PR Newswire Launches Interactive Multimedia and Social Media Platform

NEW YORK, June 15 /PRNewswire/ -- PR Newswire and its broadcast and multimedia division, MultiVu, today announced the launch of the ARC™ engagement platform, a multimedia and social media platform designed to provide public relations practitioners with a dynamic tool for engaging and interacting with customers via any online location.

To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click:  http://www.multivu.com/players/English/43903-MultiVu-Audience-Engagement/

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090420/NY01337LOGO-b )

Developed as a free-standing, interactive media player and landing page, the ARC™ (Access, Reach, Connect) platform offers the ability to combine and distribute an entire catalog of assets – video, multimedia, photos, coupons and promotional content – through a single platform that exists on its own in any Web-based platform.  As users interact with the ARC™ platform, the system's comprehensive set of reporting metrics enables communications professionals to perform online activity analyses, real-time monitoring of impressions, views and streams, and in-depth social media monitoring and tracking.

"The ARC™ engagement platform is truly a game-changing tool for the public relations industry as it empowers companies to create a 'living and breathing' multimedia platform that when disseminated takes on a life of its own, growing and changing as users engage and interact with the content," said Bev Yehuda, vice president, Web Engagement, MultiVu, a PR Newswire company. "As more organizations create digital content, there is an increasing need for this content to update automatically and be easily shared by users. That is the power of the ARC platform, and the heart of today's increasingly interactive communications world."

Central to the ARC™ platform's design is an interactive multimedia player, which can be modified to showcase up to five individual segments of encoded video or audio content.  All video content is housed within the ARC™ platform and is also disseminated via PR Newswire's Online Video Distribution network, which includes sites such as YouTube, Yahoo! Video, Metacafe and AOL Video.

Accompanying the video player, the ARC™ engagement platform provides direct access to customized multimedia and text content as well as Web 2.0 command buttons, enabling online users to embed the player on blogs, websites or social networking Web pages. As the ARC™ player is shared across the Internet, PR Newswire's Social Media Metrics technology delivers insight into how one's brand, key messages, competitors, and industry topics are being discussed on blogs, social sites and online forums.  

Yehuda remarked, "This is a key element of the ARC platform as it serves to create a bread trail of content that is initially disseminated by clients but then can be spread further by any online user. Since the ARC™ player can be easily embedded into any blog, website or social media Web page, video content and related messages have the ability to go viral without any additional effort by the client."

Additionally, the ARC™ platform's customizable "call-to-action" buttons provide a stage where users can perform a host of functions that best meet the objective of the communications campaign, including click-to-purchase, social media tagging, and content sharing via sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The ARC™ platform also incorporates customizable text alongside the video player in order to maximize search engine optimization (SEO) and brand recognition.

Yehuda concluded, "The launch of the ARC engagement platform solidifies PR Newswire's position as the only commercial news distribution service offering an interactive media player that can be distributed broadly on which all content can be dynamically updated wherever the player has been embedded.  There is no technology available that matches what the ARC™ platform delivers to today's communications professional."

About MultiVu™

MultiVu™, a PR Newswire company, provides unsurpassed broadcast and multimedia production and global distribution services to organizations that want to reach the media, financial community, general public and other key audiences with their visual and audio messages.

Using the latest technologies and the vast distribution resources of PR Newswire, MultiVu™ multiplies the number of opportunities an organization has to communicate with specific audiences. A variety of current and developing platforms for tape and digital content make this possible, including traditional broadcast TV and radio, financial networks, company intranets, the Web and wireless devices.

About PR Newswire

PR Newswire is the global leader in innovative communications and marketing services, enabling organizations to connect and engage with their target audiences worldwide.

Through its multi-channel distribution network, audience intelligence, targeting, compliance, and measurement services, PR Newswire helps corporations and organizations conduct rich, timely and dynamic dialogues with the media, consumers, policymakers, investors and the general public, in support of building brands, generating awareness, impacting public policy, driving sales, and raising capital.

Pioneering the commercial news distribution industry 56 years ago, PR Newswire connects customers with audiences in more than 170 countries and in over 40 languages through an unparalleled network of offices in 16 countries across North and South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and via unique affiliations with the leading news agencies across the globe.  PR Newswire is a subsidiary of United Business Media Limited (UBM.L), a leading global business media company that serves professional commercial communities around the world. For more information, go to www.unitedbusinessmedia.com.

Media Contact:

Rachel Meranus, Vice President, Public Relations, PR Newswire at +1.201.360.6776 or [email protected]

SOURCE PR Newswire Association LLC