Engage Unveils a Multitude of Initiatives

Timing its release of information to coincide with the Jupiter Online Advertising Conference, Engage Inc. on
Wednesday unleashed a flurry of new programs, including a new unique visitor
auditing service and partnerships in the incentive space.

The I/PRO division of the many-tentacled CMGI advertising company
said it will now be offering an audit service that measures a number of
unique visitors to a site, as well as measuring reach, frequency and
duration of visit. The company says its is the only service that actually
counts the number of unique visitors to a site, rather than relying on a
panel, such as those used by Media
Metrix and Nielsen//NetRatings.

“Sites have been demanding unique visitor counts in their audits because it
gives them the most reliable and accurate picture of their audience,” said
Bill Matthews, general manager of Engage I/PRO.

Another new area of business for Engage will be incentive programs. The
company is teaming with Yclip, an online
incentives marketing infrastructure company, and iQ.COM, which offers infrastructure for loyalty
and incentive programs. Engage’s competitors — DoubleClick, 24/7 Media and L90 — have all either
built or bought capabilities in the space, and this signals Engage’s
agreement that incentives are a necessary component of a one-stop-shop
strategy.

The incentive programs will include sweepstakes, digital coupons, and
surveys, and will enable Engage to further grab offline retail clients. The
online coupons, which consumers can get by clicking on banner ads, can be
redeemed at traditional retail outlets, with consumers receiving a rebate on
their pre-registered credit card. That capability, developed by Yclip,
allows Engage to prove to advertisers the effectiveness of such campaigns.

Additionally, Engage partnered with YellowBrix, a Web site personalization
company, to incorporate Engage ProfileServer, the company’s profiling
application, into its product offering. YellowBrix will provide its
customers with the application on an outsourced basis.