START AT THE BEGINNING

GiftPax Sampling LLC, Milford, NJ, has teamed with Atlanta-based Lifestyle Change Communications to offer two sampling programs. The New Mother GiftPax will reach about 3.6 million new moms within 48 hours of the baby’s birth through a network of 3,900 hospitals. The Mom-to-Be GiftPax targets more than two million expectant mothers in their third trimester through 7,000 private OB/GYN offices. Featured products and offers run the gamut from baby goods to credit cards and life insurance. More info: 770-218-8200 or www.lifestylechange.com.

LIFT OFF

Tired of lugging around that metal-pipe display? You are? (Really?) Ad Box, Hermosa Beach, CA, offers Big Fabric, a collapsible frame that can be unpacked and set up in minutes to cover a display area between 35 feet and 100 feet. The entire contraption weighs no more than 30 pounds. Clients such as Coca-Cola, Infiniti, and Lipton Ice Tea are using the product in both the U.S. and abroad. More info: 310-798-8810 or www.adbox.com.

ROUGHING IT

Vacation Connection, Montclair, NJ, this month introduces the Outdoor Adventure Gift Pack, a cooperative sampling program that will be distributed to more than 1.5 million consumers visiting U.S. national parks including Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Acadia. The packs will offer products such as energy bars, snacks, and health and beauty aids relevant to a day in the wild, and will be delivered through hotels, resorts, and condominiums near the parks. More info: 973-992-7800 or www.vacationsampling.com.

KEEPING TABS

Trade Dimensions, Wilton, CT, tracks taps with the On-Premise Database, which monitors sales through outlets where liquor, wine, and beer are consumed. The company recently added 270,000 additional establishments to the database, bringing the total to more than 600,000. More info: 203-563-3000 or www.tradedimensions.com.

DRUGSTORE COWBOYS

In-store promotion specialist Promo Edge, Elk Grove Village, IL, has unveiled RxEdge, a new direct-to-consumer marketing program that places information dispensers for pharmaceutical products in the over-the-counter section of drug stores. The program can reach up to 150 million consumers through 8,000-plus retail outlets. More info: 847-437-5300 or www.promoedge.com.

THE LATEST CRYSTAL BALL

Chicago-based Information Resources, Inc. rolled out Mix Planner, software that offers marketing planning and sales forecasting for established brands. Product managers can enter different combinations of marketing activities to generate sales forecasts for up to 12 months. Real sales results can be tracked via quarterly updates. More info: 312-474-3384 or www.infores.com.

PLAYING WITH FOOD

Neat Solutions, Inc., Huntersville, NC, now offers the Table Topper Stay-in-Place Mat, which lets consumers digest brand messages while stuffing their faces. The self-adhesive mat is sold to restaurants and malls, as well as direct to consumers through grocers, drug stores, mass merchandisers, and catalogs. Kids marketers One Step Ahead and Gymboree already have put their names on the mats. More info: 704-895-3430 or www.tabletopper.com.

TASTE BUDDIES

Bridgewater, NJ-based Gourmet Essentials, a food marketing specialist, teamed with Largo, FL-based Cox Target Media’s Valpak direct-mail program in March to test a co-op mailer targeting heavy users of premium food and wines. Manufacturers can even pinpoint specific retail locations in mailing areas. Gourmet Essentials will deliver three inserts in 2002: A Taste of Summer in June, Italian Festival in September, and Holiday Delights in November. (GWP, Inc., Bridgewater, NJ, handles creative.) More info: 908-595-1156 or www.wholehealthconcept.com.

COLOR YOUR WORLD

Pantone, Inc., Carlstadt, NJ, is making life easier for graphics specialists with the Pantone Color Cue, a device that can identify the closest Pantone color (the internationally recognized industry standard) of any flat surface. Users just push a button on the flashlight-sized device to identify color schemes and generate ink, lab, and HTML formulas for reproduction. A standard nine-volt battery powers the device. More info: 201-935-5500 or www.pantone.com.

Banding Together

Although dot.coms are dropping like flies, surviving merchants are showing faith in eVguide, a 16-page booklet featuring advertising from e-merchants that is mailed to online buyers within two weeks of purchase. Merchants can also target consumers within seconds of a purchase through eVguide.com, which places links on order-confirmation pages and e-mails from participating merchants. Partner offers and a sweepstakes for a $50,000 online shopping spree entice users to eVguide.com. The service has recruited such heavy hitters as barnesandnoble.com, OmahaSteaks.com, cdnow.com, and TheSportsAuthority.com. More info: 770-451-5478 or evguide.com.

