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, AG Interactive
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 on the 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 the process 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/.
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