In an effort to better align the company’s print and Web strategies, Harte-Hanks Shoppers has renamed its direct mail coupon publication PennySaver to PennySaverUSA.com.
“Businesses are moving online more and more, and consumers are more and more going online to shop, it’s a simple fact,” said Dick Colvin, VP of marketing for PennySaverUSA.com. “We know that the Web site and the Internet are going to play a bigger part of our future, and we felt it was the right time to put the two together.”
PennySaver’s rebranding follows a recent trend with direct mail coupons. Valpak, which sends 500 million envelopes each year, underwent a substantial makeover earlier this month and recently started sending advance e-mails to its direct mail targets. Valassis launched coupon site redplum.com in December.
Harte-Hanks is promoting the name change with ads in some of its publications, as well as a $5,000 contest, which will be promoted in print, online and on the radio.
Harte-Hanks has maintained an online presence since 1995, but it recently added advanced search, maps, videos, menus and links to its PennySaver site.
“Consumers can get what they’re looking for the way they want it, and advertisers can take advantage of reaching those consumers where they want to be reached,” Colvin continued. “Branding them together helps us promote the idea that we’re a multimedia company.”
The direct mail portion of PennySaver goes to 10 million addresses in California each week. Colvin said that the site’s readership skews slightly male, and the print’s skews slightly female, but that the PennySaver audience is a fairly balanced cross-section of the California homes to which the books are mailed.
PennySaver’s sister publication in Florida changed its name to TheFlyer.com, taking the name of its local advertising Web site.
Colvin said that the PennySaver site would not be used to gather additional information on consumers.
