As expected, portal-turned-search engine AltaVista said it will terminate
its incentive marketing program, turning over its users to online loyalty
and direct marketer Netcentives through terms of a deal announced Wednesday.
Beginning Thursday, San Francisco-based Netcentives will extend opt-in
offers to the nearly 400,000 users of AltaVista’s rewards program to join
its own incentives program, ClickRewards.
“We look forward to delivering AltaVista Rewards members quality earning
and redemption opportunities through our successful ClickRewards program,”
said Netcentives chairman and chief executive officer West Shell. “Our
prospective members from AltaVista are just in time to take advantage of the
many exciting holiday promotions which will be offered through our merchant
network.”
Wednesday’s deal effectively concludes AltaVista’s relationship with
Netcentives in addition to its seven month-old rewards program, for which
the online marketer had handled back-end work. AltaVista had hoped that the
program will draw customers to its several hundred e-commerce affiliates by
offering points to visitors and shoppers. Users also earned points by
researching and comparing products, and browsing merchandise departments.
In addition to ending the work Netcentives has done for AltaVista,
Wednesday’s agreement also concluded its relationship with AltaVista’s
parent company, CMGI, which also owns a $4.9 percent stake in Netcentives.
At the time of CMGI’s April equity investment in Netcentives, it was
expected that the online marketer would develop points-based loyalty
programs for many of the holding company’s then-70 sites. That plan now
appears to have been scrapped, though Netcentives executives said the
conclusion of its work with CMGI will not negatively impact its financial
projections for next year.
The deal comes as AltaVista is sloughing off its ad-supported portal and
its e-commerce services to refocus on being a consumer search engine. CMGI
is also in the process of a major restructuring itself, preparing to cut
several of its operating companies and prompting reorganizations in several
more, including online marketing technology firm Engage and ad server
AdForce.
