Contact Information: Contact Information: For NewsGator Gavin Skillman or Jennifer Gazin 415.625.8555 Email Contact For Edelman Paul Cordasco 212.819.4853
NewsGator and Edelman Team to Create Next Generation Community & Advertising Solution
RSS Leader and Public Relations Giant Launch "Hosted Conversations" to Provide Rich Interactive Advertising Solution Designed to Create Discussion Forums for Clients' Brands
| Source: NewsGator
DENVER, CO and CHICAGO, IL -- (MARKET WIRE) -- December 18, 2006 -- NewsGator Technologies, Inc.,
the leading RSS platform company, today announced a partnership with
Edelman, the world's largest independent public relations firm, to market a
new, jointly developed product that combines hosted, topic-based
communities and dynamic conversational advertising with aspects of social
media, including RSS, commenting, blogging and rating.
The topic-based communities, called "Hosted Conversations," will offer
brands the opportunity to sponsor moderated conversations on topics
uniquely relevant to their products. The communities will include
aggregated RSS feeds featuring the best content hand-picked from the news
media, blogs and other social media. Each site will be hosted by an expert
on the topic, and allow visitors to join the discussion by commenting on
the host's posts, and by publishing their own posts on a separate blog.
"There is no shortage of information and opinion on virtually any topic
online," says Rick Murray, president of Edelman's me2revolution. "By
aggregating all the feeds on a topic, and then manually reviewing and
editing out all but the most substantive posts, the end result -- a Hosted
Conversation -- delivers better information to the people interested in
that topic faster than they could possibly do it through a typical feed or
manual search -- and then it allows them to join a discussion on that topic
with our expert, and with people just like them."
With Hosted Conversations, sponsors will be able to buy topical ads that
function as embedded widgets on a site, branded with their product's logo
and messaging. The ads will contain continuously updated RSS feeds from
outside sources containing news, opinion and other topical content, which
Web site visitors will be able to read, comment on and rate. The ads will
contain updated outside content to encourage conversation and create
community among readers, making Hosted Conversations a far richer, more
valuable advertising solution than traditional static advertisements.
"Adding relevant content to online advertising in order to stimulate
conversation around a brand opens up a new dimension to the medium -- a
full-service offering utilizing technology and interactivity to create
enhanced brand recognition, relevance and familiarity," said NewsGator CEO
J.B. Holston. "This initiative is a testament to the value that RSS
interactivity can provide not just to advertising, but to other forms of
media as well."
"Adding an interactive component to advertisements will provide great value
for our clients who are always looking for new ways to integrate more
relevancy and unique content into their advertising," Murray added. "By
providing a vehicle for discussion and conversation within the context of
advertisements, we're not only giving clients an entirely new platform to
reach their customers, but also giving consumers more of an active voice in
a product's brand identity."
Hosted Conversations are also an easy-to-roll-out solution for advertisers,
providing the hosting and technology as well as access to NewsGator's
library of feeds and other community tools. Advertisers can also request
content selection and moderation, making the offering very easy to manage.
NewsGator's Private Label Platform will provide the back-end technology for
the initiative, enabling the RSS feeds, rating and commenting while Edelman
will provide the design and content for the ads, and also monitor the
discussions. The Hosted Conversations service is currently available on a
topic-exclusive basis to Edelman clients. More information can be found at
NewsGator's Web site: http://www.newsgator.com/plhostedconversations.aspx
About NewsGator Technologies, Inc.
NewsGator Technologies is the world's leading RSS platform company.
Headquartered in Denver, CO, NewsGator develops and markets RSS aggregation
solutions for individual end users, enterprises and online content
providers. Using NewsGator products and solutions, businesses and consumers
can subscribe to news, information, podcasts and other relevant content
more efficiently and effectively than with traditional channels. With
NewsGator, users have access to RSS information via the Web, Microsoft
Outlook, mobile devices and both Windows- and Mac-based desktop clients.
All NewsGator products synchronize seamlessly, enabling users to read their
RSS feeds anywhere, anytime, with any device. For more information, visit
www.newsgator.com.
About Edelman
Edelman is the world's largest independent public relations firm, with
2,000 employees in 45 offices worldwide. The firm was named PRWeek's Large
Agency of the Year for 2006. Advertising Age recently named Edelman as the
best PR firm in its 2005 "Best Agencies" issue while PR Week awarded the
firm its "Editor's Choice" distinction at the start of 2006. Edelman's
network includes four specialty firms -- Blue (advertising), First&42nd
(management consulting), StrategyOne (research) and BioScience
Communications (medical education and publishing) -- making it possible to
provide clients with a comprehensive spectrum of communications services.
Visit us at www.edelman.com for more information.