The News

Blyk launches its Youth Brand in the Netherlands

05/05/2010

Forming a game changing mobile advertising media with Vodafone

Amsterdam, Helsinki and London 5 May 2010– Blyk, the mobile messaging media for young people, today announce the commercial launch of its consumer and advertiser service in the Netherlands. The operator for the service is Vodafone.

The service will bring the exciting Blyk brand and innovative media model to consumers and advertisers in the Netherlands and it is aligned to both companies’ strategies for growth and leadership in mobile advertising. 

Blyk’s launch advertiser partners include local and global brands e.g. Nike, Beachmasters, Universal Pictures, McDonald’s, Pearle and Electronic Arts. The consumer offer includes 1.000 free SMS and 1.000 free Blyk-to-Blyk minutes per month. Blyk is targeted to the young people of 16 – 29 years and subscriptions are based on a membership (opt-in, profiled).  Members need to have a SIM-lock free, MMS capable mobile phone.

“Together with Vodafone, we intend to build a game changing youth media in the Dutch market” says Eric Kip, Managing Director for Blyk Netherlands. Our relationship will include a co-development of the consumer proposition for the Netherlands and audience management. Blyk will have responsibility for the brand, advertising sales and technology.”

He continues: “The Netherlands has the third highest advertising spend per capita in Europe and is a hub for many global companies and ad agencies, so is an obvious territory for Blyk’s expansion. The advertising market, whilst both creative and dynamic, is also cluttered so we believe youth brands will welcome a highly engaging communication channel like Blyk. We are confident that both Dutch advertisers and global advertisers will make use of Blyk’s unique ability to connect them with an important consumer segment.”

Sten van der Ham, Head of Consumer Marketing Prepaid, Vodafone Netherlands comments: “The Blyk brand and the whole concept behind it, is a proven success for young people in the UK. Mobile Advertising is still an infancy media, which we expect to grow significantly within the next years.  We are convinced this will be a successful partnership; where Vodafone stands for its high quality telecom services and Blyk stands for a unique mobile media experience for young people.”

About Blyk
Blyk is a mobile messaging media that works with operators to link young people with brands and other stuff they like.  Blyk launched its innovative mobile service in the UK in September 2007 and quickly became known as a leader in mobile advertising, audience engagement, and for its ability to drive unprecedented response rates and return on investment for advertisers.
Blyk pioneered the use of interactive text and multi-media messaging as an advertising format, leveraging the most predominant, everyday behaviour of young people (sending and receiving messages on their phones) and enabling young people to communicate with brands in the same way they do with everyone else.  Blyk has offices in Helsinki, London, Amsterdam and Delhi. 

About Vodafone
Vodafone is the world’s leading international mobile communications group with approximately 333 million proportionate customers as of 31 December 2009.  Vodafone currently has equity interests in 31 countries across five continents and around 40 partner networks worldwide.  For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com

Editorial Notes – Blyk milestones
Blyk was founded in 2006 by Pekka Ala-Pietilä and Antti Õhrling, and subsequently launched its first operating business in the UK in 2007.  It quickly became a recognized and successful business in permission based mobile advertising within the youth segment.  Blyk has proven that sending timely, interesting and relevant messages to young people from brands builds high levels of engagement and generates significant ROI for advertisers.

Since 2009 Blyk has had a strategic partnership with Orange in the UK. Embedded within the Orange operation and contributing to the strategic development of the media proposition, Blyk is responsible for all audience management, the creation and production of all messages and the provision of the technology solution.

Blyk is a turnkey media solution, which helps Operators provide a scalable and profitable messaging media in the face of intense competition for advertising revenues from the Internet giants and handset manufacturers.

For further information, please contact:
• Blyk, Eric Kip, tel +31 20 8200 400, email eric@blyk.com   (Dutch press and advertisers)
• Blyk, Irène Nyberg, mob +44 7747 844 854, email press@blyk.com  (International press and analysts)
• Vodafone, Nicole Tuts or Geeke van der Sluis, Corporate Affairs Department, Vodafone NL, tel +31 (0)43 3555 222, email: press.nl@vodafone.com