HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., Sept. 20 -1-800-FREE411, the first free nationwide consumer telephone directory assistance service, was announced today by Jingle Networks, Inc., at the DEMOfall 2005 Conference, the premier leading industry forum for launching new and innovative technology products.
In a move to reshape the 411 marketplace, the new 1-800-FREE411 service introduces a pay per call advertising model which allows businesses to acquire new customers over the phone cost effectively with little or no risk. The 1-800-FREE411 service provides value for both consumers and businesses: consumers get free directory assistance, saving them from $0.75 to $3.49 per call and businesses only pay when interested customers contact them via the phone by responding to special offers which they hear targeted to their specific lookup request.
Over 35,000 leading local and national merchants and service providers are already advertising on the service, including 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Rescue Rooter, Entertainment Book, ServiceMagic (an IAC/InterActiveCorp Company), Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Terminix and more.
"1-800-FREE411 is an exciting, and logical, place for ServiceMagic to reach consumers seeking to hire prescreened and customer-rated residential contractors," said Craig Smith, Vice President of Business Development at ServiceMagic.com. "The service allows us to reach consumers at the exact time they are making a purchase decision and we only get charged when our phone rings."
"Our research indicates there's a tremendous appetite for calls at the local level," said Greg Sterling, head of the Interactive Local Media program for The Kelsey Group. "We also believe that calls will eventually be a near- ubiquitous offering in the small business market."
According to the Kelsey Group, 71% of small businesses prefer to pay for leads via the telephone versus clicks to their Website. The Pierz Group estimates that over 6 billion paid calls will be made to telephone directory assistance (411) in 2005 alone, which means that 1-800-FREE411 could save American consumers up to $8 billion a year.
"1-800-FREE411 does for the telephone what Google does for the Internet," said Chris Shipley, executive producer of the DEMO Conferences. "The 1-800-FREE411 service, which has been chosen out of hundreds of technologies to present at DEMOfall marries telephone directory search with the same performance based advertising that has been perfected online. Best of all, advertisers don't even need a website in order to participate."
Jingle Networks is a venture backed startup which was founded by veteran advertising and technology executives who have pioneered some of the most innovative and successful advertising solutions in online media.
About Jingle Networks
Jingle Networks' 1-800-FREE411 service revolutionizes the 411 (directory assistance) marketplace by offering consumers a FREE alternative to the high cost service provided by traditional carriers. In addition, FREE411.COM on the Internet provides consumers with an easy to use Web-based destination for telephone number lookups. National and local merchants sponsor this service with a 10-second audio advertisement about their services, which are played to consumers they make a 411 request for a business in their yellow pages category. For more information, visit: http://www.free411.com .
About DEMOfall 2005
The annual DEMO conferences focus on emerging technologies and new products, which are hand-selected from across the spectrum of the technology marketplace. The DEMO conferences have earned their reputation for consistently identifying tomorrow's cutting-edge technologies and have served as launch pad events for companies such as Palm, E*Trade, Handspring, and U.S. Robotics, helping them to secure venture funding, establish critical business relationships, and influence early adopters. Each DEMO conference features approximately 70 new companies, products and technologies. For more information on the DEMO conferences, visit: http://www.demo.com .
NOTE: Jingle Networks and FREE411 are trademarks of Jingle Networks, Inc. ServiceMagic is an operating business of IAC/InterActiveCorp (Nasdaq: IACI).
