Tech Startup Unlockd Launches Ad-Funded Platform with High-Profile Publishers and Boost Mobile to Reduce Customer Phone Bills
Partnerships with Yahoo, Twitter and major advertisers to Forever change the way consumers use and pay for their mobile phones
NEW YORK, Jan. 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Unlockd, a mobile platform with over $15 million in funding from major investors in the global media and tech sectors, has partnered exclusively with Boost Mobile, one of Sprint's prepaid brands, to launch Boost® Dealz - an Android app available for the U.S. market that's the first of its kind that helps customers reduce monthly phone payments in exchange for viewing exclusive content and offers when unlocking their smartphones.
Boost Dealz is available to Boost's current and new customers. The app connects users with relevant brands and offers, and users receive a $5 credit each month.
Geo-targeted ads, offers, discounts or content from brands such as Starbucks, Levi's and Lyft, are shown at various times as consumers unlock their Android smartphones. Users can interact for further information or dismiss ads with a simple click on the X.
See Demo here: https://vimeo.com/151943221
"Our U.S. launch exclusively with Sprint Telecom is a realization of our vision to forever change the way consumers pay for and use their mobile phones. To be the driver for collaboration and benefit for some of the world's biggest media companies, a tier-one telco and the end consumer is a huge coup and a move that will positively transform both the mobile advertising landscape and telco industry," said Matt Berriman, CEO and Co-Founder of Unlockd.
Not only is the model providing benefit back to consumers, it is breaking new ground for global telcos through the creation of new revenue streams from high-profile publishers and advertisers.
"Providing Boost subscribers with options to reduce their cost to communicate is in line with our goal of being the value leader in prepaid. Boost Dealz, built on the Unlockd solution, is an industry-first, completely optional opportunity for our customers to earn value in exchange for learning about products and services aligned with their interests. In addition, it delivers a new revenue stream to our business while providing an innovative avenue for advertisers and media publishers to reach a highly targeted audience," said Doug Smith, Director of prepaid product marketing, Sprint Telecom.
Unlockd is also powering search through Yahoo: "We're excited to integrate Yahoo Search into Unlockd, enhancing the user experience," said Soujanya Bhumkar, VP, Global Partnerships at Yahoo. "Our partnership with Unlockd is a strong indicator of our ongoing efforts to improve mobile user engagement, while powering monetization for our global partners."
Unlockd is also partnering with Twitter and its ad-serving and supply-side platform MoPub. "We're excited to be working with such a cutting-edge publisher. Unlockd's innovative creative unit, which offers buyers a unique full-screen mobile canvas coupled with key targeting aspects such as device ID, location, age, and gender, is the type of format that moves mobile advertising forward," said Kate Herbert, Sr. Director of Platform and Exchange Services at MoPub.
The Melbourne-based company, co-founded by Matt Berriman, Chris Kerrisk and Craig Watt, executed a beta launch in its home country, Australia, in late October 2015 with Lebara Mobile, a European-based MVNO. Unlockd has quickly proven the strength of its patented technology, programmatic capabilities and business model, rapidly securing partnerships with major telcos in the U.S., U.K, Europe and Asia.
"Our group was particularly attracted to Unlockd because it is such a clever and simple innovation," said Unlockd investor Jeff Emmanuel, founder of PLC Venture Capital (former Citibank Vice Chairman) based in Hong Kong. "It helps solve such a huge problem facing the global telecommunications industry, that of falling ARPU's [average revenue per user]."
By the end of 2016, Unlockd will launch its innovative model in the U.K, Europe and Asia.
ABOUT UNLOCKD
Unlockd is a revolutionary mobile-based technology, media and telecommunications business, connecting brands, content and relevant media to the consumer via a proprietary platform. The platform is changing the way people use and pay for their mobile phones, providing an innovative solution for the telecommunications and digital advertising industries. Consumers receive a discount to their mobile phone bills, free additional data or handset payments in return for viewing full screen ads, content or offers upon unlocking their mobile phone.
Founded in Melbourne, Unlockd now has offices in New York, Seattle, London and Paris with more than 50 staff across these regions. The business will have launched in over 6 international markets in 2016.
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SOURCE Unlockd
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