Chief Marketer Staff

• Massive Blackout Darkens Several U.S. Cities

  What is being called the largest blackout in history hit several U.S. and Canadian cities yesterday afternoon, leaving millions of people without electricity.

• Tiffany Posts a 13% DM Sales Hike

  Tiffany & Co. reported a 13% leap in second-quarter direct marketing sales—to $43.9 million—compared with the same period last year. Overall company sales

• List and Database News

  Information Security Magazine Direct Media Inc. has been named as list manager of the Information Security magazine subscriber list, effective Aug. 15.

• Bechtol Resigns as President of Catalina

  Michael G. Bechtol, citing personal reasons, has resigned as president and chief operating officer of Catalina Marketing Corp., effective Sept. 12. His

• Mediamark Adds Spanish-Speaking Interviewers

  Mediamark Research Inc. will survey Hispanic/Latino consumers using Spanish-speaking interviewers for the first time. The New York-based research firm

• MeritDirect Wins R.R. Bowker List

  MeritDirect has been named as manager of the R.R. Bowker Book Industry Master File, containing 334,000 names. The previous manager was DM2. The file includes

• Privacy Advocates Worry About Postal Tracking Code Idea: Washington Post

  Privacy advocates are worried about a proposal that the U.S. Postal Service use tracking codes to identify mail senders and recipients, according to the

• Carlson Marketing Group to Acquire Peppers & Rogers Group

  Carlson Marketing Group, Minneapolis, will acquire Peppers & Rogers Group in an all-cash transaction. Details of the deal, which is expected to close

• Short Cuts

  ESRI Business Information Solutions, a division of Redlands, CA-based ESRI, has signed on to use Acxiom Corp.

• Millard Manages TransWorld Extreme Sports Master File

  Millard Group Inc. has been tapped to manage the TransWorld Extreme Sports as of Aug. 11. This merged and unduplicated file includes 263,418 total subscribers