They all work with Say Now – the entertainment channel that has grown in ONE YEAR from 50,000 users to over 2 MILLION!

www.saynow.com

Over the past year, SayNow has enabled many superstars artists to connect with their fans in personal and powerful new way.  SayNow Stars include the Jonas Brothers, Ashley Tisdale, Chris Brown, Tila Tequila, 50 Cent, Soulja Boy, Yung Joc, Omarion, Alicia Keys, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Faith Hill, Brooks & Dunn, and Tyrese to name a few.

SayNow gives these artists a local phone number that they give to their audience.  This phone number becomes the best way for the artists to personally stay in touch with their fans.  They can mention the number during radio/TV interviews or at concerts, add it to their web or MySpace page, etc.  Fans that call the number listen to the artist’s welcome greeting and opt-in to the artist’s phone community.  They are alerted when the artist broadcasts new messages, allowing them to hear new voice and text messages, record messages, and even connect to other fans.  And most powerfully, fans can even receive phone calls from the artist!  Artists routinely leave broadcasts, respond to their messages, poll their fans, and even sell content.  And unlike the web, email, or even MySpace, fans know the artist is involved since it’s their voice on the line.

Highlights from this past year:

Everyone knows what to do with a phone number.  Chris Brown, Tila Tequila, and Jonas Brothers have over 200K subscribers and R Kelly, Soulja Boy, and Tyrese have over 100K on SayNow.    These artists used creative ways to get their number in the hands of the fans.  For example, Tyrese mentioned his number on BET’s 106 & Park and picked up 50K callers in a day.  R Kelly added his number to the end of the “I’m a flirt” music video and picked up nearly 100K in his first month. 

You always have your phone with you.  When meeting his idol, Stevie Wonder, Platinum recording artist and actor Tyrese had to tell someone – so he called his SayNow fans.  He left his first message from the audience waiting for Stevie to appear.  His second was just after being invited on stage to sing with Stevie.  And his third was Stevie himself leaving a message from Tyrese’s phone.  “Not a lot of things or people impress me, but I’m just excited to know that we are talking with 60K people and sending some love,” said Stevie Wonder.  Tyrese floored his fans with these messages, yet his phone was the only technology that could have captured this powerful moment.
Create a powerful army.  As the Jonas Brothers were growing in popularity, they used SayNow to provide their fans with tour updates.  One afternoon, Kevin sent a message telling the fans, “We are in New Jersey and we haven’t had bagels yet.  If you are planning on bringing anything to the show, maybe bagels are a really good idea!”  Their fans heard the message and girls toting hundreds of bagels showed up to the concert that night (Associated Press, Sept 2007).

“Oh my god!  I can’t believe it’s you”.  What does Menudo, Tyrese, Huey, Cassidy, Bobby Valentino and countless other artists share in common?  They use SayNow to call their fans and have a live conversation, directly on their phone.  Artists listen to the messages their fans record, and when they hear someone they want to call, they press 5 – and ring the phone of the fan.  Fans are shocked when their artists are so close and personal.  Jose from Menudo prefers this feature over voice messages because it’s more meaningful.  “When you call people, it’s deeper.  I just like talking to people.”

Phone communities increase sales.  J Records used SayNow to create a groundbreaking contest for R&B artist Cassidy.  They held a “rap battle”, encouraging fans to record 16 bars and compete with other fans for the best freestyle.  They expected 2,000 entries, but “with SayNow, we were able to quantify the public’s interest in Cassidy.  This contest had 23,000 contestant entries and 30,000 fan votes. That’s pretty big,” said Carolyn Williams, J Records Marketing VP.  Because of the success of the content, MTV covered the finals on Direct Effect, and the first week of sales surpassed expectations and sold 63,000 units.  Once fans identify with the artist, as American Idol showed us, it’s natural for them to support the artist, which the sales clearly showed.
 

SayNow is free for artists and for fans.  In addition to keeping in touch with their fans, artists use SayNow to present offers they think their best fans will enjoy including last minute appearances, promotions, ringtone and other mobile commerce offerings.