IceMobile wins European Digital Media Award for MEJAY

The Excellence in Digital Media Award reward European?s most innovative New Technologies & Content formats. Special attention is set on the design, production and delivery of the concept. Six companies, originating from six different European countries, were nominated for the prestigious award by Van Dusseldorp & Partners.

MeJay, the virtual VJ, wins the TV Meets the Web Excellence in Digital Media Award. The award, in its first year, is for the most innovative and effective, multi-platform content concepts.

Amsterdam, May 19 - MeJay, a virtual VJ application and concept developed by IceMobile, a mobile application developer, in cooperation with EasyConcepts, a rich media and interactive marketing solutions provider, has won the TV Meets the Web Excellence in Digital Media Award.

The award, in its first year, is for the most innovative and effective multi-platform content concepts. Companies entering had to demonstrate concepts involving a combination of television, radio, internet, mobile services, print, outdoors media and partners.

MeJay is an application that allows viewers of TMF, a full MTV Networks daughter, to take control over their TV. By surfing to the TMF site, viewers can create a virtual VJ and add a spoken message through the phone. The most original and best MeJay's are aired seven days a week between 21:00 and 22:00.

The TMF site allows complete customisation of a MeJay. Subsequently the viewer can enter his personal and unique presentation through a phone. Thanks to the software, MeJay will lip-sync the message entered by the viewer. Once finished, the viewer sends his message via the internet directly to the TMF TV studios and receives an SMS when their message is about to be aired. MeJay can be experienced at http://www.mejay.net/presentation

The integration of TV, internet and telephone fits perfectly into the European strategy of MTV/TMF and will be exported to other European MTV stations in Europe throughout the year. It is also being trialed by MSN in the UK. MeJay has already won the Silver Spin Award, a Dutch media award, in 2002.

"The jury was impressed by the simplicity and creativity of the MeJay concept, with its personalised and animated cartoon, combined with the viewer's voice recorded by telephone. Multi-platform concepts are often difficult to realise, and it is strong and easy to understand combinations like Mejay that involve audiences the most. In addition, the format provides the broadcaster with cheap but entertaining programming, as well as a small revenue stream through the premium rate phone calls," explains Monique van Dusseldorp, CEO and Founder of Van Dusseldorp.

The award was presented at Van Dusseldorp's 5th Annual TV Meets the Web Seminar, held last week in Amsterdam, and the winner was selected from a shortlist of six finalists. The event explored how the digital media industry in Europe is restructuring to achieve profitability.

As a result of winning the award, ICEMOBILE and Easy Concepts will receive a year's free membership to the Van Dusseldorp Corporate Network that is valued at Euro 13,000 and provides:
* Extensive presence and promotion across online properties (Europemedia.net, TV Meets The Web);
* Participation at Van Dusseldorp industry events
* Copies of research and market data reports and four free days research a year