MSN Announces Digital Marketing Agreement for Disney's Toontown Online
London - UK - 10 November 2004 - MSN UK, the UKs number one website, today announced an agreement with Walt Disney Internet Group to promote the award-winning Disneys Toontown Online multiplayer game.
Toontown (www.toontown.co.uk) is an innovative MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) that allows users to create their own cartoon character and live the life of a Toon. Players can furnish their own house, play games with friends online and explore amazing new lands. The game has been designed for kids of all ages and their families and lets them use their imagination by safely interacting with others and immersing themselves in their own Toon world. The humorous world of Toontown is always growing, always changing, and as wild as your imagination!
In this vivid landscape, the Toon character fights evil cartoon robots called Cogs and uses classic cartoon gags as weapons in order to save Toontown from invasion. This might mean throwing a custard pie or dropping a grand piano on the Cogs.
The month-long promotion, which begins on MSN.co.uk this week, will see ad placements across MSN and the games channel homepages. The campaign is primarily aimed at increasing awareness of Toontown and the number of players of the game.
Amanda Anthony, Digital Marketing Manager for MSN UK said: "This is the first time we have partnered with Walt Disney Internet Group and we are delighted to be working with such a successful dynamic and vibrant brand."
Attila Gazdag, Vice President and Managing Director, Europe for Walt Disney Internet Group commented: "Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming is becoming very popular due to its interactive nature and the ability to continually update the game and user experience. The extensive reach offered by MSN and Gamesradar.com, the MSN Games channel makes them the ideal online company to drive the target audience to our fantastic Toontown game."
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About MSN.co.uk
MSN is the UKs largest portal attracting over 15.6 million visitors per month in the UK (Nielsen September 2004) and more than 350 million unique users worldwide (MSN Internal Data). Owned by Microsoft, MSN is available in 39 markets and 20 languages.
MSN offers a wide range of Subscription products including Hotmail Extra Storage and MSN Premium or Plus with state of the art parental controls, spam filtering software and photo editing tools
MSN provides a number of world class innovative communication and information services including:
- MSN Hotmail, the UK's most popular free web-based e-mail service with 7.7 million users in the UK (Nielsen September 2004) and over 187 million active accounts worldwide (MSN Internal Data)
- MSN Messenger, the UK's number one instant messaging service on the internet with 8.5 million monthly users (Nielsen August 2004) and over 135 million active users worldwide (MSN Internal data)
- MSN Search, one of the UK's top search sites with 5.3 million users. (Nielsen September 2004). MSN Search and the MSN Toolbar are available in 38 markets worldwide and 19 languages
About Walt Disney Internet Group
Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG) provides strategic leadership and operational management for The Walt Disney Company's (NYSE:DIS) Internet properties including category leaders Disney.com, and Disney.co.uk. A market leader in developing and distributing entertainment and informational content to new platforms, WDIG is committed to creating and delivering products for broadband distribution including: ABC News On Demand, a subscription video news service that offers the Internet's first 24-hour, live Internet-only news channel and top ABC News programs for on demand viewing; Disney Connection; and WDIG Motion, a proprietary video technology for broadband users.
Through relationships with some of the world's largest wireless carriers, WDIG distributes content and services to wireless users under the Disney, ESPN and ABC brands. Additionally, WDIG has led the way in developing interactive content for televised programming through its Enhanced TV service. Steve Wadsworth is president of WDIG, which is headquartered in North Hollywood and has operations in Seattle, New York, Orlando, Tokyo and London
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realise their full potential.