Direct Marketing | Print

• Direct Marketing | Print

  Yahoo Forms Alliance for Interactive TV Advertising

  Yahoo Inc. has formed a strategic mobile advertising alliance with MobiTV Inc. that’s expected to lead to interactive TV promotions.

• Direct Marketing | Print

  UPS Introduces Package Intercept and Rerouting Service

  United Parcel Service has instituted a package intercept and rerouting service — for shippers to designate a new delivery address while a package is still in its transit network.

• Direct Marketing | Print

  Mail Stream: A Report on Incoming Direct Mail

  Raintree Nursery’s most recent catalog features a sepia-toned picture of an apple tree planed by Johnny Appleseed in 1821, and offers both the tree’s backstory and a chance to order a similar item. The Humane Society asks for support of farm animal rights, with a tote bag premium provided to those donating more than $12. And Catholic Child Keeps the Faith, a religious items marketer, has sent out a catalog laden with Lenten items

• Direct Marketing | Print

  Neiman Marcus Sues over Domain Names

  Neiman Marcus Group has filed suit against two domain name companies for registering more than 40 Internet addresses that it says are too similar to the department store chain’s trademarks.

• Digital

  Case against Google’s PageRank Dismissed–Again

  A U.S. District Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit that charged Google with giving favorable search rankings to companies that have a financial relationship with the search engine.

• Direct Marketing | Print

  Bombay Company Losses Narrow in Q4

  Furniture retailer The Bombay Company reported lower fourth-quarter losses due in part to an increase in Internet sales, the Fort Worth-based company said Friday.

• Direct Marketing | Print

  Loose Cannon: Strip Search at the U.S.P.S.

  The U.S. Postal Service periodically sends around postcards touting various offerings such as Hold Mail, Premium Forwarding and Change of Address. The cards give rise to numerous questions, including: Why are they addressed to “Postal Customer”? Shouldn’t the Post Office, of all organizations, know who it is sending mailings to? Why do these mailings bear the notation “Permit No. G-10”? Shouldn’t the U.S.P.S have permit number A-1? Did whoever had to apply for the permit have to wait in a really, really long line like the rest of us?

  But the biggest question these mailings engender is: Why did the Postal Service decide to use characters from the comic strip Cathy as part of the design? Cathy is a perfectly innocuous, but not especially postal-centric, strip.

  As it turns out, Cathy was the last comic strip standing after a review of several possibilities. The following internal U.S.P.S. memo offers insight into the selection process.

• Direct Marketing | Print

  Affinion Reports Revenues Fell $73.6 Million in 2006

  Membership services direct marketer Affinion Group Inc. reported on Thursday that its net revenues for the 2006 fiscal year decreased by $73.6 million, compared to the previous year. It reported $1.1 billion in net revenues for 2006.

• Direct Marketing | Print

  Catalog and Internet Revenues Rise 4.5% at Williams-Sonoma

  Williams-Sonoma Inc. reported its catalog and Internet revenues for fiscal year 2006 increased 4.5% to $1.57 billion, up from $1.50 billion for the 2005 fiscal year.

• Direct Marketing | Print

  Dover Saddlery Reports $60 million in catalog and Internet Sales

  Equestrian products direct marketer, Dover Saddlery Inc. yesterday reported $60.2 million in direct marketing revenues for the fiscal year that ended Dec. 31, compared to $53.3 million for the previous fiscal year.