1-800-FREE411 Sells Out 2008 Sponsorship Inventory

Jingle Networks, operator of the 1-800-FREE411 ad-supported, directory assistance service announced that it has snagged a crop of new advertisers--and sold out all available sponsorship inventory for 2008 in the process.

While Menlo Park, Calif.-based Jingle can play direct response-style ads that are tailored to callers' specific search, the company can also place 10-12 second ads at the front of 1-800-FREE411 calls--and it's this sponsorship inventory that brand advertisers like McDonald's have snapped up in advance.

McDonald's joins brands like AMC Theaters, Earthlink, and Nationwide that have renewed their contracts with Jingle. Meanwhile, 1-800-FREE411 won new business from advertisers like Allstate, Cablevision, Wyndam Hotels and FordDirect, Ford's official Internet marketplace.

Jingle's 1-800-FREE411 service handles some 20 million calls per month, and according to Mark Marrocco, president of Tightrope Interactive, that reach combines with front-end targeting capabilities and back end analytics to create "an amazing distribution channel for advertisers."

El Grenada, Calif.-based Tightrope is a digital media planning and buying agency that handles search and lead generation efforts for clients like mobile entertainment provider, Flycell. "We used 1-800-FREE411 for a direct response campaign with Flycell, where users in a given geographic area would hear an ad saying 'would you like this particular ringtone," Marrocco said.

"Flycell already had data on which ringtones were most popular in each region, so we used that knowledge to drive better performance with Jingle's geotargeting." Marrocco also said that Tightrope was using 1-800-FREE411 for branding efforts with a VoIP client, as well as clients in the travel industry.

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