 virtual characters including a serious-looking female news anchor, a bouncing baby and a frazzled cat who can 'speak' in a variety of voices (a British accent, valley girl, etc.). The sender types a personal message and the character speaks those chosen words when the user opens the eCard. A user can also upload any photo and use the same technology to create a totally personalized talking character message in less than a minute. Whether the sender wants to say "Happy Birthday," "I Love You" or just tell a funny story from the night before, Talking Heads brings the fun of a talking telegram to the Internet. This product is available on www.BlueMountain.com, just look for the baby's face promoting new talking eCards. Myra Minders: Personal Assistant -- Introducing Myra Minders, an online assistant that helps the user never forget an important date again! Myra sends e-mail and mobile phone text reminders to the user reminding them of their important dates (birthdays, holidays, anniversaries and more) and even provides personalized recommendations for sending best wishes. Myra can even e-mail Birthday Requests to gather birthdates the user does not know and automatically add the dates to the user's reminders list. This new reminder service is powered by BigDates.com and is available to users on both AmericanGreetings.com and BlueMountain.com through the "Reminders" link. Invites Service: Invite your friends with style! -- This service offers a creative way to invite friends to a party and keep track of who is coming and who is not. All invitations are full-screen flash animated and cover a variety of events including birthday parties, baby showers, bridal luncheons and girls' night out and favorite holiday parties from Halloween to winter get-togethers. During the pre-party phase, receivers can read responses from other invited guests. Invites Service is offered through www.AmericanGreetings.com. Creata Mail: An end to boring email! -- To help users escape black and white emails, Creata Mail adds colorful stationery, thousands of different "smileys," clip art, hundreds of Add-a-Photo borders, backgrounds and more. Users can also draw visuals from popular licenses such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears and more. Creata Mail, available on www.BlueMountain.com, can be used on Outlook, Outlook Express and most other web mail applications. 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, Beatgreets.com and MIDIRingTones.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 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. SOURCE AG Interactive -0- 10/19/2004 /CONTACT: Sally Babcock of AG Interactive, +1-216-889-5202, or SBabcock@ag.com; or Sarah Evans of CarryOn Communication, +1-323-988-4701, or Sarahe@carryonpr.com |
