News 2001
Virgin Mobile shoots and scores with football fans!
13/12/2001
- First network to launch UEFA Champions League game
- Win tickets to UEFA matches every month
- Virgin Mobile is the football network
To play, Virgin Mobile customers simply shoot off a text message containing the letter 'U' to the number 2250. You then get to tackle a series of five football related, multiple choice questions of increasing difficulty. Your ultimate goal being to answer all five questions correctly, in as fast a time as possible to net the prize. So, if you pride yourself in knowing everything about football and can defend yourself when asked questions like 'Which team has never played in the Champions League?' or 'West Germany didn't enter the European Championships until which year?', this game could be for you.
Every month, if you've made it into the top 50 players you'll get your 15 minutes of fame as you enter the Virgin Mobile UEFA Hall of Fame at www.virgin.com/mobile. And if you're top of the league for that month you'll win a pair of VIP tickets to a UK based UEFA match of your choice - this could be tickets to the final in Glasgow on 8th May 2002 if that's the match you want to see. You'll even watch the game from a VIP box as well as being wined and dined courtesy of Virgin Mobile.
A cheap and fun way to test your general knowledge skills and win a footie fan's dream ticket into the bargain, Virgin Mobile's UEFA Champions League is available to every Virgin Mobile customer and costs just 20p per text message, up to a maximum of £1 per game.
More football, football, football!
- Dial 4321 to get audio-on-demand news on your club
- Register with VirginXtras to get free SMS alerts of the latest scores and news
The first and only network to offer this game, Virgin Mobile has a lot to offer football fans. Customers can now get the latest football news on demand with the newly launched VirginXtras voice portal. Sports fans just dial 4321 on their Virgin Mobile and say the word 'sport' and your Virgin Mobile becomes a sports commentator! For instance if you are an Arsenal fan and you can't make the match, you simply dial 4321 and say 'football' then 'Arsenal'. You'll then get the latest news, results, interviews or club news from Arsenal. So you'll be able to keep on top of your team's performance where ever you are. Similarly, by registering on the Virgin Mobile website in the Your VirginXtras section, you can choose to have all the latest Arsenal, or whatever team you support, match results sent directly to your mobile phone by a free SMS alert, as they happen.
Steven Day, corporate affairs director at Virgin Mobile, said: "If you are a mad keen footie fan or need the perfect present for a footie obsessed loved one then get a Virgin Mobile. We offer an unparalleled sports information service that is updated hourly and gives results as they happen, as well as offering tickets to some of the most sought after games in the footballing calendar through our unique UEFA game- what more could a sports fan ask for!"
Mobile users who can't get enough of gaming on their mobile can also brush up on their general knowledge by playing Trivial Pursuit which was also launched today or Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - the mobile version of the popular TV quiz show.
Trivial Pursuit is available to every Virgin Mobile customer and works along the same lines as the board game. Mobile players need to send a text message with the letters 'TP' to the number 2250 and then answer multiple choice questions in order to collect six wedges. Players can answer questions on a particular category until they get one right (and so win a wedge), they then move onto the next category. Players who get the most questions right in the quickest time each month will be entered into the Virgin Mobile Trivial Pursuit Hall of Fame and have the chance of winning. The Trivial Pursuit game offer players different prizes each month based around the categories. For example it could be £500 worth of travel vouchers for the Geography category, or a Play Station 2 machine plus DVD's for the Entertainment section.
Mobile games like these are just some of fun features you get from Virgin Mobile, and sit within its unique VirginXtras service.
VirginXtras offers a voice-activated news and entertainment service makes a mobile more than a phone. Just dial 4321 then say the word and your Virgin Mobile becomes a newscaster, a sports commentator, a music junkie, a TV soap guru, a shopaholic and much more! The clever speech-recognition technology lets people 'skip' to whichever area they are most interested in - with no need to wait for any 'download'. What customers say goes: all they need to do to 'barge' to their preferred choice is say a keyword, or simply the name of the subject category they desire. Simply say the word `news' for news or for sport say 'sport'- it really is that easy!
