Say Hello Launches Local Information and Advertising Voice Portal

TORONTO -- Call Genie’s Enhanced Voice Directory (EVD) product has been chosen as the platform for a planned rollout of "Say Hello," a city-by-city network of advertiser-supported voice portals designed to connect local consumers with local merchants.

"Beginning with 'Jax Say Hello' in Jacksonville, Fla., in cooperation with The Florida Times-Union newspaper, we're launching a nationwide rollout of 'Say Hello' voice portals designed to supply local business, residential, and government phone listings to callers for free, along with additional locally-relevant channels for professional sport scores, movie theater listings, weather, and classifieds for real estate listings and automobiles," said James Geddes, CEO of Say Hello.

"The calls are kept free through the use of locally-relevant voice ads from the local merchants, obtained by our syndicated media partners. Call Genie plays a key role in completing the category search calls, serving up highly-targeted ads and, in those cases when a caller needs operator assistance, engaging a live operator and then returning the caller to where they were with the requested listings and ads. That streamlined intervention reduces our live operator costs, and thus maintains the integrity of our wide array of relevant content channels," added Geddes.

Call Genie's EVD has been selected to manage information from a variety of content providers, including local newspapers and yellow pages publishers. The information may be combined by Call Genie with voice ads from Say Hello and live-operator services from iTouchPoint (ITP) to deliver a high quality, seamless solution. Say Hello has contracted Call Genie to play a key role in the deployment of 'Say Hello' portals to various U.S. metropolitan markets in the coming months.

"Call Genie believes that the unique voice-based, mobile-media advertising network and local information listings service delivered by 'Say Hello' voice portals will deliver significant value to mobile consumers," said Michael Durance, CEO of Call Genie.

Say Hello has plans to introduce localized information and advertising through 'local market voice portals' in 200 cities beginning in 2007 and thereafter, to deliver a national-coverage but localized content advertising network, targeted specifically at the mobile consumer. The firm is privately funded.