Archived News

August 21, 2008 Intel and Yahoo! to Bring Internet to Television; TV Widgets to Complement TV Viewing Intel Corporation and Yahoo! Inc. have previewed plans for the Widget Channel, a TV application framework optimized for TV and related consumer electronics (CE) devices that use the Intel Architecture. The Widget Channel will allow consumers to enjoy rich Internet applications designed for the TV while watching their favorite TV programs.

August 21, 2008 US Postal Service Offering Early Retirements; Looks to Close, Consolidate Facilities The Associated Press' Randolph E. Schmid reports that the United States Postal Service (USPS), faced with losses that could near $1.5 billion this fiscal year, is offering early retirement, without incentives or bonuses, to thousands of clerks, mail handlers and supervisors. The USPS's current fiscal year ends on September 30, 2008.

August 21, 2008 USPS Publishes Final Rule for Implementation of Intelligent Mail Barcodes Standards In today’s Federal Register, the US Postal Service (USPS) publishes its final rule pertaining to Intelligent Mail Barcodes. The new rules will take effect on May 11, 2009.

August 21, 2008 infoGROUP Announces Leadership Changes; Vin Gupta Resigns as CEO; Bill Fairfield Named CEO infoGROUP, a leading provider of proprietary business and consumer databases, sales leads, direct marketing, email marketing and global information solutions, this morning announced that Vinod Gupta has resigned as the company’s chief executive officer. Gupta will remain on the board of directors.

August 20, 2008 Gartner Says Worldwide IT Spending On Pace to Surpass $3.4 Trillion in 2008 Despite current economic concerns, worldwide IT spending will exceed $3.4 trillion in 2008, an increase of 8% from 2007 spending, according to Gartner, Inc. Analysts said much of this growth is based on the decline in the US dollar.

August 20, 2008 Local Online Media Hold Significant Advertising Advantage Local media sites hold a distinct advantage when it comes to delivering results for advertisers, according to a new report by the Online Publishers Association (OPA). The study finds that consumers trust advertising on local newspaper, magazine, and television Websites, and are very likely to take action after viewing ads on these sites.

August 20, 2008 YouTube, Meet the US Postal Service; USPS Launches Webisodes A new chapter for the US Postal Service (USPS) has opened, as the 236-year-old institution has stepped boldly into the next generation with the release of “Mark of the Eagle,” four direct-to-Internet webisodes that put a new twist on an honorable tradition.

August 20, 2008 India Search Market Led by 1 Billion Searches on Google Sites in June, Finds comScore comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, has released a study of the online search market in India, indicating that Google Sites commanded the strong majority of searches conducted in this developing market.

August 20, 2008 Google.org Invests More Than $10 Million In Breakthrough Geothermal Energy Technology In the continuing effort to develop electricity from renewable energy cheaper than from coal, Google, through its philanthropic arm Google.org, announced $10.25 million in investments in a breakthrough energy technology called Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS).

August 20, 2008 Walmart, Kohl s and JCPenney Shoppers Lean Towards McCain; Macy s & Target Shoppers Towards Obama, Finds BigResearch When asked to "vote" as if the election were held today, Walmart, Kohl’s and JCPenney Shoppers are more likely to vote for McCain; while Macy’s and Target Shoppers say they would cast a ballot for Obama, according to BIGresearch's August Consumer Intentions and Actions (CIA) Survey.

August 19, 2008 Credit Card Direct Mail Drops Again, Reports Mintel Comperemedia The number of credit card offers mailed to Americans has declined for the third consecutive quarter, according to new research from Mintel Comperemedia. Estimated acquisition mail volume for credit cards fell nearly 8% from Q1 2008 to Q2 2008 (from 1.67 billion to 1.54 billion).

August 19, 2008 Aberdeen Reports Finds Unified Communications Is Lifeblood of the Contact Center In a comprehensive research study of Unified Communications in the Contact Center, Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company, explains how Best-in-Class companies have implemented policies and procedures designed to manage expert agent interaction, business process workflow designed to optimize the business process, presence and other unified communications technologies to support the business process.

August 19, 2008 UPS Offers More Air Pickup Options for Urgent Business Needs UPS has announced significant enhancements to its UPS On-Call Pickup service in the US for air packages, providing customers even more options for today's urgent business demands.

August 19, 2008 Google's Satisfaction Soars, According to University of Michigan Research Customer satisfaction with e-business websites reaches a new high, according to the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) second quarter report. The annual e-business report measures customer satisfaction with search engines, portals, and online news and information sites.

August 19, 2008 Top Four Internet Portals to Weather Economic Storm, According to eMarketer Google’s strong financial results for Q2 2008, including 27% growth in net US advertising revenues, continues to set the bar for the online advertising industry. This reported revenue increase validates eMarketer’s recent projections that Google, Yahoo, and MSN would continue to show positive results through the US economic turmoil.

August 18, 2008 Green Retail Initiatives Drive Down Costs and Catalyze Customer Loyalty, Finds Aberdeen Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company, has published a report outlineing information revealed from retail executives about their green and sustainability agendas, priorities, and strategies across all areas of the retail enterprise from the supply chain and headquarters, to stores and facilities.

August 18, 2008 comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50 US Web Properties for July 2008 comScore, Inc. has released its monthly analysis of US consumer activity at the top online properties for July 2008 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. Continuing the summer trends in Web usage observed last month, leisure-oriented categories demonstrated gains in July, including travel, retail, tickets and entertainment news.

August 18, 2008 Major Organizations Demonstrate Impact of Human Resources, Finds Conference Board A small but growing number of companies are demonstrating the impact that human resources (HR) policies can have in meeting overall business goals, according to a report by The Conference Board, the global business research and membership organization.

August 18, 2008 US Retail Sales Up 4.0% in July, ShopperTrak Reports ShopperTrak RCT Corporation’s National Retail Sales Estimate has reported that July retail sales rose a steady 4.0% while the company’s Retail Traffic Index (SRTI) reported total US foot traffic slipped 2.2% for the same time period.

August 15, 2008 Frank J. Biondi, Jr. and John H. Chapple Appointed to Yahoo!'s Board of Directors Yahoo has announced that Frank J. Biondi, Jr. and John H. Chapple were appointed to Yahoo!'s board of directors. "We are pleased to add people of Frank's and John's caliber to our board," commented Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock.

August 15, 2008 Emarketer Revises Online Ad Spend Numbers eMarketer has revised its Internet ad spend projections, estimating that advertisers will spend $24.9 billion online this year in the US. That estimate is slightly lower than the one eMarketer put out in March 2008, which said that US online advertising spending would reach $25.9 billion in 2008.

August 15, 2008 Google Continues Ascent, Close to 71% of US Searches in July, Reports Hitwise According to Hitwise, Google accounted for 70.77% of all US searches in the four weeks ending July 26, 2008. Google was followed by Yahoo! Search, MSN Search, and Ask.com each received 18.65%, 5.36%, and 3.53% respectively.

August 15, 2008 Rebate Checks Help Take the Summer Heat Off Retailers in July, Reports NRF According to the National Retail Federation, July retail industry sales (which exclude automobiles, gas stations, and restaurants) increased 0.3% seasonally adjusted month-to-month and rose 4.7% unadjusted over last year.

August 15, 2008 comScore Enhances Reporting of Ad Networks Audiences comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, has announced that it will provide enhanced measurement of the audiences for online advertising networks effective with August data, which will be released in mid-September. The new reporting structure will provide two sets of measures—the "potential reach" for each network and an "actual reach" reading.

August 14, 2008 Census Bureau Forecasts an Older, More Diverse Nation by 2050 The US will be more racially and ethnically diverse, as well as much older, by midcentury, according to projections released today by the US Census Bureau. Minorities, now roughly one-third of the US population, are expected to become the majority in 2042, with the nation projected to be 54% minority in 2050. By 2023, minorities will comprise more than half of all children.

August 14, 2008 Social Networking Explodes Worldwide, comScore Reports comScore has released a study of worldwide usage of social networking sites, indicating that while the growth in new users in North America is beginning to level off, it is burgeoning in other regions around the world.

August 14, 2008 CEOs Take Back-to-Basics Approach to Cope with Economy, Opinion Research Report Reveals The NYSE Euronext 2009 CEO Report, conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, "Managing During Economic Turbulence," underscores that the current US and global economic conditions will separate the best companies from great ones.

August 14, 2008 Yahoo Launches Fire Eagle Platform

August 12, 2008 UPU Chooses Chairs and Vice Chairs of Committees of Council of Administration and Postal Operations Committee The Universal Postal Union's (UPU) Council of Administration (CA) yesterday elected its Committee Chairs and Vice-Chairs. This is a vital part of each Congress in which countries are chosen for leadership positions of substantial responsibility.

August 12, 2008 As 24th Universal Postal Congress Closes, UPU Turns to Postal Sector's New Frontiers International postal services are moving resolutely towards the future, declared Edouard Dayan, Director General of the Universal Postal Union, at the close of the 24th Universal Postal Congress, which has ended its three weeks of discussions.

August 12, 2008 Head of US Delegation to UPU's 24th Universal Postal Congress Presents Closing Remarks The Universal Postal Union’s 24th Universal Postal Congress, which opened on July 23, has closed in Geneva, Switzerland. Gerald Anderson, who heads the United States' delegation to the Congress, presented his closing remarks before the plenary session.

August 12, 2008 Some Web Firms Tell Congress They Track Behavior Without Explicit Consent The Washington Post’s Ellen Nakashima has reported that several Internet and broadband companies have acknowledged using targeted-advertising technology without explicitly informing customers, according to letters released Monday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

August 12, 2008 Harry & David Holdings Acquires Cushman Fruit Company Harry & David Holdings, Inc., has announced that it has acquired Cushman Fruit Company, based in West Palm Beach, Florida. Specific terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

August 11, 2008 USPS Will Recommend Lower Intelligent Mail Barcode in 2009 Rate Case Stephen M. Kearney, the USPS' senior VP for customer relations, has sent a memo to members of the Mailers’ Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC) regarding Intelligent Mail barcode (IMB), which the USPS will launch next May.

August 11, 2008 Yahoo! Announces New Privacy Choice for Consumers Yahoo has announced that it will offer users greater choice in how they manage their privacy online by enabling them to opt-out of customized advertising on Yahoo.com. This new option expands Yahoo!'s existing opt-out program for customized advertising served by Yahoo! on third party networks.