Mobile customers can log on to www.virgin.com/mobile to see a demonstration of the voice portal service and all the VirginXtras content including, picture messaging, celebrity voicemail and ringtone downloads.
-ends-
For further information on Virgin Mobile:
Press Office line: 0845 600 6272 or email: press.office@virginmobile.com
Steven Day, 07931 777777
Joanne Baker, 07941 233300
Consolidated Communications
Joanna Cotton, 07941 696303
Sasha Bradbury, 07941 230700
Notes to the editor:
VirginXtras Voice Portal - Dial 4321 and say the word
A broad range of audio-on-demand services are available through VirginXtras just by dialling 4321 from your Virgin Mobile phone and saying the name of the category that you want. For example say 'news' to be taken to the news category! Other services include:
Sports - if you love sport then you're going to love this! All the latest sports news including results as they happen, top sporting stories, team news and top star interviews. Sport channels cover: football, cricket, rugby, horseracing, F1, golf, tennis, boxing and snooker.
Entertainment - this Entertainment zone will send your head spinning! Get the low-down on all that's happening in music, TV & film, including:
- Music charts, news, reviews & interviews with pop, film and TV stars
- TV soap updates as soon as the soap is finished
- Film Reviews & Interviews
- Buy concert tickets from Way Ahead Ticketline.
- Buy music, DVDs, videos and games from Virgin Megastores with 15% discount.
Fun - this could be your lucky day love-wise, work-wise and money-wise! Get some fun on your phone!
- Lottery results updated straight after the draw
- Horoscopes updated every day - find out what's in-store for you
- Trivia - put your mind to it and win some cash every week
- Competitions - weekly competitions with some great prizes.
News - All the news, as it happens. All UK, Sport, Entertainment & Business news updated on the hour, every hour.
- News and Weather is supplied by PA News
- Sports news is supplied by Sportsmedia
- Traffic updates are supplied by TravelNews.
Shopping - Enjoy all the highs of high street without any of the headaches!
- Get 15% discount off all CD's DVD's & Video's and Console Games
- Range of electrical goods at discounted prices
- Wines and gifts - also at discounts
- Tickets for Sporting & Music events.
Favourites - You can put all your favourite services right in one place so whenever you call up you can get your favourite information straight away. Set your own voice character to take you around 4321 - choose between the delectable Chantelle, a frilly French maid, or Ronald the geezer gangster.
What's New - updates from Virgin Mobile on additions to the VirginXtras 4321 services.
VirginXtras call charges
- Calls to Virgin Mobile's voice portal service cost 20p a minute
- Personalised SMS news alerts from Your VirginXtras are free
- To browse Your VirginXtras service using a WAP handset costs the same price as making a voice call - 15p a minute for the first five minutes of use each day and 5p a minute after that
- Customers pay 20p per SMS to play Virgin Mobile's interactive games on VirginXtras
About Virgin Mobile:
Virgin Mobile is now established as the most successful virtual network operator in the world, and is the UK's fifth network. Since its launch in November 1999 it has attracted 1.3 million customers, making it one of the fastest growing mobile phone companies in history.
Virgin Mobile is a 50:50 joint venture company between Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Deutsche Telekom's One 2 One, and is the UK's first mobile virtual operator.
It has scored a number of firsts, including being the first operator to scrap peak rate calls, introduce a daily discounting tariff, the first company in the world to introduce an integrated MP3 mobile phone and the first company to offer all of its customers a content rich voice portal with the launch of its 4321 service.
In the UK, Virgin Mobile phones are available direct on 0845 6000 600; on the web at www.virgin.com/mobile; or on the High Street at over 5,000 outlets including Virgin Megastore, Our Price, V.SHOP, Sainsbury, Tesco, WH Smith, Co-op, Asda, Somerfield, John Lewis, Littlewoods, Morrisons, Phone People, The Link, Dixons and Carphone Warehouse.
