HARTE-HANKS ACQUIRES E-MAIL SERVICE PROVIDER POSTFUTURE, INC.
SAN ANTONIO,
TX, and RICHARDSON, TX – Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS), a direct and
targeted marketing company, has acquired Postfuture®, a leading e-mail
service provider. The acquisition will allow Harte-Hanks to integrate
Postfuture's e-mail marketing technology and services into the comprehensive
direct marketing offerings for consumer and business-to-business marketing
customers of Harte-Hanks.
Financial terms are not disclosed. The acquisition is effective immediately.
"We felt the timing was right to deepen our core competencies in
the e-mail space," said Richard Hochhauser, president and chief
executive officer, Harte-Hanks. "The acquisition of Postfuture
offers many new opportunities to integrate e-mail more fully into true
multichannel programs throughout our entire organization. We see this
as another way to better meet our clients' needs and to strengthen our
leadership position in the direct marketing field."
Postfuture offers an enterprise technology platform that automates campaign
and transactional e-mail delivery with secure print-at-home incentives,
surveys and data management solutions. Its technology solutions typically
integrate remotely with corporate databases to enable relationship e-marketing
solutions for mid-size and large distributed enterprises. The company
distinguishes itself from other e-mail marketing, e-CRM [CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP
MANAGEMENT] and e-mail application service provider offerings by delivering
an enterprise-wide technology platform that links centrally managed
customer databases with locally managed marketing programs.
Harte-Hanks expects to integrate Postfuture's technology and professional
services group into several key strategic areas of the company, while
committing to continue offering, developing and supporting Postfuture's
various e-marketing platform products. Among the immediate integration
opportunities by way of the acquisition:
- Extend the Allink on Demand brand-compliant marketing portal to incorporate
e-mail marketing options seamlessly for local marketing by dealers and
sellers
- Deliver triggered customer messaging based on customer behavior for
financial and retail clients via transaction-focused Allink® database
applications
- Enable Harte-Hanks clients to access customer preferences, and then
create and execute e-marketing campaigns from their desktops using Postfuture's
enterprise-class, campaign management suite, Postpublisher
- Integrate the Postpublisher platform to deliver e-marketing messages
using the Harte-Hanks CI Technology Database, specifically its Technology
E-mail Database
Since the late 1990s, Harte-Hanks has served its clients using a network
of e-mail marketing partnerships with various e-marketing companies.
"The Postfuture acquisition adds to our already comprehensive direct
marketing solutions and furthers our ability to meet our clients’ needs
seamlessly," Hochhauser said.
"Our focus will continue to be permission-based, customer focused
marketing," said Richard Merrick, president and chief executive
officer, Postfuture, who will now serve as managing director, direct
marketing, in Harte-Hanks. "This acquisition strengthens our leadership
position in the e-mail channel by adding a new vision, expanded sales
reach and depth of resources we've not enjoyed before."
Statements in this release concerning the Company’s business outlook
or future financial performance and other statements that are not historical
facts are “forward looking statements” as the term is defined under
applicable Federal Securities Laws. Forward-looking statements are subject
to risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results
to differ materially from those statements. Such risks, uncertainties,
and factors include, but are not limited to, public concern over consumer
privacy issues, which may lead to enactment of legislation restricting
or prohibiting the collection and use of information that is currently
legally available, competitive pressures, fluctuations in paper prices
and postal rates, and general or regional economic conditions, as well
as other risks detailed in the Company’s filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K.
About Postfuture
Postfuture® is a leading E-mail Service
Provider (ESP) offering a patent-pending suite of tools for developing
and strengthening online customer relationships. The company differentiates
from other ESPs through an enterprise-class technology platform that
automates broadcast and transactional email delivery with secure print-at-home
incentives, surveys and data management solutions. Our technology
solutions typically integrate remotely with corporate databases to
create mission critical e-CRM [CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT] solutions
for large, distributed enterprises. The company distinguishes itself
from ordinary e-mail marketing, eCRM and e-mail application service
provider offerings by providing an enterprise-wide technology platform
that links centrally managed customer databases with locally managed
marketing programs. Postfuture is a Deloitte & Touche Fast-50 / Fast-500
company, Inc. 500 company and a top-ranked E-mail Service Provider
by leading independent industry analysts. For more information, visit
www.postfuture.com,
email
or call (888) 419.2226.
View recent Postfuture awards.
About Harte-Hanks
Harte-Hanks, Inc., San Antonio, TX, is a worldwide, direct and targeted
marketing company that provides direct marketing services and shopper
advertising opportunities to a wide range of local, regional, national
and international consumer and business-to-business marketers. Harte-Hanks
Direct Marketing improves the return on its clients’ marketing investment
with a range of services organized around five solution points: Construct
and update the database -- Access the data -- Analyze the data --
Apply the knowledge -- Execute the programs. Expert at each element
within this process, Harte-Hanks Direct Marketing is highly skilled
at tailoring solutions for each of the vertical markets it serves.
Harte-Hanks Shoppers is North America’s largest owner, operator and
distributor of shopper publications, with shoppers that are zoned
into more than 900 separate editions with circulation in excess of
11 million in California and Florida each week.
##
For
more information, contact: Chief Financial Officer Dean Blythe (210)
829-9138 or e-mail at dblythe@harte-hanks.com.
This release and other information about Harte-Hanks can be found
on the World Wide Web at http://www.harte-hanks.com.
|
