Business Editors/High Tech Writers
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. & CHESTER, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 22, 2001
Today, MarketFirst Software Inc., the industry leader in interactive marketing automation, announced the selection of Grafica.eCRM Corp. as a premier marketing services partner. The alliance allows Grafica.eCRM to use MarketFirst 3.0 to execute marketing and advertising campaigns -- including TV, print, radio, direct mail, and interactive media -- for clients seeking true enterprise customer relationship management (eCRM) solutions. Grafica.eCRM is a full-service advertising agency now licensed to use MarketFirst, which provides a comprehensive, closed-loop, marketing automation system designed to fully integrate into an enterprise's information architecture, or which can alternatively be delivered in a Web-hosted environment.
The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but according to MarketFirst's Premier Partnership program, Grafica.eCRM will become a select agency for companies needing marketing campaigns using MarketFirst software. Using MarketFirst 3.0, Grafica's team will mine data gathered through customer touchpoints and then create and execute marketing campaigns that build one-on-one dialogues and long-term relationships between companies and those customers.
"While some agencies wait for evolution to take place, others make evolution happen -- Grafica.eCRM is one of those agencies," said Pete Tierney, President and CEO of MarketFirst Software, Inc. "As an integrated marketing shop with a direct marketing background, Grafica.eCRM is best suited to close the loop for companies seeking to create more targeted and personal marketing communications campaigns. MarketFirst 3.0 now becomes their prime technology platform, enabling Grafica to collect and analyze customer data in a CRM environment."
"The Internet has shifted the focus of power in our economy from products and services to consumers," said Debra Taeschler, President of Grafica.eCRM. "Marketers that fail to arm themselves with the proper technological tools to achieve true CRM will not survive. With MarketFirst 3.0, Grafica.eCRM, on behalf of its clients, will be able to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time via the right medium."
As a comprehensive emarketing platform, MarketFirst 3.0 is designed to fully integrate with existing systems as a licensed application or as a hosted-application service. The product is comprised of a powerful automated marketing platform and eMarketing Blueprints, a suite of customizable "best practice" applications focused on specific marketing activities. MarketFirst 3.0 readily fits into and optimizes existing marketing operations, starting with an easy-to-use graphical interface designed to deliver immediate results for even the most non-technical users. Based on MarketFirst 2.5, MarketFirst 3.0 has added new capabilities including sophisticated email management, new integration options, support for multi-lingual content, additional "best practices blueprints" to supplement the existing portfolio, and flexible Excel-based reports.
Grafica.eCRM Corp. is a full-service eCRM advertising agency dedicated to helping clients realize the full-revenue potential of their customers throughout their lifecycle: acquisition, retention, cross-sell, up-sell, and win back. The agency integrates CRM system components (customer information systems, data warehousing, data mining, marketing management systems, customer interaction centers, and sales force automation) that automate the collection of marketing data as it streams in through customer touchpoints, including permission email marketing, inbound telemarketing, customer service inquiries, sales force contact, direct mail, and Web site activity. Grafica then uses the data to refine future marketing campaigns that pick up where the last communication left off, which provides clients with the most profitable way to minimize customer acquisition costs, improve retention, and maximize ROI.
"Grafica.eCRM is one of the first advertising agencies to embrace and deliver upon the promise of CRM. MarketFirst designs eCRM software for marketers, so this deal makes sense and could catapult each company to the forefront of CRM planning and implementation," said Peter Levy, Partner in Charge, Sobel Consulting Services, a leading expert in emerging technologies and growth industries.
About GraficaGroup
Founded in 1986, GraficaGroup (www.grafica.com) consists of three companies: GraficaAdvertising Inc., GraficaInter.active Ltd., and Grafica.eCRM Corp. The full, integrated suite of services offered by the GraficaGroup includes strategic, integrated marketing planning and execution, traditional and interactive creative solutions, data mining and CRM technology environments, Web site design, development and hosting, and public relations. The GraficaGroup has served clients in numerous industries, such as telecommunications (AT&T and Lucent Technologies); utilities (PSE&G); healthcare (Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey); financial services (Morgan Stanley); State (The New Jersey Lottery and The New Jersey Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor); real estate (Coldwell Banker Commercial); wireless (Dynamic Mobile Data); computing (StorageApps); retail marketing (Naviant, Inc.); and Internet (BuyandHold.com).
For more information, contact Mark Devaney, Director of Public Relations, GraficaGroup, 908/879-2169, ext. 115, or via email at mdevaney@grafica.com.
About MarketFirst Software Inc.
MarketFirst Software Inc. is the leading provider of marketing automation solutions, which enable the creation and seamless integration of interactive marketing campaigns with traditional offline marketing channels. Marketing professionals can now design, create, test and execute measurable automated marketing programs and processes, which can also leverage their overall marketing investment. MarketFirst is available as an enterprise software license or a complete web-hosted service and can be easily integrated into the corporate information infrastructure. MarketFirst's biweekly newsletter is available via myMarketFirst.com, the industry's first eMarketing destination site. Companies such as ARTISTdirect, Documentum, GE Plastics, Lucent, Micron, Pharmacia Upjohn and SAP AG are achieving marketing velocity by using MarketFirst.
MarketFirst is a privately held company with headquarters in Mountain View, California. More information is available at 1-888-658-3477 or www.marketfirst.com.
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