MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Jul 22, 2014) - Casey Cordes, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Apptigo International, Inc. (
"Despite only recently becoming a public company, the development of Apptigo has been a long journey spanning several years for my co-founder, David Steinberg, and I; and it has been marked by an ever-evolving series of challenges and opportunities that have culminated in bringing our most ardent, creative ambitions to life. Our shared vision and overarching goal for Apptigo remains crystal clear: Apptigo will earn distinction as a global powerhouse, where inspired, transformational mobile apps capable of 'creating movements' are created and successfully brought to market.
"With this vision firmly guiding our day-to-day development activities, we have committed to executing specific business-building strategies designed to soundly differentiate Apptigo in the market place. Instead of creating 'me-too' apps that simply aim to capitalize on other popular apps' successes, Apptigo's approach has been and will remain squarely focused on the creation of original, impactful and highly experiential apps for which we best leverage the use of technology and for which we've identified a far-reaching need and demand among prevailing mobile users.
"According to industry research firm Gartner, the mobile app market is white hot and growing rapidly. They predict that by the year 2016, there will be 310 billion downloaded apps reaching $74 billion in annual revenue. So, there is no question that the market opportunity for us is immense and compelling.
SCORE™. Everyone wants to... now anyone can.™
"Our first mobile app introduced in the Apple® App Store(SM) earlier this month is SCORE™, an exciting, new, interactive dating game that allows people of all ages in local or far-flung geographic areas to determine their compatibility by answering fun questions across a broad range of topics. SCORE is the result of nearly two years of investigative market discovery and creative development and represents what we believe is the most innovative new mobile app entry in the $2.1+ billion online dating industry. In SCORE, we have combined intuitive geomapping technology with the power of social networking; vibrant, clever animation; and a very unique 'personality' that our focus groups agree is highly engaging and entertaining. What's more, unlike other leading mobile dating apps available on the market, SCORE has built-in security features that fully empower users to control the amount of detailed, personal information shared with other users on the platform.
"Through successful implementation of planned marketing initiatives utilizing social media, app review sites, local events, co-sponsored promotions and other tried-and-true brand-building activities, we strive to win SCORE a global user base numbering millions of people within the next 12-24 months. However, with less than 300,000 users on the SCORE platform, the compelling economics of our financial model provide for Apptigo to achieve notable, sustainable profitability that should only strengthen further with broader market adoption.
SCORE Marketing Activities
"Because SCORE is naturally clever, so too should be its marketing. Moreover, given that the demographic we are targeting for SCORE is so large (reportedly, one in ten Americans -- over 30 million people -- have used an online or mobile dating app), it is our intent to narrow our initial focus on reaching social influencers, early adopters and the highest purchasing demographics first. Bearing in mind that it is much more fun to 'SCORE' when there are more people to 'SCORE' with, we intend to concentrate our initial marketing activities on markets where there are larger audiences of prospective users to SCORE.
"More specifically, our market penetration strategy provides for marketing to our target audience in specific major metropolitan markets, beginning immediately in Florida with Miami, Tampa and Orlando, and then expanding up the Eastern Seaboard to New York City before turning westward to Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix, Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco. We look forward to announcing further details on specific geomarketing initiatives in the coming months.
"Our early brand-building activities have focused largely on advertising and social media initiatives on Facebook (www.facebook.com/apptigo) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/apptigo), which, thus far, have been yielding us great results. In fact, we were recently informed by the folks at Twitter that our initial campaigns are among the top performing on their platform. Apptigo is indeed seeing a marked increase in the number of people who are coming to SCORE's dedicated web sites, www.everyonewantstoscore.com and www.score.singles, and who are downloading the app as a result of these and other brand awareness campaigns.
"Although we are confident that the opportunity to achieve our growth objectives for SCORE can indeed be realized by marketing the app strictly on the iOS (Apple) platform, we can materially accelerate adoption and greatly enhance SCORE's financial performance by adapting the app for use on Android devices. To that end, we are currently engaged in this development process and hope to have SCORE available in the Google Play™ store later this year.
"Once SCORE reaches meaningful market penetration, longer term marketing plans call for positioning SCORE as a valuable cross-promotion tool for major national brands, concert/event producers and local businesses seeking to reach and influence our prized universe of singles.
