In a newly inked deal announced earlier this week, Agency.com-owned interactive agency i-traffic Inc., New York, will offer Gizmoz Inc.'s rich media messaging technology to its clients.
Called Smart Envelope, this technology allows i-traffic clients to acquire new customers by presenting multiple offers in a single e-mail message. The Gizmo can be forwarded, uploaded to computers and copied to personal Web sites and chat rooms.
Bookspan, an i-traffic client and a joint venture of Germany's Bertelsmann AG and AOL Time Warner, has signed up to use Gizmoz's technology for its Great Book Deals promotion. The Great Book Deals Gizmo has special membership offers from 17 of Bookspan's 48 book clubs.
I-traffic clients include Discovery Networks, Sprint Corp., Staples Inc., Wells Fargo, British Airways and Heineken UK. It was founded in 1995 and was bought four years later by Agency.com, which itself is part of marketing services conglomerate Omnicom Group Inc., New York.
Separately, Agency.com's board of directors has approved a merger between the agency and a wholly owned subsidiary of Seneca Investments LLC. Non-Seneca shareholders will receive $3.35 in cash per share. This is an increase from an earlier offer of $3 in May. The merger awaits approval of two-thirds of Agency.com non-Seneca shareholders.
In addition, both Agency.com and Seneca have agreed to settle shareholder class-action lawsuits regarding the $3 offer.
