Freewebs Announces New Widget Advertising Campaign for Universal Pictures' Comedy Mr. Bean's Holiday

Freewebs Announces New Widget Advertising Campaign for Universal Pictures' Comedy Mr. Bean's Holiday

This Summer, Disaster Has a Passport ... and a Widget

NEW YORK, Aug. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Freewebs, the company that offers the Web's most open personal and small business Web site creation and management tools (www.freewebs.com), today announced it is launching a new creative advertising campaign for the comedy Mr. Bean's Holiday, in theaters August 24.

Mr. Bean's Holiday stars Rowan Atkinson as the bumbling, hilarious Mr. Bean. In his latest misadventure, Mr. Bean - the nearly wordless misfit who seems to be followed by a trail of pratfalls and hi-jinks - goes on holiday to the French Riviera and becomes ensnared in a European adventure of cinematic proportions.

The campaign on Freewebs encourages people to join the mayhem and interact by way of a fun calendar widget, which allows users to upload a photo themselves to a Mr. Bean's Holiday calendar, which they can then share with anyone on the web. The calendar widget can be accessed by Freewebs members at http://members.freewebs.com/Misc/MrBeansHoliday/.

"Engaging with widgets is a consumer's personal choice," said Chris Cunningham, Vice President, Freewebs Advertising. "The second a person takes a widget to his or her individual web page, what was once an ad, becomes content. Today's users are speaking for the brand by adding these widgets to their personal websites, and we make sure that these widgets are easily shareable and publishable."

Freewebs has been a trailblazer for successful widget marketing and advertising campaigns in 2007, reinforcing what some industry experts have referred to as the "year of the widget" in advertising. Recent campaigns include:

-- Cingular -- Freewebs created a cutting-edge ring tone advertising
campaign, which featured multi-media, viral video widgets to spotlight
new and emerging artists.
-- Paramount Pictures/Freedom Writers -- Freewebs built a highly engaging
campaign called "Be Heard," which was sponsored by Paramount. The
campaign involved a community on the homepage, which encouraged people
to start a meaningful exchange with one another and to share personal
and inspirational stories -- just as they do in the movie.
-- Reebok -- Freewebs created a customized campaign that allowed users to
create and show-off their RBK creations via a virtual Shoe Fight
contest. Freewebs aligned with RBK to increase awareness of its "Run
Easy" brand and to drive traffic to www.rbkcustom.com.

-- Ghost Rider/Sony Pictures -- To help promote the Ghost Rider movie,
Freewebs created a campaign utilizing media and creative elements via
templates, shout-box, games and cursor effects.
-- Adidas -- Adidas launched an "Impossible Is Nothing" brand message to
consumers. The objective of the campaign on Freewebs was to encourage
consumers to adopt "Impossible Is Nothing" as their personal mantra.
Freewebs created a widget campaign to showcase this message via a user
generated widget platform. This widget let users submit a story/brief
account or videos demonstrating their "Impossible Is Nothing"
experiences, aspirations and achievements. These stories were then
added to the Adidas stars' video stories as a form of inspiration.
-- The Number 23 Movie Campaign -- Freewebs compelled users to see The
Number 23 movie by creating a viral widget to ignite interest in the
mystery of The Number 23. Freewebs developed a unique Widget Game that
manipulated bits of the users' personal information to show them the
ubiquity of the number 23 in their own lives.

Freewebs also recently announced the creation of a new Widget Marketing Association, a professional organization for engagement marketers that brings together agencies, brands, publishers and widget companies to exchange knowledge, best practices and help set standards. Freewebs' President Shervin Pishevar will serve as Chairman and Freewebs' VP of Global Ad Sales, Chris Cunningham, will head the Steering Committee. Other WiMA member companies currently include: Clearspring; comScore; Freewebs; Gigya; Gizmoz; Goowy/Yourminis, RockYou and Widgetbox.

Freewebs has been leading the way in more effective advertising campaigns with widgets, and to date, 17 million people and counting have built websites on Freewebs.com. To create a quality, free, easy-to-use Freewebs Forum, website or blog, please visit www.freewebs.com today.

About Freewebs.com

Freewebs is the company that offers the Web's most open personal and small business Web site creation and management tools, ensuring everyone in the world can create a quality multimedia Web site. For anyone with an Internet connection and something to share, Freewebs provides the toolkit to express their voice on the Web through its versatile publishing platform. To date, Freewebs members have created more than 17 million comprehensive Web sites including blogs, photos, videos, music, e-commerce and more. Founded in 2001, Freewebs is privately held and based in Silver Spring, MD. Please visit www.freewebs.com today.

Contacts:
Jo McKenna
Freewebs
646-382-4291
jo@freewebs.com

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Freewebs

CONTACT: Jo McKenna of Freewebs, +1-646-382-4291, jo@freewebs.com

Web site:

http://www.freewebs.com/
http://members.freewebs.com/Misc/MrBeansHoliday

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