Ecount News & Press Releases
STARZ! Selects Ecount's Visa® Branded incentive cards for STARZ! Summer of Gold Gift with Subscription Offer
Movie lovers who sign up for STARZ! for two months get a $20 Ecount Visa incentive card to spend anytime, anywhere in Starz's largest direct to consumer promotion ever
Conshohocken, Pa. - April 21, 2004 - Starting March 1st, Ecount's popular Visa-branded incentive cards will reward hundreds of thousands of movie lovers everywhere with $20 instant cash, courtesy of Starz Encore Group LLC (Starz), the largest provider of premium movie services in America. Ecount's stored-value Visa incentive cards can be used by STARZ! subscribers to buy anything, anytime, anywhere Visa cards are accepted. It's all part of the biggest national marketing blitz ever mounted by the Starz, the ïSTARZ! Summer of Gold' campaign, marking the June 12 exclusive television premier of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl on STARZ!.
After consumer and industry research, Starz decided to partner with Ecount, and offer an Ecount Visa stored-value card as a promotional incentive to consumers who sign up for STARZ!. The reasons: Starz's research found promotional response rates are much higher with incentive cards and Ecount's ability to manage incentive card fulfillment was far superior to those of other stored-value card service providers.
"From a marketing perspective, we find our response rate is higher with a stored value card. Traditional rebates aren't as well-received as the stored value card's ïcash in hand'," said Jennifer Winzerling, director of national promotions for Starz "Ecount's product allows us to provide new STARZ! subscribers with a reward that is convenient and easy, and it bears the STARZ! brand."
Movie lovers who subscribe to STARZ! for two months on cable or satellite starting between May 1st and June 30th will get a $20 Visa incentive card direct from Ecount, the industry's foremost provider of stored-value cards, virtual accounts, and electronic payment solutions. The $20 Ecount Visa incentive card can be used to pay for anything anywhere Visa debit cards are accepted.
"Consumers love new hit movies, and consumers value money, so it's a perfect pairing," says Winzerling of Starz. "It's very flexible for consumers. New STARZ! subscribers can use their $20 Ecount stored-value card anywhere Visa cards are accepted. They can even pay their cable or satellite bill with their Ecount Visa card. This type of flexibility and purchasing power is ultimately what consumers want, and the stored value card provides that."
Advertisements in eleven major national consumer magazines will generate over 140 million impressions, expected to generate a huge number of new subscribers, and an equal number of Ecount Visa stored-value cards; one for each new STARZ! subscriber.
"Marketing and promotions departments are seeing a critical consumer shift to more instant and more convenient rewards," says Matt Gillin, president and CEO of Ecount, in Conshohocken, Pa. "The paper rebate check and its inherent hassles are a thing of the past. By using stored value cards, Starz is giving their viewers what they want: a terrific movie selection, and easy-to-use incentives. Ecount is proud to partner with Starz, and provide them with an innovative, easy to implement, easy to fulfill program that drives consumer behavior."
Movie lovers can learn more about the free STARZ! $20 Visa incentive card offer by visiting HYPERLINK "http://www.starz.com" www.starz.com during the promotion period (May 1 through June 30, 2004) and downloading the incentive card offer form. When you sign up for STARZ! for two months on cable or satellite you will be asked to send in the incentive card order form and two months billing statements from STARZ! to receive your $20 Visa incentive card.
ABOUT STARZ ENCORE GROUP
Starz is the largest provider of premium movie services in the United States, with approximately 151 million pay units. Starz' offerings include the Starz Super Pak®, with up to 13 digital movie channels, and more than 750 movies per month; Starz On Demand®, the only on-demand pay TV subscription service available on cable, satellite, and broadband platforms; and a suite of advanced video offerings, including STARZ HDSM, Encore HDSM, and Starz On Demand HDSM. Starz is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation (NYSE: L, LMCb), http://www.Starz.com.
ABOUT ECOUNT
Ecount is an industry-leading electronic payments company that provides a better way for businesses to pay people, and for people to get paid. Through their proprietary payments platform and extensive line of special purpose debit products, Ecount enables businesses to replace traditional paper payments with more cost-effective and efficient electronic payments that are delivered onto virtual and plastic debit cards. To date, more than 500 companies, including 24 of the Fortune 100, have utilized one of Ecount's e-payment products, and over one million customers have received an Ecount payment. Founded in 1997, Ecount is a privately-held company headquartered in Conshohocken, Pa. The Company is a Forbes ïBest of the Web' award winner, a strategic marketing alliance partner of MasterCard International, and inventor of the first virtual MasterCard card. Ecount can be reached at http://www.Ecount.com.