Ann: Brett Lee signs on as Global Brand Ambassador for Zipt, page-4

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World Class Australian Cricketer Brett Lee signs on as
Global Brand Ambassador for Zipt
 Brett Lee, Australian and internationally renowned cricketer, commentator and sports icon joins Ziptel as Global Brand Ambassador for its flagship Zipt mobile application
 Landmark agreement expected to boost global awareness of the Zipt app, leveraging Brett Lee’s international presence and appeal, with a social media following of over 4.2 million people
 Brett Lee’s popularity in the Indian market is particularly prominent after successes playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL), starring in Bollywood movies and his chart topping music releases
 Global Zipt launch scheduled for 22 June 2015, with strong initial uptake expected from the Indian Subcontinent - a key target market for Zipt with a population of 1.7 billion
 Subcontinent has the fastest growing smartphone market in APAC – with smartphone users in India increasing over 60% in 2014 to 123.3 million users and predicted to be 280 million users by 2018
 Strong alignment and synergies between the two brands strategically positions Zipt as a leading, reliable and innovative application
 Partnership to be monetised with a suite of Brett Lee in app purchases and community subscriber groups to be rolled out in the coming months
Ziptel Limited ("Ziptel" or "the Company", ASX: ZIP) is pleased to announce it has signed a three-year contract Mr Brett Lee as the Global Brand Ambassador for its Zipt mobile application, which is set for global launch on 22 June 2015.
The partnership with Brett Lee strategically aligns the Company to its corporate and brand objectives with Brett Lee’s global appeal, influence and celebrity status making him a perfect alliance for the Company.
The integrated partnership opens up a huge network of distribution potential and leverages the social and international influence of Brett Lee’s persona and appeal.
The viral impact and social media spread of having such a well recognised sports and celebrity icon is significant for the Company. Brett Lee has over 4.2 million followers across social media including Twitter, Facebook & Instagram.
Brett Lee’s Twitter followers, include high profile global leaders such as the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who has over 12.4 million followers, and a number of other renowned sports personalities and celebrities worldwide such as Shane Warne, Kevin Pietersen, Stephanie Gilmore and Tim Cahill.
His Facebook posts regularly receive a reach of over 5.5 million views, ‘likes’ of up to 550,000 people around the world and have been shared up to 1,500 times. His Twitter posts receive regular re-tweets (up to 50) and each post has been ‘favourited’ hundreds of times.
In India, Brett Lee is particularly prominent after successful games in the Indian Premier League (IPL), which grossed an audience of over 150 million and starring in Bollywood movies and his chart topping music releases.
As part of the Company commercial roll out, Ziptel is targeting strong uptake for the Zipt app in the India subcontinent through the partnership with Brett Lee, leveraging his mass appeal and recognition in the region.
The Indian Subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan) has a population of 1.7 billion and is a key market for Zipt given its growing Internet penetration, increasing by 850% in the past ten years alone. However, much of this access remains limited to 2G and low bandwidth. As such it is a particular focus for the Zipt rollout based on limitations in network connectivity and the inability for competing products to work efficiently in these areas.
India is the fastest growing smartphone region in the Asia Pacific, with over 23 million smartphone shipments made to India in Q4 2014, an increase of 60% in smartphone users in 2014 to 123 million and 279.2 million smartphone users expected by 2018, which will make India the second largest user of smartphones in the world.
Keaton Wallace, Executive Director, Ziptel Limited commented:
"We are thrilled to have Brett Lee on board as our global ambassador. His celebrity status and personality is renowned worldwide, particularly across the key markets we are targeting. His reputation in the Indian Subcontinent is second to none and we are excited by the opportunity to work with Brett to drive awareness and enable us to engage with a huge population who can benefit greatly from the Zipt app and future features to engage the community and create further monetization avenues within the application."
Mr. Brett Lee said:
"I’m excited to partner with Ziptel at this exciting phase of growth. The Company has developed an innovative product, which has real appeal to me and enables people around the world, especially those in low bandwidth regions to interact and communicate with their friends and families, without having to compromise on quality and technology.
"There is a genuine necessity for the Zipt app globally, especially in countries like India which is one the fastest-growing smartphone markets in the world with potentially millions of new customers in the coming years.
"I look forward to sharing this app with my family and friends and being able to keep in touch more frequently whilst I’m on the road. Having used the Zipt beta version, it's obvious that the app is light years ahead of incumbents in the market such as Viber and Skype, and will be cheaper for consumers to use in the long run thanks to its superior compression capabilities."
About Brett Lee
Brett Lee is a renowned Australian international cricket player, commentator with Nine Network, co-host of the Cricket Show and sports personality. He is known throughout the Cricketing world as one of the most dynamic and fastest bowlers in recent cricket history. Brett has been playing nationally and internationally for over fifteen years, having made his debut for Australia in the Boxing Day Test against India in 1999.
Until January 2015, when he announced his retirement he played Twenty20 matches, most notably in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Big Bash League.
Brett’s reputation precedes him in both his home country of Australia and worldwide. In India in particular Brett has become one of the biggest TV personalities through his cricket, music (having launched a single with Asha Bhosle, which went onto top the Indian Music charts) and the charitable work he does in the country. Brett also has a number of corporate relationships in the country.
Brett Lee is highly driven and lives a fast-paced lifestyle involving a large amount of travel, and interaction with local communities, worldwide. He relies on innovative and reliable technology to stay connected with his family and friends, making him the perfect ambassador for Zipt.
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For more information please contact:
Ziptel Limited
Bert Mondello Keaton Wallace