August 11, 2008 Social Networking, Other Forms of Communication Affecting Email Marketing's Effectiveness, Finds JupiterResearch JupiterResearch has found that rising popularity of social networking sites and other forms of communication, including text messaging and cell phone use, are beginning to impact the effectiveness of email marketing, particularly the numbers of consumers that say promotional messages inspired purchases.

August 11, 2008 Companies Use Social Media to Drive Marketing Improvement, Reports Aberdeen Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company, has examined the use, experiences, and intentions of diverse enterprises to create a roadmap for companies that aim to leverage social media to drive marketing improvement. The report reveals performance disparities between "Best-in-Class" organizations on the one hand, and "Industry Average" and "Laggard" companies on the other.

August 8, 2008 UPU's Postal Congress Elects Greece to Head Postal Operations Council At the Universal Postal Union's (UPU) 24th Universal Postal Congress, UPU's developing country members appeared to be sending a clear message to the developed world that it expected more attention. This appears to be quite clear in the election of Greece to the chair of the Postal Operations Council.

August 8, 2008 Time Inc. to Acquire QSP Schools and Youth Fundraising Unit from Reader's Digest Association Time Inc. and The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., yesterday announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for Time Inc. to acquire QSP, Inc., RDA’s school and youth groups fundraising company.

August 8, 2008 Publicis Groupe to Acquire Performics Search Marketing Business from Google Publicis Groupe and Google announced that Publicis Groupe has agreed to acquire the Performics search marketing business (Performics) from Google. Performics is a leading search marketing services providers.

August 7, 2008 Universal Postal Congress Votes to Continue IMPC Code Issuance Suspension At the Universal Postal Union’s (UPU) 24th Universal Postal Congress, Committee 3 accepted a proposal originating in the Council of Administration that validates and continues the suspension of the issuance of International Mail Processing Center codes (IMP) to private companies.

August 7, 2008 USPS Will Be Ready for Intelligent Mail Barcodes in May 2009; No Pricing Decisions at This Time Speaking to the Mailers’ Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC) in Washington, DC yesterday, Tom Day, the US Postal Service’s (USPS) SVP for intelligent mail and address quality, said the USPS will be ready for mail bearing Intelligent Mail barcodes next May as planned.

August 7, 2008 US Postal Service Reports Q3 Loss as Economic Slowdown Continues to Affect Mailing Industry The US Postal Service (USPS) ended its third fiscal year quarter (April 1 – June 30) with a greater-than-expected net loss of $1.1 billion. The national economic slowdown reduced mail volume at an accelerated pace and continued inflation in fuel prices produced rapidly escalating transportation costs.

August 7, 2008 Edouard Dayan and Guozhong Huang Re-Elected to UPU Top Jobs; 25th Postal Congress Set for Qatar The 24th Universal Postal Congress yesterday re-elected, by acclamation, France’s Edouard Dayan and China’s Guozhong Huang to the positions of Director General and Deputy Director General of the Universal Postal Union’s International Bureau for the period 2009-2012.

August 7, 2008 Nielsen Forecasts US Sales of More Than $1.5 Billion in Back to School Supplies Nielsen forecasts 2.6% growth or more than $1.57 billion in school and office supply sales in US grocery, drug and mass merchandiser stores during the core Back to School season of mid-July through early September. Back to School sales represent more than a quarter (28%) of the school and office supply category’s annual sales of $5.5 billion1.

August 7, 2008 Gartner Says Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales on Pace to Grow 11% in 2008 Worldwide sales of mobile phones will reach 1.28 billion units in 2008, an 11% increase from last year, according to Gartner, Inc. In 2007, worldwide mobile phone sales reached 1.15 billion units. Worldwide mobile phone sales in the first quarter of 2008 reached 294.3 million, and Gartner expects sales in the second quarter of 2008 to be between 300 million and 305 million units.

August 7, 2008 DoubleClick Introduces 'Silverlight' to Power Video Advertising for NBC Universal Digital Media DoubleClick, a premier provider of digital marketing technology and services, has announced the new capability to serve video ads into Microsoft Silverlight 2 video environments. The move is part of DoubleClick’s ongoing effort to help clients maximize the yield on their advertising inventory as they deliver content into emergent online, video and mobile channels.

August 6, 2008 UPU's Consultative Committee Renewed, Improved; Private Sector Participation Broadened The Universal Postal Union’s (UPU) 24th Universal Postal Congress, meeting as Committee 3 (called General Matters), approved — without discussion or dissent and by acclimation — an important revision to Article 106.1, which sets out the requirements for membership in this, the "third circle" of the UPU's membership. It is through this Consultative Committee (CC) that private sector companies may participate in the work of the UPU.

August 6, 2008 Universal Postal Congress Rejects a Change to UPU's Mission Statement Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, the Universal Postal Union's (UPU) 24th Universal Postal Congress, sitting in a plenary session, on August 1 rejected a proposal that originated with the staff of the International Bureau and had the verbal support of the UPU Director General Edouard Dayan.

August 6, 2008 US Justice Dept. Charges 11 for Stealing, Selling Numbers from Major US Retailers Eleven perpetrators allegedly involved in the hacking of nine major US retailers and the theft and sale of more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers have been charged with numerous crimes, including conspiracy, computer intrusion, fraud and ID theft.

August 6, 2008 Yahoo! Acknowledges Tabulation Error by Broadridge Yahoo shareholders withheld a third of their votes to reelect CEO Jerry Yang to the board, twice as many as reported earlier, a sign that pressure is mounting for him to turn the company around quickly. Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc., which tallied votes on behalf of its clients, misstated some results in the earlier tally.

August 5, 2008 Communications Spending to Continue Despite Economy and Declining Traditional Ad Sector, Forecasts Veronis Suhler Stevenson Total communications spending is projected to increase 5.4 percent to $923.91 billion in 2008, as strong gains in the institutional and alternative media sectors offset the downward pressure of declining traditional advertising spending, according to research released today by Veronis Suhler Stevenson.

August 5, 2008 Sen. Levin Urges Fed to Strengthen Proposed Regulation to Crack Down on Unfair Credit Card Practices Describing the credit card industry as "rife with unfair, deceptive, and predatory practices," Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) has urged the Federal Reserve to strengthen its proposed regulation aimed at unfair or deceptive credit card practices.

August 5, 2008 USPS Publishes Fact Sheets for New Rules for Addressing Flats The USPS on Mar. 29, 2009, will implement new address placement and formatting requirements for Standard Mail, Periodicals, Bound Printed Matter, Media Mail, and Library Mail flat-size pieces sent at automation, presorted, or carrier route prices. Also, the USPS will adopt related revisions for automation and presorted First-Class Mail flats.

August 5, 2008 Nielsen Mobile and Mediamark Research & Intelligence Partner on Mobile Audience Targeting Tool Nielsen Mobile, a service of The Nielsen Company, and Mediamark Research & Intelligence (MRI) have announced that the two research firms will jointly launch Mobile-MRI, an integrated database of consumers' mobile and offline media usage that will allow mobile media companies and advertisers to better target audiences with their mobile campaigns.

August 5, 2008 Philadelphia DMA Announces 2008-2009 Board of Directors The Philadelphia Direct Marketing Association (PDMA) has announced its Board of Directors for 2008-2009. The new board took effect in July 2008.

August 4, 2008 House Commerce Committee Questions Data Network Operators' Practices; One Week for Answers A key Congressional Committee is initiating an inquiry into the privacy concerns raised by the data collection practices of Internet network operators who tailor Internet advertising based on a consumer’s Web surfing activity.

August 4, 2008 FCC Orders Comcast to End Discriminatory Network Management Practices The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Friday found that Comcast Corp.'s management of its broadband Internet networks contravenes federal policies that protect the vibrant and open nature of the Internet.

August 4, 2008 Americans Willing to Pay More for Eco-Friendly Products, Finds GfK Roper and Yale Many Americans, including those who are enduring financial hardship, are willing to pay more for environmentally friendly products, according to a survey conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media and the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.

August 4, 2008 Yahoo! Announces Results of 2008 Annual Stockholder Meeting Yahoo! Inc. announced Friday that, at the company's annual meeting of stockholders held earlier that day, stockholders re-elected all of Yahoo!'s nominees to the Board of Directors.

August 4, 2008 Amazon.com to Acquire AbeBooks, Adding 110 Million Books Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) on Friday announced that, subject to closing conditions, it has reached an agreement to acquire AbeBooks, an online marketplace for books, with over 110 million primarily used, rare, and out-of-print books listed for sale by thousands of independent booksellers from around the world.

August 1, 2008 Small Businesses Say Postage Increase Will Impact Advertising, Finds infoUSAPoll.com infoUSAPoll.com surveyed thousands of small-business executives across the country on June 30th, asking whether the increase in postage will change business practices, in particular advertising spends. To the question, “Will the postage increase affect your advertising?” the results were relatively close. However, 7% more of businesses surveyed said the additional costs would impact business when compared with those who said the additional costs would not have an impact.

August 1, 2008 Prepaid Cards Offer Safe Option for Teens, Mintel Finds For the teen who wants it all, a prepaid debit card may be the answer, says Mintel. Making payments easier, prepaid cards also offer security and control for parents A new report from Mintel suggests teenagers, and their parents, could be a lucrative target for prepaid debit cards.

August 1, 2008 Majority of Security Incidents Unreported in 2007, According to RSA Conference Survey RSA Conference has released the results of its recent survey of security professionals regarding the critical industry and infrastructure issues they currently face. Forty-nine percent of respondents cited data leakage of customer or employee data as their primary area of concern, while oncerns about e-mail-borne malware/phishing were cited by 41% of survey respondents.

July 31, 2008 Affluent Consumers Continue to Cut Back on Luxury Spending, Unity Marketing Finds While affluent consumers continue to conserve their cash, steer clear of stores, and hold back on indulging in luxury extravagances, there are signs that the worst is over for luxury marketers. The consumer market for luxury is likely leveling off before it starts to recover, according to a recent poll conducted by Unity Marketing.

July 31, 2008 Global Mobile Device Market on Course for 1.3 Billion Units Despite Economic Woes, Says ABI Research In the second quarter of 2008, Tier One handset vendors enjoyed year-over-year unit shipment growth of between 15 and 22%. ABI Research estimates that 301 million units were shipped during the quarter and therefore reaffirms its forecast that the mobile device market will deliver 13% growth to take 2008 annual shipments to 1.3 billion units.

