NextCard

www.nextcard.com

Neat trick. Nextcard’s pop-up advertisement on CBS MarketWatch is impossible to miss. It comes up on the screen just as you’re reading the column, and you have to click the x in the right corner to get rid of it. As a user, hate it. As a marketer, love it.

NextCard (Palo Alto, CA) continued building momentum for its launch of a full-service Internet bank next year (OBR 5/98). Since early July, it has added Platinum card options, introduced a rewards program, pioneered a “choose your own upgrade program,” revamped its Web site, and booked application number 200,000. Not a bad way to end the summer at a time when many financial services companies are taking a breather before the fall campaigns.

NextCard Rewards, from BonusMail www.bonusmail.com is a comprehensive rewards program with something for everyone, airline miles for the frequent traveler, restaurant meals, and merchandise. It’s a bit hard to follow in its initial incarnation, but given NextCard’s track record of simple, down-to-earth copy, we’re sure it will be improved shortly.

NextCard’s latest upsell technique. User’s select an upgrade, either Gold or Platinum. The Gold upgrade bumps the credit limit and puts users into the rewards program; Platinum further bumps the credit limit and provides double reward points. The catch: each upgrade requires a larger balance transfer.