Daily Archives: May 22, 2009

B2C, Online, Search, Searching, Services, Tracing

People search company offer Father’s Day gift

Tracesmart, the online people search providers, will be joining in the Father’s Day celebrations on 21st June this year, by helping families to find relatives. Tracesmart are offering visitors the chance to win a £100 Marks & Spencer gift card to put towards a reunion party, if they find their missing family member using the Tracesmart database.

Last year, the company ran a hugely successful ‘Missing Person’ campaign, and researchers at Tracesmart were able to reunite more than one hundred individuals. A number of those who contacted Tracesmart for assistance are now in contact with their fathers or children. They will be looking forward to Father’s Day this year, and spending the day together for the first time. Tracesmart’s campaign will aim to raise the profile of online searches and demonstrate how simple people searches can be, as Owen Roberts, Tracesmart’s Communications Manager commented,

“Here at Tracesmart, we realise that some people will need extra encouragement to kick start their search. So we want to offer our full support and assistance to those people who are constantly putting off this important trace, which could change their lives.”

One of the families Tracesmart recently reunited after 30 years apart was Debra and her father Daniel. Debra’s parents were young when they had her and her brother, and must have found it difficult as the marriage dissolved and Debra’s mother took her young family to Scotland. After years of wondering how to find her father, Debra found Tracesmart online. Debra contacted the Missing Person campaign team and asked for help to find her father, who she had not had contact with since she was two years old. She filled out a form, and included all the information she knew about him. The initial people search found no definite results, as her father’s name is not unusual. The researcher decided to find Daniel’s siblings, so a birth search was conducted and a sister, Lucy, was found. It was necessary to perform a further search, using marriage records to find Lucy’s married name. The contact details for Debra’s aunt were then located via an electoral roll search. Debra subsequently wrote a letter to her aunt, and within days she heard a response.

The family have now been reunited and Debra says “I love being able to talk to my Dad now, and he is glad that I found him, so thank you Tracesmart, as I couldn’t have done it without you.”

The Father’s Day campaign kicks off on Thursday 21st of May, with the winner of the £100 Marks and Spencer gift card being chosen on Wednesday 17th June and the result being announced the following day.

Please be aware that the names of the people mentioned in this story have been changed at their request.

About Tracesmart

  • Owen Roberts – has worked in the creative, advertising and communications industries for over 25 years and is the voice of Tracesmart. Heading up the communications team, he raises public awareness of the company through various media driven PR campaigns.
  • Tracesmart Limited – Since the launch of its website in 2004, Tracesmart Limited has established itself as one of the UK’s leading providers of online people tracing tools. www.tracesmart.co.uk combines state of the art search technology with an extensive collection of consumer data, providing one of the most powerful and successful systems to trace people.
B2b, B2C, Internet, News, Online, SEO, Services, Social Networking

Bigmouthmedia Unveils British Business Top Social Networking Executives

A new bigmouthmedia survey has identified the UK market’s biggest business users of online social networking tools.

Following extensive research, Carnival Cruises’ John Heald and On Holiday Group CEO Steve Endacott have been revealed as the business leaders trading in Britain that have most readily adopted services like LinkedIn, Facebook and twitter as part of their essential marketing tool kit.

“Social networking may have become one of the most talked about trends in the online world, but until now there has been little hard evidence showing to what extent the business community has embraced these tools. Our research shows that while many leading executives are now deriving measurable benefits f r o m this rapidly developing channel, some of the UK’s most prominent organisations have failed to get to grips with this important trend,” said Lyndsay Menzies, bigmouthmedia Chief Operations Officer.

While the social media has been one of 2009’s most hyped phenomena, little evidence exists as to what extent businesses are deriving benefits f r o m the plethora of available services. In order to gauge real-world attitudes to the tools, bigmouthmedia assessed the online networking performance of 50 CEO’s & senior marketing executives selected f r o m the FTSE100 and the Sunday Times Fast Track 100.

Carnival’s Senior Director John Heald emerged as the clear winner in the FTSE100 category. He uses a combination of Facebook and blogging to reach out to past, present and future customers.

“The internet has changed the way that people want to communicate with companies, and even the FTSE100 has to come to terms with that. Customers have become accustomed to a certain level of transparency and informality in their dealings with business and even large-scale enterprises need to adjust their marketing strategies accordingly.”

Heald’s use of social media proved to be a relative rarity amongst the FTSE100 executives sampled. Only 25% of them engage in any form of online networking, compared to 80% of senior players f r o m Fast Track companies.

Topping the table f r o m the fast growth companies listed in the Fast Track 100 is On Holiday Group CEO and founder Steve Endacott. The former MyTravel chief employs a range of tools including Facebook, LinkedIn, twitter, Plaxo and Xing to promote his travel company and believes that they are an essential part of the modern business toolkit. “I believe that these are tools every business has to get to grips with. There’s a generation of consumers growing up with social media, and unless you truly understand the culture there’s a real danger of losing touch with them,” he said.

