FATHER’S CRÈCHE-MAS

Added: (Mon Nov 20 2000)

Pressbox (Press Release) - Flipside joins forces with Lakeside Shopping Centre to offer female shoppers a brief respite in the Christmas build-up


Couples in London and the South-East are set to enjoy the most peaceful Christmas since records began, as Flipside and Lakeside Shopping Centre come together to remove one of their greatest sources of seasonal friction - Christmas shopping conflict.

To remove this potential area of discord, Flipside and Lakeside are throwing open the doors of a ‘Male Crèche’ for the final three weeks of the Christmas shopping season. The Crèche, devised and operated by Flipside UK (the new online games website for all the family, found at http://uk.flipside.com) will provide harassed wives and girlfriends with a secure place to leave their boyfriend or husband for up to an hour, thereby allowing them to shop in peace.

Male visitors who are entrusted to the Crèche will be well looked after during their stay, where they will be free to play any of the 40 games which Flipside has to offer, including a variety of board, card and brain games (not to mention the highly-compelling Wordox, nominated ‘Online Game of the Year’ at this year’s E3 show), all under the watchful eye of trained staff. Best of all, the facility will be offered free of charge to Lakeside customers.

“Christmas should be a time for giving, not giving grief,” says Nick Witcher, UK Marketing Manager for Flipside. “We believe that, if left to their own devices for an hour, most female shoppers will be able to get through what might take them up to a day with their partner in tow. Better still, everyone’s a winner, as the men get to enjoy an hour on Flipside.”

“Lakeside is pleased to be trialling this new service in the run up to Christmas,” comments Lakeside Centre Manager, Richard Belt. “We’re all for a service which allows shoppers to enjoy their day’s shopping even more, while their partners have fun in the Crèche.”

Flipside is a new free online gaming service, where players can play a vast range of games, from word, card, casino and board games to the latest CD-ROM blockbusters. Web users who play games on Flipside are rewarded with virtual ‘Flip’ tokens which are redeemable through the site’s prize redemption centre for anything from gourmet food and wine through sportswear and music to electronic equipment.

The Male Crèche, which will be open from 10am to 10pm between December 4th and December 23rd (inclusive) will be equipped with 30 AMD Athlon and Duron-powered PCs provided by evesham.com, which has been building cutting-edge PCs for 18 years. Internet access will be provided by World Online (one of the UK’s top five ISPs, which recently linked with uk.flipside.com to offer a smoother, more intense gaming experience through its own site at www.worldonline.co.uk).

Entrance to the Crèche will be available to all qualifying visitors to Lakeside (i.e. males aged 18 and over who are ‘signed in’ by a partner) on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.

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About Flipside: A top ten web property in the United States in total time spent online (source PC Data, June 2000), Flipside is a world leader in free online multi-platform games, with PC content as well as wireless games. When playing its single and multi-player games, Flipside users earn Flips and redeem them for prizes. Present in the US, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, Flipside is a subsidiary of Havas Interactive and of VivendiNet.

About Havas Interactive: Havas Interactive, the largest publisher of consumer PC software in the US market (PC Data, June 2000), is the multimedia subsidiary of Havas (Vivendi). This group holds very strong positions worldwide in three main sectors: information, education and leisure. Havas reports total revenues of € 3.3 bn, including 40 per cent outside France, with operating income of € 340 million. Its 20,000 employees serve 300 brands in 40 countries.

About VivendiNet: VivendiNet federates the Internet activities of Vivendi, Havas and Canal Plus, as well as venture capital and incubation activities. VivendiNet’s role is to profitably leverage existing content, technology, brand equity and subscriber bases of affiliates by developing them online, while continuing to identify and develop profitable and innovative new business models. Its three-pronged activity as investor, incubator, and operator allows VivendiNet to pool talent, knowledge and resources in order to fully exploit Internet-related opportunities and critical mass.

About World Online: World Online UK - the top ISP in the UK (according to September 2000 statistics taken from ISP Review) - provides a consumer and business offering to both its visitors and its registered users. All users have access to a wealth of great information on music, sport, travel, news, finance, entertainment, and health.

About AMD: AMD is a global supplier of integrated circuits for the personal and networked computer and communications markets with manufacturing facilities in the United States, Europe, Japan, and Asia. AMD produces microprocessors, flash memory devices, and support circuitry for communications and networking applications.

For Further information, please contact Ciarán Brennan or Ben Welch at Bastion Ltd.
87 Charterhouse Street, London EC1M 6HJ. Tel: 020 7490 1323. Fax: 020 7490 1350.
Email: flipside@bastion.co.uk.

Or

Eva Grynszpan, Public Relations Coordinator Europe for Flipside.com, Tour Cedre, 7 Allee de l'Arche, 92677 Courbevoie, France. Tel: 00 33 1 71 77 09 18 Fax: 00 33 1 71 77 09 09
Email: eva.grynszpan@flipside.com