Digital Impact Launches Agency Partners Program

Digital Impact in New York launched its Agency Partner Program for interactive marketing agencies that want to offer their clients advanced one-to-one email marketing campaigns.

By partnering with Digital Impact, interactive agencies can combine their messaging and design capabilities with Digital Impact’s Merchant Mail service for intelligent one-to-one email campaigns, the company said.

Clear Ink, the first to join Digital Impact’s partner program, calls itself a corporate “e-vertising” agency that combines expertise in corporate and consumer marketing, multi-media graphic design and Internet, extranet and intranet technology.

“We believe Digital Impact’s Merchant Mail takes our client services to the next level, maximizing our ability to advance our client’s online marketing programs,” said David M. Burk, president and CEO of Clear Ink. “Its unique campaign execution, delivery and reporting capabilities are an unbeatable combination.”

Since the launch of Merchant Mail in June 1998, Digital Impact said it already signed 12 major clients, including The Sharper Image, Tower Records, The Gap, Avon, BMG Music Service, Macys.com, Omaha Steaks and Preview Travel.

The Merchant Mail service sends personalized messages based on the recipient’s profile and purchase history, formatted to the highest level of graphics and interaction supported by the recipient’s email software, and tracked in detail through the final sales transaction.

Interactive agencies that participate in the program receive training and support from Digital Impact. Topics include best practices in email marketing, technical aspects of successful campaign management and competitive information and positioning for agency account executives.

Digital Impact said it adopted the standard agency media buy as its business model. There are no fees associated with the program. “Our goal for the program is to be agency-friendly while providing our partners with the resources to succeed,” said Ray Kaupp, vice president of marketing for Digital Impact.

Digital Impact will also feature agency partners on its Web site, and will promote partners in print materials and at trade shows and events throughout the year.