P-O-P of the Future

Japanese electronics firm Toppan is taking point-of-purchase advertising into the 21st century with the launch of EPOP, an electronic shelf talker developed in conjunction with consumer electronics maker Sony. EPOP is an interactive unit that comes in two sizes and contains microchip technology which delivers audio and visual information such as TV commercials to product displays. Messages can range from depictions of product usage to cooking techniques. More info: toppan.com.

Couch-Potato Coupons

Catalina Marketing, St. Petersburg, FL, has teamed with interactive television company RespondTV, San Francisco, to introduce a targeted paperless coupon system. RespondTV viewers can interact with TV spots by requesting discount offers using their remote controls. For example, a viewer could see an ad for a six-pack of soda, enter loyalty account information from a participating retailer, and receive automatic credit when her loyalty card is scanned at checkout.

Three Prongs

Saratoga, CA-based iQ Commerce Corp. unveiled three new services within its iQ Digital Direct marketing suite. iQTarget allows marketers to create online campaigns for specific audiences; Rich Media offers message amplifiers such as animation, sound, and streaming video to online promotions; and Global Online Direct Marketing enables brands to translate promotions into multiple languages, from Brazilian Portuguese to Swedish. More info: 408-777-4000 or iq.com.

Custom Tactics

Internet advertising network 24/7 Media Inc., New York City, added two new marketing platforms to its Web arsenal: the Scratch N Win Game Card and the Grouped Promotional Solution (GPS) Sweepstakes. The agency claims the Game Card is more customizable than similar products and offers an instant-win component. The GPS Sweepstakes lets marketers share the costs of a grand prize while running separate, branded campaigns. More info: 877-247-2477 or 247media.com.

Pointed Views

Looking to speed up pre-launch testing of consumer promotions, Ryan Partnership, Westport, CT, introduced ConsumerPOV, an online research tool designed to identify the diagnostics of a promotional concept before it goes to market. Ryan believes the service outshines other online research because its sample better reflects the U.S. population at large. More info: 203-259-4554 or ryanpartnership.com.

Practical ESP

White Plains, NY-based Moskowitz Jacobs, Inc., a product and concept development firm that has worked with such brands as Kraft, Tropicana, and MasterCard, has rolled out MindRead. The online brand-evaluation service recruits consumer panels to identify market opportunities. The service was tested by studying consumer reaction to mid-priced automobiles. More info: 877-960-5100 or mjidesignlab.com.

Natural Glow

To launch its new SkinLights Face Illuminators lotion, New York City-based Revlon used Arcade Marketing’s BeautiSeal sampling technology to offer a trial through a four-page magazine insert. More info: 212-451-1004 or arcadeinc.com.

SEPTEMBER 2000 Picture This We’ve got Helmet Cam in football, Catcher Cam in baseball, and now StickerCam in the promotional game. It’s a tabletop machine that takes a digital photo and outputs it onto a sticker that has a graphic of your choice already printed on it. Developed by StickerCam, LLC, Tustin, CA, the device is made of molded plastic and can be programmed to play back voices, music, and video on an attached screen. StickerCam can be activated by buttons, tokens, or dollar-bill acceptors.

Moments of Clarity Minnetonka, MN-based Clearr Corp. introduces Luminaire Ultra E, a backlighted metal display intended for retail, advertising, P-O-P, and other applications. Constructed of steel and measuring just under four inches wide, the display comes in four sizes ranging from 16″ by 20″ to 30″ by 40″.

Attention, U.K. Shoppers This fall, SpotFlash of London will launch a trial for its promotional communication channel at Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex. SpotFlash will send text messages containing time-limited special offers to registered mobile phone users in the shopping center. Shoppers who register for the free service will be given FlashPoints that can be exchanged for coupons good at participating Lakeside retailers. Certain incoming messages can be blocked upon request.

Sweeping News Minneapolis-based Gage Marketing Group’s Sweepstakes & Contests division has introduced SweepsWork.com, a customizable online sweepstakes application that provides program planning, development, and design of sweepstakes, legal logistics, hosting and maintenance, winner selection and validation, and prize distribution. Clients can choose from 20 pre-designed themes or have one customized.

Lifetime Pursuit PDI, Cincinnati, has created a way to assess and quantify the relationship between advertising’s long-term effects and sales. The company’s proprietary Lifetime Value of Marketing system blends technologies used by retailers with mathematical modeling. The analysis tool factors consumer behavior such as trial purchasing, repeat buying, and increased brand usage.

What a Concept Concepture, a Midland, MI-based business unit of Dow Chemical, has teamed with Advanced Information Systems, also of Midland, to offer CarTalker, an automobile dealer message system. The product enables auto dealers to provide on-site, customized messages to potential buyers at any time. The system attaches to a vehicle window and contains up to 16 minutes of prerecorded messages about options, pricing, and financing. An interactive element allows customers to record a message for the dealer.

