AdForce, Hypercom Deliver Digital Ads to Retail Counters

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AdForce LLC, CMGI's ad serving company, inked a deal on Monday with Hypercom Corp., which will bring AdForce-served ads to 20 million point-of-sale terminals.

This network, which Hypercom Corp. calls ePic, consists of browser-equipped touch-screen terminals, which are operated by the consumer, and can connect to the Internet and deliver Internet-enabled applications at the point-of-sale. The ePic servers allow for e-commerce, email, electronic receipt capture and Internet-based ads and coupons. They also accept credit, debit, and e-cash transactions.

Point-of-sale terminals, along with wireless, interactive TV, and other devices like ATMs and gas pumps, are the latest frontiers in the online advertising business. Accordingly, companies like AdForce have been forging partnerships and developing technology designed to serve ads on these emerging platforms.

An average of ten debit or credit transactions are processed per day on each Hypercom terminal, making the global audience for this point-of-sale based advertising about 1.4 billion consumer impressions per week.

"Our partnership with Hypercom provides a tremendous opportunity for advertisers to reach their target customer base at the physical retail environment," said AdForce executive vice president Dee Cravens.

"Hypercom's ePic framework and ePicNetz service company allow us to deliver messages to a larger and more targeted population while they are actively involved in the buying process."

Working together, the two companies will allow advertisers to deliver and measure the effectiveness of targeted advertising, self-select coupons, loyalty programs, promotional messages and other content.