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February 9, 2012
Postal Service Losses Continue in First Quarter
The U.S. Postal Service ended the first three months of its 2012 fiscal year (Oct. 1 – Dec. 31, 2011) with a net loss of $3.3 billion. Management expects large losses to continue until the Postal Service has implemented its network re-design and down-sizing and has restructured its healthcare program.

February 9, 2012
Google Sites Lead Search Market in January, comScore Finds
comScore, Inc. has released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the US search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in January with 66.2% of search queries conducted.

February 1, 2012
hawkeye Releases 'Ten Marketing Trends for 2012' Report
hawkeye, the customer development marketing agency that uses upfront, direct and relevant dialogue to engage customers and prospects, has announced the release of its Ten Marketing Trends for 2012 report, which is available free of charge.

February 1, 2012
Twitter Ad Revenues to Grow 83% to $259 Million in 2012, eMarketer Forecasts
Advertising revenues at Twitter grew 233% to $139.5 million in 2011—the company’s second full year of selling advertising—and strong international growth is expected to push the company’s ad revenues to $259.9 million in 2012, according to a new forecast by eMarketer.

February 1, 2012
Direct Correlation Between CPG Website Use and In-Store Purchases, Study by Accenture, comScore, and dunnhumbyUSA Shows
A new study from Accenture, comScore, and dunnhumbyUSA found that visitors to consumer packaged goods brand websites buy 37% in retail stores than non-visitors to the brand site.

February 1, 2012
Consumer Spending to Rise This Valentine's Day, According to American Express
Love will cost a little more this Valentine’s Day, as consumers expect to increase spending to an average of $196, up 8% over last year, according to the latest American Express Spending & Saving Tracker.

January 20, 2012
US Online Advertising Spending to Surpass Print in 2012, eMarketer Forecasts
US online advertising spending, which grew 23% to $32.03 billion in 2011, is expected to grow an additional 23.3%to $39.5 billion this year — pushing it ahead of total spending on print newspapers and magazines, according to new forecast by eMarketer.

January 20, 2012
Nearly 50% of Internet Users in Europe Visit Newspaper Sites, comScore Reports
comScore, Inc. has released an overview of Internet usage in Europe, showing that 379.4 million Europeans went online in November 2011 for an average of 27.8 hours per person. The study also showed that 47.8% of Europeans visit Newspaper sites, with a notable percentage of visits to the top 5 Newspaper sites preceded by a visit to Facebook.

January 19, 2012
Super Bowl Spending Reached $1.72 Billion over the Past 10 Years, Kantar Media Reports
According to Kantar Media, from 2002 through 2011, the Super Bowl game has generated $1.72 billion of network advertising sales from more than 125 marketers.

January 19, 2012
Mobile Banking Service Adoption to Reach over Half a Million Users by 2013, Juniper Research Finds
Despite the challenging economic climate and threat of further global recession, a new report from Juniper Research finds that mobile banking users worldwide will reach 530 million by 2013, up from just over 300 million in 2011.

January 19, 2012
US Internet Audience Watched 43.5 Billion Videos in December, comScore Reports
comScore, Inc. has released data showing that 182 million US Internet users watched online video content in December for an average of 23.2 hours per viewer. The total US Internet audience viewed 43.5 billion videos.

January 17, 2012
Home Media Landscape Shifting to Digital Content, CEA Study Finds
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)has released a new study which found that more than half of online US adults watch some form of streaming or downloaded video content in the home. Those consumers have a distinct preference for streaming video versus downloading content.

January 17, 2012
Shoppers Demonstrate Rays of Optimism, SymphonyIRI Reports
Shoppers became more optimistic in Q4 2011, with an increase among those believing the economy improved in the last six months of 2011 and will continue to strengthen during the first six months of 2012, reports SymphonyIRI Group’s latest MarketPulse survey.

January 17, 2012
More than Half of Retailers Testing In-Store Tablets in 2012, According to RIS
In its latest custom research report, RIS News looks at retailers’ incredible interest in tablets, exploring the status of current deployments, examining near-term investment intentions, and tracking future trending plans.

January 17, 2012
Retail Hiring Continues to Slowly Improve, Kronos Retail Labor Index Shows
A new report by Kronos Incorporated analyzes the trends observed in 2011 and sheds light on what is to come in 2012. After dipping in the first quarter of 2011, the Retail Labor Index regained some of the momentum that began in mid-2010, reaching a three-year high of 4.1 percent in September 2011.

January 11, 2012
In Social Commerce, Bad Reviews Are Good for Business, Says Reevoo
When it comes to social commerce, bad product reviews are good for business according to data from social commerce company Reevoo. Sixty-eight percent of consumers trust reviews more when they see both good and bad scores, while 30% suspect censorship or faked reviews when they don’t see bad scores. Shoppers who go out of their way to read bad reviews convert 67% more highly than the average consumer.

January 11, 2012
Women's Digital Media Habits Outpaced Men's in 2011, Parks Associates Research Shows
Women's digital media habits outpaced men's in 2011, according to international research firm Parks Associates, which reports that women share more content online and download more movies and music than men. For example, women are 73 percent more likely than men to have watched a full-length TV show online in the past 30 days.

January 11, 2012
Banks Experiment with Customer Service on Social Media Platforms, According to Javelin
According to Javelin Strategy & Research, while most Americans are resistant to mixing social media and personal finances, a new trend is emerging: one in ten consumers are comfortable using social media sites to review or check account balances.

January 4, 2012
Brick-and-Mortar Holiday Sales Down Year-over-Year, According to RetailNext Data
Holiday shopping ended disappointingly for specialty stores in 2011, during which a slow Black Friday weekend set a pace that held up until Christmas, according to retail business intelligence provider RetailNext.

January 4, 2012
iPad Hits Three Billion Downloads in Just One Year, Still Outgunning Android Tablets, Says ABI Research
According to ABI Research, iPad users are estimated to have cumulatively downloaded three billion applications since the launch of the iPad in 2010. This was 19% of all cumulative downloads by Apple users.

January 4, 2012
Consumer Confidence Remains Steady in December, Discover US Spending Monitor Finds
Consumer confidence remained fairly consistent in December, as consumers viewed the economy and their finances as improving, but consumers are heading into the New Year with conservative spending intentions according to the Discover US Spending Monitor.

January 4, 2012
US Online Holiday Shopping Season Reaches Record $37.2 Billion for November-December Period, comScore Reports
comScore has reported that retail e-commerce spending for the entire November – December 2011 holiday season reached $37.2 billion, marking a 15% increase versus last year and an all-time record for the season.

December 29, 2011
Consumer Confidence in Economy, Technology Increase in December, According to CEA
Consumer confidence in technology reached a yearly high in December, while confidence in the overall economy also improved this month, according to data release from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).

December 28, 2011
Amazon Soars; Netflix Plummets in ForeSee Holiday Study
Customer experience analytics firm ForeSee has released the results of their annual Holiday E-Retail Satisfaction Index, showing that after seven years spent jockeying for first place in the Index, Amazon and Netflix are headed in divergent directions. Amazon climbed two points to score 88 on the study’s 100-point scale. Meanwhile, Netflix’s well-publicized blunders caused its customer satisfaction to plummet.

December 28, 2011
Final Christmas Push Propels US Online Holiday Spending to $35.3 Billion, Up 15%, comScore Finds
comScore has reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 56 days of the November – December 2011 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $35.3 billion has been spent online, marking a 15% increase versus the corresponding days last year.

December 27, 2011
Toys, Electronics, and Mall Sites, Top Online Categories for November, comScore Reports
comScore, Inc. has released its monthly analysis of US Web activity at the top online properties for November 2011. Among the top-gaining retail categories were Toys, Consumer Electronics, and Mall sites, each posting strong gains of more than 25% versus October.

December 27, 2011
Facebook Was Top Search Term for Third Straight Year, According to Experian Hitwise
Experian Hitwise has analyzed the top 1,000 search terms for 2011, and Facebook was the top-searched term overall in the US. This is the third year that the social networking website has been the top search term overall, accounting for 3.10% of all searches, a 46% increase from 2010.

December 22, 2011
iPad and iPhone Shoppers Account for 90% of all Mobile Purchases, RichRelevance Study Finds
According to research by RichRelevance, retailers will ring in the New Year next week having wrapped up a successful holiday shopping season that saw consumers utilizing more channels to interact with their stores – predominantly through mobile devices.

December 21, 2011
Heaviest Week in US Online Holiday History Pushes Season to $32 Billion, comScore Reports
comScore has reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 48 days of the November – December 2011 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, nearly $32 billion has been spent online, marking a 15% increase versus the corresponding days last year.

December 21, 2011
CMO Council Survey Highlights Financial Service Industry's Need for Greater Customer Reassurance
According to a new report by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council, 87% of those surveyed in the last quarter of this year report that the current financial market turmoil is creating a difficult environment that is challenging them to reassure and more effectively communicate with their customers.

December 21, 2011
Yahoo Extends Its Facebook Integration
Yahoo Inc, has extended its Facebook integration, the news activity feature, to 26 additional Yahoo sites worldwide. A new social feature, Notifications, has also launched in the US, alerting people to social conversations and activity across Yahoo .

December 21, 2011
Texting, Social Networking Highly Prevelant Worldwide, Pew Research Shows
According to the Pew Research Center, cell phones are owned by overwhelmingly large majorities of people in most major countries around the world, and they are used for much more than just phone calls. In particular, text messaging is a global phenomenon – across the 21 countries surveyed, a median of 75% of cell phone owners say they text.

December 20, 2011
US Advertising Expenditures Increased 1.5% in the First Nine Months of 2011, Kantar Media Reports
Total advertising expenditures in the first nine months of 2011 increased 1.5% from a year ago and finished the period at $104.7 billion, according to data released by Kantar Media.

December 20, 2011
Smart TVs Outpace 3D TVs This Holiday Season, According to Parks Associates
One in five US broadband households intends to purchase a new flat-panel TV before the end of 2011, making it the most popular CE product this holiday season, according to new consumer research from Parks Associates.

December 20, 2011
Many Americans Turn to Digital Devices to Stretch Their Holiday Dollars, SapientNitro Survey Reveals
Findings from a just-released national survey, conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Corporate Communications in conjunction with SapientNitro, part of Sapient, show that Americans are increasingly empowered by digital devices to bargain hunt for gifts this holiday season.

December 16, 2011
$1.1 Billion Spent Online for Green Monday; 3rd Heaviest Day of Holiday Season, comScore finds
comScore has reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 42 days of the November – December 2011 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date through December 12, $26.8 billion has been spent online, marking a 15% increase versus the corresponding days last year.

