Interactive Spanish Website for Celebrity Look-Alike Babies!

Leading Sperm Bank Now Offers Interactive Spanish Website

California Cryobank (CCB), an international sperm banking leader, announced today the release of their upgraded Spanish website www.criobanco.com. Criobanco.com offers all the features of CCB’s English website www.cryobank.com including online ordering, donor search capability, and extensive information on using donor sperm.

“California Cryobank has been servicing Latino communities all over the world for many years,” stated Cappy Rothman, MD, Co-founder. “Our goal is to make the process of selecting and using a sperm donor as easy as possible for our Spanish speaking clients.”

CCB offers Spanish speaking representatives available to assist clients over the phone at 866-927-9622 Mon-Fri from 6am-6pm (Pacific Time).

CCB is well known for their recently released celebrity Donor Look-a-Like website feature. “We have a wide selection of Latino donors who resemble celebrities such as Oscar De La Hoya, Javier Bardem, and Gael Garcia Bernal,” said Rothman.

California Cryobank also provides fertility preservation services to men who are faced with cancer treatments, vasectomies, or those in the military or other high-risk occupations.

Contact: Scott Brown of California Cryobank, +1-310-496-5681

Source: California Cryobank

Materialism in the Non-Material World

How many customers have you served at your café on Facebook, and how many friends have gifted you fertilizer or plants on FarmVille? The growing movement of social activity in the virtual world includes a great deal of very real economic activity, report researchers at the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology.

While many futurists believe that the growth of virtual worlds would encourage movement away from consumption, materialism is apparently trumping nonmaterialism. As people spend more time online socializing, they are also spending real money, such as making micropurchases of heart or balloon icons to favor their friends, family, or celebrity idols.

The reason is simple: Humans behave as humans whether it is in the corporeal world or online, notes infotech researcher Vili Lehdonvirta. What we buy proclaims our identity and denotes our status, and we want to have status online just as we do in real life.

The advantage that consumption may have in the nonmaterial world is that it permits economic activity with reduced environmental impacts, says Lehdonvirta.

SOURCE: Helsinki Institute for Information Technology

First major U.S. bank to offer mobile banking in Spanish

Hispanic consumers now have even more options when it comes to their everyday banking. Citibank has just launched Citi Mobile en Espanol to enable customers who prefer to bank in Spanish to do so from their smartphones. The Spanish-language service lets customers manage their accounts, pay bills, locate Citibank branches and more – all from the convenience of their cell phones. Citibank is the first major U.S. bank to offer mobile banking in Spanish.

“Citi Mobile en Espanol offers our Spanish speaking customers the ability to bank anywhere, anytime on their smartphones,” said Liza Landsman, Executive Vice President, North America Internet & Mobile, Citi. “With Hispanic customers making up almost one-quarter of our customer base, the service makes banking even easier for this important and growing audience.”

Hispanics are among the most active mobile Web users in the United States. According to a recent independent report on Wireless Internet Use from Pew Research, nearly one-half of English-speaking Hispanic consumers reported accessing the Internet via a handheld device in 2009.(i) Of these consumers, about 29 percent reported going online “on a typical day” through a mobile device.(ii)

Citi Mobile en Espanol mirrors the functionality of the English-language Citi Mobile for Smartphones. It is accessed via the same convenient URL as the English version, www.citi.com, from any mobile device. Using Citi Mobile en Espanol, users of web-enabled mobile devices including BlackBerry® smartphones, Palm® devices and iPhone(TM) devices can easily do all of the following in Spanish:

  • View Citi account balances and account activity
  • Pay bills and set up recurring payments
  • Make transfers between Citi accounts
  • Locate Citi branches and ATMs
  • Connect to Customer Service

Citi Mobile en Espanol provides easy navigation on virtually any recent device that has a mobile browser and an internet connection. And signing in is easy — customers enter the same personal User ID and password they would use on their home computer.

Citibank was also the first major U.S. bank to offer Spanish-language online banking, in 2004. Today, with the introduction of Citi Mobile for Smartphones en Espanol, Citibank’s fastest-growing customer segment gains even greater access to quick, easy and highly secure banking.