July 31, 2008 Forrester Research Acquires JupiterResearch from MCG Capital; JEGI Represents Forrester in Transaction Forrester Research, has acquired JupiterResearch and its parent company, JUPR Holdings from MCG Capital Corporation for $23 million. The Jordan, Edmiston Group represented Forrester Research in this transaction and acted as its exclusive financial advisor.

July 31, 2008 DM2-DecisionMaker Sheds New Light on Direct Marketing Response Data DM2-DecisionMaker, a B-to-B direct marketing services provider, has announced the availability of DecisionMaker Analytics, a new service that evaluates campaign response, builds in new prospects based on the target market profile, and then tracks new campaign results – all without any technical involvement or additional work for the client.

July 31, 2008 Creative Automation to Plant 4,000 Trees Through Reforestation Program Creative Automation, a leader in direct mail printing and database management services, has announced that they will be planting 4,000 trees as a result of their Reforestation with Creative Automation Program.

July 30, 2008 JupiterResearch Sees Beijing Olympics as True Test of Cross-Channel Media Marketing JupiterResearch, a leading authority on the impact of the Internet and emerging consumer technologies on business, believes that NBC’s ambitious plans for online coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics present NBC and other media companies with a unique opportunity to create strategic cross-channel programming and marketing.

July 30, 2008 Majority of Email Sent From Illegitimate or Unknown Mail Servers Return Path Report Finds Eighty percent of email is being sent from illegitimate or unknown mail servers, Return Path discovered with its new Return Path Reputation Benchmark Report. Return Path found that 46% of email is being sent from hosts that should not be sending email at all.

July 30, 2008 Consumers 'See Green,' but Hold Corporations Responsible for Change, AMP Agency Reports AMP Agency has released findings from "Green AMPlified," a national survey of more than 3,000 consumers. The survey found that close to all American consumers (90%) believe that acting in an environmentally responsible way is important, but feel corporations hold most of the responsibility to implement change over their own personal efforts.

July 30, 2008 MSN Direct Enables Websites to Deliver Information to GPS Devices Microsoft has released an open application programming interface (API) for the MSN Direct Send to GPS feature for navigation devices. This allows any website to offer visitors the ability to send addresses, business listings, or other locations directly from the site to their GPS unit.

July 30, 2008 Mediaspace Solutions Names Brian St. Cyr Business Development Director of Minneapolis Office Mediaspace Solutions (MSS), a full-service market leader in multi-market newspaper advertising and online media placement services, has appointed Brian St. Cyr as business development director at the company’s Minneapolis office.

July 29, 2008 PRC Chairman Blair Addresses Universal Postal Union General Debate Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) Chairman Dan G. Blair on July 25 addressed over 1,000 postal officials from around the world during the Universal Postal Union (UPU) General Debate held in Geneva, Switzerland. In his speech, Blair emphasized the Commission’s recent work and efforts in implementing provisions of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act.

July 29, 2008 Cyber Threats Accelerate, Browser Vulnerabilities Proliferate in First Half of 2008, Finds IBM Report IBM has released results from its recent report that indicates cyber-criminals are adopting new automation techniques and strategies that allow them to exploit vulnerabilities much faster than ever before.

July 29, 2008 Consumer Confidence Holds Steady for July, The Conference Board Finds The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had declined in June, held steady in July. The Index now stands at 51.9 (1985=100), up slightly from 51.0 in June. The Present Situation Index was virtually unchanged at 65.3 versus 65.4 last month. The Expectations Index increased moderately to 43.0 from 41.4 in June.

July 28, 2008 Ex-Googlers Launch 'Cuil Search Engine' According to the New York Times, Anna Patterson and her husband Tom Costello, are launching "Cuil," a search engine that they promise will be more comprehensive than Google’s, which is today the king of the search hill.

July 28, 2008 UN Calls for Postal Services Around Globe to Shrink Climate Footprint At the Universal Postal Union’s 24th Universal Post Congress on Friday in Geneva, Switzerland, Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), announced, "in this 60th anniversary year of UPU, I am delighted that [Universal Postal Union (UPU) Director General] Edouard Dayan and I have signed an agreement to first assess the climate footprint of the world’s postal services. And then offer the UPU’s 191 member states a range of solutions to shrink that footprint."

July 28, 2008 Industry Click Fraud Rate Holds at 16.2% in Q2 2008, According to Click Forensics Click Forensics has released industry pay-per-click (PPC) fraud figures for the second quarter 2008 from the Click Fraud Index. The overall industry average click fraud rate was 16.2% for Q2 2008, down slightly from the 16.3% rate reported for Q1 2008 and up from the 15.8% click fraud rate reported for Q2 2007.

July 25, 2008 As Students Adapt to Economy, Back-to-College Spending Drops, Finds NRF While results from this year's back-to-school survey were surprisingly strong, spending on college merchandise will wane this year, according to the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) Back-to-College Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch.

July 25, 2008 Branded Websites Most Effective for Pharmaceutical Marketers, comScore Study Finds comScore, Inc., in conjunction with pharmaceutical marketing consultancy Evolution Road, has released results from the second annual study: e-Marketing Effectiveness Benchmarks for the Pharmaceutical Industry. The study evaluated the impact of banner ads, search marketing, and visits to a brand website on a brand’s awareness, favorability and sales results among both patients and prospects.

July 25, 2008 17 Countries to Surpass 60% Broadband Home Penetration by 2012, Forecasts Garner Worldwide consumer broadband connections will grow from 323 million connections in 2007 to 499 million in 2012, according to Gartner, Inc. Worldwide consumer broadband connections penetrated 18% of households in 2007, and by 2012, households with a broadband connection will reach 25%.

July 25, 2008 Attitudes on Economy Remain Bleak, According to Harris Interactive As the drumbeat of bad economic news continues, Americans’ feelings on the economy remain pessimistic, according to a new Harris Poll of 1,329 US adults surveyed online between July 3 and 11, 2008.

July 25, 2008 Gartner Says Future of TV Will Require Channel Integration With the Internet transforming the way individuals watch and share video content, TV producers must embrace the Internet to avoid losing control of their content, audiences and advertising revenue, according to Gartner, Inc. As a result, Gartner says TV producers must integrate new channels such as social networks to enhance audience engagement, interaction and maximize reach.

July 25, 2008 Retailers Tell Congress Stimulus Effect Diluted by Gas and Grocery Prices, NRF Reports The National Retail Federation told a congressional hearing that rebate checks intended to stimulate the economy have helped significantly, but that much of the money has been diverted by high gasoline and grocery prices, and consumer spending would still benefit from additional stimulus measures.

July 25, 2008 Merkle Report Examines Impact of Presidential Campaigns on Nonprofit Fundraising Merkle, a leading database marketing agency, released a new research report examining the effect political donations have on the direct mail fundraising efforts of nonprofit organizations. The study examined the similarities and differences between donors who give to presidential campaigns and nonprofit organizations.

July 25, 2008 Short-Form Videos Dominate Online Viewing, According to Frank N. Magid Associates Frank N. Magid Associates, a leader in research-based consultation, and Metacafe, one of the world’s largest video entertainment sites, have released survey results revealing consumer behavior and preferences in online video viewing. The survey found that the top-five most popular categories of videos watched online are all short-form: comedy, music videos, videos shot and uploaded by consumers, news stories, and movie previews.

July 25, 2008 JEGI Advises dmg world media on Sale of North American Consumer Home Shows dmg world media, a division of Daily Mail & General Trust plc (DMGT), has sold its portfolio of 38 North American consumer home shows to Marketplace Events LLC. The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. (JEGI), a leading provider of independent investment banking services for media, information, marketing services, and related technologies, represented dmg world media in this transaction and acted as its exclusive financial advisor.

July 24, 2008 Challenging Back-to-School Shopping Season Ahead, Deloitte Forecasts Higher gas and food prices will cause a significant number of consumers to spend less this back-to-school shopping season and will also cause consumers to change where and how they shop, according to a new survey from Deloitte.

July 24, 2008 AOL's Platform-A Integrates Goowy Into Widget Ad Offering AOL's Platform-A announced that it will offer Goowy's widget creation and management services as part of its widget distribution offering for advertisers. Goowy enables the creation, syndication, and measurement of widget-based campaigns as a free, value-added service across Platform-A’s properties and networks.

July 24, 2008 Facebook Expands Its Platform Across the Web and Around the World Facebook has introduced the latest advancements to Facebook Platform during its annual f8 developer conference, calling on its more than 400,000 developers to connect their websites with Facebook through Facebook Connect, extend their applications to dozens of languages worldwide, and make use of new developer resources to help them succeed.

July 24, 2008 UPS Earnings Decline Due to Economic Weakness UPS has reported a 6.7% revenue increase in the second quarter but an 18.3% decline in diluted earnings per share to $0.85 compared to $1.04 the prior year. Increasing fuel costs and a stagnant US economy caused the earnings decline in both the US Domestic and International Package segments.

July 24, 2008 Despite Economy, Most Small Businesses Continue to Do Well, Finds Opinion Research Despite continuing weakness in the overall economy, most small business professionals rate their own business conditions as good, according to a research study conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, an infoGROUP company.

July 24, 2008 Celebrity Still Important to Why Consumers Buy, Finds NPD Group The NPD Group, Inc., a leading market research company, released the results of its latest study, Celebrity Influence – 2008. The study shows that celebrities still capture the attention of American consumers.

July 24, 2008 BIGresearch and Televisa Publishing + Digital Expand Hispanic Insights Initiatives Televisa Publishing & Digital has announced the expansion to their alliance with BIGresearch to provide marketers with a deeper understanding of Hispanic consumers.

July 23, 2008 Enterprise Value of Online Communities Yet to be Realized, Deloitte Study Finds A Deloitte survey of companies sponsoring online communities indicates that enterprises have begun to effectively use social media tools and online communities to engage with customers and employees for brand discussions, idea generation and product discovery. However, the survey also indicates that while these online initiatives are having a positive impact, enterprises have not yet harnessed the true potential of these communities.

July 23, 2008 First Quarter Global Advertising Up 4% From 2007, Nielsen Reports In spite of mounting economic pressures, it appears the advertising world is still growing, according to latest figures from The Nielsen Company's Global AdView Pulse report, which found that global advertising spend grew just over four percent in the first quarter of 2008.

July 23, 2008 Parents Holding on to Rebate Checks for Back-to-School Purchases, According to NRF One-fifth of parents nationwide have set aside a portion of their stimulus check for back-to-school purchases, according to the National Retail Federation’s 2008 Back to School Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch on 8,361 respondents. The survey found that the average family with school-aged children will spend $594.24 on back-to-school purchases, compared to $563.49 last year.

