Beyond Interactive Partners With E-Greeting Firm

Interactive agency Beyond Interactive has teamed up with Why Not Creations to develop a new “beyond the banner” branding opportunity for its clients–online greeting cards.

Why Not Creations creates and distributes “e- greeting cards” consisting of animation, sound and a personalized message, and can include an interactive element that allows recipients to click, prompting further action in the animation.

The cards and postcards address all holidays and occasions; individuals can send them to one another, or companies can order customized greetings to send to clients and customers.

Jonn Behrman, Beyond Interactive’s CEO, said the agency will use the cards on behalf of its online advertising clients to get extra branding value for special promotions. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Beyond cited the following marketing examples:

• Customer retention/remarketing campaigns–Sites can send a special “thank you” to customers who have made recent purchases.
• Permission marketing campaigns–What would ordinarily be a plain text email message becomes an animated message that can incorporate interactivity, giving new viewers a bigger incentive to click?
• Branding campaigns–For viewers who are not familiar with client sites, the creative image associated with the e-greetings will result in a positive initial experience.
• Generating traffic to sites–People find the cards fun, and enjoy their interactivity, which leads to higher click-through rates.

“Why Not Creations needs a young, energetic and creative team to head its online advertising efforts. From the very first brainstorming session, Beyond Interactive has proven to be intensely creative and right on target with ideas that specifically meet our marketing objectives,” said Lee Kieran, Why Not’s business development manager. “They enable me to focus my energies on my core competencies.”

Beyond Interactive clients include Deja News, AutoNation USA, Nickelodeon and NextCard Internet Visa.