IAR Bits and Bytes for Wednesday

AdForce to Serve Ads on 1stUP.com

Outsourced ad server and network AdForce this week announced it will manage and deliver ads for a fellow CMGI company, private-label Internet access provider 1stUp.com.

Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

1stUp.com enables companies to offer branded dial-up Internet access to consumers. Banner ads are displayed on a floating, client-branded menu bar.

Through terms of Tuesday’s agreement, AdForce will serve ads to the more than 4 million users of Internet access provided by any of 1stUp.com’s clients. The company’s roster includes some heavily-trafficked portals, including Lycos, Excite@Home and CMGI-owned AltaVista.

“Customers like 1stUp.com turn to AdForce because they recognize that our reliable and swift serving, tracking, and reporting services provide tangible benefits to their business,” AdForce chief executive officer Chuck Berger said of the deal.

Spanish, Portuguese-Language Ad Network Adds Recruitment Site

Spanish and Portuguese language online advertising network I-network added online job site Latpro.com to its network of sites. Through terms of the agreement, I-Network will exclusively represent and sell Latpro.com’s inventory.

Financial details were not disclosed.

Latpro.com joins the more than 200 publishers from Latin America, the U.S. and Spain, in the I-Network network, including T1MSN.com, Clarin.com.ar and altoinvest.com.

ClickAction Introduces Client Information Portal

Opt-in email marketer ClickAction Tuesday announced an information site for its clients and partners.

Clients and partners using ClickAction’s services will be able to use the portal to obtain round-the-clock campaign reports and to tweak optimization settings. The site also contains information and content useful for marketers, for instance, information on email marketing best practices.

“It is imperative to offer clients the ability to self-educate and to scale their efforts in an efficient manner,” said Kathy Williams, vice president of operations for ClickAction. “This portal allows our clients and partners to do just that.”

Salon.com Taps inChorus.com for Rich Media E-mail Ad Product

Rich media email marketer inChorus.com inked a deal with content site Salon.com to provide rich media email capabilities to Salon.com’s advertisers.

Through the partnership, inChorus.com will provide message creation, production and hosting to Salon.com’s advertisers.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

While relatively new, opt-in rich media email typically generates higher levels of response than traditional banner ads or text email.

The content site will kick off the new partnership with rich-media email campaign promoting its new offering to opted-in committed and potential advertisers.

“By partnering with inChorus, we are enhancing our advertisers’ ability to deliver compelling and effective rich email messages,” said Salon.com sales operations director Meredith Feldsted. “inChorus.com’s technology is a powerful branding and direct response vehicle which we believe will bring significant results to our advertisers.”

eVoice Launches Print/Banner-to-Audio Ad Conversion Promo

In a move to boost sales of its ad format, virtual voicemail company eVoice is beginning a promotion in which print and online advertisers can convert their ads into the company’s interactive audio advertisements, free of charge.

Advertisers must still pay for the media buy, however.

EVoice, which runs 15-second ads when users check their voicemails, claims its eVoice i-audio format delivers clickthrough rates reaching as high as 11.39 percent.

The ads offer opt-in and immediate purchasing options, as well as the ability to target eVoice’s 1.5 million subscribers by gender, age and geography.