Billboard Music App Awards Selects ‘ZOOZbeat Sprite’ As Finalist in the Best Branded App Category; Part of Billboard Mobile Entertainment Live!: The Music App Summit

September 1, 2010 • Atlanta, GA USA – A drum roll (remix) please. Billboard Music Apps Awards selected ZOOZbeat Sprite as one of three finalists for the Best Branded App category at the Billboard Music Awards Awards; part of Billboard Mobile Entertainment Live!: The Music App Summit on Tuesday, October 5, 2010 in San Francisco.

The announcement was made by Billboard Executive Director, Digital/Mobile Content & Programming at Billboard. ZOOZbeat Sprite will be featured in the best apps of the year listing in the Billboard Magazine September 4, 2010 edition.

ZOOZbeat Sprite Named Best Branded App Finalist by Billboard Magazine

The Coca-Cola Company launched ZOOZbeat Sprite to promote its Sprite brand, emphasizing that mobile has become an integral part of its 360-dgree marketing strategy. Sprite teamed with ZOOZ Mobile, Inc., developers of the ZOOZbeat mobile music studio application (app), to launch ZOOZbeat Sprite: the first iPhone app to be offered through Sprite’s ongoing Under the Cap promotion.

“ZOOZbeat Sprite is an innovative and integrated marketing program that rewards customers for purchasing a real good (a bottle of Sprite) with a digital virtual good (beats to remix inside the app),” said ZOOZ Mobile CEO & President Scott Geller. “The ZOOZ Mobile team is thrilled that our expertise in designing, creating and launching branded entertainment music apps has been acknowledged by Billboard Magazine: the premier trade publication for the music business.”

Susan Stribling, Atlanta-based spokeswoman for Coca-Cola North America, as quoted in Mobile Marketer (12/24/09):

• If you’re a smart marketer today, you have to be looking at all the different ways you can communicate with people – traditional, in-store, out-of-home, online and mobile.
• Since the Sprite brand is focused on youth, we want to focus on mobile in particular, and [ZOOZbeat Sprite] is the first big Under the Cap program we’ve launched in the U.S., which we’re looking to grow moving forward.
• If you’re not taking that 360-degree approach today, then you’re not  marketing effectively.
• The target demographic for the iPhone application is the same as overall target demographic for Sprite …
• First and foremost it’s music, and music is something that’s very appealing to young people. This is something that’s completely on the go and accessible via their mobile phone, and young people have their iPhones attached to their wrist, so an app was a natural fit for that consumer.
• We’re using the [ZOOZbeat Sprite] app to keep people engaged. We will continue to add rewards to the pool, and this app is something new and fresh that people participating in the under-the-cap initiative can download.

The ZOOZbeat Sprite app engages young multi-cultural, music-lovers with iPhones Sprite consumers enabling them to remix music letting them create their own tracks with downloadable beats and samples from these nine music Producers and Artists:

• Dallas Austin
• Phil Ade
• Tabi Bonney
• LaRon Brant
• Alex Christie
• Novel
• SHeeD
• Spree Wilson
• XO

ZOOZbeat Sprite works by shaking, tilting or taping the iPhone screen to create and combine rhythmic and melodic tracks that can be uploaded to ZOOZbeat.com for listening and sharing in .mp3 format with friends via Facebook and Twitter.

“When consumers enter Sprite Under the Cap codes via text message, they receive mobile rewards, including the Sprite-branded, music-focused ZOOZbeat Sprite application (app). The ZOOZbeat Sprite app development stretched over nine months and involved complex integration between the:

• ZOOZbeat Sprite iPhone application
• Amazon S3 cloud servers
• Coca-Cola’s code generation SMS messaging system
• Coca-Cola’s code validation SMS messaging system

ZOOZ Mobile designs, creates and launches branded entertainment music recreation and remixing mobile studio apps, including:

1. ZOOZbeat ($0.99)
2. ZOOZbeat Lite (free)
3. ZOOZbeat Sprite (free)
4. ZOOZbeat Jackson 5 Remix ($2.99)
5. ZOOZbeat Jackson 5 Remix 3 Pack ($1.99)

Various versions of ZOOZbeat apps have been downloaded 1.5 million time since launching in the Apple iTunes App Store in November 2008.

Coca-Cola launched the iPhone application as an enhancement to the larger Under the Cap program Sprite has been running. Consumers participating in the program can opt in to receive SMS alerts and other messages from Sprite.

The Sprite Under the Cap program is promoted on packaging for the Sprite brand, encouraging consumers to text in to receive various rewards. “We offer incentives to people who participate in the campaign using mobile technology,” Ms. Stribling said [Mobile Marketer 12/24/09] “We didn’t have anything along the lines of what ZOOZ offers, an app focused on music and interactivity.

Billboard created the first-ever Music Apps Awards to recognize the most innovative music-focused apps created for smartphones. Here are the finalists in each category:

• Best Branded App - ZOOZbeat Sprite; 50s Sound Lab, Vitamin Water; and Gibson Learn & Master Guitar
• Best Artist-Based App - Linkin Park 8-bit Rebellion; I Am T-Pain; and TouchChords: Jimmie Vaughan
• Best Music Streaming App - Rhapsody: MOG and Thumbplay
• Best Music Engagement App - Tap Tap Reverge 3; SoundHound Infinity and Mix Me In2 Taylor Swift
• Best Music Creation App - LaDiDa; AmpliTube iRig; and MorphWiz
• Best Touring App - Live Phish; R5 and Bonnaroo

The Coca-Cola Co. is the world’s largest beverage company, with nearly 500 sparkling and still brands. The company’s portfolio includes Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid and Georgia Coffee.

Check here for the Billboard Magazine Official Press Release announcing the finalists.

ZOOZ Mobile Receives $150,000 Innovation Research Grant: May Grow to $1 Million

May 18, 2010 - Atlanta, GA USA · ZOOZ Mobile has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant of $150,000 will support the development of an innovative music intelligence engine for a new line of ZOOZ music creativity apps.

“The NSF SBIR grant validates the quality of our research and the high prospect of commercialization of our efforts,” said ZOOZ Mobile Founder and CTO Dr. Gil Weinberg who is also the Founder and Director of the Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology (GTCMT). “We hope that the first phase of support will lead to great results and to the continuation of the NSF SBIR support, which can grow to mmore than $1 million in funding.”

The SBIR grant will be matched by additional funds from Georgia Research Alliance and Georgia Tech’s Venture Lab, who have supported ZOOZ Mobile in the past. ZOOZ Mobile is one of two spin-off companies that came from GTCMT. Various versions of ZOOZbeat apps have been downloaded more than 1.4 million times from the Apple iTunes App Store.

ZOOZ Mobile has partnered with brands such as Sprite and labels such as Universal Motown to deliver innovative music creativity and remixing apps, including ZOOZbeat Sprite and ZOOZbeat Jackson 5 Remix apps. Our thanks to the NSF and GTCMT where more than 20 faculty members are involved in research and commercialization of innovative music technology.