Optus is predicting its mobile customers will send more than 8 million SMS this Valentine's Day, continuing Australia's love affair with text messaging to keep in touch.
Stuart Tucker, Director Optus Mobile Marketing, said SMS is a great way to say something short and sweet to someone you are thinking about.
"On average, Optus customers already send an SMS every day. Valentine's Day is the third most popular day for sending SMS, after Christmas Day and New Years Day.
"For customers who believe a picture tells a thousand words, we expect MMS - otherwise known as 'SMS with photos' - to also prove popular.
"This is the first Valentine's Day where our customers with compatible handsets can send or receive MMS to any major network in Australia. As a result, we expect to see a ten fold increase in MMS sent by Optus customers compared to last year," Mr Tucker said.
A range of Valentine's Day content, such as colour wallpapers, logo s, picture messages, and ringtones ranging from 'All You Need is Love' to 'Can't Get You Out of My Head', can be downloaded by customers from www.optus.com.au/zoo, and sent onto loved ones.
Optus has also developed the world’s first mobile internet reality style competition, called MyDreamD8.
"Optus Mobile is bringing the entertainment of reality style television shows, and interactivity of user generated internet content, onto the screen of your mobile phone to enjoy anytime," Mr Tucker said.
MyDreamD8 challenges 20 contestants to spruik their personality, wit, and charm, to an online audience for 10 weeks, in an attempt to win their 'dream date'.
Contestants are supplied with MMS enabled mobile phones to access the MyDreamD8 'virtual house'. Once inside, they will entertain the audience online, by uploading pictures and personal diaries to a dedicated webpage, or by interacting directly with participating Optus and SingTel Mobile customers.
"Optus customers have already demonstrated their enthusiasm for SMS voting with recent reality television shows.
"Now they have the power to interact with MyDreamD8 anytime, and SMS vote each week to eliminate one contestant from each participating country," Mr Tucker said.
A range of contestant generated content, such as wallpapers and SMS updates, will be available to download at www.mydreamd8.com, for Optus and SingTel Mobile customers with compatible handsets.
Note to the editor:
The MyDreamD8 competition is a joint promotion with SingTel. Contestants are competing for a chance to win their ultimate dream date, a share in US$10,000 of prize money, and a 'dream party' on board Star Cruises' SuperStar Virgo cruise ship. At the end of the 10 weeks of elimination, the last remaining male and female finalists with the highest votes will be Mr and Mrs DreamD8 2004. Contestants must be single, permanent residents of either Australia or Singapore, and between the ages of 18-28 years old. Terms and conditions apply.
For further information on MyDreamD8 visit: www.mydreamd8.com
For more information:
Cathy Knezevic
Optus Corporate Affairs
Tel: (02) 9342 5302