Here's the deal. The surfer/member can now move from the c2w Website to the advertiser's Website and back, all the while, participating in contests. The flipside benefit: the corporate client gets a laser focussed audience and is able to generate traffic to its Website from people who are actually keen to come to the home page. Costwise therefore it turns out to be economical since the payment is made per view or per sign-up basis.

According to c2w chief operating officer Alok Kejriwal: ``Unlike banner advertising, the technique induces highly involved sampling of advertiser/client's Websites and voluntary sign-ups on the client's site.''

For the purpose, the company is already working with VIPBags.com and BidOrBuyIndia.com. It is believed to be in talks with three other companies for similar deals.

How does it work?
Operationally, c2w devises a contest for its client, which typically includes three to four questions, which the surfer needs to answer. The clues for these questions are also provided on the contest page - just a click and the contestant is led to the client's Website. Thus, to answer the first question, the c2w member boomerangs from c2w to the client's Website (in search of the clue) and back to c2w to answer the question.It could beat banner advertising in a big way. According to Kejriwal: ``Boomerang Marketing is one facet of Entertainment Marketing that c2w pioneering in the world. Banner and other visual ad forms on the Internet are part of Interruption Marketing which is a marketing legacy of the past.'' He adds: ``Television commercials (in the midst of a really interesting TV serial, or print ads in the midst of an editorial) interrupt the consumer and attempt to get your attention. This is the reason why such advertisements have a very high nuisance level and wastage factor because they interrupt.Banners could be equally disturbing. Besides, how often do you click on a banner?''

The company has set up criteria for the kind of companies that qualify for Boomerang Marketing. c2w aligns with brands which its feels the contestants will enjoy relating to. The company prefers not to work with Websites which will later endlessly spam c2w browsers. ``We also go through their privacy policies and rules/regulations. Needless to say, we will definitely not work with sites that host illegal or objectionable content,'' says Kejriwal. As regards payment, a client effectively pays less compared to banner ads, since there is no wastage, and advertisers get an opportunity to "laser focus" their target audience, says Kejriwal. The Boomerang Marketing rates are packaged on a case to case basis, since it offers prizes and other value-added services such as sending e-mails to the target audience etc. Since it is result-oriented (pay per view), there is no ambiguity in the value that the client receives, adds Kejriwal.

To make the contests interesting, c2w has introduced what it calls "Money Can't Buy Prizes" or MCBPs. They are aspirational/high perceived value prizes, which would incentivise members to participate. It will also include a great fun element in contesting, says Kejriwal. The company has already given out MCBPs like a Volkswagen Beetle (painted in 1960's retro colours), a piece of the Berlin Wall and a World War Iron Cross in the recent past.With all this and more, the company is expecting a 10-20 per cent of the revenues to be generated from Boomerang Marketing in the next one year.

However, Neeraj Roy of Hungama.com (a contest and promotion site) thinks otherwise. He says: ``You cannot build an e-marketing strategy centred around contesting lone. Moreover, internationally several companies like Gamesville and mainstream portals like Yahoo offer promotion-linked deals and to that extent the strategy is not even new.'' Perhaps, but for now c2w reckons it could win a following with Boomerang Marketing.