Online ad firm DoubleClick Inc., a
late entrant to the e-mail marketing space, sought to bolster its position
in that space Monday by striking an alliance with e-mail newsletter network
Topica Inc.
The agreement calls for DoubleClick (DCLK) to provide Topica with
e-mail list management and sales, through its DARTmail Prospect product.
Topica is an early customer of this product, since it was just unveiled in
December 1999.
Although DoubleClick is considered the leader in the online advertising
space, others — like NetCreations (NTCR) and 24/7 Media (TFSM) — have been managing e-mail lists for
significantly longer.
Topica will, for the first time, create opt-in commercial lists, which
allow consumers to choose to receive promotional information about products
in which they are interested. Topica provides a place where consumers can
subscribe to e-mail newsletters on a wide variety of topics, and manage
their subscriptions in one place.
“Topica is an early leader in delivering highly-desirable advertising
inventory through targeted, consumer-friendly email,” said Eli Chalfin,
vice president and general manager of DoubleClick’s DARTmail.
“This partnership highlights our ability to deliver world class advertising
solutions that will help Topica monetize their email assets as well as
effectively bring millions of new customers to their site to sample the
Topica experience.”
Those new visitors are expected to come in through the purchase Topica will
make on DoubleClick’s value-oriented Sonar Network. The company has agreed
to purchase one-half-billion ad impressions on the network.
The agreement also calls for DoubleClick to sell Topica’s e-mail inventory
to its advertising clients.