December 16, 2011
National Retail Federation Upgrades Holiday Forecast, Expects Sales to Rise 3.8 Percent to $469.1 Billion
The National Retail Federation has revised its holiday forecast upward, expecting holiday sales to rise 3.8% this year to a record $469.1 billion. NRF’s initial forecast, announced on Oct. 6, called for anticipated sales growth of 2.8%. While a 3.8% sales increase is considerably above the ten-year average sales increase of 2.6%, it is still lower than the 5.2% increase the retail industry saw last year.

December 16, 2011
183 Million Viewers Watched Online Video in November, comScore Reports
comScore, Inc., has released data from the comScore Video Metrix service showing that 183 million US Internet users watched online video content in November for an average of 20.5 hours per viewer. The total US Internet audience viewed 40.9 billion videos.

December 15, 2011
Brands Hit by Data Skills Shortage, UK DMA Says

December 15, 2011
Video Ad Spending Surpassed Expectations in 2011, Break Media Finds
According to new research by Break Media, digital video advertising spending is up and expected to continue to increase throughout 2012. In addition to organic growth of budgets, the increase is projected to come from a number of existing sources, including 32% from television budgets.

December 15, 2011
Retailers Plan to Introduce In-Store Mobile Apps in 2012, According to AisleBuyer
A new survey by AisleBuyer LLC reveals that while only 14% of respondents currently have a mobile application for in-store use, 50% of those who do not are planning to introduce a shopping app in 2012.

December 15, 2011
Older Americans Give More Generously than Other Americans, Chase Survey Shows
Older Americans give to charities and other important causes more generously than most other Americans, according to a new survey by Chase Card Services.

December 14, 2011
Brands Hit by Data Skills Shortage, UK DMA Says
According to an article by the UK DMA, written by Nicola Carpenter, demand for data professionals is fast outstripping supply, according to a new global survey by IT consultancy EMC.

December 13, 2011
Engaging Customers Online Creates Challenge for Advertisers, According to Forrester
A newly commissioned and recently released study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Autodesk reveals that engaging customers online is becoming increasingly challenging for advertisers as consumers today are quick to compare content on the web to the latest Hollywood blockbuster, console game, or television show.

December 13, 2011
Holiday Travel is Risky Business for Mobile Devices, AVG Survey Shows
AVG, a leading provider of Internet and mobile security, has a new survey that reveals 35% of laptops and 38% of mobile phones are lost or stolen while in transit and that, alarmingly, 82% of lost or stolen devices are never recovered.

December 13, 2011
Green Monday Online Sales Grow 19% Percent, ChannelAdvisor Finds
ChannelAdvisor, a global e-commerce software provider, has announced that its customers experienced 19% growth in online same-store sales on Green Monday, traditionally the last day to purchase gifts online in order for items to arrive with standard shipping before Christmas.

December 13, 2011
Most Consumers Consider Mobile Payments Safer than Credit Cards, Javelin
Javelin Strategy & Research and PaymentOne found four out of five consumers would spend more online if offered an easier and more secure way to pay. The survey also found that by a margin of almost four to one, consumers believe direct carrier-billed mobile payments are more secure than using credit and debit cards for online digital purchases.

December 12, 2011
Women Drive Philanthropic Decisions in Wealthy Households, Bank of America Study Finds
In nearly 90% of high net worth households, women are either the sole decision maker or an equal partner in decisions about charitable giving, according to the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2011 Study of High Net Worth Women’s Philanthropy.

December 12, 2011
Online Holiday Spending Approaches $25 Billion, Up 15% vs. Year Ago, comScore Reports
comScore has reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 39 days of the November – December 2011 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $24.6 billion has been spent online, marking a 15% increase versus the corresponding days last year.

December 12, 2011
Consumers to Increase Holiday Spend Despite Economic Pessimism, Auriemma Consulting Says
According to the latest research from Auriemma Consulting Group, a majority of US consumers are actually planning to increase their 2011 holiday spending by nearly one-third, planning to spend an average of $601 compared to $454 in 2010.

December 1, 2011
US M-Commerce Sales to Grow 91% to $6.7 Billion in 2011, According to eMarketer
Mobile commerce is still small compared to the overall ecommerce market, but m-commerce sales are on a steep upward trajectory, thanks in part to increasing adoption of smartphones and rising mobile Internet usage, according to a new forecast by eMarketer.

December 1, 2011
Paid Search Spending Increased 23% from Previous Year This Cyber Monday, Kenshoo Reports
According to a report by Kenshoo, online search advertising spend increased 23% year-over-year on Cyber Monday, while oline retail revenue driven from search advertising increased 6%.

December 1, 2011
Smartphone Adoption Reaches 40% in Canada, comScore Finds
According to research by comScore, Inc., in September, 20.1 million Canadians ages 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 25.2% of mobile subscribers in Canada.

November 30, 2011
Cyber Monday Spending Hits $1.25 Billion - Heaviest Online Spending Day in History, comScore Reports
comScore has reported that, for he holiday season-to-date, $15 billion has been spent online, marking a 15% increase versus the corresponding days last year. Cyber Monday reached $1.25 billion in online spending, up 22% versus year ago, representing the heaviest online spending day in history.

November 30, 2011
Sales Are Booming, but Customers Are Less Satisfied this Cyber Monday, According to ForeSee
Customer experience analytics firm ForeSee has released its annual analysis of Cyber Monday customer satisfaction, suggesting that some online shoppers may not be as satisfied with the holiday shopping season as retailers likely are.

November 30, 2011
Cloud Computing to Become Mainstream in 2012, Frost & Sullivan Forecasts
According to Frost & Sullivan, 2012 will be a momentous year for the ICT industry globally and in the Asia Pacific region. Many trends gaining traction in the last couple of years have crossed the chasm and will be a mainstream feature of the ICT industry moving forward.

November 30, 2011
Most of Holiday Budgets Will Be Spent on Electronics; Tablets Beat Out E-Readers, TechBargains Survey Finds
According to a survey by TechBargains, at least a quarter of all consumers' holiday gift budgets will be spent on consumer electronics with 52% of shoppers expecting to spend between $250 to $500.

November 28, 2011
Black Friday Spending Up 26% vs. Year Ago, comScore Finds
comScore has reported that, for the holiday season-to-date, $12.7 billion has been spent online, marking a 15% increase versus the corresponding days last year. Black Friday saw $816 million in online sales, making it the heaviest online spending day to date in 2011 and representing a 26% increase versus Black Friday 2010.

November 28, 2011
Bargain Hunters Undismayed by Economy, Huge Lines, Consumer Electronics Daily Reports
Despite predictions of consumer pushback against early Black Friday pandemonium, midnight openings appeared to have drawn even more than the customary hordes of bargain hunters, according to Consumer Electronics Daily's annual check of shopping venues and interviews with dozens of patient shoppers.

November 28, 2011
Online Payments Shift to Credit Cards at the Expense of Debit Cards, Javelin Forecasts
Javelin Strategy & Research’s latest Online Retail Payments Forecast report identifies a significant shift in the balance between credit and debit use for online purchases. With changing market conditions and new regulations causing credit cards to regain transaction share, credit cards are increasing their share of the consumer’s wallet for online purchases. The study shows a robust 16% increase in the US online market as retail e-commerce sales continue to rise to $309 billion in 2011 and are further forecast to climb to an estimated $444 billion by 2016.

November 28, 2011
Customer Communications is Priority for Improved Loyalty, Pitney Bowes Survey Suggests
Brands seduced by the hype around social media risk alienating their customers, according to a report by Pitney Bowes Inc. By investing time and money in social media interaction, marketers may be out of step as customers prefer that brands focus on the basics of their customer communications, the report suggests.

November 22, 2011
Amazon Fires at Apple as Tablet Demand Soars for the Holidays
ChangeWave Research, a division of leading analyst company The 451 Group, has released the results of their latest survey of the consumer tablet marketplace. The ChangeWave survey points to the recent surge of the Amazon Kindle Fire and suggests that Amazon is going to leapfrog the competition and become the number two product in the tablet market, as long as the Kindle Fire can provide a quality user experience.

November 22, 2011
Consumers to Spend Less, Pay with Cash for Holiday Gifts, According to Triton Digital Survey
According to a survey by Triton Digital, those polled report that they are looking for deep discounts - both online and off - as they plan to spend less money this holiday season and avoid credit card debt.

November 22, 2011
Accelerating Tablet Adoption Dramatically Shifts TV Viewing Habits, QuickPlay Finds
According to research by Media, the trend of viewing "live" and on demand programming on devices such as smartphones and tablets is accelerating - with 76% of 18-44 year olds indicating that they are watching more TV on these devices than just one year ago.

November 14, 2011
Google Sites Lead October Search Market with 66% of Search Share, comScore Reports
comScore, Inc. has released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the US search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in October with 65.6% of search queries conducted.

November 14, 2011
Affluent Consumers Plan to Spend $1000-Plus This Holiday Season, According to Forbes
According to Forbes Insights, affluent consumers are planning to spend close to $1,850 during the 2011 holiday season – an increase of 2% over 2010 and 5% over 2009 – with $1,100 earmarked for gifts for family, friends, and other loved ones.

November 14, 2011
95% of Teens Are Online; 80% of Online Teens Use Social Media Sites, Pew Study Shows
A new Pew study find that 95% of all teens ages 12-17 are now online and 80% of online teens are users of social media sites. 69% of the teenagers who use social networking sites say their peers are mostly kind to one another on such sites. Still, 88% of these teens say they have witnessed people being mean and cruel to another person on the sites.

November 14, 2011
Explosive Growth of Social Games in the US and UK in the Past 18 Months, PopCap Study Finds
According to a new survey by PopCap Games, 118.5 million people now play social games at least once a week, up 71% in the past 18 months. Players are now significantly more likely to spend real world money to buy content within social games, with 31 million players having purchased in-game currency, up 86%.

November 11, 2011
Online Retail Spending Reaches 36.3 Billion in Q3, comScore Reports
comScore, Inc. has released its Q3 2011 US retail e-commerce sales estimates, which showed that online retail spending reached $36.3 billion for the quarter, up 13% versus a year ago.

November 11, 2011
Dramatic Rise of Tablets as eCommerce Device of Choice, Study by Jumptap Shows
Research by Jumptap shows that tablet owners are almost as likely as PC and laptop owners to use their tablet device to make purchases.

November 11, 2011
US Mobile Search Spend to Be 22% of Online Ad Spend by End of 2012, Efficient Frontier Predicts
According to new research by Efficient Frontier, by the end of 2012, tablets and smart phones are predicted to be between 16% to 22% of all paid search share.

