The Morrison Agency has been chosen by Idapta Inc., a software company that offers platforms and trading applications for business-to-business e-commerce.
Based in Atlanta, Morrison is charged with relaunching the Idapta brand, using a combination of national print, direct mail and interactive media. Direct mail is expected to account for one-third to one-half of the as-yet-undetermined budget.
“The first level of activity is to get the word out on Idapta, to get that differentiation,” said Jeff Silverman, senior vice president and account director at Morrison. “Then we’ll be responsible for driving traffic to them.”
The agency will work on areas such as Idapta’s logo development and graphic design, product naming, site design, and programs to create awareness, build brand and generate leads.
Idapta’s technology allows BTB marketers to build, operate and expand real-time online marketplaces for their buying and selling communities.
The company’s two e-commerce software packages are Commerce O/S, an open, scalable operating system, and MarketExchange, which consolidates multiple trading mechanisms such as auctions, reverse auctions, fixed price and exchange.
Idapta, which is based in Atlanta and has a West Coast office in Palo Alto, CA, opened for business in February 1999. The company garnered $35 million in funding from SAP, CMGI@Ventures and other private investors.
Silverman said his agency won the account without a pitch. Dawn Campbell, vice president of marketing at Idapta, knew Morrison from a previous job.
Besides Idapta, Morrison’s other clients include Powerware, LightNetworks, Comsys, MCI/WorldCom, Georgia’s Clean Air Force campaign, Resynt, Raymond James and Ross Systems. Billings last year were $35 million.
For its latest client, Morrison will target CEOs, chief technology officers and decision makers at vertical online marketplaces such as BTB exchanges for various industries. It is this audience that Idapta seeks to cultivate with its first agency.
“Effectively, what we’re going to do is demonstrate through [Idapta’s] products how they’ll take BTB e-commerce to the next level,” Silverman said.
