To: Jorj X Mckie who wrote (9705 ) 11/16/1998 9:31:00 PM From: Jerry Olson Respond to of 34804
Mr X and for all you EGGheads!!!!! Big Leagues, yeah with bigger HEADACHES.....ouch! ooh ooh!!! damn that hurt!!!!!! heh heh Monday November 16, 8:42 pm Eastern Time Egghead.com debuts its on-line store with ad campaign SPOKANE, Wash., Nov 16 (Reuters) - Coinciding with the relaunch of its Web site this week, computer software and hardware retailer Egghead.com Inc.(Nasdaq:EGGS - news) launched an advertising campaign on Monday to debut its Web-based operation. The integrated campaign, which includes both off-line and on-line advertising, is the company's first effort to publicize its Web site (http//www.egghead.com) since it closed its brick and mortar stores and announced its intention to become an on-line-only retailer in February. ''This is the first campaign that the company has taken since becoming an on-line company,'' said John Hough, spokesman for Egghead.com. ''It is an advertising campaign to formally announce the company's shift of its entire retail operation to the Web.'' Hough said the retailer had deliberately waited to promote its online business aggressively until it had redesigned a site that would be able to support the expected surge in customers. If most of its customers from its former Egghead stores had come to the Web site, Hough said, it could have had as many as six million visitors. While the company redeveloped its site during the past seven months, it operated its business through its original Web site, intended only to complement its physical retail operations. The newly transformed site, which will launch later this week, includes a discounted merchandise section and an auction feature, in addition to its traditional software and hardware store. Hough said the additional features were made possible by the company's acquisition of Surplus Direct, a catalogue and Internet company experienced in the discount merchandise business. He also said the site would be expandable to include other products beyond traditional PC software and hardware. While he declined to be more specific, he said, ''Within months, you'll see the company expand beyond the PC to non-computer related products.'' For now, Egghead.com has begun to promote its current features through a six-week campaign on cable television stations ESPN and CNN, print publications such as Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, and Wired, and on-line sites such as Netscape, Microsoft Sidewalk, and Yahoo. Although Egghead.com's in-house staff developed the on-line campaign, New York-based ad agency Digital Pulp handled the off-line campaign. One television spot, for example, says, ''You were an egghead. And you're still an egghead. Only now, you're on-line.'' After showing viewers screen shots of the new site, with upbeat music blaring in the background, the spot concludes with the tagline, ''Shop three times smarter.'' Steve Sacks, president and creative director for Digital Pulp, said the television ads were a first for the agency, which specializes in cross-medium branding, primarily through Web sites, on-line ads and print ads. More Quotes and News: Egghead Inc (Nasdaq:EGGS - news) Related News Categories: US Market News Help Copyright © 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. See our Important Disclai