Thumbplay News

-- Thumbplay's Unparalleled, 24-7 Customer Service Features
Four Touch Points: Phone, E-mail, Live Chat and Mobile Live Chat --

NEW YORK -- February 10, 2009 -- Thumbplay's unrivaled, 24-7-365 customer service was highlighted at the third annual Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service on February 9, where the company’s head of Customer Operations, Michael Biondo, won the prestigious Stevie® Award for “Customer Service Leader of the Year.” Thumbplay was also honored as a Finalist in the category of Best Use of Technology in Customer Service.

Thumbplay (www.thumbplay.com), the #1 mobile entertainment provider and destination in the U.S., recently announced several key customer service enhancements and innovations to its award-winning service. Dedicated to providing optimal service to the 24-7 mobile generation, the company recently launched live mobile chat support, a first in the customer service sector. With four touch points – phone, e-mail, live chat and mobile live chat – Thumbplay offers an unparalleled number of options among retailers for helping customers troubleshoot and manage their accounts.

“Thumbplay is committed to delivering the highest-quality service and support for our customers, and Michael and his team have done an extraordinary job of ensuring we deliver on that promise," said Are Traasdahl, CEO and Founder, Thumbplay, Inc. “Our ongoing commitment to technological innovation, exceptional customer service and strategic partnerships continues to pay off for our customers and our company. I am extremely proud of Michael’s accomplishments and we’re honored to be recognized with a Stevie Award.”

The awards are presented by the Stevie® Awards, which organizes several of the world’s leading business awards shows, including the prestigious American Business Awards. Nicknamed the Stevies for the Greek word “crowned,” winners were announced during a gala banquet on Monday, February 9 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

“This year’s honorees demonstrate that even in challenging economic times, it’s possible for organizations to continue to shine in sales and customer service, the two most important functions in business: acquiring and keeping customers,” said Michael Gallagher, president of the Stevie Awards.

Nominated customer service and sales executives from the U.S.A. and several other countries attended. There are 27 categories for customer service professionals, including Contact Center of the Year, Award for Innovation in Customer Service, and Customer Service Department of the Year; as well as 41 categories for sales professionals, ranging from Global Sales Leader of the Year to Sales Training Program of the Year to Sales Department of the Year of the Year.

Members of the Awards' Board of Distinguished Judges & Advisors and their staffs selected Stevie Award winners from among the Finalists. Finalists were chosen by business professionals worldwide during preliminary judging.

ABOUT THUMBPLAY
Thumbplay’s award-winning, direct-to-consumer service features licensed content from some of the world’s largest entertainment companies, including EMI Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Pictures Television, as well as several independent labels and artists and video game companies. Thumbplay’s mobile entertainment catalog is integrated into Clear Channel Radio, AOL and MSN Mobile sites, as well as iLike.com, one of the Web’s leading social music discovery services. Moreover, based on Thumbplay’s reputation for exceptional customer care and technological innovation, MTV recently tapped the company to power personalization content for the music giant’s mobile content site. Thumbplay OPEN provides independent music and visual artists, application developers and Web site publishers the opportunity to package and sell their own digital media to millions of mobile customers (open.thumbplay.com).

Each month, Thumbplay.com gets more than five million unique visitors and its mobile (WAP) site (m.thumbplay.com) receives more than 12 million page views, making it one of the most popular mobile Web sites.

Headquartered in New York City, Thumbplay was founded in September 2004 by Are Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. It is backed by Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Meritech, Brookside Capital Partners and Cross Creek Capital. More information can be found at www.thumbplay.com or at m.thumbplay.com from a mobile phone.

ABOUT THE STEVIE AWARDS
Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, The Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about The Stevie Awards at www.stevieawards.com.

Sponsors of the third annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are John Hancock Mutual Funds, Sales Partnerships, and ValueSelling Associates.

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