CyberCash Inc. and NetGravity Inc. formed a partnership
that makes it possible for merchants to complete a sale inside a banner ad
with no additional click-through to the merchant’s Web site.
Integration of the NetGravity AdServer online interactive marketing solution
with CyberCash’s universal InstaBuy one-click shopping service will
provide transactional banners to InstaBuy and AdServer users free of charge,
the companies said.
Transaction-enabled banners create opportunities for advertising agencies by
providing a highly accountable method for quickly demonstrating Internet
advertising return on investment, the companies said. Financial arrangements
between the companies were not disclosed.
“People have been talking about the potential of commerce-enabled banner ads
for some time,” said Jim Condon, president and COO of CyberCash. “Unfortunately, most attempts at this have been piecemeal at best.
This combination of CyberCash’s and NetGravity’s innovative solutions gives
merchants end-to-end sale capability within a banner. . . .our partnership with
NetGravity provides an integrated way for merchants to provide simplicity for
the consumer while leveraging the reach of Internet banner advertising.”
“Imagine: you click on the banner, you type in a password, you click
‘purchase,’ and you’re done — it’s that simple,” said Eric W. Spivey,
president and CEO of NetGravity. “While this is great
news for our merchant customers, it’ll also be good news for Web publishers
that host the ads because the consumer can make the purchase without leaving
the content site.”