42 BELOW founders join forces w The Hyperfactory

42 BELOW founders join forces with The Hyperfactory
Global consortium of 42 BELOW founders and Hollywood heavyweights
partner with the world’s most awarded mobile agency

Auckland, 1 October 2007 – New Zealand-based, world-leading mobile agency The Hyperfactory has secured support and backing from an influential global consortium led locally by 42 BELOW duo Geoff Ross and Grant Baker.

The Consortium includes:
- Grant Baker, former CEO Blue Star, Empower and Chairman of 42 Below
- Geoff Ross, former advertising agency executive and CEO of 42 Below
- Stephen Sinclair, former CFO Empower and CFO of 42 Below
- Rich Frank, former President of Paramount Studios, former President of Walt Disney Studios, current Chairman of The Firm Entertainment and vice chairman of the American Film Institute, US
- Paul Frank, current Head of Television, The Firm Entertainment, US

All will be active in driving The Hyperfactory forward as the most exciting company emerging from New Zealand today. The US will be the major focus, with beachheads established in Australia, China and the UK.

The Hyperfactory is already the world’s most awarded mobile agency – the Consortium’s substantial investment is set to power this home-grown success story to even greater global growth and recognition.

Hyperfactory CEO Derek Handley says, “The commitment from the Consortium will help us realise the next steps in our global dream. Geoff Ross’s amazing passion and commitment to The Hyperfactory coupled with the Frank family’s influence on the global entertainment world is a dream come true for us.”

About The Hyperfactory
In an industry set to be worth more than US$16 billion by 2011, home-grown agency The Hyperfactory has secured an enviable position as the most experienced full-service mobile ideas and media company responsible for the most award-winning innovative mobile campaigns on the planet.

Founded seven years ago in Auckland by brothers Derek and Geoffrey Handley, The Hyperfactory creates, executes and analyses long-term mobile strategies for brands and agencies, regardless of the technology. Clients include Toyota, Motorola, Vodafone and Coke, all of whom rely on The Hyperfactory as an essential part of their mobile marketing strategies.

The company has experienced double-digit growth year on year since its inception and now has a US Headquarters in New York, International Headquarters in Auckland and sales and operations offices in Los Angeles, Shanghai, Hong Kong and India.

In New Zealand, more than 80% of all branded mobile activity is powered by The Hyperfactory. From the ubiquitous “text-to-win” type promotions through to leading-edge branded mobile channels on 3G, The Hyperfactory is the first port-of-call for brands and agencies looking to connect with their consumers on mobile.

On the global front, The Hyperfactory is the most awarded mobile marketing agency in the world, further demonstrating their world-leading innovation and passion for the mobile channel.

This year alone, The Hyperfactory has achieved:
- Recognition as the only mobile agency to be part of five Lions-winning campaigns at Cannes
- A double finalist nomination for the Mobile Entertainment Forum’s “Meffys” Marketing Campaign Award Category for the Johnson & Johnson Acuvue 3G Campaign and the TV and Video Services Award Category for the Adidas +10 Campaign
- A Bronze Clio in the Integrated Campaign Category with partner, Saatchi & Saatchi in NY. The Hyperfactory designed, developed and managed innovative, interactive mobile components of the “Tolerate Mornings" campaign for P&G's Folgers Coffee
- And most recently, Best in Show and Best Mobile Campaign at the influential OMMA Awards held in New York in September.

The Future
As the mobile media and advertising industry heats up with a number of notable acquisitions, most recently Nokia announced intentions to acquire The Hyperfactory’s main competitor Enpocket in a deal expected to be worth more than US$150m following quickly on the heels of the AOL purchase of leading mobile media network Third Screen Media for a rumoured US$110 million, The Hyperfactory looks set to continue on its phenomenal growth path.

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Or see www.thehyperfactory.com

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The Hyperfactory and international mobile marketing and media

The Third Screen: approaching 3 billion devices

During the 60s we saw the television screen make a huge and lasting impact on our lives. In the 90s it was the computer that became another ever-present screen which now has an enduring role in business and personal life worldwide. And with the turn of the new millennium came the Internet.

This move to enrich our lives with entertainment and information will simply not stop here. The drive for more content and more entertainment will continue.

The third screen that has become most prolific in this decade is the mobile phone screen, with almost three billion in circulation. Not only has the mobile reached all corners of the world, it is screen that never leaves our side, unlike the TV or computer screen. It is the fastest growing screen of the new millennium.

It is also the most cost-effective of all the screens, meaning we can all own one.

Mobility

The strongest of all drivers in our demand for entertainment, information and content is mobility. We want our content anywhere, anytime and only the stuff we want - personal content versus broadcast.

We have moved away from only having the choice of one channel on one TV in one room with only one time slot in the 70s, to needing a personalised screen that will serve you what you need, where you need it, 24/7.

The mobile phone meets and will continue to foster this need. The Blackberry craze is moving to an iPhone craze. Just as bandwidth, speed and cost efficiency greatly improved with the demand on the Internet, so too is mobile speed and cost rapidly improving.

Entertainment companies such as Michael Eisner’s Vuguru are now creating entertainment content specifically for mobile phones.

Brands In Hands
With this move to mobility and the greater dependency on our mobile phones, along with the increasing time spent on our phones, comes the realisation from brand owners that they need to get their brands on mobile screens. The dollar spend behind getting brands on mobile phones is about to accelerate parallel to the increase in mobile usage.

Advertising spend on digital media has grown rapidly through the late 90s and over the first seven years of this decade in an attempt to catch up with the amount of time we spend online. Mobile spend rates will do the same, as usage grows and the mobile becomes way more than just a phone.

The Need to Speak Thousands of Languages
With the television screen or the computer screen almost anyone can get their content on screen. It is simple technology that anyone can possess. In fact with viral emails, and sites such as YouTube, mySpace etc, anyone can simply do this from their computer.

Mobiles are different. There are thousands of different handsets all with differing properties and many different mobile networks. To send content to a phone there must be a myriad of supporting software created that allows the content to recognize the type of phone and network to enable it to be received.

The Hyperfactory has created and deployed dozens of software platforms and integration methodologies to enable this. Without it, programming, content, brands or messages cannot be placed on the palms of more than 2.5 billion users today. This experience and proven deployment is a huge advantage for The Hyperfactory and a significant barrier to other new entrant mobile marketers.

Market Size Forecasts
“As much as 25% to 30% of the $100 billion spent each year on brand advertising will find its way onto the mobile screen” John Stratton, VP Chief Marketing Officer, Verizon Wireless

“Mobile phone advertising market expected to grow to $1.26billion by 2009 from $45m in 2005” OVUM 2006

“Mobile advertising is a huge opportunity with the potential to generate in excess of $10 billion in annual revenues by 2010” The Shoesteck Group

The Global Mobile Marketing & SMS Market
The speed of growth in SMS has far exceeded that for internet usage. In the space of just a few years, simple SMS has generated a market worth an estimated US$35 billion in 2005. The Yankee Group estimate that more than 15% of these messages are being driven by mobile marketing or advertising services.

The Global Mobile TV Market
Mobile television subscribers will reach 102 million by the end of 2010, up from a current estimate of 6.4 million [Instat]. Mobile television services would have more than half a billion subscribers around the world in 2011 [ABI Research]. Informa predicts that by 2010, 291 million people worldwide will use mobile video services, up from about 53 million this year.

ENDS

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