(i) Horrigan, John, Wireless Internet Use, Pew Internet & American Life Project, July 2009,http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2009/Wireless-Internet-Use.pdf., accessed Sept. 30, 2009. Page 14.

(ii) Horrigan, John, “Going online with a handheld by race,” Wireless Internet Use, Pew Internet & American Life Project, July 2009, http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2009/Wireless-Internet-Use.pdf., accessed Sept. 30, 2009. Page 18.

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About Citi Mobile and Citibank

Citi Mobile for Smartphones is a mobile banking application built by Citibank with support from Mobile Money Ventures, a joint venture of Citi and SK Telecom that provides mobile financial services applications globally. Citibank was the first major U.S. bank to launch a downloadable mobile banking application in 2007.

Citibank is a member of Citi, the leading global financial services company, which has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 140 countries. Through its two operating units, Citicorp and Citi Holdings, Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com or www.citi.com.

Citi, Citibank and Citi Mobile are registered service marks of Citigroup Inc.

Palm is among the trademarks or registered trademarks owned by Palm, Inc. The Trademark BlackBerry is owned by Research In Motion Limited and is registered in the United States and may be pending or registered in other countries. Citibank is not endorsed, sponsored, affiliated with or otherwise authorized by Research in Motion Limited. iPhone is a trademark of Apple Inc.

SOURCE Citibank

A Media Revolution: the inclusion of Social Media

Tribune Co. Launches National Marketing Initiative

In a major national marketing initiative, Tribune Co. today announced the launch of Tribune365 (www.trb365.com), its multichannel sales solutions group providing customized marketing programs to advertisers looking to reach consumers across a variety of media platforms. Tribune365 gives marketers unprecedented, consolidated access to the nation’s top markets, and makes its official debut in a national media campaign of its own that breaks today in ad trade publications.

Tribune Co., whose properties across the U.S. include major-market newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Orlando Sentinel, 23 local TV stations (including KTLA-TV in Los Angeles and WPIX-TV in New York), and radio, digital, and mobile assets, will deliver results for national and local advertisers at a time when they are demanding solutions that work. Tribune365 was recently selected by the Dallas Morning News to serve as its national sales representative.

“As a content company, we’re in the business of delivering the local news, information and entertainment that consumers are looking for when, where and how they want it,” said Don Meek, president, Tribune365. “Tribune365 gives our marketing partners unique access to innovative, multi-platform solutions that help reach their target audiences and meet their business goals.”

Specifically, Tribune365’s national marketing initiatives include:

  • National advertising campaign: Using the tagline “Tribune. We Deliver.”, the campaign includes a series of executions in major advertising publications, both in print and online. In the ads, consumers are depicted in various locations (on the beach, on the train, at home) getting their news from Tribune’s collection of diverse media properties. The campaign positions Tribune as a multimedia company that is innovating amidst the evolving media landscape and delivering news to consumers according to their preferences.
  • Proprietary research: In partnership with Cincinnati, OH-based firm Personal Media Research, Tribune365 commissioned a national study on local media to more closely examine the way in which consumers get their local news and information, and the way advertising across various media platforms influences their purchase decisions. Among the study’s findings, consumers consider local news and information particularly valuable in their purchase decisions. Newspapers, in particular, rank stronger than all media on key measures related to ad trust and the shopping occasion. While no single medium has the “magic bullet”, the study finds that the best marketing solutions involve a combination of media as consumers choose to get their news from a variety of media and platforms throughout the day.
  • Web/podcasts: Through a microsite, http://trb365.com/tribunewedeliver, Tribune365 developed a series of podcasts featuring conversations with key members of the company’s leadership team, who speak to the vitality of newspapers and offer insights into how consumers get their local news across a variety of platforms.

“A good offense is always the best defense and we’re committed to evolving the business we’re in and leveraging the power of our local media assets,” said Meek. “We are already seeing positive results from advertisers who have come to us for innovative solutions to connect with their consumers.”

