Urban Planet Mobile

Urban Planet Media & Entertainment, Inc. (Urban Planet Mobile) is the leading provider of education and information products created specifically for delivery via mobile phone.

Urban Planet Mobile is an innovative content development and delivery company providing high quality educational and informational content worldwide. Through creating our products from the ground up for mobile delivery, we’ve built a line deliverable to just about any mobile phone with any mobile provider anywhere in the world.  In this way, Urban Planet Mobile brings timely information and top quality education to people everywhere.  

Our products range from basic text only to text with audio through download or IVR solution, to slide shows, videos, and games.

Our markets are English learners around the world, public and private educational institutions, governments, associations, and organizations requiring specialized education and information content development and delivery.

We are a company committed to affordable and accessible education and information for all people, anytime and anywhere. By delivering digitally, we aren’t reliant on petroleum based CDs/DVDs, physical packaging, and don’t require people to buy additional technology devices or upgrade from devices they already own.

• Products include English language learning for the 1.4 billion people worldwide actively learning English. These products are available in audio only for 95% of mobile phones worldwide and also with animation for the burgeoning smart phone market.
• SAT, GRE, and other standardized testing learning programs to build vocabulary.
• Travelingo, short audio and text lessons for the traveler wanting to pick up useful phrases for dining out, shopping, transportation, and such. Lessons are available in 10 of the most popular languages currently.

Urban English™ is 450 audio English language lessons available for 11 languages, delivered via the mobile platform. The lessons are presented in English only. Research in language acquisition has shown that listening to the language without direct translation generally leads to more active engagement, which in turn is associated with increased comprehension on behalf of the student. Learn more about the pedagogy behind the development of the product here.

Urban English™ is real English, the kind of English used daily in real conversation. The products are word of the day vocabulary building lessons, phrase of the day idiom learning lessons, and comprehension conversations available in business and social categories.

The products are available through a subscription model with delivery options including delivery of the word of the day, phrase of the day, and conversations as a group or as independent lines.

Urban English™ reaches the most people because of mobile delivery. The lessons are equivalent to a ring tone file size. This makes delivery via mobile incredibly simple since the technology already exists. Even the most basic phones can receive the Urban English™ products.

Brian A. OliverSmith, CEO 

Prior to starting Urban Planet Mobile, Mr. OliverSmith founded and built Sounds Publishing, Inc., a publishing company primarily focused on delivering high quality short audio content. As CEO of Sounds Publishing, Mr. OliverSmith secured international distribution through Kensington Publishers, a top 10 U.S. Publisher, for the Sounds physical products and secured direct to iTunes and other digital retailers distribution for the digital audio products through IODA, the second largest digital distributor in the world. He also negotiated distribution through Audible.com and developed relationships with niche distributors. He created an entirely new genre of product and sold more than 125,000 products worldwide within the first 18 months, and within 30 months of product launch

Mr. OliverSmith’s experience with digital audio distribution is an asset for the building of Urban Planet Mobile, as are his extensive connections in the publishing, media and entertainment world, and his already having built the foundational infrastructure for a global audio media and entertainment publishing concern. 

Prior to building Sounds, Mr. OliverSmith spent 20 years as a Sales and Marketing Executive in diverse industries and companies like AST Computers, Vault Technologies, Mass Mutual and Connecticut Mutual. He has extensive experience in marketing, business development, and national sales in both business and major account markets, and has a demonstrated ability to increase profitability through strategic focus, market development, team leadership, and solid execution.

Mr. OliverSmith was on the executive team for Vault Technologies, a division of AST computers. While with Vault Technologies, Mr. OliverSmith led a team developing a collaborative on-line learning program with Computer Associates. He recruited a top team of national sales executives and through on-line and web-based recruiting and training developed a reseller network of over 700 resellers within 9 months. All recruiting, communication, training, management and retention with this force was conducted over the web. Additionally, he had a lead role in prospecting and evaluating potential area markets for development and staffing. 

He was on the merger integration team for the multi-billion Mass Mutual/Connecticut Mutual merger, developing sales and marketing strategy for the newly merged corporation. He also oversaw both the Southern Region and Western Region for Mass Mutual increasing production and sales in his regions from $16 million to $22 million within 3 years.  His responsibilities included developing sales strategies, marketing programs, and training systems for 56 offices with over 2500 representatives in 35 states. 

