Cda Duo Gamble On Product Giveaway Software Developers Launch ‘Netivation’ Venture

Following a business model that has Microsoft’s new version of the Internet Explorer flooding the market at the rate of six downloads every second, a Coeur d’Alene software firm plans to market its Internet-based management programs in the same fashion.

They’re giving them away.

“Netivation” is the latest idea from the Paquin brothers, Gary and Tony.

They founded Agency One software, a $5 million company they sold last year, and now have turned their attention to Internet commerce. “Netivation comes from the verb ‘to netivate’ - which means to make active on the Net,” Gary Paquin explained.

The company’s first product is a campaign management program called Governet, a vertical integration of the brothers’ software development background and of Tony Paquin’s current primary challenge for Rep. Helen Chenoweth’s seat in the 1st Congressional District. Both are Republicans.

“There are 50,000 political campaigns run every year and 95 percent of them are not automated,” Gary said.

Instead of shuffling through file cards of voter preferences, Governet generates demographic profiles that can be used for targeted correspondence, either in paper form or mass e-mailings.

Like Microsoft, Netivation will distribute the product at no charge for an initial six-month period to gain a marketing foothold.

The numbers bear no comparison. Internet Explorer was downloaded to more than 1 million users in the first 48 hours after its announcement; Governet was scheduled for shipment to 110 congressional offices after its first week. But the concept is the same.

By giving software away, both companies want to create an industry standard and show a ready-made market to Internet advertisers.

For Governet, advertising dollars will come from more than 2,000 political action committees whose agendas would show up on banner ads on the politicians’ computer screens.

“If you sell an ad to the National Rifle Association, certainly the Brady Bill folks are going to want their message included,” Gary Paquin said.

“It’s definitely an interesting model and it sounds promising,” said Doug Levy, founder of Internet Marketing & Creative Concepts of Dallas. “The market for banner space is very saturated - I’ve heard estimates that as much as 65 percent of it goes unsold.

“But the more targeted your customer,” he added, “The more valuable the ad space.”

Precise targeting is the concept behind electronic commerce software that Netivation will freely send to physicians’ offices, real estate firms, insurance companies and the finance trade, the Paquins said.

Netivation was one of 80 companies selected from a field of 300 to officially announce its products as part of an Internet showcase later this month. Unofficially, the Coeur d’Alene firm, which plans to employ 30 people in 1998 and several times that many as new programs are released, continues to distribute Governet free of charge.

Tony Paquin said access to the program will “enhance the democratic process.” Gary Paquin believes the technology will “impact politics in America.”

According to their Internet site, they have pledged themselves to “liberty, justice and free campaign software for all.”

Will they stand by that pledge if challenger Chenoweth requests a free copy of Governet?

“Absolutely - we’re bipartisan,” Tony joked. “And business is business,” Gary added.

, DataTimes