Key executives of FloNetwork have been offered permanent positions with DoubleClick, Reggie Brady told DIRECT Newsline yesterday. Last week, after New York-based DoubleClick announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire FloNetwork, DoubleClick asked the vice presidents of operations, product management, sales, international and professional services to remain at the combined entity.
Craig Rennick, vice president of sales of FloNetwork, was told he would head up both the DartMail and the FloNetwork sales staff, according to Brady. DoubleClick plans to combine its DartMail technology with FloNetwork’s e-mail service.
Brady said by extending formal offers to top executives, DoubleClick “wanted to give the rest of the FloNetwork employees a sense that their leaders are coming on board.” The rest of the FloNetwork employees will know whether they will be invited to stay within three weeks, she added. FloNetwork has about 250 employees, mostly in its Toronto headquarters. Brady heads up the other headquarters in Greenwich, CT.
Brady, currently director of strategic partnerships at FloNetwork, said she is unsure what her new role will be. A veteran of the direct marketing list business and a pioneer in e-mail marketing, Brady arrives with a wealth of experience for a company of relative newcomers to the direct marketing world. She also presents a well-known and trusted public image. She sits on the Direct Marketing Association ethics committee, but told DoubleClick, “one thing I would not like to do is privacy.”
FloNetwork was “on the march to profitability,” Brady said, “but for us to really position ourselves in the market we needed the capital DoubleClick could bring. They’ll be able to open the doors faster than we could do alone.”
Some 95% of FloNetwork’s business is in the customer-retention area. DoubleClick will undoubtedly be looking for a large e-mail compiler like NetCreations, the large e-mail network marketer whose merger with DoubleClick fell through.
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