[December 18, 2012]

SocialVibe Adds Geofencing Capability Through Partnership with Placecast

Taking a cue from incentivized shopping, SocialVibe announced today that it has added geofencing technology to its industry-leading digital marketing solution.

A pioneer in engagement advertising, SocialVibe is now enabling brands and marketers to reach 101 million U.S. consumers with geo-targeted advertising, offers and rewards. Placecast, an industry leader in location-based mobile marketing, is providing the geofencing technology necessary to power the platform.

A deep integration between SocialVibe's platform and Placecast's patented technology allows SocialVibe to deliver virtual currency via SMS to users who have completed one of SocialVibe's brand engagements and are now located near store locations. This type of virtual reward for offline behavior has proven to be a very powerful incentive for consumers.

The Technology

Placecast powers an end-to-end mobile platform that delivers geo-triggered, location-based offers to consumers via their mobile phones to drive customers to retail locations in the physical world.

SocialVibe has introduced an exciting new application of Placecast's innovative technology by enabling consumers to enroll in a brand program and then receive rewards when visiting physical retail locations, often in the form of virtual currency This experience allows a brand to create a seamless connection with these users and extends SocialVibe's successful online engagement model into the real world--reaching U.S. consumers across the buying cycle and rewarding them with virtual currency through the process.

The technology enables brands and marketers to directly combine their online advertising efforts with their in-store consumer experience. The platform incentivizes consumers who engage with the brand online to continue that engagement at a retail location. More effective than a coupon or most traditional promotions, SocialVibe's approach to marketing enables brands to leverage the power of many types of virtual currency to drive retail foot traffic and sales. With the added analytics capabilities, this system provides a great way for retailers to track the effectiveness and true ROI of an online spend.

The User Experience

The customer journey from online engagement to physical location follows three key steps, including a Triple Opt-In Program that starts with the initial SocialVibe online engagement and is finalized when users complete their enrollment via SMS from their mobile device:

Step 1: Customer Opts In--While surfing online, customers opt-in to alerts from a particular brand in exchange for the chance to earn virtual currency related to whatever activity they are participating in, for example a social game.

Step 2: Geofence is Triggered--When users are nearby a retail location for the brand program they opted-in to, the geofence is triggered, prompting an SMS alert to the user.

Step 3: A Dynamic Message is Sent--The SMS message may include a brand offer, reminder or confirmation of earned virtual currency.

"We're excited about our partnership with Placecast because of the scale it provides. With SMS, there's no app to build or download. Using geofencing and SMS to deliver virtual currency rewards and brand messaging makes sense because it's always on, cuts through the clutter, and allows us to extend the brand experience out into the physical world, providing great value to our clients," said Chris LoRusso, director of business development at SocialVibe.

To take advantage of the holiday shopping season, SocialVibe and Placecast have already launched a campaign with a Best Buy (News - Alert) that will run through December 2012.

"Our partnership with SocialVibe and their industry-leading engagement platform provides a unique application of our geo-triggered mobile marketing platform. This is the first time that we've gotten to explore the convergence of online gaming, mobile marketing, geofencing, and retail stores. This promises to give brands and marketers a powerful new tool to increase brand engagement online, while increasing store traffic offline at the same time," said Alistair Goodman, CEO of Placecast.

SocialVibe combines the power of an extensive network of premium online and mobile partners, a large, 750x500 rich media ad unit, and innovative new placements such as value exchange and interstitials to deliver proven results for brands and marketers. This combination is one of the most powerful in digital advertising, driving industry leading results like five to 10 times the engagement of display, 60 seconds time spent, 80 percent-plus completion rates and more than 15 percent lift in key brand metrics including consideration and purchase intent.

About SocialVibe

SocialVibe is a next-gen digital ad-tech company that powers engagement advertising for some of the world's top brands. In today's online landscape where consumer attention is hard to capture, SocialVibe's interactive ads deliver better results through deeper engagement by delivering an improved consumer experience and more powerful brand interaction. As a pioneer and recognized leader in engagement marketing, SocialVibe enables advertisers to reach consumers where they are most passionately engaged across the web and mobile, including social, social gaming, content, music, video, Wi-Fi, travel and sports. SocialVibe is based in Los Angeles, Calif. with offices in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco and Detroit. For more information, visit socialvibe.com or engage with us on twitter.com/socialvibe.

About Placecast

Placecast is the world's leading provider of location-based marketing and loyalty programs for mobile operators, payment companies and brands. The company's ShopAlerts geofence marketing platform is specifically designed to use digital marketing on mobile devices to drive consumers into physical stores.

ShopAlerts has transformed the mobile marketing industry, taking home the top prize for innovation awarded by the National Retail Federation. Brands such as The North Face, Kiehl's, Starbucks, L'Oreal, Subway, Pizza Hut, Kmart, HP, Chico's White House Black Market, JetBlue and SC Johnson have all run ShopAlerts offers through Placecast and its partners. The Placecast platform is licensed by brands, mobile operators like Telefonica's O2 (News - Alert) in Europe and credit card issuers, with over 10 million opted-in consumers receiving location-based offers every week.

Placecast is backed by ONSET Ventures Quatrex Capital, and Voyager Capital.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20121218005463/en/

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