Trans World Entertainment and Juno Sign Exclusive Music Retailer Agreement: Trans World To Market Music, Videos, And Electronic Games To Juno's Millions of Members Business Wire - August 24, 1999 09:36 NEW YORK/ALBANY, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 24, 1999--Trans World Entertainment Corporation (Nasdaq: TWMC), a leading retailer of entertainment products, and Juno Online Services, Inc. (Nasdaq: JWEB), a leading provider of Internet-related services, today announced that they have signed an agreement for Trans World Entertainment to market entertainment products to Juno's millions of members through its e-commerce site, TWEC.COM. The alliance provides TWEC.COM with exclusive rights to sell CDs and tapes over the Juno service, and non-exclusive rights to sell videos, DVDs, electronic games, and related accessories.
TWEC.COM will advertise its entertainment products to users of Juno's Internet services through a coordinated campaign of interstitial, pop-up, and banner ads. Additional placements will include sponsor and partner blocks on the home page of Juno's portal site (www.juno.com), sponsor blocks in the site's entertainment section, and links to TWEC.COM content at various other locations. To fully capitalize on Juno's subscriber base--more than 7.2 million total Juno accounts have been created since 1996--TWEC.COM will implement a survey of the Juno member base to establish consumer preferences and target subscribers with specific offers and promotions that match their listening choices.
Robert J. Higgins, chairman and chief executive officer of Trans World Entertainment, said, "We're very excited about this relationship and recognize that Juno's position as a leading ISP will provide us with broad exposure to our target audience with specific interests in entertainment. This will offer us a significant new retail channel for our music, video, games, and DVD product lines."
"When choosing which entertainment retailer to partner with, one of our priorities was to maximize the value we could offer our subscribers," said Jordan Birnbaum, Juno's senior vice president of business development. "Trans World came out on top because of the sheer size of their inventory, and because their customer support system is one of the best in the business. We wanted Juno members who had a question about the services offered by the partner to know they could get answers as quickly as Juno answers its own members' questions."
In addition, Trans World Entertainment and Juno plan to develop "members only" programs to enhance the affiliate relationship, such as promotions at Trans World Entertainment retail stores, coupon distribution, concert information, and special discounts.
About Trans World Entertainment
Trans World Entertainment is the leading music retailer in the United States, operating 969 retail stores in 44 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico as well as an e-commerce site, www.twec.com. Mall locations include Record Town, Camelot Music, The Wall, Saturday Matinee and F.Y.E. Freestanding locations include Coconuts Music and Movies, Strawberries Music, Spec's and Planet Music.
About The Web's Entertainment Center (TWEC.COM)
TWEC.COM is the online hub for Trans World Entertainment's retail stores. With worldwide distribution spanning 16 countries in addition to the United States, the site features all of the music CDs and cassettes, video games, DVD and VHS (PAL and NTSC) home videos that are available at its retail stores, and more. TWEC.COM is home to Trans World's "On Stage" series, featuring live concerts, online chats, in-store artist appearance schedules, in-studio performances and entertainment media that is on-demand.
About Juno Online Services, Inc.
Juno Online Services, Inc. is a provider of Internet-related services to millions of computer users throughout the United States. The company offers several levels of service, ranging from basic dial-up Internet e-mail--which is provided to the end user for free--to full, competitively priced access to the World Wide Web. Since the launch of Juno's basic e-mail service in April 1996, more than 7.2 million total Juno accounts have been created. Juno's revenues are derived primarily from the subscription fees charged for certain billable services, from the sale of advertising, and from the direct sale of products to Juno subscribers.
Certain statements in this report set forth management's intentions, plans, beliefs, expectations or predictions of the future based on current facts and analyses. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated in such statements. Additional information on factors that may affect the business and financial results of TWEC.COM can be found in filings of TWEC.COM with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
This press release may be deemed to contain forward-looking information. Any forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements, including without limitation any statements as to future events or future financial results of Juno, may be significantly and materially impacted by risks and uncertainties. In evaluating such statements, readers should specifically consider various factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those indicated, including without limitation factors described in Juno's reports and documents filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
CONTACT: Trans World Entertainment Corporation Jim Litwak, Executive Vice President of Merchandising 518/452-1248 ext. 7240 or The MWW Group Media Relations: Charlotte Ostor, 201/507-9500 costor@mww.com Investor Relations: Robert Ferris rferris@mww.com or Juno Online Services Becky Yeamans, 212/597 9005 pr@support.juno.com or Edelman PR Worldwide Kate Kennedy, 212/704 4520 pr@support.juno.com |