Today, WallDecaux Premium Outdoor Sales, the sales brand of Wall AG, launches U snap, a value-added app for smartphones, on the German market. To inaugurate the app, which connects posters with added values on the net, WallDecaux in cooperation with Universal Music starts a national U snap poster advertising campaign. About 15,000 City Light Posters with the slogan "Fly to Lady Gaga with U snap" accompany the release of the new album "Born This Way" and provide attractive value-added offers for Lady Gaga fans. U snap is available for free download in the App-Store from today.

The app was developed by global outdoor advertising market leader JCDecaux and successfully launched in France in October 2010. Since then, about 260 brands have made U snap part of their outdoor advertising campaigns, and the app was downloaded more than 70,000 times. U snap is easy to use and designed to be highly intuitive: smartphone users can download U snap from the App-Store. When starting the app, the camera function of the smartphone opens automatically and invites the user to "snap" the poster motif. By means of image recognition technology, the app connects the poster motif to value-added offers lodged online. "Snapping" the current Lady Gaga campaign by Wall and Universal Music definitely pays off: Lady Gaga fans may not only indulge in samples from her new album but also view music videos or win concert tickets, fan packages and CDs by the artist.

Andreas Prasse, Director of Sales and Marketing of Wall AG: "U snap creates mass brand experiences. The combination of out-of-home advertising as a mass medium and online as a growing medium is an answer to changing user behaviour in the media sector. Today, users no longer go online only 'in-house', but increasingly 'out-of-home', as the number of smartphones sold indicates. JCDecaux was the first outdoor advertiser to react to these developments in 2010 and is also the first to start an international rollout of its product. Following Germany, U snap will soon be available in China." Andreas Knorr, Head of Marketing, adds: "U snap significantly distinguishes itself from other software solutions as for example QR codes. U snap focuses on added value and brand experience for the consumer. For example, this may include an excerpt from a current bestseller, an online beauty counseling session, or a link to a social media presence. U snap sets no limits to the creativity of advertisers."

Universal Music is already convinced of the advantages of the U snap-app. Dominic Hesse, Head of New Media of Universal Music International Division: "In Germany, U snap is a unique approach: a symbiosis between offline poster advertising and an interactive app. Users are offered new and exciting communication channels. They can have a listen to the music of their idols or experience the artists in other ways. The growing popularity of smartphones combined with innovative technical solutions like U snap opens up a wealth of new possibilities for the marketing of artists."

Dirk Baur, Managing Director Universal Music International Division: "As a market leader, Universal Music plays the role of innovator, not least in the integration of new marketing tools. The importance we attribute to this cooperation and the successful launch of U snap in Germany is confirmed by our choice of Lady Gaga to inaugurate this tool and our partnership with Wall AG. Lady Gaga is the most successful megastar worldwide. Her new Album "Born This Way" shot straight to the top of the German charts. She has sold more than 5 million albums and 7 million singles worldwide and is considered the most influential artist of our time, according to Time Magazine."

U snap is available for iPhones and all Android smartphones free of charge at the App-Store. A version for Nokia smartphones and Blackberry is underway.

Wall-Group: Key Facts

• International street furniture supplier and outdoor advertiser in four countries and more than 50 metropolises and cities, amongst others in Berlin, Budapest, Duesseldorf, Istanbul and Sofia


• Part of the international JC Decaux cooperation – the number one in outdoor advertising worldwide


• Innovative street furniture in highest quality design; more than 28 different design-lines


• Made to measure solutions provided by in-house research and development unit


• Single-source production, cleaning and maintenance guarantee highest quality standards


• Intelligent outdoor advertising on about 89,800 high profile advertising spaces, including 6,475 advertising spaces on means of transportation such as tramways, busses, underground trains and trucks


• Sales division WallDecaux Premium Outdoor Sales with five regional sales-offices in Germany ensures national marketing competence


• Largest national provider of City Light Poster (CLP) format advertising displays in Germany


• Marketing-portfolio in Germany: analogue and digital advertising displays in 36 cities, AirportNet, ShoppingNet, Leipzig Central Station, Berlinale International Film Festival, bluespot, RollAd truck advertising medium, as well as transit advertising in Berlin, including all underground stations


• Number of employees: 753 (as at December 31, 2010)