New Media award for Ster-Kinekor

Held under the auspices of the Design Indaba and now in its eighth year, the Construction New Media Awards presented the Silver prize in the inaugural Innovation category to Ster-Kinekor Theatres for its WAP site.

This year's award follows on from last year when the Ster-Kinekor website www.sterkinekor.com was awarded Gold in the CNMA's online functional category.

The Ster-Kinekor WAP site was built because of the significant numbers of WAP-enabled mobile phone users in South Africa, numbering between 15 and 20 million.

Says Elizabeth Lee Ming, CRM marketing manager, Ster-Kinekor Theatres, “Against this figure and bearing in mind the limited access to broadband and the internet on the part of many of our cinema-goers, we felt it was imperative to deliver a mobile version of the award winning www.sterkinekor.com website. This would enable mobile phone users to access the same extensive content and functionality offered on the website through the ease of their mobile phone.”

The WAP site went live towards the end of 2007 and has had over 1 million hits since its launch. This innovation enables movie-goers to see what's showing anywhere at Ster-Kinekor theatres across the country, on their cellphones. Ster-Kinekor WAP also features online booking via credit payment in a secure environment, allowing movie-goers to book their movie tickets any time and from any place. Furthermore, Ster-Kinekor WAP provides movie-goers with the latest information on movies coming soon via movie synopses and previews via mobile movie trailers.

Another feature that makes the Ster-Kinekor WAP site standout is that it integrates with Ster-Kinekor's User Profiler System, allowing registered users to update their preferences via their cellphones, which in turn provides the movie-goer with a richer user experience by displaying relevant content based on genre and favourite cinema recollection.

“We believe that we have the most functional digital platforms, whether on the internet or on mobile phones, and the silver awarded to us is proof that we are getting it right. Our customers can look forward to even more innovations during 2008 as we strive to bring them the best and most accessible cinema-going experience in the country,” added Lee Ming.