LinkedIn emerged as the senior executive’s networking tool of choice. Half of those surveyed use the service, while 80% of the FTSE100 managers that engage in online networking use it as their only application.

“Social media is simply about listening and interacting with your customers, using channels that many staff will already be familiar with, such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Digg. It is common sense, and it’s perhaps unsurprising that the majority of the FastTrack companies are ahead of the curve in this respect,” commented Econsultancy’s Chris Lake.

“What’s needed is a shift in mindset. Firms should embrace customer feedback and act on it. By engaging with customers you increase satisfaction, which is a proven way of generating repeat business and referrals. Why wouldn’t you want to do that? “

About bigmouthmedia 
Founded in 1997, bigmouthmedia is Europe’s largest independent digital marketing agency. With a team of over 200 staff located across 13 offices in 10 countries on 3 continents, the company maximises exposure for major brands online through a variety of fully integrated digital marketing channels: Search engine optimisation, PPC, Online Media Planning, Affiliate marketing, Social Networking, Brand Monitoring, Online PR and Web Analytics. The bigmouthmedia on Twitter, bigmouthmedia on Mobile Twitter and bigmouthmedia on friendfeed services provide constant up to date digital marketing news to ensure subscribers are fully informed and aware of all industry developments.

Via EPR Network
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B2C, eCommerce, Entertainment, News, Online, Shopping

Women’s Digital Media Company to Donate 10% of Best-Selling Mobile Game Profits to Kiva

LimeLife, the leading women’s cross-platform digital media company, today launched the “Apps for Good” campaign, contributing 10% of profits from its popular Hollywood Hangman iPhone game within a one-month period from May 21st to June 21st to Kiva.org, the micro-lending platform that alleviates poverty one loan at a time. Available on Apple® iTunes® for the iPhone and iPod Touch, Hollywood Hangman is a best-selling game on mobile phones, and is one of the first iPhone games to offer the social and multiplayer features enabled by Facebook Connect and Multiplayer WiFi.

LimeLife realizes the importance of giving back to non-profits such as Kiva, which bolsters the opportunity for women in developing countries to cultivate an income and achieve economic independence. By encouraging consumers to download Hollywood Hangman, LimeLife will pave the way for people like Amavi Akoete, a Togoan 35 year-old mother of six to launch her jewelry-making business or Dulia Huanca, a Peruvian 23 year-old mother to launch her fruit stand.

“Bridging the gap between games and the developing world, LimeLife is excited to launch its Apps for Good Campaign by promoting a fun activity while creating a way for consumers to make a positive contribution to the world,” says Kristin McDonnell, LimeLife CEO. “By downloading Hollywood Hangman, consumers can help change the lives of many, helping to alleviate poverty one small purchase at a time.”

How consumers can participate in the Apps for Good Campaign:
1.) Between today and June 21st, consumers can click on the following link to purchase and download Hollywood Hangman for their iPhone or iPod Touch:http://itunes.com/apps/hollywoodhangman

2.) Consumers are encouraged to email, tweet, and update their social networking status to let their friends know how they can download Hollywood Hangman on their iPhone or iPod Touch

3.) Consumers can use the Facebook Connect feature within the game to ping their friends to join them in playing Hollywood Hangman to support Kiva

4.) Consumers can track the progress of LimeLife’s Apps for Good Campaign by following the LimeLife iPhone Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/LimeLifeiPhone

About Hollywood Hangman
In a graphically rich gaming format, Hollywood Hangman combines word puzzle fun with celebrity, movie, TV, and music trivia for an exciting twist on the classic Hangman game. Players move up in status, going from a “Hollywood Hopeful” to a “Celebrity A-Lister”, by playing and solving Hangman word puzzles that boast their knowledge of showbiz, celebrity gossip and music.

About LimeLife, Inc. 
LimeLife, Inc., a Red Herring Global 100 company based in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a digital media company focused on the women’s market at the intersection of community, shopping, and entertainment. LimeLife is dedicated to creating fresh and smart experiences most relevant to 18-34 year old, media savvy women across multiple digital platforms. LimeLife can be accessed on the web at LimeLife.com and via mobile at m.LimeLife.com. LimeLife’s premium mobile content — games, wallpapers, text alerts and applications — is available through the major US wireless carriers. LimeLife’s MySnaps™ social shopping application and Hollywood Hangman are available on the iPhone.

About Kiva
Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe. The people you see on Kiva’s site are real individuals in need of funding – not marketing material. When people browse entrepreneurs’ profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, they are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), a lender will receive email journal updates and track repayments.

Via EPR Network
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