November 11, 2011
Mobile Shopping Creates a $15 Billion Opportunity for Retail Marketing and Advertising in 2012, Juniper Research Finds
A new report from Juniper Research has found that value of mobile retail marketing will reach $15 billion globally by 2012 as digital adspend moves to mobile and mobile coupons gain acceptance. This is a growth of 50% over 2011.

November 10, 2011
DMA Fighting Postal Threats to Marketers' Businesses
The Direct Marketing Associations has sent out a letter to its membership, encouraging participation and support of efforts in Washington, DC.

November 9, 2011
US Retailers Forecast 2.9% Increase in Total 2011 Holiday Sales, BDO Survey Finds
Soft consumer confidence and lingering unemployment have retailers looking to the 2011 holiday season with caution. According to a recent BDO USA survey, CMOs at leading US retailers expect a modest 2.9% increase in total holiday sales this year -- a less optimistic point of view compared to the projected 3.5% increase in 2010.

November 9, 2011
Minneapolis' Boost Joins with hawkeye
Boost and hawkeye have announced that the two companies have agreed to combine under the hawkeye brand effective immediately. The agreement brings together Boost’s expertise in areas such as brand development, package design, trade and consumer advertising, relationship marketing, digital media and employee training with hawkeye’s proven success in areas such as digital media, data analytics, e-learning, direct, social and mobile, loyalty, experiential and event-based marketing.

November 9, 2011
UK Sales Worryingly Weak as Holidays Near, British Retail Consortium Reports
According to the British Retail Consortium, UK retail sales values were 0.6% lower on a like-for-like basis from October 2010, when sales had risen 0.8%. On a total basis, sales were up 1.5%, against a 2.4% increase in October 2010.

November 8, 2011
DAA Announces Comprehensive Principles for Online Collection of Web Data
On behalf of the nation's leading media and marketing trade associations and their members, the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) has announced "Principles for Multi-Site Data" that significantly expand the scope of self-regulation of online data collection beyond online behavioral advertising (OBA). The DAA has previously developed cross-industry best practices and effective solutions for the collection and use of data for OBA through its Advertising Option Icon program.

November 8, 2011
Consumers Increase Holiday Budgets, but Continue Frugal Strategies, American Express Finds
Americans will spend an average of $831 on gifts this season, $121 more than last year, but most will continue with money saving strategies according to the latest American Express Spending & Saving Tracker.

November 8, 2011
US Local Digital Advertising Revenues Continue Upward in 2011, According to BIA/Kelsey
According to a new forecast by BIA/Kelsey’s US Local Media Annual Forecast, total local advertising revenues for 2011 are expected to be $135.9 billion, down from the $136.2 billion it forecast earlier this year.

November 7, 2011
More Than 40% of Mobile Subscribers Use Browsers and Applications, According to comScore
A new study by comScore, Inc. found 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices, with Samsung as e the top handset manufacturer overall with 25.3% market share.

November 7, 2011
Retailer Digital Marketing Spending to Increase Across All Channels in 2012, e-tailing group Finds
While traditional digital channels such as search and email continue to dominate retailer marketing spending, social and mobile channels are growing in importance, according to findings of a study by the e-tailing group.

November 7, 2011
Smart Spending Top of Mind This Holiday Season, Visa Survey Says
Smart holiday spending is top of mind according to a new survey by Visa Inc. 58% of respondents say a holiday budget will be in place before they begin shopping this season, 10% more than last year. Only seven percent said they expect to have more to spend this year, while 31 percent will have less to spend.

November 4, 2011
Only 43% of Shoppers Claim to 'Buy the Brand They Want Most,' comScore Reports
According to a new survey by comScore, as the economic downturn has continued, the percent of shoppers who typically buy the brands they “want most” steadily declined across the categories examined. The 2011 survey results reveal 43% of shoppers claiming to buy the brand they want most, down 11 points since 2008.

November 4, 2011
Big Banks at Risk on 'Bank Transfer Day,' Harris Poll Shows
According to Harris Interactive, big banks may be vulnerable to losing customers to credit unions on November 5, Bank Transfer Day, when, according to social media, tens of thousands have signed up to drop Big Banks in favor of joining a credit union. While credit unions enjoy best in class customer retention rates (87% Extremely/Very Likely to Continue), the nation's largest banks fail to engender the same degrees of loyalty from their customers.

November 4, 2011
Samsung Takes Top Spot as Smartphone Market Grows 42.6% in Q3, According to IDC
The worldwide smartphone market grew 42.6% year over year in the third quarter of 2011, despite a slowdown within key mature markets. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), vendors shipped 118.1 million units in 3Q11 compared to 82.8 million units in the 3Q10.

November 4, 2011
Customer Satisfaction with Health Insurance Websites is Dismal, ForeSee Study Shows
ForeSee has released its fourth annual healthcare benchmark, showing that health insurance websites vastly underperform other kinds of healthcare sites. Health insurance companies receive an aggregate satisfaction score of 51 on the report’s 100-point scale, placing the industry far behind other healthcare categories measured in the benchmark.

November 3, 2011
Increase in Mobile and Online Shopping Projected for Holiday Season, PriceGrabber Survey Shows
According to a new survey by PriceGrabber, when consumers were asked to select all of the ways in which they will shop for gifts, 90% indicated they will shop online from a computer, up slightly from 89% in 2010. Forty-eight percent will shop in brick-and-mortar stores — down from 65% in 2010 — and 13 percent will shop online from a mobile device, compared with 9% last year.

November 3, 2011
Mobile Coupon Redemption to Top $43 Billion by 2016, Jupiter Research Finds
A new report from Juniper Research has found that the total redemption value of mobile coupons will exceed $43 billion globally by 2016 as coupons are increasingly delivered by mobile apps. This is an eightfold increase from $5.4bn in value to be redeemed this year.

November 3, 2011
Many Marketers Don't Measure Social Media Impact, Pardot Survey Finds
B-to-B marketers are spending millions of dollars annually on social marketing programs, though nearly 30 percent are not tracking the impact of social media programs on lead generation and sales, according to a survey conducted earlier this month by cloud marketing automation software vendor Pardot.

November 3, 2011
UK Small Businesses Spend 30% of Marketing Budget on Online Media, BIA/Kelsey Reports
Small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK spent an average of £1,406 to advertise and market their businesses during the past 12 months, according to a new study by BIA/Kelsey. Respondents to the online survey reported spending 30.3% of their total advertising and promotion budget on online media.

November 2, 2011
Localized Marketing Crucial Focus for Brands
Localized marketing is becoming a critical area of strategic focus and competitive advantage for brands, reports the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council. Just 12% of marketers believe they have highly evolved campaigns and analytics on a local level in contrast to nearly 50% who see themselves as underperforming or needing new strategic thinking and capability development in local marketing.

November 2, 2011
Mobile Banking App-Use Up 45%, comScore Reports
comScore, Inc. has released an analysis of mobile financial services usage in the US showing that 32.5 million Americans accessed mobile banking information on their devices at the end of Q2 2011 in June, representing 13.9% of all mobile users. The study also revealed that 12.7 million mobile users reported using banking apps, showing a notable increase of 45% from Q4 2010.

November 2, 2011
YouTube Trumps Facebook, Harris Study Finds
YouTube is the highest ranked social media brand in equity among Americans 13 to 24 years old, based on results from the 2012 Harris Poll Youth EquiTrend study from Harris Interactive. However, when social media is compared to television, Kids TV Programming and Broadcast TV Network brands garner higher equity scores in general.

November 2, 2011
Smartphones Drive Nearly 5% of European Digital Traffic
comScore, Inc. has released an overview of the mobile and connected device landscape across five leading European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom). The data shows cross-platform digital media consumption on the rise in the region, buoyed by the growth in adoption of smartphones, tablets and other non-computer web-enabled devices, collectively termed “connected devices.” In August 2011, these devices drove 4.6 percent of total digital traffic in the EU5, fuelled primarily by the use of smartphones.

October 12, 2011
Digital Era Transforming CMO's Agenda, Revealing Gap in Readiness, IBM Study Finds
A new IBM study of more than 1,700 chief marketing officers from 64 countries and 19 industries reveals that the majority of the world’s top marketing executives recognize a critical and permanent shift occurring in the way they engage with their customers, but question whether their marketing organizations are prepared to manage the change.

September 30, 2011
Managing Social Media – 24/7 or Slow and Steady? [DMA11]
With the explosive growth of online marketing campaigns taking up the lion’s share of marketers’ time and resources, managing social media has become a hot button issue. But is it...

September 30, 2011
Making Your Site Visible through Search Marketing Basics [DMA11]
Understanding SEO importance for your company’s online visibility is about as elemental as it gets. You can have the coolest website on the planet and an even more impressive blog with the kind...

September 29, 2011
Changes are Afoot in Social Media for Businesses [DMA11]
We've already seen the world of social media take some serious hairpin turns in its relatively quick evolution. And if there’s any truth to the trends that experts are predicting for the near...

September 29, 2011
Search Marketing Advantages for Smaller Companies [DMA11]
Learning search marketing might seem like something that only huge, uber-successful companies need to worry about. But in reality, it’s something that all small companies should jump on. Why?...

September 28, 2011
The Growth of Multi Channel Marketing is Proof that Social Marketing is Here to Stay [DMA11]
If you take a closer look at some of the recent trends among businesses that use social media channels for advertising, you’ll see that more and more are turning to multi channel marketing. But...

September 28, 2011
Companies Can’t Manage Without Great CRM [DMA11]
CRM, or Customer Relationship Management, is a company-wide business strategy. It encompasses systems, strategies, software and processes to manage the organization’s relationships with its...

September 27, 2011
Tips on Managing Your Company’s Social Media Account [DMA11]
Social media campaigns live and die by a company’s ability to keep up a high level of activity. This is key, especially for fast paced social media platforms, where an avalanche of activity from...

September 27, 2011
3 Online Marketing Trends to Jump On [DMA11]
Everyone’s looking for the latest, greatest online marketing strategy that will turn their brand into an overnight success. But some of the marketing tools that will prove to be supremely...

September 27, 2011
Getting Found through Search Advertising [DMA11]
One of the many ways that companies get themselves noticed online is through search advertising, the method by which online marketers pay to get their ads placed on the search results page of a given...

September 26, 2011
A Closer Look at DMA2011’s Thought Leadership Series [DMA11]
The DMA 2011 Conference & Exhibition is, by definition, a web marketing seminar. But what really serves to separate DMA2011 from other conferences of its ilk is the planned Thought Leadership...

September 26, 2011
From Myth to Revelation – Getting to the Root of Effective Digital Marketing [DMA11]
Our world is riddled with myths – myths that not only distort reality but that have the potential for sending people off on wild goose chases. There are even myths surrounding digital marketing,...

