Latest Version of Spongecell Allows Marketers to Better Engage Customers By
                      Targeting Individual Preferences

    LOS ANGELES and SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 12 — One of the
largest independent film distributors in North America, Yari Film Group
(YFG) saw an extraordinary 40 percent of people opt-in for information on
the new movie screening of The Final Season through the use of Spongecell,
a popular web- based marketing software that allows brands to better reach
and engage their target audience.

“Spongecell’s media enhanced event pages enabled our studio to engage
nearly half of all visitors to The Final Season screening website,” said
Matt Gilhooley, director of Online Operations, Yari Film Group. “It was
amazing to see how Spongecell converted people’s online interest into
offline attendance. By creating a promotional call-to-action, we saw a
phenomenal response. We look forward to using Spongecell in future
interactive marketing campaigns.”

Spongecell’s features enabled YFG to target and personalize its
communications; track individual interaction with the event and
continuously promote virally to the film’s target audience. More
significantly, Spongecell’s functionality allowed all invitations,
responses, comments, reminders and forwards to be automatically sent and
tracked, while maintaining the film’s branding.

“The extraordinary success of YFG’s The Final Season screenings
demonstrates the marketing potential Spongecell provides to brands,
promoters and anyone doing business online,” said Ben Kartzman, president,
Spongecell. “Our web-based marketing tool is a perfect way to create a
dialog and a relationship between individuals and brands. With our powerful
tracking tools, users can better target, engage and grow their market
share. In the end, it all comes down to turning interest into
participation.

“Our clients asked for enhanced tools for targeting different audience
segments, so we’ve recently released a new suite of features to better
engage consumers.”

The newest version of Spongecell, launched today, automatically tags
every person based on the type of sale, event, promotion or activity they
encounter — from concert tours, one-day sales, store opening, etc. — as
well as what actions they took – such as adding the event to a personal
calendar, inviting friends, setting reminders or opening emails. This
detailed tracking information allows companies to better create
personalized marketing messages for each consumer based on their unique
interests and behavior. Unlike other services, Spongecell empowers
individuals to select how they receive the message — whether by SMS,
email, blogs or web-based calendars such as Outlook or Yahoo!

For more information about Spongecell, please email
sales@spongecell.com or call 888-680-7999.

About The Yari Film Group:
Founded in 2002, The Yari Film Group has established itself as one of
the most successful independent film companies in Hollywood, with over 30
films produced over the last three years. Casting top-tier talent in
compelling projects with consumer appeal, the company is dedicated to
ensuring creative freedom for its filmmakers. Currently, YFG is shooting
the irreverent high school comedy “The Sophomore” starring Mischa Barton
and Reece Thompson with Bruce Willis. The company’s credits include Oscar
2005 Best Picture Winner “Crash,” “Dave Chappelle’s Block Party,” The
Pierce Brosnan-starrer “The Matador,” “Thumbsucker,” “Hostage”, “A Love
Song for Bobby Long,” “The Hoax” starring Richard Gere, “The Illusionist”
starring Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, and Paul Giamatti and “The Painted
Veil,” starring Edward Norton and Naomi Watts.

About Spongecell
Spongecell is a web-based software application that creates direct,
one-on-one engagement between brands and consumers and converts interest
into participation in online and offline sales, events, promotions, and
activities. Spongecell has been used successfully by Oprah Winfrey, Lucky
Jeans, Yari Film Group, Flavorpill.com, and Shakira, among others. Founded
in 2005, the company is funded by Halo Venture Partners, The Interpublic
Group of Companies (IPG) and the Pilot Group. For more information, go to
http://www.spongecell.com.

You’ve all probably read The New York Times article Things Turn Ugly in the ‘Hacks and Flacks’ War by now.  These are the days when I just have to remember that not all marketers are created equals.  Between Google and other search engines there is no reason that PR folks shouldn’t be able to pitch the correct reporter about 90% of the time.  And, there is no reason for a reporter to publicly humiliate folks by putting a list of blacklisted PR folks (thank goodness no one here is on that list) on his blog.  That’s just plain mean-spirited.  What would happen if corporate communications folks got together and posted a list of misinformation, incorrect facts and mis-quotes from articles (attributing them publicly to each reporter).

Maybe reporters and PR people need one big therapy session.  I’m volunteering to moderate.  Silly, isn’t it?

It’s a race to Oracle OpenWorld.  It’s only a few short weeks away, but it seems like we only have a few hours to go.  The frantic rush for last minute details and confirmations.  You know trade show season has started when it’s only the end of October and you’ve already prepared for and been to half a dozen shows.  On top of that, companies are frantically rushing to create 2008 budgets.  I can only thank my lucky stars that Skyline NJ has been easy to work with in terms of new creative for 2008 show booths.

Trade shows are an extremely large cost center for companies, but it doesn’t have to be.  You don’t have to rush to do every trade show in your industry.  The larger companies with deeper pockets may do that, but even today, you’ll see the Fortune 100 companies carefully selecting which shows to exhibit at and concentrate marketing dollars on.  It’s about pooling the financial resources at select shows in order to maximize impact. 

Trade shows can be a wonderful sales and marketing tool if utilized correctly.  It’s not just about exhibition and sponsorship.  The best opportunity at these events are for free….the speaking panels. 

Over the next two months, we will open up some wonderful speaking opportunities for my clients.  A speaker’s bureau is neither easy or fruitful at the onset.  In fact, many organizations give up on the effort quickly due to the amount of time needed to care for this program.  However, I must that the speaker’s bureau bears the most fruit in terms of recognition of the company and the executive as well as prospecting.  By sticking with a speaker’s bureau (even if it take 2 years!), you’ll be surprised and, eventually, you’ll get the calls to be at every one of the key shows.  All of a sudden, you’re a speaker. You’re THE expert and peopel are seeking you out. 

One of my clients – Vibe Solutions Group – will be speaking at the upcoming iTVcon.com (Internet Video Conference & Expo).  That was in the works since early July and was confirmed only in early September.  That only goes to show you how long these things take.  Building leadership never happens overnight.  Though, many companies wish that it does. 

The ideal situation is for the company to look like it OWNS a show without spending a million. 

Phoenix has passed it’s one-year anniversary – on September 11, 2007.  Whew!  And, what a year it was.  The good news is that we’re growing.  And, thanks to Susan Austin and Robin Levan, I was able to go away on vacation to celebrate the firm’s one-year.  Well, as a marketing communications firm, I thought it’s time to practice what we preach.  We’re in the midst of revamping our brand image.  Though our philosophy has not changed, the “look and feel” of our website and we’re planning on launching a great many different types of programs (including this blog and a webinar series) in the next few weeks. 

This September, we hosted our first webinar – The Fight of the Century: Sales Versus Marketing.  Soraya Morgan, president of Morgan Business Solutions, and I “duked it out.”  I even have the black eye to show for it!   We had a wonderful time talking about how sales and marketing people just don’t speak the same language, but really should.  We had over 60 people registered for the event and it turned out that even more people listened to the replay on our websites. 

Well, that’s it for my inaugural blog.  As you probably surmised, we have some heavy lifting ahead of us.  I’m not even including what we have planned for our clients in the next year.