Alloy Gets to Dance with CosmoGIRL!

Teen-girl online/offline direct marketing firm Alloy Online has struck a deal to run the Web operations of CosmoGIRL! magazine.

New York-based Alloy said it would design and provide technology tools for the CosmoGirl! companion site, using content created by the print magazine’s staff.

Additionally, Alloy will sell advertising and marketing services for the site, which is slated to go live on August 6.

For Alloy, which has found its niche in using magazines, direct mail catalogs, college guides and Web sites to market to teenagers, the deal adds another big name client to its roster for marketing services.

More importantly, it allows Alloy a foot in the Hearst door, where the potential for future deals with the publishing giant’s stable of 16 US titles is significant.

CosmoGIRL! is published by Hearst Magazines, a unit of The Hearst Corporation, which owns 16 U.S. titles and 102 international editions. The company also publishes 16 magazines in the United Kingdom through its wholly-owned subsidiary, the National Magazine Company Limited.

It also clears the way for CosmoGIRL! to cross-sell advertising and marketing packages to Alloy’s database on more than 7 million teenagers.

The pact includes the creation of online sponsorships, online/offline ad-integration, online newsletters, retail events and pages in the CosmoGIRL!’s print magazine and Alloy catalogues.

CosmoGIRL! said even though offline publishers are shying away from the Internet these days, the Alloy partnership is a necessity if the magazine wants to target the lucrative teen girl market. Nearly 90 percent of teens use a computer either at school or at home, the company said.