Netcentives Launches Holiday Shopping Promo

Incentive marketing firm Netcentives Inc. in San Francisco launched a $10 million “Buy & Fly Holiday Bonus” marketing campaign for its ClickRewards sites involving 30 online merchants.

“Our strategy for the holidays is simple. We’ll help drive proven online shoppers and frequent flyers to a network of merchants that covers over 75% of online shopping categories,” said West Shell III, Netcentives president and CEO. “We’ll incent (sic) the purchase by offering a valuable and relevant currency for buying holiday gifts.”

The promotion, designed in-house at Netcentives, drives multiple transactions across the network of merchants by rewarding as many as 100 million bonus ClickMiles to active Internet shoppers. Shoppers who earn miles from two or more ClickRewards merchants can earn up to 10,000 bonus ClickMiles.

Merchants include barnesandnoble.com, Microsoft Plaza, Music Blvd, OfficeMax and Preview Travel, among others. These sites have developed co-branded advertising to further the promotion, Netcentives said.

The San Francisco creative team of Blau Direct Edge designed the national online and offline advertising campaign, which includes print ads in USA Today and the Wall Street Journal, 60-second regional radio spots, major airline frequent flyer statement inserts, banner ads and an a email campaign. The advertisements suggest that while it may be better to give than receive, it is a vast improvement to give AND receive. Promotional copy underscores the opportunity to buy gifts for your loved ones while earning free travel for yourself.

Netcentives offers frequent flyer miles from American Airlines, British Airways, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, United Airlines, and US Airways.