ADVO Launches ShopWise.com Consumer Web Site

One of the nation’s largest direct mail couponers Wednesday took the wraps off a new consumer Web site designed to leverage its sizable offline strengths and clients.

Windsor, Conn.-based ADVO’s ShopWise.com site will function similarly to competitor Val-Pak’s consumer site, Valpak.com, by targeting on-line promotions from existing advertisers to opt-in surfers.

ADVO said it will drive traffic to the site by dint of its widely distributed coupon mailings. Its ShopWise mailing is delivered to about 60 million households weekly, the company said.

The ShopWise.com consumer Web site has been created in a partnership with online coupon technology firm Eversave.com. Woburn, Mass.-headquartered Eversave’s technology targets opt-in promotions and coupons based on consumers’ zip codes and interests.

“ShopWise.com provides us with the ability to begin to bundle and integrate value-added business solutions with our core direct mail advertising products,” said ADVO chairman and chief executive officer Gary Mulloy. “We are excited about the possibilities these new capabilities will offer our clients and consumers alike.”

The news comes as the race for offline couponers to transition to online and to emerging media markets is heating up.

Less than a month ago, Val-Pak announced a pilot program with San Jose, Calif. Company Ten Square, which delivers and tracks ads, promotions and coupons over the Internet to interactive, flat-panel screens — like displays at retail store check-out counters, on Web-enabled gas pumps and ATMs.

Ten Square said it will use data from Valpak.com on Internet-enabled gas pumps at twelve Chevron and Texaco stations in Atlanta, GA, as part of the trial. The pumps will deliver and track closed-loop coupons and promotions for local stores, based on demographic data derived from ZIP codes and “psychographic” considerations.