SAN FRANCISCO and REDMOND, Wash., May 24, 1999 — Adauction.com SM Inc. and MSN TM LinkExchange today announced a strategic relationship that greatly enhances advertising opportunities for small businesses. The two companies have agreed to a deal in which Adauction.com will offer its customized auction services to create an automated system for selling selected ad space to small businesses in the AdStore section of the LinkExchange Web site, http://www.store.linkexchange.com/ . The co-branded LinkExchange-Adauction.com service – the first of its kind for Adauction.com – is expected to launch today.
“As the leading media-buying store for small businesses on the Web, AdStore is always looking for new ways to help our customers buy affordable and high-quality advertising,”
said Andy Scott, vice president of Business Development for MSN LinkExchange.
“Our relationship with Adauction will now provide small businesses with the benefits of ‘opportunistic buying’ through Adauction’s innovative bid-based format. We’re pleased to be providing another service that assists us in delivering on our mission to help small businesses increase their online traffic and sales.”
“Smaller Web sites can dramatically increase traffic to their site by advertising with top-branded publishers, so LinkExchange’s 1 million customers will reap the benefits of using the online auction to purchase high-quality ad inventory,”
said Neil Cohen, Adauction.com’s senior vice president of Business Affairs.
“We expect to develop other deals to further extend our service, which allows advertisers to conveniently purchase media online at market-driven pricing.”
Small Ad Lots for Small Buyers
Registered buyers that visit LinkExchange’s AdStore can click on the Adauction.com button to preview and purchase the available inventory. Ad lots are expected to range from 25,000 to 100,000 impressions at a price of $1,500 or less. The LinkExchange-Adauction.com service includes insertion orders, ad serving, and consolidated billing and reporting.
About Adauction.com
Adauction.com provides a business-to-business e-commerce service for buying and selling media. Representing the top-branded Web and print media publishers, the company’s online marketplace offers opportunistic buys on premium ad space. More than 3,300 media buyers are registered to purchase inventory through Adauction.com. Leading ad agencies include Modem Media-Poppe Tyson; USWeb/CKS; Foote, Cone & Belding; iXL; Lot21 and Western International Media. Direct advertisers include U S WEST Dex and BellSouth. Founded in September 1997, San
Francisco-based Adauction.com has sales offices in New York and Atlanta. The company has received venture capital funding from Convergence Partners and financing from other private investors. Call (415) 597-4830 for more information or visit online at http://www.adauction.com/ .
About MSN LinkExchange
MSN LinkExchange ( http://www.linkexchange.com/ ) is part of the Microsoft network of properties and is a leading provider of services that help small businesses and Web site owners grow their online traffic and sales. Over 1 million customers have used one or more of
LinkExchange’s services to promote, improve and earn money from their Web sites. LinkExchange takes the tools the bigger players have used to be successful on the Web, such as advertising, affiliate programs and e-mail, and makes them available to small businesses and Web site owners. In addition to the services available in Premium Membership, LinkExchange offers the following services:
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AdStore. Small businesses grow their customer base by advertising on some of the leading sites on the Web, including Excite, Yahoo!, BabyCenter and GameSpot, as well as the LinkExchange network.
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ClickTrade. Small businesses find new customers through referrals from other Web sites by creating the same kind of affiliate programs that larger companies, such as Amazon.com and eToys, have used to successfully build online sales.
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Merchant Planet. Small businesses easily create an online store and accept credit cards to sell merchandise online.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.
Microsoft and MSN are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Adauction.com and the Adauction.com logo are either registered service marks or service marks of Adauction.com Inc.
Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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