Mobile pioneers 12snap and Materna conclude extensive co-operation agreement
· Expanding mobile marketing company 12snap and Materna Information & Communications sign strategic partnership in the growth market of high value-added mobile services.
· Materna partners with 12snap on the basis of their market leader position in creative marketing concepts and innovative applications.
· 12snap is currently involved in intensive negotiations with other major strategic partners and anticipates signing additional collaboration agreements in the next few months.
Munich/Dortmund September 23th, 2004 - 12snap, who recently won two Lions at Cannes 2004, today strengthens its position as Europe’s leading mobile marketing agency with the announcement of a strategic partnership with Materna Information & Communications, the global messaging heavyweight, based in Dortmund.
With the support of Materna, 12snap’s mobile marketing expertise can be focused on ever newer, multi-faceted international projects with even greater speed. “12snap’s success in Cannes, both this year and last, and their history as a pre-eminent creator of mobile concepts and innovative applications made them the obvious choice” said Helmut an de Meulen, Managing Director of Materna. “In our search for the right partner, it was imperative that whoever we teamed up with would perfectly complement the quality of our messaging services. I’m delighted to be working with 12snap”.
Materna is also an excellent fit for 12snap, based on their blue chip client list and desire to expand their campaigns across borders. By using Materna’s data communications infrastructure which has an outstanding industry reputation due to its dependability, 12snap can now centrally implement campaign co-ordination for numerous countries. This will allow 12snap to fine-tune campaigns to the needs of their multinational clients.
“The major benefit is that, using the Materna infrastructure, we can now service all our clients’ increasing mobile marketing needs even faster than before, both inside and outside Europe”, said Michael Birkel, CEO of 12snap AG. “Our technically advanced applications, such as the innovative 12mms product suite brought together for the Shrek 2 campaign for Ferrero, require an experienced messaging partner who can guarantee delivery and dependability, even at very high data loads.” And combining the know-how of a reliable and renowned messaging provider with the creative product offerings of 12snap, the number one European mobile marketing company, is an “ideal combination”.
This agreement with Materna is “the first of a number of significant collaborations resulting from intensive negotiations on multiple fronts over the past few months”, continued Birkel. “At this time, we are continuing discussions with two further major strategic partners: a global mobile operator as well as a leading mobile manufacturer.” Birkel expects these agreements to be reached in the next few months.
About Materna Information & Communications
A leading information and communications software company, Materna employs some 1,100 employees worldwide, achieving in 2003 a turnover of €142 million. In its Information business unit, Materna integrates IT solutions for process optimisation in business and government. Further business units comprise Customer Service & Support, IT Service Management, Business Portals, Content Management, and e-Government, while its Communications business unit offers Mobile Solutions and Unified Messaging products. This includes value-added mobile services such as SMS, MMS, WAP and mobile Java applications, which are currently distributed under the brand-name Anny Way. The Anny Way Academy is active in practical training and consulting services.
Press contact: Antje Krämer Tel. +49 173/701108, email. 
antje.kraemer@materna.de
About 12snap (
www.12snap.com)
Since 1999, 12snap has been creating innovative mobile marketing campaigns and customer loyalty programs for clients such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Nokia, adidas, L'Oréal, Sony, Wella, Vodafone and Ferrero. 12snap generates awareness and sales growth for its global marketing clients through use of mobile phone technology, the most personal communication vehicle of our time. As one of the leading European direct marketing firms, 12snap employs more than 60 employees at its offices in Munich, London, Milan and Stockholm. 12snap is the only mobile marketing company to be awarded the world-renowned ‘Lions’ for creativity at the International Advertising Festival in Cannes. Having won a Silver Lion in 2003 for Sony Playstation II, 12snap gained Silver and Bronze Lions in 2004 for "Flaschenpost” (Message in a Bottle) on behalf of Coca-Cola Germany.
Press contact: Zucker.Kommunikation, 12snap@zucker-kommunikation.de, presse@12snap.com Tel: +49 30/247 587-0, Fax: +49 30/247 587-77
