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Bulgarian bank uses ICQ to advertise loans

Mon, Oct 24 2005 01:00 CET byBusiness Staff 197 Views

SG Expressbank became the first bank and business entity to advertise in Bulgarian using the ICQ messaging service.


ICQ (for "I seek you") is an instant-messaging computer programme, created by Mirabilis, an Israeli start-up company based in Tel-Aviv. The programme, first released in November 1996, was the earliest instant messaging programme.


In 1998 it was bought by Time Warner's AmericaOnline, one of the largest online service providers. ICQ has more than 150 million users worldwide.


Since the service is mainly used by young people, SG Expressbank's campaign, launched on September 1, aims to communicate the bank's offer for student loans.


The launch of the bank's campaign coincided with the start of the completely Bulgarian version of the software supplied by the local online service provider Netinfo.bg. The abv.icq (named after abv.bg, an e-mail portal operated by Netinfo) was specially created for Bulgarian users.


SG Expressbank advertises through a banner posted on the welcome screen of the messenger, as well as on the contact list and in the message windows. The bank has chosen to apply a different approach to the users depending on the personal information they have submitted when registering to use ICQ.


"As a modern bank we are oriented towards applying new communication tools like ICQ," SG Expressbank said in a press release. The goal is to breathe new social life into a typical banking product, such as the loans, and to deliver it through modern cultural ways of cyberspace communication, the bank said.


Through its partnership with ICQ, SG Expressbank supports the use of Bulgarian language in online communication.


SG Expressbank is the Bulgarian arm of the French banking group Societe Generale.

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