Sound Response Corp. helps expand NIKE's interactive marketing program

Business Wire, June 14, 1995

PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 14, 1995--During this season of basketball, hockey and tennis championships, Sound Response Corp. will be handling a lot more phone calls featuring NBA greats Michael Jordan and Anfernee Hardaway, hockey players Cam Nealy and Sergei Federov and tennis star Jim Courier.

As NIKE pumps up its advertising during peak sports championships (NBA Finals, NHL Playoffs, Wimbledon, etc.), Portland-based Sound Response is one of the big winners on the business side due to the increased number of calls generated by the promotion of marketing tools such as NIKE's 1-800-929-PLAY and 1-800-352-NIKE, a NIKE retail locator and brochure request line. Sound Response is the interactive voice response (IVR) marketing communications company that processes all of those calls, captures names and addresses in a database and manages the extensive menu of computerized options callers can choose. In response to various 800 numbers NIKE promotes in its broadcast and print ads, callers access the 24-hour IVR system operated by Sound Response and hear recorded information from superstars such as hockey players Cam Nealy and Sergei Federov, tennis star Jim Courier, trackstar Jackie Joyner Kersee and the NBA's Michael Jordan and Anfernee Hardaway.

Want to know where to buy NIKE products? Call 1-800-352-NIKE and your calling area is automatically recognized -- Sound Response's Findline application will give you locations of at least three retailers nearest you. Want a free brochure featuring women's fitness apparel? Call 1-800-945-NIKE and use Sound Response's LeaveWord application, which allows callers to leave their name and address for fulfillment purposes. Interested in "listening in" on Jim Courier's discussion with NIKE's Air Resistance shoe designer about the features of the new tennis shoe? Call 1-800-217-4557 and you're a part of the conversation.

"The 800 number direct marketing program we've developed with Sound Response has worked so well that we've added nine new applications this spring," says Cheryl Yoshioka, NIKE manager of Direct Marketing. "Sound Response's ability to customize IVR applications for our specific needs has been a tremendous asset."

Sound Response's successful four-year relationship with NIKE has helped vault a small Portland start-up company into one of the nation's leaders in IVR services. Incorporated in 1991, the company has grown to more than 100 employees and has at least doubled gross revenues each year.

And Sound Response's client list boasts some of America's most innovative and successful companies -- Pepsi, MCI, Microsoft, Intel, Tektronix, CNN, Sony and Nestle.

Why are more and more companies choosing IVR technology for their telecommunications solutions? "Because IVR offers quick and efficient access to information, 24 hours a day, many customers prefer IVR solutions to live operators," explains Robert Kingery, CEO of Sound Response.

As a service provider, Sound Response develops customized applications with its customers and runs those programs with in-house computers. According to a recent Forrester Research study, nine out of 10 Fortune 1000 executives surveyed reported a tremendous return on their investments in IVR.

"Our customers have discovered that IVR actually makes them money because it automates many repetitive information tasks," explained Tony Bash, Sound Response's vice president of Marketing. He added that 24-hour, tireless, fixed-cost IVR "agents" can answer the phone, seek information and provide it to customers -- freeing up valuable "human" resources for more mission-critical jobs, like selling the caller on additional products or services.

By taking advantage of the latest automated voice response technologies, companies are saving money, developing stronger relationships with their customers, heightening consumer product awareness and building databases that track consumer responses, buying patterns and demographic information.

From its headquarters in Portland, Sound Response operates state-of-the-art voice processing hardware and applications that give callers interactive access to information via the telephone. Corporate offices are located at 707 S.W. Washington, 8th floor, Portland, OR 97205. The phone number is 503/727-6863.

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Editor's Note: For other examples of Sound Response's IVR applications, please feel free to call Columbia Sportswear's 1-800-MA-BOYLE; London Underground's 1-800-866-9815; or the Sportfishing Promotion Council of America's 1-800-ASK-FISH.

CONTACT: Sound Response

Tony Bash, 503/727-6863

or

NIKE Inc.

Gary Vossenkemper, 503/671-2578

or

Media Contact: Ken Koopman, 503/223-2168