Norristown, PA June 6, 2001 Vertical Alliance Inc. recently announced the introduction of a new Web application development platform that allows corporations, consultants and integrators to develop and deploy technologies to integrate the management of content, customer relationships and e-commerce across multiple Web sites. Vertical Tracker is an application development platform that combines the functionality of an interactive content manager with complete customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities, as well as online purchasing, ordering and other e-commerce capabilities.
The new platform provides a centralized database that allows users to track the movement and buying capabilities of customers across a spectrum of affiliated Web sites in order to adapt marketing tactics to meet precise consumer needs. For integrators and consultants, Vertical Tracker comes with customizable, pre-written business rules that reduce deployment time by providing tool sets that meet the exact practices and protocols of specific industries such as sports and entertainment, financial services and healthcare.
"Our mission is to provide companies with a smart platform for tracking and understanding the interests and passions of customers in order to convert them into passionate fans of their products and services," says David Cooper, the founder of Vertical Alliance. Cooper has worked for more than 20 years for some of the world's leading entertainment acts developing management and fan affinity software.
In 1995, for instance, Cooper developed an alternative ticketing system for Pearl Jam which sold 48,000 tickets in 21 minutes for a San Francisco show, a Guinness World Record for ticketing. In 1999, Cooper, who also worked with The Who, U2, David Bowie, Eric Clapton and countless other acts, realized that corporate America could benefit from the technologies entertainment acts were using to create a loyal and passionate fan base. He founded Vertical Alliance in 1999 to help companies gain deep intelligence on their customers in order to provide them with the information, products and services that spur usage, loyalty and sales.
Vertical Tracker is already in use by corporations nationwide, including Firstlook.com, an Idealab! company, Sea Gull Lighting, a major lighting distributor, and Musicvideocards.com, a producer of CD-ROM promotional cards.
The International Speedway Corp. (ISC) deployed Vertical Tracker in 2000 as the platform for unifying 18 of its affiliated Web sites, which cover, market and report on some of the world's leading motorsport events and racetracks including the Daytona International Speedway. Publicly traded ISC, which manages more than 70 major events each year, needed an immediate solution that allowed the company to gain deeper understanding of a national fan base. Using the Vertical Tracker development platform, Vertical Alliance rolled out 18 new ISC-affiliated Web site communities in 75 days. Vertical Tracker's centralized database now provides ISC intelligence into their fan base, a capability that provides ISC the ability to enhance and customize their marketing efforts to precise consumer needs.
