TheCase.com celebrates successful first year online New mystery "pushed" via email to members every week — Free

Business Wire, Jan 16, 1997

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 16, 1997--Newfront Communications announced the celebration of the first year online for the award-winning TheCase.com: "The fun and challenging mystery website".

In its first year TheCase.com has achieved tremendous fan loyalty and garnered excellent media coverage. Good Morning America was one of several who covered TheCase.com when they reported in May, 1996: "If you like mysteries, you will love this site".

In its first year online, TheCase.com has reached a significant milestone by registering over 30,000 members. These members have signed up to receive a new professionally-written mystery via email every week. "This pioneering use of email as a 'push technology' and three regularly scheduled weekly mysteries has made TheCase.com a 'destination site' on the Web." said Steve Schaffer, president of Newfront.

Pushing the weekly mystery via email enables members to read and enjoy the mystery at their leisure, on- or off-line, and entices them to return to TheCase.com website for additional clues and the solution. This push-pull method of distribution has given TheCase.com a consistent audience for advertisers that want to reach mystery fans. These advertisers can then utilize one-to-one (1:1) marketing to reach an audience they "know" are customers for their products. Advertisers include: Parker Brothers' board game "Clue", Turner Movie Classics' "Who's Who of Whodunits" film festival, and mystery CD-ROM game publishers Activision, Access Software, and Centron Software, among others.

In October, 1996, Newfront leveraged TheCase.com's initial success and added two more mini-mysteries per week: the Monday Twist and Friday Mysterious Photo Mystery. Newfront also enhanced TheCase.com design and launched MysteryNet.com: "The online network for everything mystery". In December, Newfront launched Christmas Mysteries: "Online for the Holidays", the first of many planned MysteryNet.com sponsorship-based "Specials". About Newfront Communications

San Francisco based Newfront Communications is the leading producer and publisher of online mysteries and mystery websites. Newfront's online network, MysteryNet.com, includes entertaining and informative sites for casual mystery fans and fanatics. MysteryNet.com includes: TheCase.com, The History of the Mystery: "An Interactive Journey", Mystery Bookstore Directory, and Christmas Mysteries. Along with publishing mysteries, Newfront is the leading developer and producer of online mysteries. Production sites include Missing in Santa Fe for Activision and The Blackout Syndrome for Genentech's Access Excellence Science Website.

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Website Addresses:

TheCase.com -- www.TheCase.com

MysteryNet.com -- www.MysteryNet.com

Newfront Communications -- www.newfront.com

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Please call or email if you would like names or comments from TheCase.com regular visitors.

CONTACT: Newfront Communications

Steve Schaffer, 415-776-6683

steve@newfront.com