July 23, 2008 TiVo Teams Up with Amazon to Enable On-Screen Product Purchasing TiVo Inc., the creator of and a leader in advertising solutions and TV services for digital video recorders (DVRs), has announced it has teamed up with Amazon to provide consumers with the ability to purchase physical products from Amazon.com on their TV sets, using their TiVo remote control.

July 23, 2008 Broadband Household Surge Expected in Canada, Finds eMarketer Broadband is more prevalent in Canada than in many other countries, including the US. Broadband penetration is also growing faster than the online population. About two-thirds of households have broadband in 2008, but three-quarters will benefit from high-speed connections by 2012, according to a new eMarketer report, "Canada Internet: Users and Usage."

July 23, 2008 Serious Sports Fans Avid Consumers of Online Video, JupiterResearch Finds JupiterResearch, a leading authority on the impact of the Internet and emerging consumer technologies on business, has found that serious sports fans comprise 19% of overall online users and represent one of the most lucrative audiences online. With a tendency to spend more time online, watch more video online, and shop more online, sports sites must integrate the right mix of video and social experiences into their destinations.

July 23, 2008 Luxury Marketers Should Focus Advertising On Substance, According to Unity Marketing According to Unity Marketing, a new wave of anxiety about legal remedies posed by fake luxury goods has hit both domestic and international luxury companies. In order to fight the scourge of fakers, luxury brand companies large and small need to focus their efforts on consumer education that puts substance before image, the company says.

July 23, 2008 Gay and Lesbian Consumers More Likely to Follow Latest Trends, Reports Harris Interactive According to a new national survey conducted 48% of gay and lesbian adults report they like to keep up with the latest styles and trends, compared to only 38% of heterosexual adults. This also seems to accelerate behaviors tracked by a similar survey in January 2007 when 385 of gay and lesbian adults reported they like to keep up with the latest styles and trends (compared to 32% of heterosexual adults).

July 23, 2008 Jordan, Edmiston Group Advises University Health Publishing Group in Sale to MediZine, a Portfolio Company of Veronis Suhler Stevenson MediZine LLC, a leading consumer health education company, has acquired the assets of University Health Publishing Group (UHPG). The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc., a leading provider of independent investment banking services for media, information, marketing services and related technologies represented UHPG in this transaction and acted as its exclusive financial advisor.

July 22, 2008 Forrester Releases Largest Technology Survey of North American Consumers Forrester Research has released the results of its 2008 North American Technographics Benchmark survey, its largest annual data set about consumers' technology adoption and attitudes, based on a mail survey of nearly 61,000 consumers representing 53,000 households in the US and Canada.

July 22, 2008 Gartner Says Technology to Play Key Role in Helping CFOs Deliver Business Growth; Analysts Highlight Five Common Mistakes Technology will play a key role in helping CFOs deliver on an increasingly complex agenda and understand what drives corporate performance and value, according to Gartner Inc. However, increasing economic uncertainty means that the urgency to deliver this understanding is even greater, coupled with the need to reduce costs and optimize operating efficiency wherever possible.

July 22, 2008 Wealthy Americans Flock to Web for Luxury Shopping, Luxury Institute Finds According to the Luxury Institute, nearly two-thirds of the wealthy go directly to websites of known providers for information on luxury goods and services; slightly more than the 57% who say that they solicit input from friends and family.

July 22, 2008 DMW Worldwide Helps Health Insurers Reach Gen X and Gen Y Market with 'Using Direct Response to Market to the Invincibles' According to DMW Worldwide, those 18- to 34-year-olds that make up Generation X and Generation Y — can be fertile, but difficult to nail down. Specifically, they are the young adults who think they don’t need health insurance, and if they did, assume they probably couldn’t afford it.

July 22, 2008 infoUSA Provides API Solution to Topix for Local Business Directory infoGROUP has announced its infoUSA division's US business database of 14 million records have been licensed by Topix, the largest news community on the Web, for its nationwide, local business directory.

July 21, 2008 Postmaster General Names Two Veteran USPS Executives as VPs Postmaster General John E. Potter has named Pritha Mehra VP of Business Mail Entry and Payment Technologies and Maura Robinson VP of Pricing. These newly created positions are the latest in the Postal Service’s reorganization efforts to leverage competitive opportunities resulting from recent changes in federal law.

July 21, 2008 Settlement Puts Icahn, Two Others on Yahoo Board Yahoo! has announced that it has reached an agreement with Carl Icahn to settle their pending proxy contest related to the company's 2008 annual meeting of stockholders.

July 21, 2008 Marketing Executives Networking Group Survey Finds Shortage of Qualified Executive Talent The Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) has announced the findings of two membership surveys conducted in partnership with ExecuNet and Salary.com, Inc. that reveal new salary and executive job market trends. More than 70% of those surveyed agree there is a shortage of executive talent, while a subsequent study reveals MENG members experience salary parity despite gender.

July 21, 2008 Economists Forecast Anemic Economic Growth in Second Half of 2008, According to National Association for Business Economics Forty-five percent of economists believe the economy won’t log any growth or will clock in at a feeble 1% pace in the final six months of this year, according to a survey by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE).

July 21, 2008 Nonprofits Leveraging Research to Engage Major Donors Online, Find Convio, Sea Change Strategies, and Edge Research After releasing the results of its national research study into the online behaviors and attitudes of the “Wired Wealthy” in March, researchers from Convio, Sea Change Strategies, and Edge Research have been busy coaching and consulting nonprofit leaders on key steps to better engage this important constituency.

July 21, 2008 Rising Gas Prices Force Nearly US Consumers to Put the Brakes on Discretionary Spending, Finds Nielsen Increasingly feeling the pain at the pump, more US consumers are taking steps to compensate for rising gas prices, according to new research from The Nielsen Company. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of consumers are reducing their spending, up 18 points since June 2007 and up 14 points in the last six months alone.

July 21, 2008 Google Remains Top Search Engine in June, comScore Reports comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, on Friday released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the US search marketplace. In June 2008, Americans conducted 11.5 billion core searches, representing a 7% gain versus May.

July 21, 2008 Corporate Responsibility and Challenging Work Lure MBA Grads, Finds Stanford Business School Research A survey of 759 graduating MBAs at 11 top business schools reveals that the future business leaders rank corporate social responsibility high on their list of values, and they are willing to sacrifice a significant part of their salaries to find an employer whose thinking is in synch with their own.

July 21, 2008 Direct Marketers Continue to Scale Back Hiring, Reports Bernhart Associates According to the latest Bernhart Associates employment survey, 47% of the companies responding said they plan to add to staff during the current third quarter, a decline of 75 from last quarter and the first reading below 50% since 2002.

July 18, 2008 Little Data Leaks Can Sink the Corporate Ship, Reports Aberdeen Group A new research report on "Data Loss Prevention: Little Leaks Sink the Ship," published by Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company, reveals that over the last 12 months Best-in-Class organizations experienced 27% fewer data loss incidents than the Industry Average from trusted internal users, and 92% fewer data loss incidents attributed to malicious outsiders.

July 18, 2008 Rising Costs Prompt Consumers to Slash Savings, According to First Command Index Amid deteriorating economic conditions in the second quarter, Americans failed to follow through on intentions to save their economic stimulus checks and instead cut their short-term savings by 39%, according to the First Command Financial Behaviors Index.

July 18, 2008 Google to Acquire Russian Context Ads Service Begun Google announced today that it has signed an agreement with Rambler Media to acquire ZAO Begun, a leading Russian context advertising service, for $140 million, subject to customary adjustments.

July 18, 2008 Rep. Markey Says Consumers Have Right to Know What Broadband Providers Know About Web Use Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-MA), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, chaired a hearing July 17 regarding Deep Packet Inspection Technology and Consumer Privacy and Related Issues. Markey said, "...I believe broadband providers deploying deep packet inspection technologies must adopt clear privacy policies."

July 18, 2008 Multi-Platform Advertising Proven to Increase Effectiveness of Campaigns Beyond Boost in Frequency and Reach, Reports IMMI According to data released by Integrated Media Measurement Inc. (IMMI), advertising on multiple platforms results in a significant increase in a campaign's conversion rate — the percentage of consumers exposed to ads who actually purchase the product or service being advertised.

July 17, 2008 PRWeek Survey Reveals 75% Marketers Expect Spending on New Media, Online Initiatives to Increase in 2009 A recent survey conducted on behalf of PRWeek and Manning Selvage & Lee (MS&L) by Millward Brown indicates that, despite weakened economic conditions, over 75% of senior marketers say they expect spending for new media and online initiatives to increase in the next year.

July 17, 2008 Only One in 28 Emails Legitimate, Sophos Reports IT security and control firm Sophos has published its report on the latest trends in spam, and revealed the top twelve spam-relaying countries for the second quarter of 2008. The investigation reveals a disturbing rise in the level of email spam traveling across the internet between April-June 2008, and how some spammers are now using Facebook and cellphones to spread their messages.

July 16, 2008 Yahoo!-Google Partnership to Raise Cost for Marketers, Reports SearchIgnite New data reveals that Yahoo!'s decision to outsource some of its search advertising to Google will most likely raise average keyword prices on Yahoo! for most marketers. The findings come from the latest quarterly study released yesterday from SearchIgnite, a leading provider of search and auction-based media optimization technology.

July 16, 2008 Americans Viewed 12 Billion Videos Online in May 2008, Finds comScore comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, has released May 2008 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, reporting that US Internet users viewed more than 12 billion online videos during the month, representing an increase of 45% versus a year ago.

July 16, 2008 Study Finds Increased Collaboration Between Marketing and Finance In their efforts to increase brand awareness and drive sales, marketers are still struggling to create accountability programs that effectively measure the impact of marketing efforts, according to a new study from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and Marketing Management Analytics (MMA).

July 16, 2008 FTC Charges Dish Network Marketers with Do Not Call and Abandoned Call Violations Under the terms of court orders announced by the Federal Trade Commission yesterday, two companies that telemarket Dish Network programming have agreed to pay a total of $95,000 for calling consumers whose telephone numbers are on the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry and for illegally abandoning calls.

July 15, 2008 FTC Issues Staff Report on Roundtable Discussion About Phishing Education The FTC has released a staff report on a Roundtable Discussion on Phishing Education that it hosted April 1, 2008. Approximately 60 experts from business, government, the technology sector, the consumer advocacy community, and academia met at the FTC to discuss strategies for outreach to consumers about avoiding phishing.