September 24, 2011
Multimedia Marketing – The Pitfalls of Do It Yourself Learning [DMA11]
Despite what you might have surmised or what you may have been told somewhere along the line, multimedia marketing isn’t intuitive. Sure, there are many people who know marketing as if it were...

September 24, 2011
Direct Marketing Analysis [DMA11]
An integral component of any direct marketing campaign is the analysis phase. Answers must be found for the questions of what went right and what went wrong, how many prospects or customers were...

September 23, 2011
DMA2011 and the Long Term Benefits of Networking with Your Peers [DMA11]
It’s difficult to put DMA2011 into a box and define it with a brief sentence. Yes, it’s a direct marketing conference aimed at educating as many people as possible during the course of a...

September 23, 2011
Boning Up on Customer Retention and Loyalty at DMA2011 [DMA11]
We live in a challenging economy where even a single lost customer can represent a massive swing from profit to loss. At the upcoming DMA2011 Conference & Exhibition taking place in Boston,...

September 22, 2011
Are You Marketing with Facebook Yet? [DMA11]
With half a billion Facebook users and thousands of online communities, has your company started marketing with Facebook yet? If you haven’t begun to include this social media network as part of...

September 22, 2011
Pandora’s Heidi Browning to Speak on Using Customer Insight to Drive Results [DMA11]
Successful email and social media marketing thrives on engagement with your customer base. Involving your customers in the conversation is critical not only for increased exposure to your company...

September 22, 2011
DMA2011: The Past, Present and Future of Direct Marketing [DMA11]
DMA2011 is a truly unique event in that it focuses on the past, present, and future of digital marketing. And it does so in a way that ties everything together to deliver a valuable message to all...

September 21, 2011
Some Sights to Check Out while You’re in Town for DMA2011 [DMA11]
Boston is an enormous place, with more going on within its city limits on a given day than a lot of states have going on in the course of an entire week. It’s also not a half bad place to have...

September 21, 2011
Tips for Lighting the Viral Marketing Fire [DMA11]
Everybody’s always looking for online marketing techniques that will catapult their brand to the top of the heap and have everyone talking about it. This is the basis of viral marketing and when...

September 21, 2011
Tablet Shipments to Reach 253 Million by 2016, Says Juniper Research
A new report by analyst firm Juniper Research forecasts that tablet shipments will reach 253 million by 2016, nearly a five-fold increase from the 55.2 million tablets the company expects to reach the market in 2011.

September 21, 2011
Only 81% of Email Reaches the Inbox, According to Return Path
Findings of a new report by Return Path indicate that email deliverability still plagues commercial email senders worldwide, with only 81% of all permissioned email making it to the inbox.

September 21, 2011
82% of Americans Are Changing Their Shopping Behavior This Holiday Season, SteelHouse Reports
People are changing their shopping behavior and will spend less overall this holiday season, according to a new survey from SteelHouse. 82% of survey respondents said their shopping behavior will change this holiday season

September 21, 2011
Social Commerce Driving Higher Sales and Conversion Rates Despite Economy, Jessops Finds
Reevoo partner Jessops reports that social commerce tools have driven conversion rates up by 10% - 15% and that the level of business conducted online has increased from 8% to 28% in just 18 months.

September 20, 2011
Developing an International Search Marketing Strategy, Part 2 [DMA11]
Website optimization for search engines in other countries is critical to increasing awareness about your brand. As you’ve no doubt already read, internet users in many foreign countries lean...

September 20, 2011
Direct Marketing Goes Mobile [DMA11]
It has always been a dream of direct marketers to be able to find perfectly targeted prospects or customers, and then communicate to them at exactly the right moment when they are most likely to make...

September 19, 2011
The Implications of Google+ on the Future of Social Media Marketing [DMA11]
It seems that every day, you hear about a new development in social media marketing. The latest buzz is centered on the emergence of Google+, which many believe will dethrone Facebook as the leading...

September 19, 2011
Developing an International Search Marketing Strategy, Part 1 [DMA11]
If you ask the experts what they think about search engine optimization (which you’ll get a chance to do in person if you attend the upcoming DMA2011 Conference & Exhibition this October in...

September 17, 2011
The Place to be this Fall to Learn Social Media Marketing [DMA11]
October is a big month for digital media marketers, especially for those that are planning on being in attendance at the DMA2011 Conference & Exhibition taking place in Boston. If your company is...

September 16, 2011
Short Messages make Great Advances with SMS Marketing [DMA11]
Since it feels like everybody is using cell phones to communicate these days, it’s hard to believe that the first person-to-person SMS text message was only sent in December 1994. The first...

September 16, 2011
Understanding the Difference between Social Media Marketing and Direct Marketing [DMA11]
Although there is a point at which social media marketing and direct marketing intersect, there are some distinct differences in approach that anyone undertaking a digital marketing campaign should...

September 15, 2011
Viral Marketing through Video [DMA11]
At one point or another, everyone has experienced writer’s block. It even happens to professional writers whose full time job it is to come up with interesting ideas on a daily basis. If...

September 15, 2011
Striking while the Iron’s Hot – Text Marketing Ideas from the Textperts [DMA11]
With the proliferation of affordable mobile devices that are capable of doing things that desktop computers weren’t even capable of doing 10 years ago, businesses that employ methods of...

September 14, 2011
Where to find Marketing Career Opportunities [DMA11]
There’s an old saying that tells us “No man is an island.” There are also a handful of popular songs that remind us of the same thing, but not a single one of them will help you...

September 14, 2011
Twitter Co-Founder Biz Stone to Speak at DMA2011 [DMA11]
You’ve no doubt already heard that there are going to be some exciting keynote speeches taking place at the DMA2011 Conference & Exhibition in Boston this October from thought leaders in...

September 13, 2011
US Advertising Expenditures Increased 3.2% in First Half Of 2011, Kantar Media Reports
Total advertising expenditures in the first six months of 2011 increased 3.2% from a year ago and finished the period at $71.5 billion, according to data released by Kantar Media. Spending growth eased slightly during the second quarter and was up 2.8% compared to last year.

September 13, 2011
Email and Social Media Together Improve Click Rates, List Growth for Small Businesses, Constant Contact Reports
Small businesses that combine email marketing with social media marketing are more successful with their marketing campaigns than those who use email alone, according to new data from Constant Contact, Inc.

September 1, 2011
Dressing Up Your Facebook Page [DMA11]
Let’s “face” it. As far as handsome goes, Facebook has a long way to go. Of course, anything that can point to itself as the “anti-MySpace” will have great appeal among...

August 30, 2011
Searching for Priorities at the DMA2011 Conference [DMA11]
With so many search marketing strategies competing for attention, where can direct marketers turn for help and in-depth information on setting search marketing priorities? They can turn to the DMA2011...

August 28, 2011
How to Delegate Management of Your Social Media Marketing Campaign [DMA11]
Managing social media isn’t something that a company should relegate to just anyone. Whether you elect to put someone in charge that's high up on the food chain, or outsource those duties to a...

August 23, 2011
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TRACK AT DMA 2011 [DMA11]
Social media marketing opportunities are everywhere. With advertising revenues expected to explode to over $8 billion in the next five years, this could be the next big marketing sensation. Everyone...

August 23, 2011
comScore Ranks Top 50 US Web Properties; Americans Flock to Ticket-Sites
comScore, Inc. has released its monthly analysis of US Web activity at the top online properties for July 2011 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. Ticket sites were popular in July as Americans looked for summer entertainment at concerts and sporting events, while back-to-school shopping created a flurry of activity at Consumer Goods and Apparel sites.

August 23, 2011
Mobile Video Calling Users to Exceed 130 Million by 2016, Finds Juniper
The prospects of mobile video calling have improved in the last eighteen months due to the launch of mobile video calling services by major industry players, increased availability of front-facing cameras on smartphones and underlying technology improvements finds a recently released study by Juniper Research.

August 23, 2011
IWCO Direct Announces Expanded Executive Roles
IWCO Direct, a leading national provider of direct marketing solutions, announced that Executive Vice President - Chief Financial Officer Joseph F. Morrison will take on an expanded role as President. Executive Vice President – Sales & Client Services Patrick Deck has been named Executive Vice President - Chief Marketing Officer. James N. Andersen will continue as Chief Executive Officer and will devote additional energies to IWCO Direct’s growth strategies. Tom Wicka, who has served as Executive Vice President – Chief Marketing Officer, will continue to provide leadership as a member of the Board of Directors.

August 22, 2011
Retailers Must Look Beyond Awareness and Traditional Themes, Motista Data Suggests
New data released by Motista suggests that retailers should look beyond the traditional set of holiday emotions such as family and giving to understand what’s really motivating consumers to spend more. The data also reveals different ways in which men and women interact and connect with retailers, which may be useful as retailers plan their holiday marketing campaigns.

August 20, 2011
Are You Too Experienced to Take a Digital Marketing Class? [DMA11]
You don’t have to take digital marketing classes to learn how to market effectively in the 21st century, but it sure can help speed up the learning curve – especially if you’ve got a...

August 20, 2011
Get an International Feel at DMA2011 [DMA11]
Just when you think you’ve mastered the techniques of managing an integrated marketing campaign, the boss throws you a curve ball and asks you to develop a global marketing strategy. Now what?...

August 18, 2011
Putting it all Together with an Integrated Marketing Campaign [DMA11]
Integrated marketing involves coordinating all marketing communication tools, avenues, functions and sources within a company into a seamless program that maximizes the impact on consumers and other...

August 17, 2011
The Importance of SEO in Today’s Mobile and Social World [DMA11]
These days, with the emergence of mobile technologies and the explosion of social media sites, more companies are looking to capitalize on the possibilities that exist outside of what are now...

August 16, 2011
USPS Proposes to Revise Standards on Folded Self-Mailers and Unenveloped Mailpieces
As published in the Federal Register, the Postal Service proposes to revise the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) to provide standards for creating folded self-mailers (FSM) and other unenveloped mailpieces such as forms, statements, and official notices that will improve processing of these pieces on automated Postal processing equipment.

August 15, 2011
US Mobile Video Viewership Has Grown 40%, Millennial Media Reports
Millennial Media has released its 50th mobile intelligence report. Highlights of the report include the finding that the number of US mobile video viewers has grown 40% year-over-year, according to Nielsen.

August 14, 2011
Growing Ideas for Organic Search Marketing at the DMA2011 Conference [DMA11]
Want to know how to improve the visibility of a website or web page without paying to have your listing right at the top? Then you need to find out everything there is to know about organic (or...

August 13, 2011
Staying Ahead of the Curve with Search Engine Optimization Changes [DMA11]
Search engine optimization has come a long way in just the past few years. Site optimization has evolved far beyond previously successful methods of keyword-stuffing web content in the hopes of...