As CEO of Urban Planet Media & Entertainment Corp., Mr. OliverSmith leads the team in developing new products and brands, producing quality content, developing and expanding distribution, and securing strategic partnerships and licenses for future growth, working extensively with international partners and high-level consultants. He has experience bringing new products and entire genres to market, raising and managing outside capital, developing international distribution and relationships, and aggressively implementing solid, measurable business development plans.  

M. Catherine OliverSmith, JD, Executive Vice President 

Ms. OliverSmith has over 15 years of content development and marketing experience in the consumer, international, legal, and financial services marketplace, having developed online presences for credit unions, investment and insurance organizations, and developing online and physical training and education manuals. She has worked in developing content as products and content for marketing, and in developing physical as well as digital products. 

Prior to Urban Planet Mobile, Ms. OliverSmith co-founded and was Executive Vice-President, Content for Sounds Publishing, Inc. Her position included conceptualizing brands, negotiating licensing deals, and developing company communications, strategy, and focus as part of the executive team. In addition, she contracted with authors, developed storylines, edited for audio and print, developed series of books and audio, and oversaw the web communications and all marketing copy. 

Ms. OliverSmith previously worked as the Executive in charge of web content for PL-X, a start-up online patent valuation company. Ms. OliverSmith was part of the executive team developing strategic partnerships with international licensees and divisions and developing content appropriate to the specific culture and business environment. Additionally, she led a team developing the marketing website as well as the back-end product, a robust valuation wizard and licensing program with a complex patent search tool. She worked with sales and business development, as well as overseeing designers and programmers.

Ms. OliverSmith’s team created a print and web-based educational guide for end users to assist them in best using the product and website. Ms. OliverSmith supervised the development of products for physical distribution as well as digital distribution.

Before working with PL-X, Ms. OliverSmith oversaw the development of a retail and wholesale website for Born Again Clothing, an international retailer and wholesaler of vintage apparel, working closely with overseas buyers and sellers from Asia, South and Central America, and Africa.

Ms. OliverSmith has an intimate knowledge of the market, both the targeted consumer and the product need. Ms. OliverSmith has worked with international partners and translators in her marketing communications roles. She has hosted foreign students in her home, coming to the U.S. to learn English and herself was an international student.  

Imagine wanting to learn a new language.  Now imagine your mobile device serving as a teaching aid to help you learn that new language.  Imagine wanting to improve your score on the SAT/GRE. Now imagine your mobile device providing the lessons you need and want. Imagine traveling to another country and wanting to say something in the native language. Now imagine your mobile phone guiding you.  In short, imagine the mobile device being the conduit for learning.  

Overlay this with the demand world-wide to learn English and the fact that in other countries the mobile device is the personal computer.  Urban Planet Mobile does all of this by leveraging many alike, proven technologies in m-commerce and combining these technologies with original, made for mobile content.  

Urban Planet has already developed three significant lines: Urban English – English language learning lessons for both Social and Business available in 11 languages, SAT, GRE, and TOEFL vocabulary lines, and Travelingo – a line teaching travel phrases to English speakers available in 10 languages.

The e-commerce site is active and tested. The marketing sites for SAT Remix and Travelingo are in final testing stages. Initial market surveys have been conducted and pilots introduced. Distribution technology has been acquired, customized, and tested to deliver the lessons.

The Urban Planet Mobile line of products is all developed from inception for mobile delivery. We have the largest library of English language learning content built for the mobile phone market and reach up to 95% of mobile phones in the marketplace. 

The Urban Planet Mobile products are extremely scalable. The 450 English language learning lessons, developed by a Harvard linguist in association with an ESL curriculum development professional, are immersion style, the learning endorsed and supported by English language teachers and organizations worldwide as being most effective. This means the lessons themselves are in English. The sole translation is for the introductions and the tags to build company identity. This allows the company to quickly expand the library exponentially for more markets. Furthermore, each lesson is available as audio only while also being paired with animation to reach the growing smart phone market. The animation is culture and language neutral, allowing the same animation to be used worldwide. 

Urban Planet Mobile is able to deliver the product directly to the consumer as well as work in partnership with content aggregators, distributors, and mobile carriers. 

The process for the development of the language lessons, particularly the TOEFL, SAT, and GRE products has a provisional patent in place.