July 15, 2008 Subprime Online Credit Card Applications Up 30% Over Year Ago, comScore Finds comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, has released a study on the online banking and credit industry, which showed that the number of online credit card applications submitted by subprime applicants (defined as individuals having the equivalent of a FICO creditworthiness score of 660 or less) increased by 30 percent in Q1 2008 versus the same period last year.

July 15, 2008 Customer Feedback Management Delivers Broad Range of Business Benefits, Aberdeen Reports Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE:HHS), surveyed more than 300 companies for the new benchmark report entitled “Customer Feedback Management” which revealed that Best-in-Class organizations have well-established processes in place for maximizing the value of customer feedback.

July 15, 2008 Gartner Says Business Potential of Social Networking Web Sites Remains Largely Untapped Most users of social networking websites are motivated mainly by personal needs and a desire for entertainment, rather than business and practical objectives, according to a recent survey by Gartner, Inc. Gartner said that although the potential of such sites for business remains largely untapped, they will become increasingly important to the competiveness of large enterprises in the future.

July 15, 2008 JupiterResearch Forecasts Broadband Telephony Market to Nearly Double Between 2007 and 2013 JupiterResearch, a leading authority on the impact of the Internet and emerging consumer technologies on business, projects that the broadband telephony market will nearly double in size from 14.7 million subscribers in 2007 to 28.4 million lines in 2013.

July 15, 2008 More Than Half of Adult Americans Have Home Broadband Connections, Reports Pew Some 55% of all adult Americans now have a high-speed Internet connection at home, according to a May 2008 survey conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The percentage of Americans with broadband at home has grown from 47% in early 2007 and 42% in early 2005. Among individuals who use the internet at home, 79% have a high-speed connection while 15% use dialup.

July 15, 2008 GLBT Consumers See Financial Services Differently Than Others, Finds Harris According to a recent national survey conducted by Harris Interactive, over half (54%) of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender adults report they are very or somewhat comfortable in the environment created by their current financial services provider, while two-thirds of heterosexuals (67%) agree they are very or somewhat comfortable.

July 14, 2008 FCC Publishes Final Rules for Do Not Call Registrations; Telemarketers Now to Honor Registrations Indefinitely In today’s Federal Register, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) publishes notice that it is amending its rules under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to require telemarketers to honor registrations with the National Do Not Call Registry indefinitely.

July 14, 2008 Yahoo! Agaom Rejects Microsoft/Icahn Search and Restructuring Proposal Yahoo! confirmed on Saturday that it had rejected a joint proposal from Microsoft Corporation and Carl Icahn for a complex restructuring of Yahoo! that would include the acquisition of Yahoo!'s search business by Microsoft.

July 14, 2008 Microsoft Launches New Online Resource for Nonprofit Groups Microsoft last week announced the global availability of NGO Connection, a new online resource for thousands of nonprofit groups around the world. Driven by feedback from nonprofit partners and years of experience working with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the online resource is designed to assist NGOs to more efficiently use technology to achieve their goals as well as to encourage networking and coordination of NGO resources across the world.

July 14, 2008 CEO Confidence Holds Steady, The Conference Board Reports The Conference Board Measure of CEO Confidence, which had declined in the first quarter of 2008, inched up to 39 in the second quarter, up slightly from 38 in the first quarter (a reading of more than 50 points reflects more positive than negative responses). The last time the Measure fell below 38 was in the final quarter of 2000 when it was at 31.

July 14, 2008 Lifetime Customer Value Identified as a Key Motivator for Customer Loyalty in Retail, Aberdeen Reports Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company, surveyed 231 retail enterprises between May and June 2008 to determine the current state of loyalty technology and process integration in retail. Aberdeen data reveals that the top business pressure impacting loyalty-related decisions of 58% of Best-in-Class companies in retail is the need to develop lifetime customer value, which is defined as the present value of future cash flows through long-term customer relationships.

July 14, 2008 Bertelsmann to Sell Direct Marketing Unit to Najafi Companies Najafi Companies, a Phoenix, Arizona-based private investment company, has agreed to acquire the direct-to-consumer business, Direct Group North America, from Bertelsmann AG the two companies announced on July 11.

July 11, 2008 FTC Submits Do Not Call Report to Congress; 145 Million Numbers on Registry The Federal Trade Commission approved the issuance of a report to Congress regarding the National Do Not Call Registry for Fiscal Year 2007. At the end of 2007, 145 million phone numbers were listed on the national no-call registry.

July 11, 2008 Nielsen Mobile Launches Report Examining the Global Mobile Internet Market According to a report from The Nielsen Company, 40 million US mobile subscribers (15.6%) actively use the mobile Internet, making the US a leader in mobile Internet adoption. In 16 countries tracked, the US leads in penetration, followed by the UK (12.9%t) and Italy (11.9%).

July 11, 2008 Acxiom Acquires Database Marketing Solutions Division from ChoicePoint Acxiom Corporation, a global interactive marketing services company, has announced the acquisition of the Database Marketing Solutions division of ChoicePoint Precision Marketing LLC, a subsidiary of ChoicePoint Inc.

July 10, 2008 FTC Tells Senate Behavioral Marketing May Provide Consumer Benefits, Despite Privacy Concerns In testimony on behavioral advertising, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Wednesday told the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation that "the issues surrounding this practice are complex . . . the business models are diverse and constantly evolving, and . . . behavioral advertising may provide benefits to consumers even as it raises concerns about consumer privacy."

July 10, 2008 Online Security Still a Prime Concern for Americans, Finds Mintel New research from Mintel shows that Americans are increasingly worried about the safety of their identities and financial information online. In a recent consumer survey, Mintel found that 65% are more concerned about online security now than they were five years ago.

July 10, 2008 PRC to Hold Hearing Today on the Universal Service Obligation, Postal Monopoly The Postal Regulatory Commission on July 10, beginning at 10 a.m., holds its final public hearing to solicit views relating to the universal service obligation of the US Postal Service and the postal monopoly.

July 10, 2008 Yahoo!'s New Open Web Services Platform, Yahoo! Search BOSS, Extends Open Strategy Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO) today introduced a new open Web services platform, Yahoo! Search BOSS(TM) (Build Your Own Search Service), which gives third parties an unprecedented level of access to Yahoo! Search Technology, including the ability to re-rank and control the presentation of Web search results.

July 9, 2008 Senate to Hold Hearing Today on Online Advertising's Privacy Implications The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has announced the witnesses for its full committee hearing on Privacy Implications of Online Advertising. Witnesses included executives from NebuAd, Microsoft, Google, and Facebook.

July 9, 2008 Wunderman Boosts US Digital Capability with Designkitchen WPP acquired Designkitchen, the leading digital and interactive agency in the Chicago/metro area, and will align it with Wunderman, which has aggressively expanded its digital offering.

July 9, 2008 FTC's 'Red Flag' Regs Require Financial Institutions and Creditors to Have ID Theft Prevention Programs The FTC now requires financial institutions and creditors to develop and implement written identity theft prevention programs under the new "Red Flags Rules."

July 8, 2008 Worldwide Customer Relationship Management Market Grew 23% in 2007, Reports Gartner Worldwide customer relationship management (CRM) software revenue totaled $8.1 billion in 2007, a 23.1% increase from 2006 revenue of $6.6 billion, according to Gartner, Inc.

July 8, 2008 Nonprofit Giving Slowed in Q1; Both Donors, Revenue Decline, Finds Target Analytics Organizations in the Target Analytics Index of National Fundraising Performance generally underperformed in the first quarter of 2008 (January through March). Overall donors and revenue both declined in Q1 2008, and the declines were evident across most of the sectors in the index.

July 8, 2008 New Pitney Bowes Research Helps Pinpoint Mail's True Environmental Impact In a newly-published White Paper, mailstream technology leader Pitney Bowes offers a first attempt to quantify and address the environmental impact of mail in a new White Paper entitled 'The Environmental Impact of Mail: A Baseline.'

July 7, 2008 Google Adds Privacy Policy Link to Homepage On July 3, Google Senior Policy Counsel Pablo Chavez announced, via a Google blog, that the company was adding a link on its homepage to the company's privacy policy.

July 7, 2008 Online Searchers Are Spreading the Word, Reports BIGresearch Consumers who regularly do their homework online before making product purchases in a store are a wealth of information and like to share their findings, according to an analysis of BIGresearch’s most recent Simultaneous Media Survey of 15,727 participants.

July 7, 2008 US Local Online Video Ad Market to Reach $1.5 Billion by 2012, Reports Kelsey Group According to The Kelsey Group's US Local Video Forecast (2007-2012), local online video ad revenues will experience significant growth during the forecast period, increasing from $10.9 million in 2007 to $1.5 billion by the end of 2012, representing a compound annual growth rate of 167.8%.

July 3, 2008 FTC to Study Experiences of Identity Theft Victims The Federal Trade Commission plans to study the experiences of identity theft victims by conducting a survey of consumers who contacted the FTC after they were victimized. The proposed survey will examine the remedies available to victims under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act.

July 3, 2008 eMarketer Report Suggests Tactics for Winning Consumer Buy-In of Behavioral Marketing Online consumer privacy, particularly regarding behavioral targeting, has become a big issue in state legislatures and at the FTC. A way marketers can cope with consumer privacy concerns is to try to temper them, says a new eMarketer report, "Behavioral Targeting Attitudes: The Privacy Issue."

July 3, 2008 TV Websites Grow More Popular, but Viewers Still Prefer Their TV Sets, According to Nielsen and CTAM Despite the growing popularity of viewing television content online, most adults who subscribe to cable or satellite television services prefer to watch television on traditional TV sets, according to new research conducted by The Nielsen Company for the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM).

July 2, 2008 Ponemon Institute Study Finds Organizations Lack Control of Unstructured Data Assets Varonis Systems Inc., the leading innovator and provider of comprehensive data governance software, and the Ponemon Institute, a privacy and information management research firm, today announced the availability of a new research report, "Survey on the Governance of Unstructured Data," which highlights the need for organizations to control access to unstructured corporate data.

July 2, 2008 Wunderman Acquires Majority Stake in Digital Media Agency, Kassius SA WPP yesterday announced that its wholly owned operating company Wunderman, the global relationship marketing network, has agreed to acquire a majority stake in the issued share capital of Kassius SA in France, an independent interactive agency specializing in mobile communications.

