Help Cupid hit the bullseye on the Billboard of Love this Valentine's Day

Media Release, 20 February 2013

Telstra will be ensuring that love is in the air this Valentine’s Day with the annual Billboard of Love expected to share more than 30,000 messages on a 26 metre high board on one of Melbourne’s busiest corners. 

The Billboard, located on the corner of Swanston Street and the Bourke Street Mall will be sharing messages of romance for at least two days due to the unprecedented demand last year. 

Natalie Dean, General Manager, Telstra Brands, said as people use their smartphones to do everyday tasks from email to online banking, they are also using it more and more to say Happy Valentine’s Day. Men in particular have embraced the Billboard, accounting for 70 per cent of messages sent last year. 

“It’s a really novel concept, unique to Melbourne and one that people have really embraced,” Natalie said. 

“Melbournians can text their name and their Valentine’s name to 0499 MY LOVE and it will appear on billboard. They will then receive a picture message to their phone of how the message will look, last year we saw these messages posted on social media sites throughout the day. 

“Traditionally the perception is that men approach Valentine’s Day with a bit of fear and trepidation, but it seems through the Billboard they are able to come out and show that someone special how much they mean to them. 

“Every Valentine’s Day we see a spike in SMS and MMS traffic on our network as customers send cute pictures and declarations of love across Australia. Last Valentine’s Day we saw a six per cent increase in text messages and a 35 per cent increase in picture messages compared to the day before. 

“The Billboard is not only for couples in love. Over the past few years, we have seen Aussies sharing their love for parents with mums getting the love nearly twice as much dads in 2012,” Natalie said. 

More than 30,000 messages were sent to the Billboard of Love last year. The most popular names on the Billboard of Love were: 

Telstra’s Billboard of Love top male names: 

  1. Michael

  2. Chris

  3. David

  4. Andrew

  5. Ryan

 Telstra’s Billboard of Love top female names: 

  1. Sarah

  2. Jenny

  3. Emma

  4. Wendy

  5. Cathy

 Text your name and your valentine’s name to 0499 MY LOVE (0499 695 683) to declare your love to Melbourne. Standard SMS charges apply.
 
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