2/15
Printing firm TRANSCONTINENTAL INC., of Montreal, acquired JDM Inc. for $85 million in cash and $2 million in working capital. JDM, which consists of a printing plant, a primary direct mail lettershop and three ancillary direct mail facilities, will operate under the banner of Transcontinental Direct USA. JDM employs 1,100 workers. The company had $91 million in sales during 2004. The acquisition will boost Transcontinental's revenue from direct marketing activities to $315 million. Transcontinental reported revenue of $1.7 billion last year.
The U.S. POSTAL SERVICE suspended shipments on American Airlines and US Airways Group Inc. flights because they didn't get the mail to destinations on time. The air routes used to help ship first class mail across the country were halted Feb. 12 after a five-month analysis showed consistent lateness, the USPS said.
2/14
Microsoft Corp., eBay, PayPal and Visa were named among the initial participants in the PHISH REPORT NETWORK, an anti-phishing aggregating service operated by WholeSecurity. The network allows companies being victimized by phishing attacks to securely report fraudulent Web sites to a central database operated by WholeSecurity. Other companies subscribing to the Phish Report Network can then access the database or receive real-time notifications of known phishing sites. Phishing involves an attempt by scam artists to steal the identities of Internet users by sending out e-mails or links to Web pages mimicking popular Web sites.
2/13
PFIZER INC. and MICROSOFT CORP. filed 17 lawsuits against online pharmacies they said sent hundreds of millions of unwanted e-mail solicitations to users of Microsoft's Hotmail e-mail program last year. Pfizer, which makes the male sexual dysfunction drug Viagra, alleges that these operations have call centers in Canada and manufacturing plants in India. “What we're really trying to do with these lawsuits is close these operations down,” said Pfizer spokesman Bryant Haskins.
RAINMAKER SYSTEMS INC. acquired Quarter End Inc., doing business as Sunset Direct, for $3.5 million. Founded in 1992, Sunset offers call center, list and database services, among other things. The unit will continue to operate under its own name.
Steve Bassett, creative director of THE MARTIN AGENCY in Richmond, VA, won the Irving Wunderman Award for lifetime creative achievement.
2/10
INFOUSA sent an acquisition offer to the board of DIGITAL IMPACT INC., an e-mail and Web marketing firm. The $2-per-share offer, a 55-cent premium over Digital Impact's stock price at deadline, was not made in response to a prospectus, said InfoUSA CEO Vin Gupta. If it does acquire Digital Impact, InfoUSA will place it in its Yesmail unit, which serves as an umbrella for its digital holdings, Gupta said. In an earlier development, InfoUSA announced it had acquired @Once, an e-mail technology company that specializes in retention marketing.
2/9
IDENTITY THEFT topped the list of consumer complaints to the Federal Trade Commission in 2004, accounting for 39% of the 635,173 gripes filed throughout the year, the FTC reported. The other top complaint categories included Internet auctions (16%); shop-at-home/catalog sales (8%); Internet services and computer complaints (6%); foreign money offers (6%); prizes/sweepstakes and lotteries (5%); advance-fee loans and credit protection (3%); business opportunities and work-at-home (2%); telephone services (2%); and others (12%).
2/7
A survey by VERTIS showed that 24% of all adults who read a direct mail piece sent by a retailer visit the store within 90 days. Direct mail has the greatest impact on female baby boomers, 33% of whom visit a store within the three-month period. The next most responsive group is Generation X males at 28%. The study also found that 71% of all apparel direct mail readers are women. The most widely read direct mail sent by retailers comes from discount and department stores, followed by supermarkets and home improvement stores.
2/3
LISTWORKS CORP. apparently was out of business after telling about 50 employees to go home, although the firm had not made a bankruptcy filing at deadline. Several nonprofit lists previously managed by Listworks were transferred to Specialized Fundraising Services Inc., a new management and brokerage firm in Spartanburg, SC. “We picked up 50 management clients in the last two days,” said Frank Quaranta, the firm's president/COO and a former vice president at Listworks. Numerous brokerage clients — including the American Diabetes Association, Muscular Dystrophy Association and St Jude's Children's Hospital — moved form Listworks to Specialized Fundraising. They followed Lisa Greene, Specialized Fundraising's president/CEO, when she ended her independent contractor arrangement with Listworks to become Quaranta's business partner. Greene had operated a satellite office for Listworks in Spartanburg. A number of former employees accepted new positions at Brewster, NY-based Macromark, which has taken over 15 files previously managed by Listworks. Norman Newman has been named senior vice president of sales; Ken Ryan, vice president of sales; and Mary Ellen Meyer, list manager. Several astrology lists and opportunity seeker files have been transferred to Macromark, along with the Better Health & Self Improvement Library, BNI Building News and Nuvobody lists. Impulse Media has assumed management of the U.S. and Canadian Psychic Predictions files formerly at Listworks, in addition to the Adrianna and Cloud Nine lists, which target similar audiences, according to Pam Ranalli, marketing manager at Impulse. Listworks president Walter Monzi could not be reached for comment.
