15 MAY 2000 AMSERVE ADDS DIRECT LINE AS E-M@ILER ADVERTISER Amstrad plc announced today that Direct Line Financial Services, part of the group owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland, will commence a direct response advertising programme next month using the Amstrad e-m@iler. Direct Line Financial Services, which markets loans, savings programmes, credit cards and mortgage products, will trial the advertising facility next month and e-m@iler owners will be able to respond with a single key stroke, which will connect them to one of Direct Line's call centres. Direct Line joins Britannia Music, Europe's leading music and video mail order company, which signed an agreement last month following the launch of the product at the end of March. Jim Wallace, Direct Line's group marketing director, applauded the direct response opportunity afforded by the Amstrad e-m@iler, when he commented: "As one of the UK's leading advertisers, Direct Line is always looking for efficient and cost effective ways of reaching our customer base. The e-m@iler provides such a degree of simplicity and is so directly targeted - right into the heart of the home - that we felt we must become a partner in this new concept in direct marketing. The large screen, high resolution and animated graphics suit our needs well. I have no doubt that the e-m@iler will be a big success with the consumer, and the more that are sold, the deeper we will be able to reach into our marketplace." Sir Alan Sugar, chairman of Amstrad, commenting on today's announcement, said: "The consumers' response to the e-m@iler has been outstanding; as good as I can remember for any product we have launched. We are now working hard to ship as many units out to retail as we can. When direct response marketing companies like Direct Line and Britannia come on board as quickly as they have, we know we are doing things right." The trial 500 units, delivered to selected Dixons' branches at the time of the product launch, have provided valuable and positive feedback. Based on the experiences of the trial, product enhancements have been made. The product has been released this week in mass volume to the retail market. The £79.99 Amstrad e-m@iler, termed the 'the first all-in-one communications centre', is subsidised in order to make it a compelling mass-market offer. Amstrad will generate revenue from e-mail usage as well as from advertising routed through the e-m@iler to the owners' homes. For further information please contact Andrew Bloch/Eva Sogbanmu/Gavin Lewis at Frank PR 0207 693 6999 or Gavin@frankpr.it / Andrew@frankpr.it Go to News Headlines