WinStar Interactive, the
online
ad sales unit of WinStar New Media, is launching a new group specializing in
marketing event sites to advertisers with the Oct. 1 premiere of Christmas98.com, calling it “a resource
for holiday information and online services.”
Bobbie Halfin, president of WinStar Interactive in New York City, said the
move follows the introduction of the company’s new site-specific model for
representing a select group of branded publishers. Initial advertisers were
not disclosed, although Fuji Film is found on the main page.
“There is enormous advertiser demand for the official sites of major events
such as sports competitions and awards shows, as well as significant interest
in holiday sites,” said Halfin. “Our own in-house expertise allowed us to
develop the content for christmas98.com. Additionally, our new event group
will include the Sundance Channel’s live Webcast coverage of The Sundance Film
Festival this winter, and the online coverage of the PGA’s major tour events
by PGAtour.com.”
Christmas98 features shopping links, recipes, decorating ideas, holiday
events, e-cards, travel ideas, holiday event and entertainment listings, and
information on holiday traditions for Christmas, Hannukah, and Kwanzaa.
Christmas98.com is a joint venture of WinStar Interactive and Epicenter
Communications.
Other highlights include: An assortment of digital holiday cards; a holiday
shopping mall with links to various e-commerce sites that makes it easier to
find the right gift; holiday entertainment reviews for film, television and
other events; menus for the holidays from chef/author Hilary Davis of New
York’s Peter Kump’s cooking school; holiday travel ideas; ideas for family
activities; places to make charitable donations and current North Pole
weather (it was 15 degrees when we checked in) .
Epicenter Communications produced the popular book, Christmas Around the
World, (published by HarperCollins) , a photographic celebration of the
holiday
season in more than 40 countries.
WinStar Interactive is a Web property representation company that creates ad
sales, sponsorship, content syndication and business partnership programs for
Web publishers.
