Pigsback.com receives £2.5m to invest in marketing

by Ben Bold, Brand Republic 17-Oct-06, 07:00

LONDON - Private investor network Hotbed is investing £2.5m into consumer relationship marketing website Pigsback.com.

Pigsback.com will use the money to boost its marketing spend in an attempt to increase its membership to 1m users by the end of 2007. Activity will include direct marketing and TV and radio advertising.

The site is pitched to advertisers as an alternative to banner and pop-up advertising. Its 300-strong advertiser base includes Carling, Dell, eBookers, Kellogg, Nestle, Nokia and Vodafone.

Michael Dwyer, Pigsback.com's chief executive and founder, said: "Pigsback.com's emphasis on trust and fun has really captured the imagination of people in the UK. Hotbed's investment allows us to build upon this --intensifying our marketing drive for UK members and building our team to grow accordingly."

Pigsback.com, which launched in the UK less than a year ago, is Ireland's sixth most-visited website. It has more than 340,000 active UK members and forecasts 500,000 by the end of the year. Advertisers can target consumers who have opted in to receive offers from specific types of brand.

The site is tailored to individual users, showing their preferred brands, as well as news, features and competitions. Members, who are predominantly 20- to 40-year-old women, are offered coupons and PiggyPoints, a loyalty scheme that enables them to accrue points by participating in surveys and redeem them against rewards.

Bernard Dale, Hotbed's head of private equity, said: "Pigsback.com is the leader in genuine permission-based marketing, and brand marketers are seeing the enormous value of this as the online advertising market becomes increasingly more crowded."

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