The 20th anniversary Volvo Masters is offering a mouth-watering array of technology that would have been unimaginable when the European Tour's flagship event was launched back in 1988.
Already a leader in interactive web technology, on-line video content and birds-eye views of the Volvo Masters atmosphere from web-cams, the 2007 Volvo Masters is offering visitors a first taste of Bluetooth technology, served-up straight to their mobile phone through InfoMasters.
Four Bluetooth hotspots will be created, in two of the official hotels, the media centre and the Volvo Masters Members' Club, each offering multiple connectivity to a menu of bespoke daily Volvo Masters content.
"Volvo is known worldwide as a technologically innovative brand and it is therefore a natural extension to take our golf portfolio into new and challenging areas of multi-media," said Mel Pyatt, President & CEO, Volvo Event Management, who added, "The mobile phone is an integral part of every day life and we see it as an important tool in making golf in general and information about the Volvo Masters in particular as accessible as possible and InfoMasters is an exciting new development.
"But," he insisted, "Those hotspots will be located well away from the golf course, because mobile phones and world-class golf do not go hand in glove."
The groundbreaking InfoMasters service comes as a result of a collaboration between event promoters Volvo Event Management and Belgian mobile marketing company BlueTalk and will consist of both an automatic, free-of-charge service and ‘on request' offering to the end user for which normal network charges will apply.
Firstly, within the four Bluetooth hot-spot zones, users will automatically be served with up-to-the-minute information through InfoMasters on the Volvo Masters as soon as the switch on their phone or enter the zone, details of weather, tee times, highlights like holes-in-one and flash scores.
The ‘on request' InfoMasters SMS service offers mobile phone users anywhere in the world tailor-made Volvo Masters information including player fast facts, past master profiles, ticket, hotel and travel data, a map of the world famous Valderrama course.
The €4million Volvo Masters is the 20th anniversary staging of the traditional end-of-season showpiece and is the first golf championship and only the second sporting event in the world to offer the state-of-the-art service.
Says Frederic Schroyens of BlueTalk NV, "As supplier to the Volvo Masters, we believe that the future lies in delivering interactive event information through mobile connectivity solutions and we are proud to be associated with such a great event and a first in the world of golf."
He adds, "The challenge of InfoMasters lies in the compatibility of and support for the various mobile phone brands across different operating platforms, but, like Volvo, we enjoy pushing technological solutions into uncharted territory."
The 20th anniversary Volvo Masters takes place at Valderrama, Andalucia, Spain from 1st - 4th November 2007 and to sign up for the ‘on request' SMS send keyword ‘Volvo Masters' to +32475981703.
Notes for Editors:
The Volvo Masters is the property of and promoted by Volvo Event Management, a company jointly owned by Volvo Car Corporation and Volvo Group.
For further information on the Volvo Masters contact Steven Lefebvre,
Volvo Event Management on + 32 2 482 5691
or mailto:steven.Lefebvre@volvo.com
BlueTalk is an interactive marketing company specialising in mobile phone platforms and Bluetooth technology. Founded in 2006 and with its headquarters in Ghent, Belgium, its mission is ‘the ultimate search for added-value for the end-consumer.'
For further information on BlueTalk and technical data on InfoMasters contact Frederic Schroyens
on + 32 9 242 9926
