WebFlyer, an Internet site dedicated to frequent flyer programs, is extending its brand by becoming a free Internet service provider.
This will put the WebFlyer icon on a user’s desktop, and keep it there alongside other icons, according to Webflyer president Randy Peterson.
“It keeps our name in front of the customer,” he says.
The platform also lets WebFlyer put its logo or slogan onto the browser and tag it onto any e-mail a user may send.
“It creates a brand on the desktop and comes from desktop applications,” Petersen says.
The audience for the Colorado Springs-based company consists of frequency plan members, a universe Petersen suggests is as large as 60 million. The multibrand Web site reflects the fact that the typical flyer is a member of more than one air-miles program. The WebFlyer ISP will be a global network, which is appropriate given this audience’s peripatetic nature.
Petersen describes the Web site as the offshoot of Insider Flyer magazine, which targets the same market. The 14-year old company has approximately 100,000 members. Its list of member benefits includes free e-mail (with a WebFlyer tag) and aggregate e-mail. However, the firm does not conduct e-commerce.
“We don’t sell tickets,” Petersen says. “We’re a free-content aggregator.”
WebFlyer’s revenue comes mostly from the magazine and its 650,000 subscribers. It also generates income from frequent flyer guides and travel planners.
Petersen hopes to leverage the ISP into lucrative partnerships. The attraction for partners? The strength of mileage consumers as a demographic. They are upscale credit-card users, with higher annual average household incomes, Petersen says.
The technology behind this custom ISP is provided by Brand3. Peter Mansfield, the chief operating officer of the Los Angeles-based start-up, says his company anticipates 1 million users accessing the Internet with Brand3 clients and partners by the end of the year. Mansfield suggests that the “quality of the eyeballs” may make such sites attractive to advertisers who favor targeted banner ads.
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