Chief Marketer Staff

• Agencies

  Millionaire Spammer Soloway’s Career Began at 16: IRS

  Robert Soloway, the man arrested last week for allegedly sending millions of spam e-mails and touting electronic messaging software and services that didn’t work as advertised, deposited more than $1.6 million in various bank accounts from 2003 to 2006—all as the result of spam and fraud, according to an affidavit from the Internal Revenue Service.

• Email

  Stupid Marketing Watch: Inside the Boston Bomb-Threat Flyer

  What is it about marketers in Boston and their uncanny ability to concoct promotions that make people think they’re in danger of imminent death?

  On the heels of a Cartoon Network bomb scare that paralyzed the city in January, police evacuated a strip mall last week because of a botched fax promotion that some Bank of America employees mistook for a bomb threat.

• Listline e-Newsletter 06/05/07

  The Day-Timers catalog file has been enhanced with Z-24 catalog,
  Experian demographic and CircBase subscriber data. A total of 455,109
  buyers are named.

• Digital

  LinkShare Acquires Firm to Expand Lead Generation Offerings

  LinkShare Corp. has acquired the online lead generation services firm Traffic Strategies.com. Terms were not disclosed.

• Digital

  Lillian Vernon Lets Customers Write Product Reviews on Web Site

  Lillian Vernon Corp. plans to feature online customer reviews of product purchases on its Web site, as part of a broader effort to increase sales, customer loyalty and referrals from Internet search engines.

• Agencies

  DM Growth Continues for 15th Quarter But at Slower Pace

  Direct marketers and vendors in this sector experienced a 15th consecutive quarter of growth, according to first quarter figures from the Direct Marketing Association’s Quarterly Business Review.

• Aerogrow Enters Japanese Market Via DRTV

  Aerogrow International Inc., a Boulder, CO-based developer of aeroponic technology for growing plants without soil, plans to launch DRTV promotions in Japan and Taiwan.

• DMA Honors James Thornton and Daniel Rutenberg

  The Direct Marketing Association’s International Council will honor James Thornton with a lifetime achievement award and Daniel Rutenberg as the international direct marketer of the year on June 18 — DMA International Day.

• People in the News

  Peter Koeppel has been named as a member of the advisory board of the Wheelchair Foundation, an organization that provides wheelchairs to the needy. Koeppel is the founder and president of Koeppel Direct, a DRTV media-buying agency.

• Short Cuts

  Adoodle Inc. has introduced TVAdsAgain.com, an incentive-based Web site, where consumers can review television commercials.