July 2, 2008 Adobe Flash Technology Enhances Search Results for Dynamic Content and Rich Internet Applications Adobe Systems Incorporated announced it is teaming up with search industry leaders to dramatically improve search results of dynamic Web content and rich Internet applications (RIAs).

July 2, 2008 Wal-Mart Remains #1 on 'Stores' Magazine's Top 100 Retailers List Though the retail climate has changed dramatically in the last year, the top retail power players have not, according to the National Retail Federation’s STORES magazine's Top 100 Retailers List. The top three stores on the 2008 list are Wal-Mart, The Home Depot, and CVS Caremark.

July 2, 2008 M&A Activity Continue at Strong Pace in First Half of 2008 for Media, Information, Marketing Services & Related Technologies, Finds JEGI According to The Jordan, Edmiston Group, M&A activity for the first half of 2008 was increasingly cloudy, but with continued bright spots in several areas, especially in the Online Media & Technology and Marketing & Interactive Services sectors, as well as in sub-$1 billion transactions.

July 1, 2008 PMG Potter Announces Reorganization, Creating New Shipping and Mailing Services, Customer Relations Groups Postmaster General John E. Potter yesterday announced several key US Postal Service organizational changes designed to "strengthen our position in an extremely competitive marketplace." Potter said with growth as a top priority, the USPS is bringing together product management, product development, and commercial sales in a new Shipping and Mailing Services division.

July 1, 2008 US Data Breaches Up 69% in 2008, Reports Identity Theft Resource Center The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) has reported that its data breach count has reached an all-time high. Between Jan. 1 and June 27, 2008, the total number of data breaches recorded by the ITRC is 342, more than 69% greater than the same time period in 2007.

July 1, 2008 Survey Finds High Gas Prices Have Caused 94% of Consumers to Make Lifestyle Changes High gas prices have historically caused 94% of consumers to make lifestyle changes to keep costs down, according to a survey sponsored by MapQuest.

July 1, 2008 IDC Finds More of World's Population Connecting to Net in New Ways, Embracing Web 2.0 Nearly a quarter of the world's population — roughly 1.4 billion people — will use the Internet on a regular basis in 2008. This number is expected to surpass 1.9 billion unique users, or 30% of the world's population, in 2012, according to IDC's Digital Marketplace Model and Forecast.

July 1, 2008 ICANN Approves Biggest Expansion of Internet Addressing System The Board of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) last Thursday approved a recommendation that could see a whole range of new names introduced to the Internet's addressing system.

June 30, 2008 Little Data Leaks Can Sink the Corporate Ship, Reports Aberdeen Group A new research report on “Data Loss Prevention: Little Leaks Sink the Ship” published by Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company, reveals that over the last 12 months best-in-class organizations experienced 27% fewer data loss incidents than the industry average from trusted internal users, and 92% fewer data loss incidents attributed to malicious outsiders.

June 30, 2008 One Quarter of the World's Population Will Be Online by 2012, Finds JupiterResearch JupiterResearch has found that the number of worldwide online users will increase 44% between 2007 and 2012, reaching 1.8 billion users. By 2012, one quarter of the worldwide population will access the Internet on a regular basis, as indicated in a new report Worldwide Online Population Forecast, 2007 to 2012, published by JupiterResearch

June 30, 2008 Audiences that Cross Platforms Provide Greatest Ad Value, Finds MTV and Harris New research from MTV Networks and Harris Interactive reveals a critical companion metric to measuring audience size, pioneering a new way for advertising brands to target the most engaged and valuable audiences. This research study finds that not all programming viewers are created equal and that the value of TV advertising grows as viewers connect with marketing messages across screens.

June 30, 2008 ALC Launches ALC MD, a New Division Dedicated to Servicing the Healthcare Market ALC announces that it has launched a new division dedicated to providing solutions to direct marketers targeting the healthcare industry. Spearheaded by healthcare market professionals, the new ALC MD division sources and compiles premier databases of medical professionals and healthcare specialists.

June 30, 2008 Addressing Services Co. Changes Name to MarketPoint Direct Addressing Services Co. (ASCO) has changed its name to MarketPoint Direct. After 24 years in business, ASCO has changed its name to better describe and align with its extensive product and service offerings.

June 27, 2008 House Committee Approves Rep. Kingston's Proposal to Require 5-Day Delivery at USPS The US House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved an amendment offered by Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) that would require the US Postal Service to study the cost-effectiveness and fuel consumption of a five-day delivery system and consumer demand of Saturday postal delivery.

June 27, 2008 Canada Post Responds to Cost Pressures with 2009 Pricing Strategy In response to rising cost pressures, Canada Post yesterday announced that it is proposing an amendment to the Letter Mail Regulations to establish the rates of postage for domestic Lettermail for the next three years.

June 26, 2008 27 Million People Watched 3.5 Billion Videos Online in UK in March 2008, Finds comScore comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, has released data from the comScore Video Metrix service, indicating that 27.4 million UK Internet users viewed 3.5 billion videos online in March 2008. comScore Video Metrix, which was the first to market in the US more than two years ago, has become the leading service for online video measurement and is the only service of its kind in the UK.

June 26, 2008 Platform-A Joins New Publicis Groupe Open-Source Partnership Platform-A announced it is joining the newly launched open source strategic partnership led by the Publicis Groupe that will deliver the largest Audience on Demand network in the industry. The newly launched VivaKi Nerve Center, a division of Publicis Groupe, will work to integrate with Platform-A, connecting audiences across AOL's leading media properties and the thousands of websites participating in the Advertising.com network.

June 26, 2008 Gartner Says Cloud Computing Will Be As Influential As E-business Cloud computing heralds an evolution of business that is no less influential than e-business, according to Gartner Inc. Gartner maintains that the very confusion and contradiction that surrounds the term "cloud computing" signifies its potential to change the status quo in the IT market.

June 26, 2008 Bell Canada Executive Patrick Pichette to Join Google Executive Team Google has announced that Patrick Pichette will be named SVP and CFO. Most recently, Pichette served as president of operations at Bell Canada, a leading global communications company.

June 26, 2008 Yahoo! Sends Letter to Stockholders on Latest Developments Yahoo! Inc., a leading global Internet company, has sent a letter to all stockholders from Chairman Roy Bostock and CEO Jerry Yang, updating them on "the latest developments here at Yahoo!, including our recently announced commercial agreement with Google and the outcome of our discussions with Microsoft regarding a potential transaction."

June 25, 2008 US Consumer Technology Retail Sales Rebound in May, According to NPD The consumer technology industry is showing signs of rebounding from a weakening economy, according to market research company, The NPD Group. US consumer technology* retail sales rose more than 7% in May over last year, to more than $5.4 billion, the first year-over-year increase so far in 2008, according to NPD’s retail tracking service.

June 25, 2008 AdGooroo Releases New Research on the Impact of Keyword Length and Ad Position Clickthrough Rate and Cost-Per-Click on Google AdWords AdGooroo, a leading provider of online marketing competitive intelligence and keyword tools, has unveiled a new research report for search engine marketers on the impact of keyword length and ad position on clickthrough rates and cost-per-click within Google Adwords programs.

June 25, 2008 Non-Bank Online Personal Finance Sites Open the Door for Identity Theft, Finds TowerGroup A new crop of non-bank online personal finance sites combining traditional account aggregation services with Web 2.0 concepts is garnering considerable attention from the media and gaining users. The sites provide a novel approach to aggregating and managing multiple aspects of an individual's financial life online. However, new TowerGroup research finds that they are often missing adequate fraud prevention capabilities.

June 25, 2008 Online Social Network Users Continue to Grow, According to eMarketer Facebook continues to trail MySpace in the US, but the online social networking site has overtaken its main rival in worldwide unique users, according to eMarketer. With almost 20 foreign-language versions of the site, starting with French, German and Spanish, Facebook has seen continuous growth throughout Europe. Now, with the new Chinese-language version, it is beginning its trajectory in Asia.

June 24, 2008 Online Reviews Significantly Impact Consumer Purchasing Decisions, Finds Opinion Research Consumer reviews play a major role in the decision to purchase products or services, according to the latest survey from Opinion Research Corporation, an infoGROUP company.

June 24, 2008 StrongMail Survey Unearths Shocking Data Privacy Abuse by UK Businesses UK businesses are giving out highly personal and confidential details about their customers to third parties in a bid to boost sales reveals a new survey by StrongMail of 900 UK data protection and marketing professionals.

June 24, 2008 Yahoo! Unveils Targeted Recruitment Advertising Solutions Yahoo! HotJobs, a leading online recruitment destination, has introduced two innovative advertising solutions that Yahoo says will help recruitment advertisers meet their hiring and branding objectives by delivering more relevant job listings to candidates.

June 24, 2008 USPS Launches Expedited Legal-Sized Envelopes; New Overnight, Two- and Three-Day Options Attorneys, financial professionals, real estate agents and other mailers who depend on shipping legal-sized documents for their businesses have new USPS overnight and two-day delivery options. USPS has launched new legal-sized Express Mail and Priority Mail envelopes, available to customers free of charge.

June 24, 2008 Print Medium is Alive and Well; Sales Rise 12% at North American Printing Firms, Finds Graphic Arts Monthly Growth and consolidation were on the agenda of the largest printing operations in North America over the past year. So were sustainability, globalization and, on the horizon, inklings of increased consumer activism and worker unionizing, according to Graphic Arts Monthly (GAM) magazine's 26th annual ranking of the top 101 printers in North America

June 24, 2008 IWCO Direct to Expand Turnkey Services, Enhance Postage Optimization in North Carolina and Minnesota IWCO Direct, one of the nation's leading providers of integrated direct mail production services and marketing solutions, has announced it will undertake strategic initiatives to meet the growing demand for low cost, high value marketing solutions in the wake of year-over-year postage increases.

June 23, 2008 USPS Updates Mailers on Service Disruptions in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin The US Postal Service continues to provide mailers service advisories regarding mail delivery service in those areas impacted by recent flooding in the Midwest. More specifically, as of Friday noon (June 20), multiple locations in four states — Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin — had been affected by the flood waters.

