Shazam Appoints Evan Krauss as Executive Vice-President, Advertising Sales

London, UK – 17 November 2010, Shazam®, the world’s leading mobile discovery provider, announces today that it has appointed Evan Krauss as EVP, Advertising Sales.

Krauss joins Shazam from JumpTap Inc where he was SVP Global Ad Sales & Business Development.  Previously, Evan spent six and a half years at Yahoo! where his last role was as Managing Director of Yahoo!’s Connected Life Business unit.

“Evan joins Shazam at a pivotal time,” says Andrew Fisher, CEO, Shazam.  “Marketers and brands around the globe are waking up to the power of Shazam as a consumer channel which can engage customers in a unique and interactive way.  Evan’s experience in fast-growth digital companies, creating and implementing innovative advertising solutions and driving revenue, combined with his skills at managing and motivating teams to succeed will prove a powerful combination for both Shazam and our media clients.”

“I couldn’t be more excited about joining Shazam at a time when it is rapidly expanding its proposition to media clients,” says Evan Krauss, Executive Vice-President, Advertising Sales, Shazam.  “Whilst shazaming a song is already established behaviour for millions of people, now, marketers are also realising that they can deliver tailored, measurable marketing campaigns into people’s hands with the ability to Shazam television programming, radio shows and commercials.

“Shazam’s creation and leadership of this important new marketing category and ability to continually innovate to appeal to a growing number of consumers and marketers makes this an incredible opportunity,” continues Krauss.

Shazam has been used by more than 75 million people worldwide, including more than  20 million users on the iPhone and iPod touch worldwide and is now adding more than one million new users every week.

With 15 years experience in Internet, mobile and digital media, Krauss has built from scratch and managed some of the earliest and most successful Internet advertising teams at Excite, AOL, Looksmart and Yahoo!  He has been directly responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and forging new Internet advertising products and models since 1995.  Prior to his role at JumpTap, Krauss was President, CEO of online video editing service, Cuts.

Shazam has launched a number of big-name, ground-breaking advertising and marketing campaigns this year, using its proprietary SARA technology (Sound Audio Recognition Advertising).  In a first of its kind, Take That and Polydor Records partnered with Shazam to create a ‘Golden Tag’ promotion for fans to an exclusive meet and greet with the band  - creating a unique and compelling reason for people to engage with Shazam.

Shazam has also extended its reach beyond the music industry to work with a number of media clients, including Levi’s Dockers® on its ‘Wear the Pants’™ advertising campaign.  This encouraged viewers to Shazam the Dockers’ advert during the Super Bowl breaks in February 2010.  Shazamers then received a customised Tag result, including a khaki pant giveaway promotion.

In September, Shazam extended its marketing reach from advertising into TV programming, when it partnered with NBC Universal’s Syfy network to make a number of its TV shows ‘Shazamable’. Once tagged, users received special show content and entry into a sweepstakes.