August 12, 2011
Integrated Insights into Integrated Marketing [DMA11]
With so many concurrent sessions available over the nine educational tracks offered at DMA2011, it may be hard to select the options that will provide the best insights into integrated marketing....

August 12, 2011
Ranking High on Search Engines Organically [DMA11]
One of the first things you’ll learn in organic search training is that it’s entirely possible to get listed on the front page of a search engine without having to pay a single cent in...

August 11, 2011
Consult with a Guru at DMA2011 [DMA11]
How great would it be if you could consult with your very own guru for answers to your most urgent digital marketing questions - and you didn’t even have to climb to the top of a mountain to get...

August 10, 2011
Personalized Messages Four Times More Effective than Time-, Lifestyle- or Location-Based Offers, Upstream Study Finds
A new study from Upstream reveals that mobile advertisements that are tailored to respondents' "tastes and interests" far out-perform other offers that are based on time, lifestyle, or location.

August 10, 2011
Google Wallet and NFC Smartphones Spark Buzz Around Retail Contactless Technology, Says ABI Research
Recent developments in contactless payment technology are generating renewed interest, and suggest that the long-delayed dream of comprehensive contactless payment systems may finally be approaching reality. The introduction of Google Wallet and the expectation that several new NFC-enabled smartphones will reach consumer markets soon have created a sense of optimism.

August 8, 2011
Crossing Over Into Cross-Channel Marketing [DMA11]
In today’s crazy communications world, customers and prospects switch media in rapid-fire succession. One moment they’re on their smartphone sending a Tweet and the next they’re on a...

August 8, 2011
E-Commerce Spending Reached $37.5 Billion in Q2, Up 14% from Year Ago, comScore Reports
comScore, Inc. has released its Q2 2011 US retail e-commerce sales estimates, which showed that online retail spending reached $37.5 billion for the quarter, up 14% versus a year ago.

August 8, 2011
Linear Mobile Barcode Scanning Traffic to Rise during Back-to-School and Holiday, ABI Reports
2D barcodes attract market interest and media hype, but after more than 40 years of use conventional 1D linear barcodes are still useful, ubiquitous, and remain important in mobile barcode scanning applications, especially in late Q3 and Q4 2011, according to ABI Research.

August 8, 2011
US Postal Service Loss Continues in Third Quarter
The US Postal Service ended its third quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2011 (April 1-June 30) with a net loss of $3.1 billion, compared to a net loss of $3.5 billion for the same period in FY 2010. Total mail volume declined to 39.8 billion pieces for the quarter, compared to 40.9 billion pieces in the third quarter of FY 2010.

August 8, 2011
CAS, Inc. Continues Growth, Adds Jared Wright as Director of Bus. Development
CAS, an Omaha based list marketing and data processing company has announced the addition of a new member to its executive team. Jared Wright joined the company as director of business development in July. CAS is proud to welcome Wright, a dynamic professional who will help guide the company's continued growth.

August 7, 2011
Do You Really Need to Take Social Media Classes? [DMA11]
Maybe you’re the type who thinks that social media classes don’t apply to you. After all, there isn’t much to marketing online other than creating a Facebook page, setting up a...

August 7, 2011
Learn How to Integrate SEM at DMA2011 [DMA11]
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) can be a powerful component of an integrated marketing strategy. Getting brands, websites, products or services listed at the top of a search engine like Google, Yahoo!...

August 6, 2011
Mobile SMS Featured at DMA2011 [DMA11]
SMS marketing is the latest strategy in the integrated marketing toolkit. As the number of cellphones, smartphones and hand-held devices skyrocket, its importance to marketers will also increase...

August 6, 2011
Learning the Basics of SEM [DMA11]
Multichannel marketing relies heavily on search engine marketing to fly. The thing is, the concept of search engine marketing (SEM) scares people – well, some people, anyway. Those that are...

August 4, 2011
The Importance of Measuring Market ROI in Your Digital Marketing Campaign [DMA11]
There’s a reason why a lot of companies don’t have the necessary tools in place to measure marketing ROI for their social media strategies: Facebook and Twitter, two of the most commonly...

August 4, 2011
Sign up Now for One-to-One Labs at DMA2011 [DMA11]
Here’s another great reason to be in Boston this October during DMA2011 - One-to-One Labs.This is your chance to sit down with experts from three industry leading companies during the DMA...

August 3, 2011
The Importance of Digital Marketing Classes in Today’s Constantly Changing Environment [DMA11]
In case you weren’t aware, the marketing industry is in the midst of a major transformation, and social media is the reason. Whether or not you think that social media should be “at...

August 3, 2011
HAS DIGITAL MARKETING GONE DIRECT OR HAS DIRECT MARKETING GONE DIGITAL? [DMA11]
When you attend the DMA2011 Conference & Exhibition, October 1-6 in Boston, you’ll find that the answer to the above question is: yes, no, and all of the above. Many digital marketers...

August 2, 2011
The Top 3 Rules of Mobile Marketing [DMA11]
One of the latest, greatest additions to every company’s marketing tool box involves the rapid evolution of mobile technology—and mobile marketing trainings are beginning to take...

August 2, 2011
Integrated Marketing and the 4 Types of Marketers [DMA11]
It’s called integrated marketing communication (IMC for short) and if you think those are just a few meaningless words thrown together to create a phrase that sounds packed with significance but...

August 1, 2011
Level Up Your Digital Marketing Game [DMA11]
There’s a lot of common sense that goes into digital marketing and the development of a strong online marketing strategy. But if you want to move beyond simply having an online presence and get...

August 1, 2011
ANALYZE YOUR MARKETING ANALYTICS AT THE DMA2011 CONFERENCE [DMA11]
Were you one of the direct marketers contributing to the stunning statistic that the amount of data produced in 2010 was more than all other years put together? If that describes you perfectly, then...

August 1, 2011
Short and Sweet - SMS is Hard to Beat [DMA11]
Why are more and more direct marketers jumping on the short message service (SMS) marketing bandwagon? The short answer is that they don’t want to miss out on this latest money-making addition...

July 31, 2011
The Difference Between Text Marketing and Advertising Via Text [DMA11]
A lot of people confuse the concept of text marketing with advertising via text, but there are subtle differences between the two that should be understood by anyone considering either option....

July 31, 2011
Text Marketing Comes of Age [DMA11]
Everyone has seen them at restaurants and family gatherings - teenagers and now even adults who are capable of sending and receiving hundreds of text messages a day. Some people have come to think of...

July 31, 2011
Find Job Opportunities at DMA2011 [DMA11]
With the national unemployment rate as high as it is, it’s easy to get discouraged and start believing that you’ll never land the job you were meant to have. But remember this old saying:...

July 30, 2011
Tips on Finding the Right CRM Marketing Tool [DMA11]
Once you’ve reached the point where you’ve identified your target audience, you can begin to market specifically to them. But your efforts don’t end here. In fact, this is where the...

July 30, 2011
Integrate Facebook Marketing Tools at DMA2011 [DMA11]
Facebook is not just for telling the world what you ate for dinner anymore. Serious direct marketing professionals take advantage of Facebook advertising tools to develop a business-networking...

July 30, 2011
Stick Around for Post-conference Certifications at DMA2011 [DMA11]
Here’s a great way to get twice the bang for your travel buck - attend the October DMA Conference 2011 in Boston and get in-depth industry knowledge, then extend your hotel stay and attend a...

July 29, 2011
Of Pennies and Perfection: What to Look for in a Mobile App Developer [DMA11]
If you’ve got a killer idea for a mobile phone application that you could market to your customer base as a method of enhancing their experience but don’t have the technological know-how...

July 29, 2011
Get the Latest Viral Marketing Ideas at DMA2011 [DMA11]
Searching for a viral marketing idea to spread your company’s message in an easy and cost-effective manner? Similar to those entertaining videos online that get millions of hits around the...

July 29, 2011
The Top 3 Reasons Social Media Works Better than Search Engine Marketing [DMA11]
Social media advertising is growing in popularity for one reason: it works. As compelling as this reason ought to be, there are even more reasons why utilizing your brand’s social media presence...

July 29, 2011
Citi Launches Credit Card with No Late Fees or Penalty Rate
More than half of consumers have paid a bill late in their lifetime, according to the Citi Simplicity Survey. Citi Cards has announced it is introducing the Citi Simplicity Card to US consumers, with a single rate across all purchases, balance transfers and cash advances, no late fees, and no penalty rate.

July 28, 2011
Marketing 101: Identifying Your Target Audience [DMA11]
Marketing systems are complex creatures. They require a lot more thought and intensive preparation than many people realize. Because of this, they have the potential to paralyze those with limited...

July 28, 2011
What’s Ahead for Social Media? [DMA11]
The end of each year is traditionally a time to start thinking about laying out an integrated marketing plan for the coming year. Anyone involved in building a social media presence for their own...

July 28, 2011
Back by Popular Demand - Preview Sessions for DMA2011 [DMA11]
Each year the DMA conference is packed with informative seminars and direct marketing courses, and DMA2011 is no exception. As part of the nine educational tracks at this year’s conference, DMA...

July 28, 2011
Travel Sites Witness Seasonal Surge as Summertime Officially Commences, comScore Finds
comScore, Inc. has released its monthly analysis of US web activity at the top online properties for June 2011 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. Several Travel subcategories ranked among the top-gainers in June as summertime officially began. Sporting Goods and Toy sites also saw gains as parents looked for ways to keep their kids occupied during the summer recess.

July 27, 2011
Finding Career Opportunities at Marketing Conferences [DMA11]
The appeal of marketing seminars and conferences is incredibly broad, so much so that you might not even be aware of everything you stand to gain from the experience when you first go into it. For the...

July 27, 2011
The New Tool – SMS Marketing and Customer Relationship Management [DMA11]
Just because SMS marketing is one of the latest customer relationship management tools to emerge doesn’t mean that business decision makers have any excuse not to get a couple of ground rules...

July 27, 2011
Think You can’t Learn any more about Social Marketing? [DMA11]
If you want to learn social marketing – really learn it – then the best possible advice that you can get is to attend a social networking seminar or two. Or three. Or three dozen. The more...

July 27, 2011
Majority of US and UK Consumers Trust Their Banks Post-Recession, Pitney Bowes Reveals
Pitney Bowes Business Insight has announced a study revealing that 57% of consumers in the US and the UK trust their banks overall. According to the study, trust in the marketing communications of a service provider determines up to 23% of a customer’s overall trust in the provider.

July 26, 2011
SEO Basics, Intermediate and Advanced at DMA2011 [DMA11]
There’s always something new to learn about search marketing campaigns. But the true beginner might feel overwhelmed trying to understand all the opportunities in search advertising. Since this...

