Chief Marketer Staff

• People in the News: FreshAddress, Marketing Management Analytics

  FreshAddress and Marketing Management Analytics have recently announced new hires.

• Price Revealed For IWCO’s Transcontinental Direct Purchase

  IWCO Direct, a direct marketing solutions provider, had a few bucks burning a hole in its pocket. How many? According to a company statement, around $100 million — which is what the company paid for its previously announced acquisition of Transcontinental Direct

• M&A Activity Up In First Quarter: Petsky Prunier

  The 201 mergers or acquisitions tracked in first-quarter 2010 by Petsky Prunier represent a marked improvement over the 183 recorded in first-quarter 2009. The total value of the transactions from a year ago was $2.6 billion. This jumped to $8.8 billion during the quarter just ended.

• Agencies

  Urban Outfitters To Increase Catalog Circulation

  If print direct marketing is dead, someone forgot to tell apparel marketer Urban Outfitter. The company is planning on boosting its catalog circulation during this calendar year.

• Agencies

  Coldwater Creek’s Direct Margin Up Despite Smaller Order Sizes

  On the surface, Coldwater Creek

• Email

  Back to Basics: An E-mail Checklist

  In our quest to implement the most up-to-date, sophisticated e-mail marketing practices, it

• Richemont Acquires Net-a-Porter for $394 Million

  Richemont, a Swiss luxury goods marketer, plans to acquire online luxury fashion retailer Net-a-Porter for 350 million pounds ($394 million).

• Agencies

  Canadian Credit Card Direct Mail Plummets

  Canadian direct mail volume dropped 57%v to 150 million pieces in 2009 from 350 million pieces the year before, according to market research firm Mintel Comperemedia.

• Online Ad Spending Expected to Grow: Survey

  A majority of online marketers (73.6%) believe online advertising revenue will increase this year and nearly all (93.6%) plan to raise the amount they spend on digital marketing channels, according to a direct marketing association survey.

• Alleged Phone Scammers to Pay $18.8 MM Fine: FTC

  The alleged operators of a New Jersey-based telemarketing scheme will pay a record $18.8 million and leave the charitable donation business to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they violated an agency order by misleading consumers to believe that they were donating directly to legitimate charities serving police, firefighters, and veterans, when in fact only a small slice of the donations actually went to these charities, according to the FTC.