Chief Marketer Staff

• Barnes & Noble Hires Shar As Emerging Content Leader

  Barnes & Noble, Inc., has named Jonathan Shar as general manager of the digital newsstand and emerging content operations within Barnes & Noble.com.

• Social Media Agency DEI Hires Chad Alger

  DEI Worldwide, a social media marketing agency, has hired Chad Alger to serve as VP of strategy for its Chicago office.

• Will Social Media Replace E-Mail?

  Suggesting that social media will be the death of e-mail is akin to suggesting that the advent of airplane travel in the 1930s meant the end of the automobile. Of course, nothing of the sort happened.

• InfoGroup Sold To CCMP

  InfoGroup has been sold to private equity firm CCMP Capital.

• Email

  Slogging Toward E-mail Metrics Standardization

  Discrepancies in defining the metrics used to measure e-mail marketing has led the Email Experience Council to create a list of standardized definitions.

• Online Travel Firm Orbitz Names Two To Board

  Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. has named Martin Brand and Brad Gerstner to its board of directors, effective immediately.

• Chatty, Cautious Optimism Accompanies WPP Earnings

  The hard news surrounding WPP plc and its group of advertising agencies is that its 2009 billings and profit were down from 2008’s level, while its revenue was flat. But commentary accompanying its financial results release was a step away from the typical drab-as-dishwater rhetoric.

• DMA’s Woolley Outlines Legislative Concerns

  Start making phone calls, marketers: Congress and the Obama administration are mulling or implementing a number of new policies regarding regulatory oversight, and if these are left unchallenged the direct marketing community is not going to like the results.

• Agencies

  Advice for CPGs Targeting Four Key Generations

  The Nielsen Co. has analyzed the shopping habits of four key generations and has offered recommendations for consumer packaged goods marketers to improve in-store marketing aimed at each of these age groups.

• Email

  Three Vital Elements of E-mail to Test

  Savvy e-mail marketers understand the importance not only of testing to increase performance but of choosing the right types of tests to run.