*Val-Pak in Coupon Agreements With News America, Catalina
Cooperative direct mailer Val-Pak yesterday said it sealed agreements with grocery coupon distributors News America Marketing and Catalina Marketing allowing Val-Pak to make its local-merchant coupons available through the Web sites of both companies. News America, New York, offers national grocery coupons through its SmartSource.com service and the planet U network, while Catalina, St. Petersburg, FL, offers national grocery coupons through its SuperMarkets Online ValuPage.Both News America and Catalina also will offer Val-Pak coupons on their sites. Catalina will host a set of co-branded Web pages for Val-Pak, which will be its preferred provider of local merchant coupons.
Val-Pak, a division of Cox Target Media, Largo, FL, also offers its coupons through FreeShop.com, Yahoo and other Internet vehicles.
Merchants that advertise in the Val-Pak co-op envelopes receive free placement on www.valpak.com, which lists more than 30,000 local product and service offers. Consumers search the site by ZIP code to find coupons available in their area.