About Tribune365

TRIBUNE365 National Solutions Group is the new national, cross-platform sales team for Tribune Company, offering advertisers customized, innovative, multi-market solutions across all media platforms, including TV, print, digital, mobile, direct and event marketing. For more information about TRIBUNE365, including sales contacts, visit www.trb365.com.

About Tribune Co.

TRIBUNE is America’s largest employee-owned media company, operating businesses in publishing, interactive and broadcasting. In publishing, Tribune’s leading daily newspapers include the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, Sun Sentinel (South Florida), Orlando Sentinel, Hartford Courant, Morning Call and Daily Press. The company’s broadcasting group operates 23 television stations, WGN America on national cable, Chicago’s WGN-AM and the Chicago Cubs baseball team. Popular news and information websites complement Tribune’s print and broadcast properties and extend the company’s nationwide audience. At Tribune we take what we do seriously and with a great deal of pride. We also value the creative spirit and nurture a corporate culture that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

SOURCE Tribune Co.

Most Popular Searches for September Yahoo! En Espanol

Popular Searches for September

Yahoo! En Espanol today announced it’s most popular Searches on Yahoo! Pop for the month ending September 30 (http://espanol.pop.yahoo.com/pop/09-2009/). Yahoo! Pop allows users to access the site and stay in touch with what’s hot and use it as a resource to search for and spot trends. Information on Yahoo! Pop is available and searchable by day, month and category.

The Most Popular Searches for September in Yahoo! Pop include:

Top 10 Overall Searches:
1. Twin Towers
2. Tsunami
3. Sandra Bullock
4. Vida Guerra
5. Qualifiers 2010
6. Olga Tanon
7. Whitney Houston
8. Perez Hilton
9. Gaby Espino
10. Megan Fox

Tragedies, present and past, captured the interest of Yahoo! En Espanol users this month. The eighth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City no doubt propelled users to look for stories and information on the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers. The catastrophic tsunami that struck Samoa on September 29 following an 8.0 magnitude earthquake also topped the list at No. 2; the event left a confirmed 143 people dead and six missing in Samoa.

Yahoo! En Espanol users also searched for info on Sandra Bullock, star of the movie “All About Steve” that opened in September with mixed reviews. The actress, who plays a crossword puzzle constructor, also produced the film.

Propelled by controversy, singers Olga Tanon and Whitney Houston also topped the list. Tanon participated in the criticized Peace Without Borders Concert, held in Havana last month. Houston, interviewed by Oprah, brought to light very private aspects of her drug use and violent marriage. Cuban-American blogger Perez Hilton made headlines after having falsely reported that Jaclyn Smith had committed suicide in Honduras. Venezuelan soap opera star Gaby Espino and Hollywood actress Megan Fox also topped the list.

In addition to the most popular overall topics, Yahoo! Pop also reveals the Top Ten Searches in six other categories: entertainment, music, technology, celebrities, news and sports. During the month of September, the qualifier soccer matches for the World Cup were the number one search in the sports category, attracting the imagination of the fans, who will passionately follow their country’s teams all the way to South Africa next summer. Olga Tanon was No. 1 in the music category and Sandra Bullock topped the Entertainment category.

Updated daily, Yahoo! Pop search results showcase the diverse interests and concerns of U.S. Hispanics around the net, from gorgeous celebrity sightings and salacious political news to funny jokes and the latest consumer obsessions. To come up with the Yahoo! Pop Top 10 list, Yahoo! created a unique algorithm which scans anonymous query logs from Yahoo! Search across a variety of categories to see what themes and trends bubble up to the surface. Individual searches are never used to develop these lists. Every day millions of people visit Yahoo! to search for news, hobbies, curiosities and all types of information. By putting all of the searches together, the site displays the topics that are of most interest to people. To view the most popular searches of the day, click on ‘Pop’ on the Yahoo! En Espanol front page or visit: http://Espanol.pop.yahoo.com/.

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global consumer brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo! is where millions of people go every day to see what is happening with the people and things that matter to them most. Yahoo! helps marketers reach that audience with its unique and compelling advertiser proposition. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit http://pressroom.yahoo.com or the company’s blog, Yodel Anecdotal (http://yodel.yahoo.com).

SOURCE Yahoo! En Espanol