SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (October 12, 2000) - An unprecedented number of new Virginia Tech supporters have responded to an invitation to visit and register at their Hokies Internet portal, www.VaTechAlumni.com, as a result of MyPersonal?s latest direct marketing campaign.

Working in conjunction with Virginia Tech?s Alumni Association, MyPersonal, the leading provider of branded online solutions and technologies for shared interest groups, is offering Hokie fans an opportunity to win coveted home football game tickets by entering a sweepstakes on their personalized Hokies portal. The sweepstakes offer was sent via direct mail to addressable alumni within a six-hour radius of the school in Blacksburg and via e-mail to Virginia Tech?s national list of alumni. The portal has also been regularly promoted in the Alumni Association?s magazine.

MyPersonal not only builds, hosts, and maintains portals on its proprietary technology platform for its clients, but also conducts the marketing to attract portal users.  Like so many other online businesses, MyPersonal used a trial and error method to determine the most effective customer acquisition strategies.  After testing costly branding tactics that included print advertising and premium giveaways, MyPersonal quickly learned that direct marketing yields the highest return on marketing dollar investment and creates the largest possible audience for its portal application. 

Response rates have surpassed direct marketing averages in only five weeks.  Typical response rates for a simple post card mailed to homes are 1-2%, while response rates to text e-mail solicitations are 5%.  The response to the MyPersonal campaign was 4% for direct mail and 10% for e-mail, with two months still remaining in the campaign.

"Our supporters want home game football tickets, but they also want a comprehensive resource on the Web designed just for them," said Tom Tillar, vice president of alumni relations for Virginia Tech. "The ticket sweepstakes exposed our fans to the user-friendly services offered at the Virginia Tech portal and resulted in enthusiasm for the portal and an increase in repeat usage that ultimately made this sweepstakes so successful."

Fans who arrive at their personalized Hokies portal, which is a source for alumni association, university, and sports news, a free Virginia Tech e-mail account, live stock updates, weather and much more, have been converting to registered users at a rate of 45%, considerably higher than the 30% industry average.

In an industry where customer acquisition costs in the $100 range are not uncommon, MyPersonal reports that the per-customer acquisition cost for the Virginia Tech sweepstakes promotion is well under that at approximately $1.50. This is a testament to the effectiveness of a marketing message customized for its audience and delivered through direct, targeted media.

"Virginia Tech has a known supporter base that we were able to reach with targeted messaging, resulting in a low cost of acquisition that is rare in Internet marketing," said Jennie Winton, senior director of marketing at MyPersonal.com. "We are already planning similar sweepstakes for clients who want to take advantage of our direct marketing expertise."

Interested fans can still enter for their chance to win a pair of tickets to a home game by registering at the personalized Virginia Tech portal, www.VaTechAlumni.com. The sweepstakes, which began in July, will run through November, with winners chosen and notified two weeks prior to each home game.

About MyPersonal

MyPersonal.com Inc. (www.mypersonal.com) is the leading provider of branded online solutions and technologies for business and shared interest groups. MyPersonal built an innovative state-of-the-art technology platform that allows for the rapid development and deployment of personalized portals for membership organizations. The company?s patent-pending technologies create branded portals, or StartPages, that effectively combine the organization's information and unique brand attributes with online content, community and commerce features that reach, serve, engage and retain customers. Based in the high-tech corridor of Emeryville and closely tied to industry leaders in nearby Silicon Valley, MyPersonal has developed proprietary technology and established strategic Internet alliances to ensure the rapid and seamless implementation of the best online solution for each individual organization.

About Virginia Tech

From its beginning in 1872, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, popularly known as Virginia Tech, has evolved into a comprehensive university of national and international prominence. As Virginia's largest university with 25,000 students and one of the top 50 research institutions in the nation, it is an institution that firmly embraces a history of putting knowledge to work. That tradition is rooted in our motto, Ut Prosim: "That I May Serve," and our land-grant missions of instruction, research, and solving the problems of society through public service and outreach activities.

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