Chief Marketer Staff, Author at Chief Marketer

Loose Cannon: Direct Mail: It Saves Lives

Short of the occasional paper cut, one would be hard-pressed to cite a serious physical injury caused by direct marketing. But thanks to an agreement between Reuters and Nasdaq, it’s only a matter of time before New York City records its first brand advertisement-related fatality.

These two organizations own buildings on opposite corners of Times Square. Each building hosts an enormous electronic billboard on its face. Together these signs encompass 17,000 square feet, and Reuters and Nasdaq are selling advertising space on ’em in a joint package.

Listline e-Newsletter 07/12/06

Method2Media LLC chose Estee Marketing Group Inc. to manage this 41
million-name master file. This data comes from online registrations at
mynetmortgage.com, focusonmortgage.com and degreefocus.com.

Agencies

Consumer Angst Causes OfficeMax to Eliminate Mail-in Rebates

After years of fending off consumer anger over its rebate programs, OfficeMax, one of the nation’s largest office-supply distributors, has eliminated the majority of its mail-in rebate programs. OfficeMax is not the only retailer to eliminate the incentives and others are pondering exiting the programs as well.

Agencies

Gap Inc. Business Direct Launches Options Card

Gap Inc. Business Direct is out with a new gift card option for corporate buyers, which now blends three of its top brands into one card.

Agencies

Dunkin’ Donuts Calls Gift Card Offer a Scam

(Direct Newsline)—Dunkin’ Donuts is claiming that an e-mail from a lead-generation firm in Florida promising a free $25 gift card in return for filling out a survey is a scam.

Agencies

Customer Service Could Fix Promotional Offers

When the phone rings in consumer affairs, marketing should listen in. Marketers could learn a lot about how their promotional offers are playing in Peoria—and improve their ROI along the way. Hal Stinchfield, founder of fulfillment consultancy Promotional Marketing Insights, talks about how consumer complaints make for better offers.

Agencies

Group Puts $150 Million Toward Promoting HD DVD

A slate of seven entertainment, computer and software manufacturers, and electronics companies have partnered to spend $150 million in trade and consumer marketing to promote high-definition digital-video discs (HD DVD) and to educate consumers on the quality and value of the technology.

Agencies

Employees Not to Happy with Management: Maritz Poll

The state of labor relations is in the dumpster. In fact, 49% of Americans describe the relationship between management and labor at their companies as “lukewarm” or “negative,” with only 9% describing the relationship as “extremely positive,” according to a new Maritz Poll on employee satisfaction conducted by Maritz Research.

Agencies

Blimpie CMO Moves to Universal Studios

Universal Studios Hollywood has named marketing executive Mark Mears to senior VP-marketing and sales.

Agencies

Thrifty, Budget Pair With Airlines for Promos

Thrifty Car Rental and Budget Rent A Car System, Inc. have individually partnered with airline companies to reward frequent flyer members with additional miles for renting the companies’ vehicles.