July 26, 2011
Mobilizing for Mobile Marketing [DMA11]
Remember “dialing” a phone, before the advent of touch-tone phones? Today's consumers have been just as quick to abandon land lines and desktop computers in favor of mobile phones and...

July 26, 2011
Would You Like to Make a Call? Consumers Say, 'No Thanks' CloudTalk Survey
Would you believe making calls is not the first or even second thing consumers choose to do when using their mobile devices? How about that it ranks near the bottom of the top five smart phone uses? Believe it or not, that’s exactly the case, according to an informal survey conducted by CloudTalk.

July 25, 2011
Mobile Marketing Options for Real-Time Marketers [DMA11]
As real-time direct marketers, we’ve only just begun to tap into the power of mobile marketing options. Since the market is growing so dramatically, we need to intensify our efforts to...

July 25, 2011
Big Names Head Roster of Keynotes at DMA2011 [DMA11]
DMA2011, the global event for real-time marketers, will bring real-time marketing to life through visionary thought leaders and expert practitioners from major global brands. This extraordinary...

July 25, 2011
Despite Privacy Issues, Location Analytics Market Forecast to Reach $9 Billion in 2016, ABI Research Finds
As a result of the recent “locationgate” controversy (centering on Apple’s and others’ logging of the location of mobile devices as they are used by consumers) the location-based services (LBS) and advertising (LBA) markets have come under intense scrutiny, with privacy legislation a major focus.

July 25, 2011
The Big Ad Gig Returns - Atmosphere Proximity and The New York Times Launch Call for Entries
Eight young advertising creatives will once again compete to win a 30-day paid freelance position with the return of The Big Ad Gig (www.thebigadgig.com), to Advertising Week 2011, produced in association with Atmosphere Proximity and The New York Times.

July 23, 2011
Cell Phone Marketing and the KISS Method [DMA11]
Cell phone marketing is an essential element of comprehensive marketing in that there are more people walking around with mobile devices today than own computers. But it’s also a field...

July 22, 2011
Getting Noticed Through Convention Marketing Exhibits [DMA11]
One of the keys to effective marketing communication is being in the right place at the right time. If you’re an individual or a company that specializes in providing direct marketing solutions...

July 22, 2011
Multichannel Marketing on YouTube and Vimeo [DMA11]
Multichannel marketing requires that you make full use of the unique features inherent in all social media platforms. This doesn’t mean that you have to open yourself up to receiving instant...

July 22, 2011
Direct Marketing’s Best on Display at DMA2011 [DMA11]
The DMA2011 Conference & Exhibition is the premier event for gathering together the world’s thought leaders and cutting-edge vendors in one convenient location. At the heart of DMA2011 is...

July 22, 2011
Video Content Views Surpass Six Billion for First Time, comScore Finds
comScore, Inc. has released data from the comScore Video Metrix service showing that 178 million US Internet users watched online video content in June for an average of 16.8 hours per viewer. The total US Internet audience engaged in more than 6.2 billion viewing sessions during the course of the month, an all-time high.

July 21, 2011
Avoiding a Common Mistake in Integrated Marketing [DMA11]
The idea of cross channel marketing has been around for a long, long time. But recently the field of channels has grown a lot wider, thanks to the arrival of social media and the new possibilities...

July 21, 2011
Media Tablets Have the Opportunity to Transform the Enterprise, According to IDC Canada
According to IDC Canada, Businesses represent a small portion of the media tablet market to date, but the opportunity and potential for these devices to transform the enterprise is huge.

July 21, 2011
Viral Marketing in 3 (Not So) Easy Steps [DMA11]
The truth about viral marketing is that it’s near impossible to plan, and absolutely unpredictable. But there are certain things that you can do to increase your chances of a catchy marketing...

July 21, 2011
Learn the Difference Between SEM and SEO at DMA2011 [DMA11]
SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing) are two vital elements of pulling off an effective online marketing campaign. But a lot of people are confused by the difference...

July 20, 2011
Get Your Geek On at DMA2011 [DMA11]
Geeks of all persuasion will be thrilled to know that the Geekend Roadshow will be in Boston on October 3 and 4 as part of the DMA2011 Conference and Exhibition. The interactive phenomenon that was...

July 20, 2011
Exploring Your Advertising Options through Viral Marketing [DMA11]
The first thing that you should know about viral marketing is that succeeding in it can be about as hard as catching lightning in a bottle. If it were easier, more companies would have success at it...

July 20, 2011
comScore Releases June 2011 US Search Engine Rankings; Google Sites Lead
comScore, Inc. has released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the US search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in June with 65.5% of search queries conducted.

July 20, 2011
SHOPPING FOR SOCIAL MEDIA INFO AND MORE AT DMA’S 2011 CONFERENCE [DMA11]
Responding to ever-increasing demand for additional information about the latest trends in social media marketing, this year’s DMA2011 Conference and Exhibition for the first time will feature a...

July 19, 2011
Digital Marketing Events – Not Just for Industry Titans [DMA11]
Attending digital marketing events isn’t just something that the titans of industry do. Sure, you’ll find plenty of representation from megalithic corporations at digital marketing events...

July 19, 2011
Direct Marketing’s Brightest Honored at DMA2011 [DMA11]
Not only is the DMA2011 Annual Conference the place to network with thousands of industry peers, it’s also the place to meet thought leaders and attend many direct marketing awards events. Daily...

July 19, 2011
Mobile Cloud Enterprise Revenues to Reach $39 Billion by 2016, Juniper Research Finds
A new report from Juniper Research has found that annual revenues derived from mobile cloud based enterprise services are expected to reach $39 billion by 2016 as mobile network operators increasingly offer corporate clients an array of unified communications suites.

July 19, 2011
Searching for SEO at the DMA2011 Conference [DMA11]
It’s all everybody is talking about these days - SEO for marketing. Search Engine Optimization - you know you should be doing it; you may even think you are doing it. But are you taking...

July 18, 2011
Registrants Already Making Plans for DMA2011 [DMA11]
Over 10,000 attendees will be in Boston from October 1-6 for the DMA2011 Conference and Exhibition.They’ll have the opportunity to meet with over 350 vendors and solutions providers in the...

July 18, 2011
Playing it Safe in SMS Marketing [DMA11]
SMS marketing is still a really touchy issue for many consumers, as well as lawmakers. There are an awful lot of rules to abide by when engaging in an SMS marketing campaign, many having to do with...

July 18, 2011
The Importance of Brand Personality in Digital Marketing [DMA11]
Creative marketing techniques are critical for any company involved in digital marketing, but it’s important not to lose sight of the basics when reaching for the stars. This is a mistake that...

July 18, 2011
BUILD A SOLID BASE FOR YOUR MARKETING DATABASE AT THE DMA2011 CONFERENCE [DMA11]
For most businesses, the primary means of growth involves the acquisition of new customers and generating leads. The best way of keeping track of that information is with a marketing database. The...

July 18, 2011
Facebook Users Are More Trusting, Pew Survey Finds
New national survey findings by Pew Research suggest that use of social networking sites is growing and that those who use these sites, especially Facebook users, have higher measures of social well-being.

July 17, 2011
Learn the 1, 2, 3’s of Application Marketing [DMA11]
Application marketing is a lot more difficult than it looks. Many companies mistakenly think that simply building an application will cause the herds to flock. But marketing in apps is a tricky...

July 17, 2011
Where Twitter Fits into Your Integrated Media Marketing Campaign [DMA11]
To some, marketing on Twitter comes almost as a form of second nature. It’s amazing to watch, and more often than not intimidating for those to whom the Twitterscape is an alien concept. But...

July 15, 2011
Free Standing Insert (FSI) Coupon Activity Decreased 3.9% in First Half of 2011, Kantar Reports
Free Standing Insert (FSI) coupon activity decreased 3.9% based on Coupons Dropped during the first six months of 2011 versus the same time period a year ago according to Marx, a Kantar Media solution.

July 15, 2011
Tension Launches New Brand Identity to Highlight Expanded Technology, Services, and Global Presence
Tension Envelope Corporation, for years an industry leader in envelope design, printing, and manufacturing, has announced an updated brand identity that includes a new naming convention, refreshed logo, and tagline.

July 15, 2011
Worldwide PC Shipments Increased 2.3% in Second Quarter of 2011, Gartner Says
Worldwide PC shipments surpassed 85.2 million units in the second quarter of 2011, a 2.3% increase from the same period last year, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. These results are below Gartner's earlier projection for 6.7% growth.

July 15, 2011
Analytics Answers and a Challenge at DMA2011 [DMA11]
You’ll get answers to all of your direct marketing analytics questions at this year’s DMA marketing conference. With a pre-conference intensive, a Data, Measurement & Attribution...

July 15, 2011
Media Tablet Sales Lag Optimistic Q1 Targets, But Forecast Remains Strong, Finds IDC
Worldwide media tablet shipments into sales channels fell by 28% on a sequential basis in the first calendar quarter of 2011 (1Q11) to 7.2 million units worldwide, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Media Tablet and eReader Tracker. Looking forward, however, IDC raised its shipment forecast for 2011 to 53.5 million units from a previous projection of 50.4 million units.

July 15, 2011
Marketing for Social Media—It's a Scary Thing [DMA11]
In the quest to learn everything about marketing for social media, you can stumble across a web site that lists 101 social media sites! No, you don't have to use StumbleUpon to find this site. And,...

July 14, 2011
Get the Latest B-to-B Marketing Content at DMA2011 [DMA11]
If you think direct marketing is all about business-to-consumer, think again. Business-to-business direct marketing is an equally important component of an integrated marketing strategy. Marketers who...

July 14, 2011
Mobile Payments Market to Almost Triple by 2015, Reaching $670 Billion, Juniper Reports
A new study from Juniper Research has determined that the total value of mobile payments for digital and physical goods, money transfers and NFC (Near Field Communications) transactions will reach $670bn by 2015, up from $240bn this year. These forecasts represent the gross merchandise value of all purchases or the value of money being transferred.

July 14, 2011
SO YOU WANT TO LEARN SEARCH MARKETING? [DMA11]
Let’s imagine you’re brand new to this business of direct marketing. You’ve learned the fundamentals and believe that the way to online success is through Search Engine...

July 13, 2011
Three Great Reasons to Show Up Early for the DMA2011 Conference [DMA11]
Every time you look, it seems like there’s another compelling reason to block out time for this year’s DMA marketing conference. The exhibition hall and main educational sessions and run...

July 13, 2011
366 Million Unique Visitors Went Online in Europe in May, comScore Finds
comScore, Inc. has released an overview of Internet usage in Europe, showing 366.9 million unique visitors went online in May 2011 for an average of 26.8 hours per person.

