GMTV AND OPERA TELECOM SCOOP TOP HONOURS AT SMS 2002 AWARDS

GMTV and Opera Telecom have won the award for 'Best practice in consumer application at the SMS 2002 Awards.

14 February 2002 - GMTV scooped the top honours for its 'Inch-Loss Text Tips campaign, beating 13 other entries for the award. Partnering with SMS premium service provider, Opera Telecom, GMTV launched the first SMS Programme Support Material on national terrestrial TV, approved by the Independent Television Commission as a legitimate means of delivery. The judges believed that GMTVs Inch-Loss SMS campaign demonstrated commitment to SMS, capability, scale, interactivity and mass marketing.

Promotions for the Inch-Loss Text Tips accompanied GMTVs popular Inch-Loss brand of programming across 2 weeks. GMTV Presenters encouraged viewers to get further motivational support for their weight loss aspirations from mobile messages. The four Inch-Loss experts, Dr. Hilary Jones, Amanda Ursell (nutritionist), Nicki Waterman (fitness guru) and Pete Cohen (life coach), wrote the 56 messages, which were arranged in a fluid monthly flow and sent out twice per day, morning and evening. Subscription at a cost of 4.00 was through a Premium Rate phoneline. All SMS delivery was handled by Opera Telecom.

GMTV has achieved 20,000 subscriptions to the SMS service to date, with more to come from sales of the Inch-Loss video, which also features the Inch-Loss Text Tips information. GMTVs website (www.gmtv.co.uk) will also carry Inch-Loss Text Tips subscription details throughout 2002. Demand for the SMS Text Tips far outstripped that for the video, a more traditional form of Programme Support Material, which was promoted in the same airtime window.

Further Inch-Loss TV strands are planned throughout the year, and the SMS promotional campaign for the Inch-Loss Text Tips will continue alongside this programming. Margaret Sawdon, Head of Interactive TV at GMTV, comments, We are breaking new ground in using technologies such as SMS within our marketing campaigns and this award acknowledges that we have been very successful in doing so. This innovative SMS activity has opened a brand new revenue stream for GMTV. Its pioneering approach of providing information for our viewers will now replace all previous forms such as leaflets and printed factsheets. GMTV is now adopting the strategy of integrating SMS into its programme schedule as a matter of course."

As part of its zero-cost-of-entry, revenue-share proposition, Opera Telecom is developing and managing innovative SMS marketing campaigns on behalf of GMTV without them having to incur any set-up charges. GMTV is able to benefit from compelling ideas designed to target their audience in new and innovative ways without the need to manage itself the background infrastructure that is supporting the delivery of SMS campaigns.

Gary Corbett, Managing Director of Opera Telecom, says, We are very pleased to have been involved in a very successful SMS marketing programme at GMTV. SMS campaigns provide businesses with a new and 'in-vogue opportunity to delineate their message from the competition, whilst realising clear revenue opportunities immediately - and all this without having to invest in costly infrastructure. GMTV have already been able to capitalise on this and have seen tangible results. We expect the SMS market will increase by an order of magnitude during the next 12 months."

About Opera Telecom
Headquartered in Brindley Place, Birmingham, and with a first-year turnover in excess of 30m, Opera Telecom is one of the fastest growing and profitable providers of SMS premium services worldwide. It also boasts a full range of telecom service facilities, which include International switching, IVR bureau, web development team, unified messaging platform, ISP and WAP infrastructure as well as a sophisticated billing system.

As part of its unique zero-cost-of-entry, revenue-share proposition, Opera Telecom is developing and managing innovative SMS marketing campaigns on behalf of its clients without them having to incur any set-up charges. Opera provides the infrastructure set-up and SMS campaign management, which allows companies to generate revenue quickly from their SMS marketing campaigns utilising unbranded content such as competitions, quizzes, games, news and information services, presented as their own.

Opera Telecom also provides services direct to some of the world's leading portals, national broadcasters, national and regional publishers, international carriers, network operators and independent telecommunication companies. Customers include GMTV, beeb.com, BT, MSN, EMAP, Eirecom and ITV.

For further information, please contact:

Opera Telecom   
t. 0808 13-13-13-1   
www.operatelecom.com   
sales@operatelecom

Laura Scott/Ashley Carr
The itpr Partnership
t. +44 (0)1932 57 88 00
www.itpr.co.uk
lauras@itpr.co.uk