Posted on Jun 04, 2007

ORLANDO, FL, JUNE 4, 2007 — On Monday, June 4, ITS (Intelligent Transportation Society) America presented Global-5 Communications, Inc. and the Florida Department of Transportation with its “2007 Best of ITS Award” in the Marketing and Outreach category. The award was presented during the opening ceremony of ITS America’s 2007 Annual Meeting & Exposition at the Palm Springs Convention Center in Palm Springs, California.

Global-5 was recognized for its innovative and effective achievements promoting the launch of the Florida Department of Transportation’s free My Florida 511 service, an extension of Florida’s Statewide 511 Travel Information System and Central Florida’s regional 511 system. My Florida 511 allows users to create custom profiles and routes, giving them faster access to real-time travel information when dialing 511.

A half-day media event planned by Global-5 for the launch of My Florida 511 drew representatives from eight Orlando area media outlets, including all four major network news organizations and three Spanish-language news channels. This resulted in news coverage reaching more than two million viewers. That coverage included live and produced stories about the release and demonstrations of how to use the system, including screen shots of the Web site and sample phone calls. Subsequent print coverage reached a potential audience of more than 317,000 readers and convergent Web coverage reached thousands more.

In the two weeks following the release of My Florida 511, both Statewide and Central Florida 511 services experienced dramatic increases in call volumes over the same period the previous year: 32 and 27 percent respectively. The Statewide 511 received an average of 1,700 calls and Central Florida 511 received an average of 4,500 calls per day during the two-week period. Within one month of the release, 1,130 people signed up with My Florida 511.