July 12, 2011
Additional $1.85 Billion Spent on Video Game Content for First Quarter 2011, NPD Research Shows
According to The NPD Group, in addition to the $2.03 billion spent in the US by consumers on new physical video and PC game software in the first quarter of 2011, the total consumer spend on content via other monetization methods, including used games, game rentals, subscriptions, digital full game downloads, social network games, downloadable content, and mobile games, is estimated at $1.85 billion.

July 11, 2011
Apple's App Store Downloads Top 15 Billion
Apple has announced that over 15 billion apps have been downloaded from its revolutionary App Store by the more than 200 million iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users worldwide. The App Store offers more than 425,000 apps and developers have created an incredible array of over 100,000 native iPad apps.

July 11, 2011
Global Ad Spend up 8.8% in Q1 2011 as Advertisers Increase TV Spend, Nielsen Reports
According to Nielsen, Global advertising rose 8.8% year-on-year in Q1 to total USD 118 billion based on published rate cards, as advertisers spent more on television and continued to invest in booming consumer Asian and Latin American markets.

July 11, 2011
Men and Women Show Different Priorities in Selecting Brands, NPD Reports
According to The NPD Group, while men and women share many of the same priorities when it comes to selecting brands, they differ in important ways and that represents opportunities for manufacturers who recognize and then leverage these unique requirements.

July 11, 2011
Global Search Ad Spending Slows in Q2 Covario Study Finds
Covario, Inc. has issued its quarterly Global Search Advertising Spend Analysis, which found that second quarter growth in paid search ad spending among a selection of high-tech and consumer electronics companies slowed to 7% versus the same period last year.

July 11, 2011
Social Media Management [DMA11]
There are so many social media marketing outlets today that a whole new industry was bound to spring up to handle them. Social media management is the strategy companies employ to manage multiple...

July 10, 2011
Establishing Yourself as an Authority [DMA11]
If you attend any web marketing seminar, one of the things you’ll hear a lot of by the experts in attendance is the importance of establishing yourself as an authority in your industry. With as...

July 8, 2011
Viewers Still Prefer 'Live' Content Over Connected TV Technology, Knowledge Networks Finds
Though connected TV technology can now be found in almost two in five TV households, new Knowledge Networks findings reveal that viewers of all age groups still prefer "live" TV over "high-control" technologies.

July 7, 2011
Reliance on Smartphones Driving Changes in Consumers' Purchase Habits, ExactTarget Finds
A new study released by ExactTarget finds that more than half of US consumers who’ve made at least one purchase on their smartphone have done so based on a marketing message delivered via mobile email.

July 7, 2011
How to Increase Your Chance of Success in a Viral Marketing Campaign [DMA11]
At DMA2011 Conference & Exhibition this October, you will have the opportunity to meet with hundreds of experts and talk face to face with marketers from all over the world. You’ll be able...

July 6, 2011
Advertisers Are Buying Local; According to New Research by Topix
Topix, a leading local forum site in the US, has announced new research that shows the market for geo-targeted online advertising is booming, as indicated by 90% of advertising professionals surveyed stating their clients are buying more geographically-targeted online ads in 2011 than ever before.

July 5, 2011
Amazon.com, Apple Stores Gain Significant Ground in Latest Top Retailers Report
The view from the top hasn’t changed much, but the nation’s largest retailers are keeping a watchful eye on two companies that continue to make significant advances on their coveted territory -- Amazon and Apple --according to the STORES Top 100 Retailers.

July 5, 2011
Comparing Apples to Apples: How to Find the Right App Developer for Your Company [DMA11]
Application developers come in all shapes, sizes, and walks of life. And just like most professionals, you can’t judge their abilities based on anything but their track record. If you’re...

July 2, 2011
Tips on Marketing Your Brand to International Cultures [DMA11]
As you probably already know, there’s a lot more to marketing your brand to international cultures than simply using a free translation app on your company website so that someone in South Korea...

July 1, 2011
Consumer Confidence in Technology Increased in June, According to CEA Index
Consumer confidence in technology spending rose in June, according to the latest data released today from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The CEA Indexes also showed that consumer sentiment in the overall economy dropped to its lowest level in 10 months.

June 28, 2011
SOCIAL MEDIA FOR BUSINESSES [DMA11]
So far, it seems the best examples of social media marketing success have come from business-to-consumer marketing. Can the same results be achieved for business-to-business marketing? Current trends...

June 27, 2011
SEO Basics: Getting Yourself Listed with Google, Yahoo and Bing [DMA11]
Some people view online advertising as a waste of time and effort if they run a brick-and-mortar business that’s solely reliant on local traffic. The problem with this kind of thinking is that...

June 24, 2011
Search Marketing Myths: If You Build It, They Won’t Come [DMA11]
One of the biggest, most prevalent myths about Internet marketing campaigns harkens back to a famous movie quote about a farmer and a baseball field. You’ve probably seen it – everyone...

June 23, 2011
GET IN-DEPTH MARKETING TRAINING AT DMA2011 [DMA11]
Marketing executives have enough on their plates trying to understand the latest direct marketing strategies themselves without worrying about how to efficiently pass their knowledge on to everyone...

June 22, 2011
Yankee Group Unveils New European Mobile User Study: Mobile Users are Multi-Device-Savvy
Yankee Group's 2011 European Mobile User Study finds 40% of consumers who intend to buy a smartphone as their next mobile device will choose an iPhone. Android-based devices come in second, followed by BlackBerry and Nokia.

June 22, 2011
comScore Ranks Top 50 US Web Properties for May 2011: Summer Travel Plans Drive Gains at Car Rental Sites
comScore, Inc. has released its monthly analysis of US Web activity at the top online properties for May 2011 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. Mother’s Day prompted sons and daughters nationwide to shop for bouquets and other gifts on Flowers/Gifts/Greetings sites, as well as send loving e-cards. As the summer months neared, Americans looked ahead to book travel plans at Car Rental sites.

June 22, 2011
MAKE AN IMPACT WITH SMS ADVERTISING [DMA11]
SMS (Short Message Service) is the text communication service component of phone, web or mobile communication systems. Estimated advertising expenditures in this medium are in the billions of dollars,...

June 21, 2011
IS MOBILE SEARCH MARKETING DIFFERENT? [DMA11]
Now that we’re finally beginning to realize the rapid growth potential for mobile marketing, we’re suddenly being confronted with the need to develop different strategies for it....

June 17, 2011
MOBILE MARKETING IS DIRECT MARKETING [DMA11]
According to statistics provided by the United Nations’ International Telecommunications Union (ITU), opportunities for mobile advertising are growing at an astonishing rate. They report that at...

June 17, 2011
ONLINE MARKETING IS DIRECT MARKETING [DMA11]
Is there a better way of marketing directly to customers and prospects than through the Internet? After years of dominance, we’re seeing chinks in the armor of stalwarts like print, radio and...

June 16, 2011
Infogroup President and CEO Clare Hart to Moderate Panel at DMA's ALL FOR ONE Summit
Infogroup, a leading provider of targeted high-value sales and marketing data, global research, market intelligence and innovative digital engagement solutions, has announced that the company’s president and CEO Clare Hart will moderate a panel at the Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) ALL FOR ONE Summit. The panel is entitled “Is Your Organization Up to the Challenge of Integration?” and will be held at 11:45 a.m. on Tuesday, June 21, the second day of the summit.

June 16, 2011
INTEGRATED MARKETING IS THE NEW DIRECT MARKETING [DMA11]
Integrated marketing is the new direct marketing paradigm that takes all channels into consideration to develop a comprehensive marketing plan that leverages data and customer insights. This is the...

June 15, 2011
Digital Becomes 'New Normal' Fueled by Rising Collaboration Across Entertainment & Media Industry, Says PwC
As we move into the golden age of the empowered consumer, the demand for digital experiences is increasing and becoming the norm, according to PwC’s Global entertainment and media outlook: 2011-2015 (Outlook) – a comprehensive five-year outlook for global consumer spending and advertising revenues directly related to entertainment and media content – released today.

June 15, 2011
Canada Post Forced to Shut Down Urban Operations Nationwide
Following 12 days of increasingly costly and damaging rotating strikes being carried out by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), Canada Post has announced it has suspended operations across the country. Canada Post says that the accelerating decline in volumes and revenue combined with the inability to deliver mail on a timely and safe basis has left the company with no choice but to make this decision.

June 15, 2011
Mobile SMS and the Mobile Marketing Agency [DMA11]
One debate swirling around our industry hinges on trying to determine what the direct marketing agency of the future will look like. Will it evolve to integrate all aspects of social marketing and...

June 15, 2011
EXPAND YOUR THINKING AT DMA2011 CONFERENCE [DMA11]
One of the best reasons for attending any marketing event is the opportunity to gain knowledge on the latest industry trends and innovations. The DMA2011 Conference and Exhibition provides the...

June 14, 2011
Loyalty Marketing : The Slam-dunk Approach to CRM [DMA11]
Customer loyalty programs are an indispensable part of customer relationship management. You can use CRM systems to measure the success that your loyalty programs are having, but ultimately it’s...

June 13, 2011
The Relevance of Email Marketing in the Facebook Era [DMA11]
The world has gone nuts for digital marketing – and although that’s not a bad thing, there are plenty of reasons to measure your approach to online marketing in a way that’ll ensure...

June 13, 2011
MAKING TRACKS AT DMA2011 CONFERENCE [DMA11]
The DMA2011 Conference and Exhibition provides diverse, in-depth educational opportunities through its nine session tracks. There are so many sessions to attend and so much new information to learn,...

June 10, 2011
DMA 2011 CONFERENCE—REGISTER EARLY AND SAVE! [DMA11]
Attendees at this year’s DMA2011 Conference and Exhibition can expect to learn a lot about making money—but the special early registration offer for the Oct. 1-6 Boston marketing...

June 10, 2011
NYC DIRECT MARKETERS GET FLASHED—IN A GOOD WAY! [DMA11]
In another preview event leading up to this year’s DMA2011 Conference and Exhibition, direct marketers in New York City will have an opportunity to participate in a free DMA FlashCon. Emulating...

June 9, 2011
Exposing Some of the Most Prevalent CRM Marketing Myths [DMA11]
Myths abound around the subject of customer relationship management (CRM). And while you’d think that most businesses with even the slightest bit of experience dealing directly with customers...

June 9, 2011
90% of Consumers Already Own or Are Considering Purchasing a Tablet, Samsung Mobile Finds
Samsung Mobile has announced the results of an online survey that showed that mobile tablets are becoming the new must-have device for an overwhelming majority of Americans. The survey revealed that 90% of US consumers either already own a tablet or would consider buying one.

