Engage to Resell Yesmail.com

Ad serving, technology and marketing company Engage will resell opt-in e-mail marketer yesmail.com’s services to its customers and prospects as part of a deal announced Wednesday.

Under the terms of the agreement, Engage will now be able to offer marketers an opportunity to deliver targeted double-opt-in e-mail marketing campaigns to the more than 13 million individuals who have opted in to the YesMail Network.

Yesmail.com’s YesMail permission e-mail network consists of consumers from affiliated Partner sites who have opted-in to receiving marketing and promotional messages. YesMail Network Partners earn incremental revenue by giving their subscribers access to the network.

“Engage will now be able to provide marketers and agencies with access to yesmail.com’s superior opt-in e-mail campaigns, giving them a proven means through which they can target specific individuals,” said Engage president and chief executive officer Paul Schaut.

Wednesday’s deal expands an existing relationship between Engage and yesmail.com. In late August, Engage’s B2B ad network Engage Business Media inked an agreement with yesmail. That arrangement enabled EBM to offer an opt-in e-mail package to publishers on its network, who then can sell the names and e-mail addresses of site visitors who are willing to receive marketing messages.

In some ways, the deal echoes DoubleClick’s recent $190 million acquisition of yesmail.com rival NetCreations, because it allows yesmail.com to tap into Engage’s customer pool and utilize its sales force, while enlarging Engage’s product offerings.

“Many more customers will now be exposed to the power and potential of yesmail.com’s opt-in e-mail campaigns. In addition, the Engage sales force now has a powerful new product to sell,” Schaut said.

This wouldn’t hurt CMGI, either, which owns a majority share of both companies and which is under pressure to turn a profit. Last month, CMGI announced that it would be streamlining its operations, slimming down its portfolio of companies from 17 to six.

As a result, CMGI will have to take some steps to consolidate its disparate marketing and advertising services, although the companies declined to discuss specifics or whether Wednesday’s deal is a precursor to further consolidation. Separately, the company today merged Web services company CMGion with AdForce.

“Clients served by Engage and yesmail.com are looking for a single source of Internet marketing solutions,” said yesmail CEO Dave Tolmie.

As part of the agreement, yesmail.com will administer Engage’s permission-based e-mail campaigns. Yesmail said this would ensure that any personally identifiable information is not transferred from yesmail.com to Engage.