Team and Portfolio Expansion
"David and I are very proud of the team we have assembled at Apptigo, representing some of the digital media industry's most talented and accomplished professionals. Just last week, we announced three key additions to our senior leadership team and will look to further enhance the depth of our organization as our Company's near-term growth objectives are achieved.
"Not ones to put all of our proverbial eggs in one basket, Apptigo is intent on producing a robust, well-rounded portfolio of innovative mobile apps to complement SCORE. In this regard, we have three, novel new concepts currently 'under wraps' and in development, all of which our early market research studies suggest could prove to be major blockbusters in the mobile app arena. These concepts survived our rigorous concept discovery phase, and will now proceed through our concept design process to define the respective user experience design and interaction, art direction, ecommerce development, cross platform app development, animation, illustration and photography needs, customer relationship management, information architecture, geo-location requirements, technology integration and back-end content system management. We are very excited about these new app prospects and look forward to sharing more details about them as they move through our proprietary digital innovation processes.
Investor and Public Relations Activities
"On the corporate communications front, Apptigo has recently engaged the firm of Hanover|Elite, a full service financial communications company specializing in investor relations, corporate branding, regulatory compliance and capital markets access and advisory. Working in concert with Hanover|Elite, we are developing, implementing and supporting a fully integrated investor and public relations strategy designed to elevate our Company's profile on both Wall Street and Main Street and, in the process, attract a much broader audience of prospective new Apptigo stakeholders.
"In addition, it is our goal to be in position to up-list our common stock to a national trading exchange within the next 12 months. To that end, our management team intends to begin meeting with officials from both the Nasdaq OMX and New York Stock Exchange later this year to begin our preparation for an uplisting. We will also be conducting non-deal financial road shows in key U.S. financial centers and plan to participate in select investment conferences and forums in the coming months -- all with a goal of winning Apptigo greater awareness among investment professionals, digital media analysts and institutional investors. As events are confirmed, we will issue press announcements containing the salient details.
"To ensure that you receive ongoing information about Apptigo as soon as it becomes publicly available, we'd like to invite you to provide us with your preferred contact information so that Hanover|Elite can ensure you are added to our appropriate email or phone database. As we release important news announcements, details about scheduled conference calls and investor meetings, and other important communique, you can count on being notified in a timely manner. It is through these types of proactive activities that we intend to reach and educate our stakeholders and the professional investment community, at large, on Apptigo's compelling growth strategies, market differentiation and long term growth potential.
Closing Comments
"As we move through to the end of 2014, now is not the time to be timid or hesitant. Rather, we are inspired to continue making bold strides forward to establish Apptigo as one of the leading, most respected creative agencies in the world. I am very proud of our Company's progress, to date, and of the many exciting developments that have transpired over the past several months. The accomplishments we've achieved, thus far, are clear evidence of our persistent adherence to a long term strategy focused on distinguishing our Company as a world class company that will endure for years to come.
"In closing, I'd like to express my sincere appreciation to all of Apptigo's employees, collaborators and business advisors for their commitment to excellence and for their unyielding devotion to our Company's mission. Additionally, I'd also like to thank all of our fellow shareholders for your belief in Apptigo and for your valued support and confidence. We intend to continue working very hard to ensure that the trust you've placed in us is well deserved and rewarded," concluded Cordes.
About Apptigo International, Inc.
Founded in 2012 by the forward-thinking, creative minds behind such notable brands as Ruthless & Toothless, Absolut Vodka, Carnival Cruise Lines, Minute Maid and Renault, among many others, comes Apptigo International. The first app in Apptigo's portfolio, which was introduced to market in June 2014, is SCORE, an interactive dating game that allows people to determine their compatibility through answering entertaining and engaging questions. In a slightly crazy, fun and lighthearted way, SCORE gets down to asking the questions that get to the heart of what people have in common. For more information about the Company, please visit www.apptigo.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are indicated by words such as "expects," "intends," "anticipates," "believes," "forecasts," "plans" and similar expressions. These forward looking statements are based on our current expectations and actual results could differ materially. Our ability to achieve the results anticipated in such forward-looking statements is subject to risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, our ability to successfully centralize and consolidate various support functions, operating results, market acceptance of our solutions, strong brand recognition and other risks detailed from time to time in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are made in accordance with "safe harbor" provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and no assurance can be given that the future results that are the subject of such forward-looking statements will be achieved. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
Contact Information:
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Hanover|Elite
Kathy Addison
Chief Operating Officer
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