EPrize, a company that specializes in online sweepstakes, direct marketing and promotions, has signed a strategic channel partnership deal with Cox Target Media. Through this reseller agreement, Cox will begin offering online sweepstakes and promotion solutions to its clients.
EPrize has made a name for itself by offering pooled online drawings. Its Pooled eDrawings program consists of several Web sites, each of which pays a $40,000 yearly fee to offer four $50,000 prizes of its choice, one per quarter.
The agreement has advantages for both parties, said Joshua Linkner, CEO of ePrize, Farmington Hills, MI. “This allows us a huge distribution network without the costs of doing it ourselves,” he said. “Cox will have access to the millions we have spent on our ePrize technology, promotions law and everything else.”
Deals such as this one have kept ePrize above water while many other companies within the space are drowning, according to Linkner. “We've been centered around profitability all along. When the market was way up, [our competitors] were free spending. We've applied hard-core business principles regardless of market conditions, so we're not taking the punishment.”
EPrize has orchestrated similar reseller-type deals with L90, Contest.com, TargitMail.com and Beyond Interactive, among others.
While a number of ePrize's competitors have been gobbled up by bigger players, Linkner has been hesitant to make such a move. “We're not in fire sale mode like the others,” he said. “We haven't seen the right deal.”
DoubleClick Inc. acquired Flashbase Inc., and 24/7 Media purchased iPromotions earlier this year.
The deal with ePrize is one of many for Cox Target Media, which has been extremely active of late with regard to the Internet. This month, the 11.5 million consumers who receive its Carol Wright cooperative advertising envelope also will receive CyberValuz.com: The Online Guide for Smart Shoppers.
This 16-page, 5-inch-by-7.5-inch booklet will serve as the dot-com section of the direct mailer. It will feature e-commerce retailers as well as related technology companies. Companies that participate in the CyberValuz.com mailer will appear on a Web site of the same name that launches this month.
Last month, Cox announced it was putting a stake in the ground in the online sampling space with the launch of its Introz product. Introz is essentially the “boxed media” version of a cooperative mail envelope featuring sample products from various suppliers. Consumers are encouraged to go to sites, such as Valpak.com, to sign up to receive the box.
In September, Cox announced it would be placing digital coupons normally located at Valpak.com on Internet-enabled gas pumps.
Cox Target Media is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., Atlanta. ePrize is a Rare Medium Group Inc. incubator company.
