Zagat Goes Mobile With Visa As Sponsor
- by August 21, 2007
Visa Signature, in a deal arranged by AKQA and sold by Interep's Winstar Interactive Media, signed on as exclusive sponsor for the first two months of the mobile site, which is compatible with all Web-enabled phones. AOL's Third Screen Media is Zagat.mobi's ad-serving partner, and Zagat worked with Starcut to design and develop the site, and has licensed the Starcut Media One platform.
The free service provides users with basic restaurant, nightlife and hotel content for all major U.S. cities, London and other select international destinations. The content includes listing info such as addresses, phone numbers and hours; links for directions, movie times, airline sites, etc.; and such features as "send to a friend via SMS" and "find nearby."
Paid subscribers to Zagat.com will also receive ratings and reviews of the listed businesses.
Later this year, Zagat also plans to use the mobile site to launch its first-ever shopping service, giving consumers the ability to buy lifestyle products, fashion, gourmet products and entertainment, revealed Nina Zagat, co-founder and co-chair of Zagat Survey.
Visa Signature's deal with Zagat.mobi extends the brand's recent relationship with Zagat that also includes the sponsorship of ZAGAT.com menus, ads on the weekly ZagatBuzz online newsletter, and the giveaway of "Zagat to Go" software for smartphones. Visa Signature is also the default credit card on Zagat.com.
"We are especially excited about devices like the iPhone, for which ZAGAT.mobi is optimized," Zagat said. "We are delivering mobile advertisers highly motivated and active consumers who use their phones constantly to accomplish tasks for both work and play. That's a great environment for any marketer."
