Memo: GCI hunts for more reader e-mail addresses; advertisers to benefit from iPad-fueled campaign

[Campaign uses Deals sites, such as Rochester's, circled area]

Corporate is ratcheting up efforts to persuade more readers to turn over their e-mail addresses for use by advertisers in national, regional and local sales promotions, according to a new internal memo I've obtained.

The e-mail push, where readers would "opt-in" to supply addresses voluntarily, is a three-pronged effort, according to the memo sent late Friday to advertising executives, TV station general managers and other company officials.

The campaign is moving into higher gear as Corporate seeks new ways to entice advertisers when U.S. economic growth remains sluggish, and consumers are holding tight to their wallets. One element in the campaign, an iPad giveaway, starts just three days after Gannett is scheduled to release its second-quarter earnings July 16, and brief Wall Street on the outlook for the current quarter.

Following are the major elements:

1. Later this summer, all the so-called Deals pages on newspaper and other sites will include a new link to sign up for special deals offered by advertisers. The Deals sites can be found now on homepages of newspapers including the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, The Des Moines Register, and The Indianapolis Star.

At Rochester, the Deals site is displayed as a RocDeals tab on the homepage. (Detail, above.) Clicking the tab takes readers to a page of newspaper ads, plus digital versions of special advertising sections that appeared in the paper.

2. Starting July 19, Corporate is launching a 10-week sweepstakes, offering readers a chance to win an iPad (photo, below) each week in return for agreeing to receive "promotional e-mail messages
from your local media organization and your organization’s advertising partners."

"This 10-week program follows a successful pilot sweepstakes promotional campaign currently in-market now with 25 USCP and broadcast sites,'' the memo says. "So far, we’ve collected more than 24,000 additional e-mail addresses from consumers who have agreed to receive promotional messages from our sites and their partners."

For those sites "highly motivated" to gather e-mail addresses, the memo says, Corporate will provide suggested sweepstakes promotion messages to post on their site's Twitter and Facebook feeds.

3. The new newspaper website template, which is still in the works, will include "AdMail" options to the newsletter/site registration processes as part of the larger redesign. "This will make the opt-in to receive AdMail promotions a permanent fixture on local.com," the memo says.

Know more about this new campaign? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.