Following its successful sponsorship of the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY concert in 2006, Optus announced today it would continue its association with MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY as principal sponsor of the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY ZEROSEVEN Roadtrip and Concerts. As the principal sponsor, Optus has played a major part in making the events possible.

On 1 July 2007, hundreds of young MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY Ambassadors from across the country will jump on board buses departing from Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Canberra, headed for Sydney via a number of regional centres, to attend an Optus sponsored concert on 6 July 2007 at the Sydney Opera House.

Key ambassadors of the campaign will be armed with Optus camera-enabled mobile phones ready to capture as many images as possible of people saying 'yes' to Face Up To Poverty. Optus will also host a booth at selected roadshow venues, to capture additional images along the way.

MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY aims to collect 70,000 images by July 2007 to showcase Australia's support for the campaign. These photos will be included in a visual petition that will be presented by MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY to Heads of Government to demonstrate Australia’s support of making poverty history.

Optus has also made it possible for people who cannot attend the roadtrip or concerts to still say 'yes' to Face Up To Poverty by sending a Multimedia Message (MMS) of their face to 0447 33 FACE (0447 33 3223) or by uploading their photo via the Face Up website. Participating Optus customers will see all the costs associated with their Face Up To Poverty message donated to MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY. 

For more information of the Face Up To Poverty campaign and to view or submit photos, people are encouraged to visit the Optus-hosted website: www.optus.com.au/faceup.

OPTUS Highlights:

• Optus is the principal sponsor of the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY ZEROSEVEN Roadtrip and is making it possible for people to Face Up To Poverty even if they can't make it to any of the concerts.
  
  
• Key ambassadors will be armed with Optus camera-enabled mobile phones to capture Australians saying ‘yes’ to Face Up To Poverty.
  
  
• Optus will host the official Face Up To Poverty website: www.optus.com.au/faceup
  
  
• Optus will donate the costs of any MMS sent by an Optus customer as part of the Face Up To Poverty campaign.
  
  
• Optus will offer OptusZoo customers mobile content, including wallpapers, ringtones and downloads from the Face Up To Poverty site, as part of the campaign. 

Notes to Editor:

• Artists performing at the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY ZEROSEVEN Concerts where ambassadors and the local community can see some of Australia’s hottest music acts include: Missy Higgins, Evermore, Little Birdy, Blue King Brown, Borne, Dallas Crane, Antiskeptic, Bliss n Eso, Guy Sebastian, True Live, Custom Kings, Bias B, Jess McAvoy and Symbiosis.
  
  
• Face Up To Poverty was created by MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY, a coalition of international aid agencies and community groups that are calling on world leaders to honour the commitments they made to the Millennium Development Goals, an internationally agreed plan to halve the world’s poverty by 2015, by delivering more and better aid.