RONAN KEATING OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES PIGSBACK.COM IN THE UK

Pigsback.com was officially launched in the UK last night, 19th October 2005, at Café De Paris by pop sensation, and Pigsback member, Ronan Keating. Already a big success in Ireland, where it has been developed and trialled since 2000, Pigsback expects to have registered over 1million members in Britain and Ireland by 2006.

A whole host of celebrities including Fran Cosgrove, Dennis Taylor and his ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ Partner, Isabella Hanna, Lady H, Sam Ramplin, Alex Jovy, Nick Rothwell and Bollywood star, Honey Kalaria, attended the launch. Members of Pigsback.com, its clients and UK and Irish shareholders also attended.

Founder and CEO, Michael Dwyer said:

"It’s taken us five years to achieve our goal of launching Pigsback in the UK. Like many early dotcom companies, we bunkered down and focussed on our product and on profit. We are delighted to be part of a new wave of opportunity and optimism among Internet businesses."

Pigsback.com has already become an online phenomenon with over 100,000 UK members registering in only two months. Pigsback provides exclusive offers, interactive fun and liberally awards Points (each worth a penny). Members can exchange their Points for gifts such as cinema tickets, shopping vouchers, CD/DVD vouchers, restaurants and travel; in fact just for registering each member receives 150 PiggyPoints which is worth £1.50.
The site is fun, rewarding and incredibly engaging.

The service is free to the public, being funded by the advertising revenue from companies who want to connect with the online public.

"The initial reaction to Pigsback.com in the UK has been extremely encouraging. We have already had over 100,000 people register on the UK site. This has far surpassed our initial expectations and we expect 500,000 members in Britain in our first year."
Michael Dwyer, CEO and founder of Pigsback.com

Pigsback.com has a highly impressive array of over 80 partners in the UK including Blockbuster, Lastminute.com, Dell, Champneys, Virgin, UGC Cinemas, Ebay, CDWOW!, Wagamama and restaurants such as Fifteen and Lindsay House*.

Pigsback.com operates to its proprietary Empathy Marketing® guidelines, putting the consumers’ interests first always. This means a strict No Junk Mail Guarantee and a rigid Privacy Policy (personal information is NEVER sold or rented to third parties).


Notes to Editor:

About Pigsback.com Ireland:

Pigsback.com was launched in Ireland in July 2000 by Michael Dwyer. The site has over 250,000 members in Ireland and already over 100,000 in the UK. According to JNIR (Joint National Internet Research, Ireland) is the 6th most visited website in Ireland. It counts Kellogg’s, Lever Faberge, Jacob’s, Coca Cola, Ford and Pernod Ricard among its over 200 client brands. Pigsback.com accounts for over 30% of the online spend in Ireland.

* Full List of Partners:
Ace Travel Insurance
Amazon.co.uk
Argus Car Hire
ASOS
Avon
Blockbuster
Camelot
CDWOW
Champneys
Contiki
Daily Diet Tracker
Debenhams
Dell
ebay.co.uk
Firebox.com
Getlenses.com
Go West Ireland
Goldstar Meats
greatmagazines.co.uk
Harbour Hotel
HQhair.com
Intercontinental Hotels
Ireland.ie
irelandhotels.com
Iwantoneofthose.com
Killarney Hotels Ltd.
LA Fitness
Lastminute.com
Lightspeed Research
Moonpig
Mullingar Park Hotel
Octopus Travel
Open Fairways ROI
Outback Steakhouse
PaddyPower
Pigsback.com
Pigsback.com NI
Pizza Hut NI
Punch Industries
Roganstown Golf and Country Club Hotel
Shannon Region Tourism
Simshield
Strawberrynet
Teetimes.ie
Tightsplease
toptable.co.uk
Toucan
Tricycle Theatre
UCI Cinemas
UGC
UK - Dublin Hotels
Undercutter.com
uSwitch
Virgin
Wagamama
West of Ireland
WowWoman.com
Xtravision