Narrative Delivers Ad-Based E-Commerce App

Narrative Communications Corp. in Waltham, MA, delivered Enliven/Impulse, calling it the industry’s first electronic commerce solution to support secure credit card transactions within Internet ads.

Also delivered was a product called Enliven/HardCopy that allows one-click printing from a banner ad.

Enliven/Impulse enables Web merchants to offer consumers a quick, convenient and safe means of purchasing products and services online, without leaving their favorite Web site and using a commonly issued credit card, the company said.

Web retailers 1-800-FLOWERS, Eddie Bauer and Godiva Chocolatier already are using it to launch advertising campaigns that are extending their points-of-sale across the Internet, Narrative said.

“Simplicity and pervasiveness are two key ingredients that have been missing from the electronic commerce equation,” said Hilmi Ozguc, CEO at Narrative.”

Enliven/Impulse addresses these needs by providing an easy-to-manage advertising platform for the delivery of highly effective e-commerce campaigns on the Web. Finally . . . online merchants can bring their storefronts to the customer rather than waiting for customers to come to them.”

The 1-800-FLOWERS, Eddie Bauer and Godiva Chocolatier e-commerce ads, designed to snare impulse buyers, are viewable at sites such as The Associated Press, Discovery Channel and Switchboard.

Narrative’s Enliven Services is a suite of modular service offerings that combine Narrative’s media advertising technologies with ad delivery and reporting services. Enliven/Impulse is priced on a cost per sale model.

Also introduced today was Enliven/HardCopy, jointly developed with Hewlett Packard. It enables advertisers to incorporate printing capabilities within Web ads.

The product effectively ends the industry’s reliance on view-only advertising by providing the potential home shopper or business-to-business customer with one-click access to high-quality printed output over the Web, the companies said.

“This is a breakthrough and a real win for both the potential Internet customer and advertiser,” said Carolyn Ticknor, HP vice president and general manager of the LaserJet Solutions Group.