Experian, FloNetwork Forge Strategic Alliance

Direct marketing powerhouse Experian on Tuesday tapped email marketing infrastructure firm FloNetwork Inc. to help it take its offline services onto the Internet.

The deal marries Experian’s direct marketing expertise with the back-end email systems that brings to the table, and it shows that Experian intends to be a player in the online business.

Experian was actually the originator of what became MyPoints.com , but it sold that unit in 1998. The company still holds an ownership stake in MyPoints.com, though, and Tom Newkirk, the chairman of Experian Direct Technology Solutions and Experian Marketing Solutions, sits on MyPoints.com’s board.

Now, though, it appears as though Experian is jumping back into email marketing in a serious way, probably because its clients are demanding it.

“This powerful alliance extends Experian’s broad range of direct marketing services to include email marketing solutions,” said Tom Newkirk, chairman, Experian North America.

“We intend to fully integrate these services within our traditional campaign production and management systems so that we can execute seamless online and offline promotions.”

Experian brings in $1.5 billion of revenues annually, and is a subsidiary of The Great Universal Stores PLC.