118//Media Partners With Call Genie to Deliver Self-Serve Advertising in Europe

Unique ad solution will enable 118//Media Limited (“118//Media”) to deliver the most highly targeted text advertisements to 118 118 callers in the United Kingdom

Call Genie Inc. (TSX:GNE), a leading provider of mobile local search and advertising solutions, announced on September 24, that The Number UK Ltd. (“The Number”), through its subsidiary 118//Media, the leading provider of Enhanced Directory Enquiries services in the UK, has selected Call Genie to deliver a "self-serve" advertising solution through a web-based campaign management tool. The solution, available across the UK later this year, will enable advertisers to create highly relevant mobile advertising campaigns with a greater degree of flexibility and precision targeting than ever before available, whilst maintaining complete visibility control of their ad spend.

Starting November 17, advertisers will simply log on to a dedicated 118//Media web site powered by Call Genie to bid for placement of their ad on text responses that follow mobile calls to 118 118.  The new system will allow advertisers to choose the specific inquiry categories and localities to which their ad message will be attached.  Furthermore, because callers to 118 118 are highly likely to make an immediate purchase, the new 118//Media solution is designed to deliver not only precise targeting, but potentially valuable consumers.

"We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with 118//Media in helping to bring advertisers a solution that promises to be unique in its efficiency.  Current ad solutions don’t even approach the level of accuracy with which this new program will enable advertisers to reach consumers in precise geographic areas at precise times—It’s genuinely revolutionary for advertisers," said Call Genie CEO, Mike Durance.

"By partnering with Call Genie to produce this new ad solution, we fully expect to disrupt the mobile advertising landscape by offering advertisers the chance to take control of the whole process—the level of their ad spend, the frequency of their messaging, the category and locality of consumers that they want to reach, and the accuracy and accessibility of reporting," said 118//Media CEO Matt Leonard. "Other mobile ad programs don’t provide nearly the efficiency or the flexibility of this new solution, and we believe it will benefit both advertisers and consumers, because it enables a degree of targeting not available anywhere else."

Andrew Laurillard, a restaurant owner in Brighton who participated in a successful test market trial during the summer, said, "The 118//Media text advertising solution meant that I could get my offers and selling points out to people just at the moment they were deciding what to eat, even as they were walking down the street towards me. Much better than Google, because people are usually at home or at work, not on my doorstep. We will definitely continue with this approach in the future."

Under the terms of the agreement, 118//Media will use key components of Call Genie’s CG Product Suite to allow 118//Media’s advertisers to create their individual accounts, manage the creation and provisioning of SMS ad campaigns, and provide integrated support for secure payment infrastructures.

The solution will allow advertisers to take advantage of the unique advertising inventory created following a call to 118 118 in a manner that is unobtrusive to the mobile consumer because advertising content will be highly relevant to their immediate need. The Call Genie solution is expected to offer the following benefits to advertisers and callers: 

• For Advertisers: This service will allow advertisers to create SMS advertising campaigns with the opportunity to embed links to Mobile Web sites as part of the callers search results.  Campaigns will be targeted based on what type of business a caller has inquired about, their location and other profiling intelligence from The Number’s accumulated knowledge in directory enquiries
• For Callers: In addition to the specific information the caller requests from The Number operator, caller’s benefit from highly relevant promotions, specials and offers which the solution enables local merchants to deliver.

"According to industry analysts, mobile local search and advertising is an emerging market set to become worth billions of pounds globally in coming years. A key, although sometimes overlooked, element of this ecosystem is traditional directory inquiries.  We believe these calls represent one of the largest inventories of mobile local searches", said Mike Durance, CEO of Call Genie.  "We are pleased to be partnering with The Number in pioneering this emerging growth opportunity."

The Call Genie ADvantage server is a robust, Internet-class ad serv­er, specifically enhanced to manage the unique characteristics of phone-based ad inventory and local ad campaign targeting. Un­like standard Internet ad servers, ADvantage leverages the unique “time and place of need” targeting ability provided by phone-based services, combined with user action tracking to offer advertisers unprecedented visibility into performance of their advertising campaigns.

"The Number is the leading Directory Enquiries company in the United Kingdom," said Mark Evans, Commercial Director. "By creating this “self-serve” capability, we will be able to provide access to advertisers to tap into our highly contextualized requests in a way that is configurable to their campaign needs.  We firmly believe that we have the “hot leads” and providing access to advertisers in this way opens up a pin-point advertising opportunity at a time when it is getting harder and harder to reach target audiences via traditional advertising methods."

"We are pleased to sign this agreement with 118//Media Limited," said Peter Williams, General Manager of Call Genie Europe. "We look forward to working with 118//Media in the deployment and commercialization of this advanced Directory Enquiries solution for advertisers in Europe."

About The Number UK Ltd. and 118//Media Limited
Launched in 2002, 118 118 is contacted by more people that any other number in Britain. It provides instant access to a courteous, high accuracy service offering more features and benefits than any other 118 service. Additional services include train times, cinema listings, category enquiries, unlimited requests, directions, calls connected and virtually any answerable question handled via the phone, texts and web. 118 118 is operated by The Number from three highly specialised call centres, in Cardiff, Plymouth and Manila.

Launched in 2007, 118//Media provides highly effective advertising solutions to businesses across the United Kingdom, enabling them to reach highly targeted audiences via voice, SMS and web.

About Call Genie Inc.
Call Genie is a leading provider of local mobile search and advertising solutions to Yellow Pages publishers, directory assistance providers, and wireless carriers. These solutions enable companies to offer an exceptional experience for both advertisers and consumers.  Call Genie won the Yellow Page Association Industry Excellence Award for Marketing Innovation in North America, the Whitaker Innovation Award in Europe, and the 118 Tracker Award for Technology Innovation in the UK. Call Genie has over 30 customers in 11 countries.  For more information, visit www.callgenie.com.

About Call Genie Mobile Local Search Product Suite
The CG Mobile Local Search Product Suite includes three product lines: CG Interact, CG Open and CG ADvantage. These product lines provide directory assistance providers, Yellow Pages publishers, wireless carriers and search engine companies, the applications and technology platforms required to deliver innovative mobile local search services that lead trends rather than respond late in today’s shorter consumer adoption cycles.

The CG Interact products deliver automated or operator-assisted voice enabled solutions, mobile data search and seamless delivery of information to phones from web sites.  CG Open products have been designed with the underlying philosophy that a great user experience must be the foundation for any service that will be monetized through ad sponsorship.  CG Open products deliver key benefits to reduce costs and enhance the user experience.  All of the CG Open platforms leverage industry standards to maximize their ability to integrate into and interoperate with our customer’s existing systems, data sources and with mobile content providers. CG ADvantage products enable our customers to capitalize on the emerging Mobile Local Search advertising opportunity and deliver inventory, taxonomy and campaign management specifically optimized for this unique ad inventory.

For More Information
Call Genie Inc.

Mark McCormack, Media Relations
Tel: +1 415-367-5676
Email: mark.mccormack@callgenie.com

Alex Blodgett, Investor Relations
Tel: +1 403 410-6875
Email: alex.blodgett@callgenie.com

Source: Call Genie Inc.