June 23, 2008 Giving USA Reports US Charitable Giving Estimated to Be $306.39 Billion in 2007; Up 3.9% Despite Economic Worries Charitable giving in the US is estimated to be $306.39 billion in 2007, exceeding $300 billion for the first time in history, according to Giving USA 2008, the yearbook on philanthropy released today by Giving USA Foundation. The estimates for 2007 indicate that giving rose in 2007 by 3.9% (1% adjusted for inflation), says the report, which is researched and written by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

June 23, 2008 Brazil, Russia, India and China Set for Mobile Boom, eMarketer Finds Brazil, Russia, India, and China, collectively known as BRIC, represent the next great growth curve for both the mobile and interactive marketing industries. Home to over 40% of the world’s population, the BRIC countries form the core of an emergent global middle class that will number over 1 billion people by 2015.

June 23, 2008 Consumers' Rankings of Financial Institutions Lowest in Five Years, Forrester Finds Fewer consumers think their financial services providers have their best interests at heart, according to Forrester Research, Inc.’s fifth annual customer advocacy scorecard. This year, consumers' ratings of financial institutions are down across the board, falling to their lowest levels since Forrester began surveying customer advocacy five years ago.

June 23, 2008 Javelin Research Pinpoints How Institutions Should Respond to Data Breaches Javelin Strategy & Research has announced results from a new study covering data breach victims, which highlights the acute awareness among consumers about data security and the significant implications security breaches represent to businesses once consumer trust is compromised.

June 23, 2008 Consumers Say Corporate America's Reputation Is Poor, Finds Harris Interactive Not only has the stock market lost ground since last fall, but so has the reputation of Corporate America in the eyes of consumers. Seven out of 11 industries saw their reputation decline last year from 2006 and 16 of the companies with the worst marks fell even further, according to the Harris Interactive Reputation Quotient (RQ) survey.

June 20, 2008 comScore Ranks Top 50 US Web Properties for May 2008; Mother's Day Key Driver of Web Activity comScore, Inc. has released its monthly analysis of US consumer activity at the top online properties for May 2008 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service.

June 20, 2008 FTC Chairman Kovacic Speaks on 'FTC at 100: Into Our Second Century' Speaking on Wednesday, FTC Chairman William E. Kovacic presented his plan for assessing how well the agency is fulfilling the destiny that Congress foresaw for it in 1914, what type of institution the agency should aspire to be when it begins its second century in 2014, and other basic questions about the agency's future direction.

June 20, 2008 Small Businesses Continue to Spend on Advertising Despite Economy, Finds infoUSAPoll.com infoUSAPoll.com surveyed thousands of small-business executives across the country on June 9 about their advertising spending this year. Asked if they would spend more or less on advertising this year, 66% said they will either spend more or the same on advertising this year.

June 19, 2008 US Postal Service Governor Ellen Williams Appointed to New Term President George W. Bush has appointed Postal Service Board of Governors member Ellen C. Williams of Kentucky to an additional term that expires December 8, 2014. Governor Williams is vice chair of the Board’s Compensation and Management Resources Committee and is a member of the Government Relations and Regulatory Committee.

June 19, 2008 Yahoo! Announces Global Availability of Two New Email Domains Yahoo! Inc. has announced the global availability of two new e-mail domains that will give users the chance to register for the e-mail address or Yahoo! ID they have always wanted. People can finally say goodbye to CutiePie4Ever80 or mattclark1977@yahoo.com and get a new Yahoo! e-mail address at ymail.com and rocketmail.com.

June 18, 2008 Online Affiliate Marketing Spending to Reach $3.3 Billion in 2012, JupiterResearch Finds JupiterResearch has found that affiliate marketing continues to play a key role in online marketers' ability to reach and acquire customers. In 2008, online marketers will spend $2.1 billion on affiliate marketing fees, with US online affiliate marketing spending reaching $3.3 billion in 2012.

June 18, 2008 Lead Scoring and Prioritization Pave the Road to Higher Conversion, Reports Aberdeen A recent survey conducted by Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company, revealed that Best-in-Class are 80% more likely than all others to leverage demand generation or lead management technology.

June 18, 2008 Microsoft Acquires Navic Networks, Provider of Targeted, Interactive TV Advertising Microsoft has announced the acquisition of Navic Networks, a leading provider of television advertising solutions. Navic's technologies include sophisticated campaign management tools that use relevant data to optimize the delivery and placement of targeted interactive television media and through Admira provide a unified ad network for targeting audiences across TV advertising inventory.

June 18, 2008 11 Billion Videos Viewed Online in the US in April 2008, Reports comScore comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, yesterday released April 2008 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, revealing that US Internet users viewed 11 billion online videos during the month, with YouTube.com accounting for more than 4 billion of that total.

June 18, 2008 Pitney Bowes Announces that Service Initiatives Benefit Customers and the Environment Pitney Bowes Inc., one of the world’s leading mailstream technology companies, has announced that major service initiatives to resolve customer issues more quickly have both increased customer benefits and helped the environment.

June 18, 2008 Ballantine Corporation Releases 2008 Direct Mail Control Report The Ballantine Corporation, a full service direct mail production company, announces the release of their 2008 direct mail control report that analyzes what's working and what's not for direct mail formats. In January of this year, Ballantine surveyed their clients and marketing contacts and compiled a list of direct mail formats that would be tested during the year.

June 18, 2008 Salesgenie.com Appoints Pravin Kumar VP of Products and Technology and Rod Butters VP of Marketing Salesgenie.com (an infoGROUP company), a leading provider of online solutions for sales effectiveness management, has announced the appointment of Pravin Kumar as vice president of products and technology and Rod Butters as vice president of marketing.

June 17, 2008 Cannes Ad Festival Presents Direct Marketing Honors; Shackleton Named 'Direct Agency of the Year' Top honors were presented at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in the areas of direct marketing and promos. The Direct Lions Grand Prix was awarded to JWT India, Mumbai, for the Times of India Newspaper entry "Lead India." Direct Agency of the Year was won by Shackleton, Madrid. The Promo Grand Prix was awarded to BBDO New York.

June 17, 2008 Nanci Langley Sworn in as Postal Regulatory Commissioner Postal Regulatory Commission Chairman Dan G. Blair has sworn in Nanci Langley as a Commissioner of the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), following her official appointment by President George W. Bush last week.

June 17, 2008 Cisco Projects Video, Social Networking to Catapult Global IP Traffic in Next Four Years The Visual Networking Index (VNI) Forecast for 2007-2012 has been released, providing key findings on a variety of consumer and business Internet Protocol (IP) networking trends driven largely by the increasing use of video and Web 2.0 social networking and collaboration applications.

June 17, 2008 Mortgage Rates Falling in Direct Mail Offers, Finds Mintel Comperemedia The Fed's rate cuts have finally impacted pricing seen on mortgage direct mail offers sent to consumers. In the first quarter of 2008, Mintel Comperemedia reports that the average rate on fixed rate mortgage offers sent through direct mail declined nearly a full percentage point (0.92%) from Q4 2007.

June 17, 2008 Pitney Bowes Management Services Named One of Top 50 Global Outsourcers In Brown-Wilson Group User Survey Pitney Bowes Management Services, Inc. (PBMS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Pitney Bowes Inc. has announced that it has been named to The Black Book of Outsourcing’s 2008 "50 Best Managed Global Outsourcing Vendors" list.

June 17, 2008 HCI Direct Wins Prestigious 'Benny Award' HCI Direct, Inc., a premier direct marketing company serving women with beauty, style, and wellness solutions, was honored recently with an esteemed Benjamin Franklin Award for Direct Marketing Excellence.

June 17, 2008 Convio Charter Program Ushers In New Era of Constituent Relationship Management Solutions Convio, Inc. has announced the Aikido Charter Program for the company’s new, open, Web-based constituent relationship management (CRM) system for tracking all constituent interactions across all channels, online and offline.

June 16, 2008 US Advertising Spending Is Flat in First Quarter 2008, Nielsen Reports Advertising spending for the first quarter of 2008 remained essentially flat compared to the same period last year, according to preliminary figures released today by Nielsen Monitor-Plus, the competitive advertising information service of The Nielsen Company.

June 16, 2008 Hawthorne Direct Receives Recognition from the 2008 Accolade Competition Hawthorne Direct recently received recognition from the 2008 Accolade Competition for Valcent’s Nova Skin Care System with the Award of Excellence in the Commercial/Infomercial category and also for the High Plains Bison Short Form with an Honorable Mention in the Commercial/Infomercial category.

June 16, 2008 IWCO Direct Receives Awards for Corporate Business Achievement and Safety IWCO Direct, a leading provider of integrated direct mail production services and marketing solutions, recently was presented with a Corporate Business Achievement Award by the US Postal Service and recognized as an Industry Safety Leader by the Envelope Manufacturers Association (EMA).

June 13, 2008 Google Announces Non-Exclusive Advertising Services Agreement with Yahoo! in US and Canada Google on June 12 announced that it has reached an agreement that gives Yahoo! the ability to use Google's search and contextual advertising technology through its AdSense for Search and AdSense for Content advertising programs.

June 13, 2008 Yahoo! Announces Microsoft Talks Have Concluded Yahoo! yesterday announced that discussions with Microsoft regarding a potential transaction — whether for an acquisition of all of Yahoo! or a partial acquisition — have concluded.

June 13, 2008 In Mobile Advertising, 18-24 Year Olds Lead the Parade, Reports BIGresearch Usage of picture/video phones is up 17% for all adults according to an analysis of BIGresearch's most recent Simultaneous Media Survey. This increase in usage, coupled with 90% of adults reporting they regularly/occasionally use a cell phone, makes a case for why mobile advertising is a viable option for advertisers.

June 13, 2008 New Research Shows the Impact of the Internet on Consumer Behavior in Europe Fleishman-Hillard International Communications, in conjunction with Harris Interactive, announced the results of the Digital Influence Index (DII), a study designed to track and measure the influence and impact of the Internet on consumer behavior and decisions in the UK, Germany, and France.

June 13, 2008 Gartner Says Fewer Outsourcing 'Megadeals' Were Signed in 2007 as Companies Look to Multisourcing As companies continue to move to using multiple providers for their outsourcing services, the number of reported "megadeals" awarded to a single service provider has declined, according to Gartner, Inc. Megadeals are characterized as being worth more than $1 billion. In 2007, 10 outsourcing megadeals were awarded, a decline from 12 in 2006.

June 13, 2008 Philadelphia DMA Presents 'Direct Marketer of the Year' to Meryl Levitz and 2008 'Benny' Awards The Philadelphia Direct Marketing Association honored its 2008 Direct Marketer of the Year and made presentations to winners of the "Benjamin Franklin Award for Direct Marketing Excellence" — also known as the "Benny" — in Philadelphia, PA. The event drew regional direct marketing professionals for peer recognition and networking.

