Empathy marketing is a rather touchy-feely name for what is a very targeted form of direct marketing.

Taken to its logical conclusion it could mean the end of the dreaded junk mail - or worse junk e-mail - because consumers only receive information on products or services in which they have expressed an interest.

Mr Michael Dwyer, the former group marketing director of Green Isle Food, hopes that not only is the Republic ready for this form of targeting, but that we're sufficiently Internet-friendly to express our interest in products and services via his new website pigsback.com. The idea is that people sign up to the site, tick various boxes showing the product areas they are interested in, from travel to money and finance, and then print out money-off coupons for the relevant product or service.

They can also get weekly e-zines giving them more money off offers.

The targeted nature of the site has encouraged 50 well-known brands to sign up, so site surfers can get money off products from Lever Brothers, Proctor & Gamble, Bewleys as well as various hotels and restaurants. Mr Dwyer raised £1.5 million "from family, friends and punters" to develop the site and left his job at Green Isle in March to concentrate on the business. The site was launched after a teaser outdoor campaign created by DDFH&B with a modest £50,000 media spend and in the past week 3,000 people have registered. "That was in the pre-launch period which is very encouraging," says Mr Dwyer, "by the end of year one we would hope to have 70,000."

He thought of the idea for what he calls "Ireland's first personalised and rewards website" while working on the Goodfellas brand at Green Isle.

"When we were looking to break into the UK market we knew that if we could just get people to try the product we'd win," he says.

"So I figured that there had to be a lot of other companies looking for ways to encourage trial and that's what this rewards-based system does." Pigsback.com is unusual for new websites because it is easy to see how it might make money.

Brands that want to include special offers or coupons on the site have to pay for it and they also pay £1 per click through. They also pay for inclusion in the weekly free coupon e-zine at a rate of £50 per thousand. Space on the site will also be sold on a sponsorship and a sales commission basis. "We are unusual in that content is our revenue," says Mr Dwyer, "and by September we should have that content fully fleshed out".

Indeed clicking onto the site at the moment can be a bit of a non-event because some categories, including the one for cars and the one for books have no coupons or offers. This raises the question whether the site has launched too soon.

"We're going for a soft launch and then we'll spend the summer de-bugging the content," he says.

"By September we'll be ready to support the site with a £1 million marketing package that will incluude press, outdoor and radio."