E-mail services firm IncrediMail has joined forces with international hunger relief and development organization Action Against Hunger to feed the hungry through a viral, word-of-mouth e-mail campaign this Christmas season.
IncrediMail has created a philanthropic partnership with Action Against Hunger to use the reach of e-mail to drive a donation campaign for the organization.
“We are trying to use our global reach, which is viral in nature, to raise money for the hungry,” said Jeff Holzmann, executive vice president at Incredimail, New York. “We will contribute an additional fee for every one of our users that adopts the Action Against Hunger graphics.”
The Tel Aviv, Israel-based e-mail firm has created graphic e-mail backgrounds that feature Action Against Hunger images and messages for use by its 10 million active users.
IncrediMail will make a $15,000 minimum donation to ACF and will donate an additional $0.10 for every e-mail sent using the ACF backgrounds, for a maximum donation of $30,000 between now and midnight on December 26, 2006.
This comes right after Incredimail dropped the fee for an ad model for its entertainment-based graphic e-mail skins at ad:tech New York last month.
Earlier this year the firm became publicly traded and opened an office in New York’s Grand Central Station to leverage the American marketplace.
Its customer breakdown is 37 percent North American, 33 percent European, 11 percent South American, 12 percent from the Far East and Australia, and 7 percent from other parts of the world.
According to Mr. Holzmann, this nonprofit promotion is aimed at using this reach to communicate the brand as more than a source of entertainment.
“These e-mails are not about entertainment, they are more about awareness,” Mr. Holzmann said. “Through viral marketing, we can reach many people to help with good causes.”