Rack up another one for those who keep finding unique places to display promotions. The Howard Co., Brookfield, WI, has come up with The Peddler, a bicycle rack designed to hold companies’ advertising messages – as well as bikes. The portable rack, intended for use at schools, parks, restaurants, and other highly visible public places, holds up to six bikes and features a large, two-sided aluminum advertising area that can be screen-printed with copy, a logo, or other graphic elements. Both the shape and color can be customized.

Fresh off the shelf MarketSource Field Services, Cranbury, NJ, is upgrading its field sales reporting system to let packaged goods marketers store data more quickly. MarketSource tapped Fastech, Broomall, PA, to create faster access to such store-level data as merchandising and new-product sales, along with links to syndicated data.

The system rolls out to MarketSource’s 5,000 field reps in July. Reps get real-time reports on promotions, display compliance, and other in-store activity. Packaged goods clients get direct access to resource planning systems, collated call report information, and syndicated data.

IT consultant Fastech develops enterprise relationship management systems for packaged goods companies including Kraft Foods, Procter & Gamble, and Hershey Foods.

More information at 609-655-8990 or marketsource.com.

Tracking trade dollars Promotion funds manager Gelco Information Network, Minneapolis, in April bought Performance Wave, White Plains, NY, and will absorb its trade funds and category management business. Gelco pairs Sales Wave, a Web-based category management system, with its TIPS trade information and promotion system to offer packaged goods marketers end-to-end trade funds management and complete category management. Gelco will keep the White Plains office to pitch metro New York packaged goods companies.

In a testimonial for Gelco, International Home Foods exec Steve Wohlert said the merger will spark a major change in consumer goods marketing. Gelco and Performance Wave combined can offer a new standard of Web-based products for sales and business processes, said Wohlert, IHF’s vp-business operations and customer marketing.

More information at 612-947-1501 or gelconet.com.

Customer management software goes global Software developers Cincom Systems, Cincinnati, and Orbis GmbH, Saarbrucken, Germany, have formed a joint venture company to market customer relationship management tools worldwide. Called iC Solutions (for intelligent customer solutions), the new business covers sales force automation, telemarketing, customer service, e-commerce, and call center management. The two companies will tap their global infrastructure for sales and service. Cincom’s clients include 3M Co., Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, Ericsson, and General Motors. Orbis’ clients are mostly European companies; The company has a U.S. subsidiary in Washington, DC. More information at 1-800-2CINCOM or cincom.com.

Ditch the clothespin Printer Promo Edge, Neenah, WI, has two new labels that combine coupons with reclosure devices. The first, Dri/Close, is a three-ply piece that folds over the top of an opened bag to reseal it (above). The middle ply is a coupon the consumer can tear off when the package is empty. Dri/Close can be used on films, paper, and foils, die-cut into different shapes, and printed with as many as 11 colors. The second closure device is made of DuPont Tyvek, which can’t be torn, and can be printed with 13 colors. More information at 920-751-1615 or promoedge.com.

Elrick & Lavidge digs into data Research firm Elrick & Lavidge Marketing Research, Atlanta, in April launched a database services and research division. Headed by database marketing vets Robert Bzezensky and Steve Gasner, the unit sifts through marketers’ databanks for raw data to fuel E&L’s core research service. Having sales, shipment, and other data enables E&L to do predictive modeling and analyze purchase patterns, cross-shopping, and lifetime consumer value.

Bzezensky’s background includes management stints at Rueben S. Donnelly and Metro-Mail. Gasner was senior manager at American Express’s database division, and helped develop Citibank’s private credit card unit

More information at 770-938-3233 or elavidge.com. O

Credit where credit is due Here’s a new accessory for our cashless society. The Electronic Wallet by Kopel Inc., Westlake Village, CA, beeps whenever a card is taken out of the wallet. The microchip inside then beeps every 20 seconds as a reminder until the card is replaced. It shuts off after five minutes. The wallet, designed by aerospace engineer David Kopel after his wife lost her credit card, uses a replaceable watch battery and comes with a 3-year warranty. More information at 800-988-6255 and beepingwallet.com.

It’s a sticker; it’s a healthcare device. SunSpots are tattoo-like stickers that change color as they’re exposed to UV rays. Worn on the skin, they warn consumers when they’ve gotten too much sun. Patterns for kids change to a solid color so kids can easily see the change. SunSpots are the size of a quarter; a 20-pack retails for $5.79. Marketer Indico Technologies Corp., Bellevue, WA, will bow the product in stores this month. More information at 877-723-8786 or sun-spots.com.