REDMOND, Wash., Dec. 20, 1999 — Microsoft Corp. and Simon Property Group Inc., the nation’s largest mall owner and operator, today announced that they have joined forces to provide post-holiday mall shoppers with an exciting offer that includes a Simon mall shopping spree with purchase of the MSN TM Internet Access online service. Consumers who sign up to get connected to the Internet through this onsite offer for MSN Internet Access will instantly receive a $50 or $100 Simon mall gift certificate from any one of 120 participating Simon malls across the country.
“For anyone who just received a new computer, this is an excellent opportunity to sign up for an affordable, reliable Internet access service,”
said Yusuf Mehdi, director of marketing in the Consumer Group at Microsoft.
“MSN Internet Access makes it easy for people to get to the best of the Web, including integrated e-mail, search functionality, shopping, personal finance and communications services.”
From Jan. 2 through Feb. 29, shoppers can visit the MALLPeRKS® Marketplace SM (customer information center) at participating Simon malls to take advantage of this special offer to acquire MSN Internet Access 5.0, the award-winning service offering fast, reliable Internet access. MSN Internet Access includes toll-free 24×7 technical support and easy-to-use high-quality MSN.com services. In addition, subscribers will become eligible for upcoming MSN Internet Access services such as support for Poptimizer technology, which means fewer busy signals for consumers; multiuser accounts so each household member can have an e-mail address under one MSN Internet Access account; and smart roaming, which allows people on the road to connect to the Internet without having to worry about looking up local access numbers. Shoppers will receive a Simon mall gift certificate when they sign up for a specified contract with MSN Internet Access.
During the promotion, shoppers can prepay for six months of MSN Internet Access and receive a $50 Simon mall gift certificate. Shoppers who choose to prepay for 12 months of MSN Internet Access will receive a $100 Simon mall gift certificate. Simon mall gift certificates can be redeemed at retailers located at over 200 Simon shopping centers across the country.*
As an added bonus, members of MALLPeRKS, Simon’s national in-mall customer loyalty program, who sign up for MSN Internet Access will receive double MALLPeRKS points for their purchase. MALLPeRKS members can redeem their points, in combination with cash, at Simon retailers to receive special discounts and rewards. For those shoppers who wish to benefit from this promotion but are not MALLPeRKS members, MSN will pay the nominal membership fee for them to join.
“Our relationship with MSN demonstrates how major consumer brands are utilizing our malls as an integrated marketing medium to deliver their message or call to action to a broad base of consumers,”
said Cathi Weiner, vice president of partnership and marketing development at Simon Brand Ventures. Simon Brand Ventures is the strategic marketing initiative of Simon Property Group that enables major consumer brands to utilize Simon’s national network of malls as a live, interactive marketing medium.
“These alliances in turn enable us to deliver on our commitment to provide our shoppers with value-added products and service offerings at our malls.”
The in-mall promotion will be supported through other media channels, including print advertisements in the January and February issues of S Magazine, Simon’s national in-mall publication, and place-based signage located throughout the mall.
About Simon Property Group
Simon Property Group Inc., with headquarters in Indianapolis, Ind., is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust which, through its subsidiary partnerships, is engaged in the ownership, development, management, leasing, acquisition and expansion of income-producing properties, primarily regional malls and community shopping centers. It currently owns or has an interest in 258 properties containing an aggregate of 182 million square feet of gross leasable area in 36 states and five assets in Europe. Together with its affiliated management company, Simon owns or manages approximately 189 million square feet of gross leasable area in retail and mixed-use properties. Shares of Simon Property Group Inc. are paired with beneficial interests in shares of stock of SPG Realty Consultants Inc. Additional Simon Property Group information is available at http://www.simon.com/ .
About Simon Brand Ventures
Simon Brand Ventures is the world’s largest and most sophisticated mall marketing initiative, with major national recognized brands such as AT & T, Ford Motor Company, Pepsi, Turner Broadcasting System Inc. and Visa, among others. Simon Brand Ventures’ mission is to provide access to more products, services, discounts and benefits in any one Simon mall location than anywhere else in the world.
About MSN
MSN is the network of Internet services from Microsoft that helps people better organize the Web around what’s important to them. The network of MSN services, located on the Web at MSN.com ( http://MSN.com/ ), helps people easily stay in touch with friends and colleagues, make smart and secure purchasing decisions, and get more done. MSN offers award-winning e-mail functionality; personal communications services; wireless services information; customizable access to news; popular sites for
personal finance, travel,
automotive services, shopping and more; an online community; a Web search engine and directories; and top-rated Internet access.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
*Certain restrictions apply. Go to the MALLPeRKS Marketplace (customer information center) at a participating Simon mall for complete offer details.
Microsoft and MSN.com are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
MALLPeRKS and MALLPeRKS Marketplace are registered trademarks or service marks of Simon Property Group Inc.
Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft® Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages. A complete list of Simon malls across the country is available by clicking on the
“property locator”
icon located on the home page of the Simon Web site at http://www.simon.com/ .