June 12, 2008 Pitney Bowes' New International Mail Services Help US Mailers Reach Customers Efficiently, Cost-Effectively Pitney Bowes announced today the introduction of two, new international mail services in response to increased demand for package solutions and customized one-to-one marketing.

June 12, 2008 TNS Media Intelligence Reports US Ad Expenditures Up 0.6% in Q1 Total measured advertising expenditures in the opening quarter of 2008 increased by 0.6%as compared to the same period in 2007, according to TNS media intelligence.

June 12, 2008 New England DMA Announces Winners at 27th Annual Award Show It was mikes, cameras, and action at the 27th annual New England Direct Marketing Association (NEDMA) Award Show. Thirty-eight of the region's leading creative agencies were recognized for excellence and innovation.

June 11, 2008 Most Americans Expect Economy to Improve Next Year, Finds CNN/Opinion Research Poll A majority of Americans say they expect the US economy to be good a year from now Opinion Research Corporation (an infoGROUP Company) announced today. Although only 22%of respondents said that economic conditions today are good, 52% said they expected them to be good a year from now.

June 11, 2008 Message Systems Adds New Leadership in Product Marketing Email solutions provider Message Systems has announced at the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group's (MAAWG) general meeting in Heidelberg, Germany that Catherine Foster has joined its marketing team as Director of Product Marketing.

June 10, 2008 JEGI Advises Financial Media Holdings Group on Sale of Compliance Week to Haymarket Media Haymarket Media has agreed to acquire Compliance Week from Financial Media Holdings Group. Both companies are privately-owned. The transaction is expected to close July 1, 2008. The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. represented Financial Media Holdings Group in this transaction and acted as its exclusive financial advisor.

June 9, 2008 Online Retail Sales to Increase During the 2008 Holiday Shopping Season, Finds JupiterResearch JupiterResearch, a leading authority on the impact of the Internet and emerging consumer technologies on business, has found that online 2007 holiday sales reached $39 billion in the US, increasing 20% from the same period in 2006, while off-line sales remained dismal.

June 9, 2008 IDC Finds Online Advertising Revenues Continue to Surge in First Quarter The current economic crisis has not affected US Internet advertising spending: Total revenue increased by 23.9% to $7.1 billion in the first quarter (1Q08) compared to $5.7 billion in 1Q07. IDC expects Internet advertising to continue to expand rapidly during 2008 even though advertising spending across all media will most likely be cut back

June 9, 2008 Brown Printing Company Broadens Environmental Commitment with PEFC Certification As part of its broad commitment to environmental sustainability, Brown Printing is proud to announce the achievement of PEFC Chain-of-Custody Certification across all three of its printing facilities. PEFC certification provides an assurance mechanism to purchasers of wood and paper products that they are promoting the sustainable management of forests.

June 9, 2008 Rodale Promotes Gregg Michaelson to EVP, Customer Marketing Rodale has announced the promotion of Gregg Michaelson to executive vice president, customer marketing from his position as EVP, Rodale Direct, effective immediately. He will report to Steven Pleshette Murphy, president and CEO of Rodale.

June 6, 2008 In-Store Marketing Success Begins with Understanding Shoppers, According to BIGresearch All shopper marketing campaigns are not created equal because every retailer has a unique customer base, according to BIGresearch. For a campaign to be successful, marketers should tailor it to their shoppers’ preferences and include media that influences them to purchase.

June 6, 2008 Retailers Still Fighting Organized Retail Crime, According to NRF Survey As organized retail crime continues to plague the industry, retailers are getting more serious about uncovering, dismantling and prosecuting the responsible individuals and crime rings. The National Retail Federation’s 2008 Organized Retail Crime report found that 68% of retailers have identified or recovered stolen merchandise and/or gift cards from a fence location, up from 61% last year.

June 6, 2008 AOL Expands Platform-A to Europe AOL has announced the expansion of Platform-A in Europe, which aligns AOL’s existing advertising operations and offers advertisers and publishers a full suite of industry-leading marketing solutions powered by one of the Web’s most advanced advertising technologies. Brendan Condon has been named head of Platform-A’s International operations, based in London, reporting to Platform-A President Lynda Clarizio.

June 5, 2008 Branded Gift Cards are the Preferred Gift Among Family and Friends, NBPCA Survey Shows A recent survey of 8,234 consumers uncovered high levels of enjoyment and personal connection to the branded gift cards experience. The survey, commissioned by the Network Branded Prepaid Card Association (NBPCA), a non-profit, inter-industry trade association, suggests branded gift cards have crossed the threshold from an impersonal gift to one that is preferred by recipients and shared among close friends and family members in high numbers.

June 5, 2008 Google and NASA Announce Lease at Ames Research Center NASA and Google have announced plans to develop a new high-technology campus at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif. Google will lease 42.2 acres of unimproved land in NASA Research Park at Ames to construct up to 1.2 million square feet of offices and research and development (R&D) facilities in a campus-style setting.

June 5, 2008 Yahoo! President Sue Decker Outlines Vision for Online Advertising Transformation Sue Decker, president of Yahoo! Inc., addressed the advertising industry during a keynote at a recent advertising conference in NY City. Decker's remarks focused on the transformation taking place in the industry as well as the opportunities and solutions for advertisers, ad agencies and publishers.

June 4, 2008 Successful Email Delivers Messages Consumers Want, When They Want It, Finds Silverpop Study Email works for retailers because consumers use it. But not all retailers do it well, and some don't even do it at all, according to Silverpop. To evaluate the top online retailers, a premier email service provider, joined with Internet Retailer magazine to conduct research for the "Top 500 Guide."

June 4, 2008 Social Networking Sites Gain Stature in UK Search Market, According to comScore comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, has released its first report on the UK search market from the enhanced comScore qSearch 2.0 online search measurement tool. The service has been updated to include several local market properties where search activity occurs, such as Rightmove Sites and Bebo.com.

June 4, 2008 Google Site Search Taps 'Power of the Cloud' to Improve Search for Business Websites Google has announced Google Site Search, a service that provides quality search to any website with the flexibility of cloud computing. The new service, hosted by Google, allows site owners to quickly implement search functionality that is familiar and useful to their visitors.

June 3, 2008 Postal Service Helps Consumers Make Eco-Friendly Decisions The USPS has announced it is offering greener choices, and an easy, online resource for consumers to make environmentally friendly decisions about their mail. The site, usps.com/green, contains hundreds of facts, suggestions and programs to help improve environmental awareness and make it easier for consumers to go green, including a way to calculate carbon footprint savings by conducting Postal Service business online.

June 3, 2008 Internet Advertising Keeps Growing Fast Despite Economic Difficulties, IDC Finds Internet advertising in the US will continue to grow fast even as the current economic woes will lead to a contraction in ad spending overall, essentially accelerating the transfer of marketing budgets from the traditional media into the new, according to IDC findings.

June 3, 2008 FTC Halts Bogus Prepaid Phone Card Claims At the request of the FTC, a US District Court has ordered a temporary halt to the deceptive advertising claims used to promote prepaid phone cards. The agency alleges the marketers misrepresent the number of calling minutes consumers will get on their cards and fail to adequately disclose fees that will reduce the value of the cards.

June 2, 2008 Multi-Channel Customers Spend More, Less Loyal, According to Opinion Research Corporation While multi-channel consumers spend nearly twice as much as their single channel counterparts on average, they are also more likely to purchase from multiple providers, according to a new study from Opinion Research Corporation, an infoUSA company.

June 2, 2008 Growth of User-Generated Content on Travel Websites Takes Control Away from Marketers, JupiterResearch Finds JupiterResearch, a leading authority on the impact of the Internet and emerging consumer technologies on business, has found that the majority of online travelers believe researching travel online is easier now than ever before, with user-generated content now more influential on the choice of accommodation than brand among online accommodation researchers.

May 30, 2008 Dad Takes a Back Seat to Gas and Food Costs, Finds NRF Survey Higher prices at the pump and the grocery checkout line might be cutting into Father's Day budgets. According to the National Retail Federation’s 2008 Father's Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, consumers plan to spend an average of $94.54, compared to last year's $98.34.

May 30, 2008 comScore Acquires Mobile Measurement Firm M:Metrics comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, has announced the acquisition of M:Metrics, Inc., a recognized leader in mobile measurement.

May 30, 2008 US Postal Service Exclusive Carrier of Packages to the Last-Mile for DHL The US Postal Service (USPS) said on Thursday that the international delivery company DHL will leverage an existing agreement to give the USPS exclusive delivery services to the last-mile in certain locations.

May 29, 2008 US Consumers Believe Country is in Recession, Nielsen Reports Eighty-five percent of US consumers believe the country is currently in a recession and US consumer confidence in the economy plunged 17 points from the second half of 2007 to the first half of 2008, according to a new online survey by The Nielsen Company.

May 29, 2008 Majority of Mobile Phone Users Want Free Email Services, Finds Critical Path Critical Path, a leading provider of messaging software and services, has published research revealing that 79% of mobile phone users in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and the US would accept advertisements attached to email messages if the mobile email service was free. 62% of those surveyed said they are interested in using mobile email services, even though they do not currently take advantage of these services.

May 29, 2008 UPS to Provide Lift for DHL Air Express Packages in North America UPS has announced it will work with DHL Express US toward an agreement to provide transportation in its air network for all of DHL's express, deferred and international package volume within the US. UPS also would provide air lift for DHL packages between the US, Canada and Mexico.

May 28, 2008 PayPal Survey Reveals Consumers' Top Reasons for Abandoning Online Purchases A survey conducted by PayPal and comScore revealed that unexpectedly high shipping fees are the number one reason consumers abandon online purchases. Checkout abandonment is a significant challenge for online merchants, with an estimated two out of every three consumers failing to pay for items they put in their shopping carts.

May 28, 2008 Hitwise Reports blinkx Traffic is Surging, Video Index Reaches 26 Million Hours of Content blinkx, a leading video search engine, has announced that its market share for video search is now 10 times higher than a year ago, as users increasingly turn to blinkx to find video content ranging from premium high definition movies and sports, to breaking news and top quality niche content.

May 28, 2008 Gartner Says Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales Increased 14% in First Quarter of 2008 Worldwide sales of mobile phones reached 294.3 million units in the first quarter of 2008, a 13.6% increase over the first quarter of 2007, according to Gartner, Inc. Sales of mobile phones in Western Europe