Ann Summers lures users to Wap site with sex tips and discount vouchers

LONDON - Ann Summers, the high street retailer, is launching a Wap site containing sex tips and offering visitors money-off vouchers to be used in its stores.

Developed and designed by Graphico New Media, the mobile site will also include product information, sexy stories, still and moving pictures and ringtones.

Customers can text a shortcode and are then sent a message connecting them to the Wap site, wap.annsummers.com. The code will be promoted in all Ann Summers stores worldwide, including shop window stickers, on till receipts and with point-of-sale flyers, and will be pushed via the  and Ann Summers parties.

People who text the number are rewarded with a voucher sent to their phone. The coupon is redeemable in store on a purchase over £30, with the till scanner reading the barcode directly from the phone's screen.

Gordon Lee, marketing director at Ann Summers, said: "The mobile space is the next place we want to be and it will be fully integrated into all elements of our existing operation.

"By putting Ann Summers content on to the mobile phone screen, we are extending the brand, and by selling the content we are adding an additional revenue stream."

It uses technology from Bango to allow users to easily access and pay for content directly from any network and from more than 130 countries. Visitors to the site gain direct access to Ann Summers information rather than going through a portal operated by one of the major mobile operators.

Ray Anderson, CEO of Bango, said: "Ann Summers is the latest big brand, along with the likes of The Sun, Maxim magazine and some major record labels, to build its own independent browse and buy mobile storefront.

"Increasingly, consumers want to go direct to the sites which give them what they want and be able to find, select and pay for content with the minimum of time and effort."

If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .