Online toy retailer eToys Inc. signed a new, $18 million
marketing agreement with America Online, expanding on a previous pact.
The new three-year agreement makes eToys the premier retailer of children’s
products such as toys, children’s videos and children’s books across several
AOL brands.
eToys gains anchor tenant status in the Toys, Educational Toys, Kid and Baby
Gear, Collectibles, and Electronic Games categories of the new Shop@AOL
online shopping destination. eToys also gets additional promotion in other
categories of Shop@AOL, as well as the AOL Families Channel, AOL.com, Netscape Netcenter and CompuServe.
In addition, eToys will be the exclusive provider of products promoted in the
Toys, Video and Video Games categories of the Holiday and Birthday Wish Lists
area in the AOL Kids Only Channel. The previous agreement was signed in 1997.
“For eToys, the AOL agreement is a linchpin of an accelerated marketing
effort that will aggressively drive eToys’ brand awareness with consumers,”
said Toby Lenk, chief executive officer of eToys.
