Q&As

M&Ms is sending Red and Yellow to the Oscars again this year. The candy brand is sponsoring a slate of Oscar-themed promotions with Loews Theaters, Blockbuster and Ralphs supermarkets….

Taking a lead from CPG companies, footwear and apparel company Timberland plans to roll out new packaging that will include a “nutrition label” detailing how and where the product was manufactured and its impact on the environment.

Procter & Gamble is spending a reported $6 million for two Super Bowl ads to show off its new Gillette Fusion five-blade razors….

Jones Soda Co. is out with packaging designed specifically to boost sales around Valentine’s Day. The red and pink limited-edition pack includes two bottles of “Love Potion No. 6” or specially flavored Jones soda lip balm, a CD samplers of songs by Sony BMG recording artists and a coupon book for two free bottles of personalized soda…

Quiznos Sub is teaming up with talk show host and comedienne Ellen DeGeneres to give fans a chance to live the American dream of owning their own business.

Business-to-business Web sites generated a 2.3% conversion rate from search engine generated traffic in the last quarter of 2005, according to research released by the digital marketing services firm WebSideStory Inc., based in San Diego.

Merger and acquisition activity for Internet marketing, database marketing and customer relationship management firms is expected to increase this year, according to the 12th annual AdMedia Partners investment bank survey.

What’s in a name? Well, a name can mean a lot of headache, if it’s a child’s name and it accidentally receives an e-mail touting products for grown-ups. Especially if Unspam gets its way.

Unspam, an e-mail registry firm, has been lobbying individual states to create child-protection e-mail files, as Direct Newsline editor-at-large Ken Magill has reported in a series of articles.

Once states create these registries, Unspam would assumedly win the rights to maintain them.

We don’t want to commit e-mail heresy. But are open rates and click-through rates the only metrics you can use for determining the success of your e-mail newsletter? They certainly are not. Others include the turn-off rate and the inbox delivery rate.

Five months after Hurricane Katrina caused at least $200 million in damage and closed its doors for a semester, Tulane University re-opened for classes last month. And it used its e-mail newsletter to welcome students back.