June 9, 2011
FREE PREVIEW OF DMA’S GLOBAL EVENT FOR REAL-TIME MARKETERS [DMA11]
Not sure if you’ll be one of the over 10,000 attendees who will descend on Boston from October 1-6 to attend the DMA2011 Conference and Exhibition? Maybe a sneak preview will help you decide....

June 9, 2011
Consumers and Brands Both Benefiting from Daily Deals Websites, According to ConsumerSearch.com
According to a new survey released by ConsumerSearch.com, sentiment towards “daily deal” websites is decidedly positive, with consumer interest, participation, and satisfaction on high. Businesses are also generating repeat visits as a result of offering discounts through these sites.

June 9, 2011
Mobile Media Nearing Mainstream, Knowledge Networks Reports
On-the-go use of the Internet and apps is approaching mainstream status, according to new research from Knowledge Networks. The study shows that 38% of US homes now have at least one Internet- or app-capable mobile device, such as a smartphone, tablet, or iPod Touch.

June 8, 2011
Pin the Tail On the Marketing Strategy [DMA11]
Ask anyone who’s been in marketing for a long time what the best way is to find new customers, and they’ll likely tell you the same thing: Cast your net wide to increase your yield. An...

June 7, 2011
The Top 3 Reasons Why Digital Marketing Seminars Work [DMA11]
Many people view the concept of the digital marketing seminar in a suspicious light, if not a skeptical one. After all, if the people participating in these seminars are experts in online marketing...

June 7, 2011
Over-the-Air TV Homes Now Include 46 Million Consumers, Knowledge Neworks Finds
According to new research by Knowledge Networks (KN), the number of Americans now relying exclusively on over-the-air (OTA) TV broadcasting in their home increased to almost 46 million, up from 42 million just a year ago. The survey also found that the demographics of broadcast-only households skew towards younger adults, minorities and lower-income families.

June 7, 2011
Old Brand Rules, Finds Hub Magazine Survey
The older a brand is, the stronger its identity tends to be, according to a new survey of marketing executives to be published in The Hub Magazine. The survey presented marketers with 30 pairs of brands and asked them to select the one they deemed to be stronger.

June 7, 2011
Communications is Leading Driver of Trust, Reports Pitney Bowes
Pitney Bowes Business Insight, has released a new research study illustrating that communications from a service provider is one of the leading influencers of trust. Customer communications drives more than 20% percent of overall trust of the company, according to the research.

June 3, 2011
Digital Era Enables Chinese Marketers to Leapfrog, According to Z.H. Studio
The digital era, in the view of marketers and industry observers, has put Chinese advertising and marketing firms on a "level playing field" with their more established international competitors, according to a recent report by Z. H. STUDIO.

June 2, 2011
House Energy and Commerce Committee Plans Comprehensive Review of Data Security and Electronic Privacy
The House Energy and Commerce Committee has announced that it is launching a thorough review of data security and electronic privacy issues affecting American businesses and consumers. The committee has begun its work with hearings to shed light on the foundational question of data security, which has drawn increased attention in the wake of recent high-profile data breaches affecting tens of millions of consumers.

May 27, 2011
Europe Sees 40% Growth in Mobile Banking through Smartphones, According to comScore
New research by comScore, Inc. shows that 20 million mobile users across the five leading European markets accessed their bank account via a mobile phone in March 2011. Since August 2010, there has been a 15.4% rise in mobile bankers - largely driven by smartphone users, who accounted for 70% of the mobile banking market in March 2011. Among Smartphone owners the number of banking users has risen by 40% since August 2010.

May 27, 2011
Majority of Smartphone Users Fully Integrate Their Devices in Their Daily Lives, Prosper Survey Shows
According to a recent smartphone survey conducted by Prosper Mobile Insights among smartphone users on their devices, 52.9% say they utilize all of the functions of their smartphones. As mobile technology continues to evolve, a majority of smartphone users are fully integrating their devices into every aspect of their daily lives.

May 26, 2011
US Small Businesses Are Projected to Spend $36B on Marketing Activities in 2012, says AMI
Total marketing spending by US small businesses (SBs, or companies with fewer than 100 employees) will expand in 2012, as an increased number of firms invests in advertising and promotional activities. According to New York-based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc., overall spending is expected to grow 4%, rebounding from 2010 recessionary lows.

May 26, 2011
Media Tablets to Boost Enterprise Mobile Broadband Revenues to $36 Billion Worldwide by 2016, Says ABI Research
In the latest update to its Enterprise Mobility Market Data, ABI Research says mobile broadband revenues from the enterprise segment for cellular connectivity of laptops, netbooks, and media tablets will reach $36 billion worldwide. Boosting enterprise mobile broadband revenues will be connections for the high growth media tablet segment.

May 26, 2011
Internet Advertising Revenues Hit $7.3 Billion in Q1; Highest First-Quarter Revenue Level on Record, According to IAB and PwC
Internet advertising revenues in the US hit $7.3 billion for the first quarter of 2011, representing a 23 percent increase over the same period in 2010, according to figures released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). This marks the highest first-quarter revenue level ever for the industry and a significant increase over last year's first-quarter revenue level, which had been the highest on record to date.

May 25, 2011
DMA Updates Its 'Guidelines for Ethical Business Practice'
The Direct Marketing Association (DMA), through its Ethics Committees and its Board, has announced it has modified and updated its Guidelines for Ethical Business Practices. The Guidelines now include new provisions for social media marketers; changes reflecting the passage of new laws; and updated material addressing consumers’ recent concerns.

May 24, 2011
Green Websites See Second Consecutive Month Of Strong Growt, According to comScore
comScore, Inc. has released its monthly analysis of US Web activity at the top online properties for April. Green sites saw their second consecutive month of strong growth as Americans looked for ways to celebrate Earth Day (April 22) and cut back on fuel costs. Incentive sites were also popular in April, helping Americans stretch their dollars with promotions, daily deals and free samples, and the Royal Wedding drove gains at Entertainment News sites.

May 23, 2011
76% of Small Businesses Believe Ideal Marketing Mix Includes Physical and Digital Communications, Pitney Bowes Survey Finds
The majority of small businesses, 76%, agree their ideal marketing mix includes a combination of physical and digital communications, according to a new survey released by Pitney Bowes. Nearly three quarters surveyed, 72%, say they would do more of it if they had the right customer communications management tools.

May 20, 2011
Google Sites Accounts for 9 of 10 Searches Conducted in Latin America, comScore Reports
A new study by comScore, Inc. finds that in the past year, searches in Latin America surged 21% to more than 18.5 billion queries in March 2011, with the typical searcher conducting 167 queries during the month. Google Sites held a strong lead as the top search destination, accounting for 90% of all searches conducted in the region.

May 20, 2011
American Online Shopping Personalities Are Diverse, SteelHouse Survey Finds
One size does not fit all when it comes to enticing online shoppers to buy, according to a new consumer survey from SteelHouse. Findings include: 25% of men say they would buy premium brand name products compared to just 16% of women.

May 20, 2011
DATALINE Announces Creation of New Data Processing Center, Dataline Analytics
DATALINE, a leading provider of consumer information and modeling services, announces the creation of Dataline Analytics, located in Paramus, New Jersey. Dataline Analytics is the new data processing and fulfillment arm of DATALINE, specializing in merge/purge, data hygiene, NCOA, file enhancement, database maintenance, and order fulfillment.

May 19, 2011
Local Search Advertising Revenues to Reach $8.2 Billion by 2015, BIA-Kelsey Forecasts
BIA/Kelsey forecasts local search advertising revenues to increase from $5.1 billion in 2010 to $8.2 billion by 2015, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10%. Driving this growth in ad revenues is a continuing increase in local search activity. By 2015, the firm expects 30% of search volume will be local in nature.

May 19, 2011
Tablet Use for Business Soars; Smartphone Addiction Continues Apace, Says RingCentral
Fifty-one percent of SMB professionals would rather take their tablet with them when traveling than a laptop or PC, according to a new survey by RingCentral. The survey showed nearly one in every three professionals surveyed owns a tablet.

May 19, 2011
Retailers Watch Consumer Behavior Closely as Economy Evolves, BDO USA Study Finds
Retailers are paying close attention to consumer behavior this year as climbing sales indicate consumers are spending more freely, according to a study by BDO USA, LLP. The report found consumer confidence and spending is less of a concern this year as it fell from the fifth most cited risk factor in 2010 to the 11th.

May 13, 2011
President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts
President Barack Obama has announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts: Robert G. Taub, Commissioner, Postal Regulatory Commission; Mark P. Wetjen, Commissioner, Commodity Futures Trading Commission; and William J. Burns, Deputy Secretary, Department of State.

May 9, 2011
US Online Display Ad Market Delivers 1.1 Trillion Impressions in Q1, comScore Finds
comScore, Inc. has released an overview of the US online display advmarket for Q1 2011, indicating that nearly 1.11 trillion display ads were delivered to US Internet users during the quarter. Facebook accounted for 346 billion impressions, accounting for nearly one third of all display ad impressions delivered.

May 9, 2011
Small Business Are Attractive Target for Fraudsters, Javelin Report Shows
According to a new report by Javelin Strategy & Research small business are an attractive target for fraudsters because they conduct a myriad of transactions that often span both business and personal accounts.

May 6, 2011
Mixed Results in Retail Driven by Shifting Weather, Higher Gasoline Prices and a Late Easter Holiday, According to MasterCard Report
MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse has provided summary results for performance of specific US retail industries in April 2011. Luxury, e-Commerce and Apparel enjoyed strong growth, and the Restaurant category surpassed last month’s gains. However, Electronics sales dipped back into negative territory.

May 6, 2011
Connections with Banks Inspire Social Media Moms to Become Brand Advocates, Motista Reports
Although women have traditionally been seen as taking care of household finances, new consumer connection data powered by Motista reveals that social media moms—women with one or more children under 18 living at home and who recently engaged in social media activity—are far more likely to try new products or services from their banks and nearly eight times more likely to try mobile banking services than their non-social media counterparts.

May 3, 2011
Conversations over Bin Laden's Death Surge in Social Media, According to ORC International
The death of Osama bin Laden has prompted a massive surge of bin Laden-related social media conversations overnight. Based on early data from ORC International’s Social Analytics Solutions, powered by Infegy’s Social Radar, since the initial announcement of his death on Sunday, May 1 conversations about bin Laden have increased a staggering 75,813% across social media sites monitored.

May 3, 2011
44 Billion Mobile App Downloads by 2016, Says ABI Research
A new study from ABI Research reveals that the worldwide app industry is well on its way to achieving 44 billion cumulative downloads by 2016. Android and Windows Phone 7 are steadily catching up with Apple as adoption picks up pace and expansion of their mobile OS installed bases continues to grow.

May 3, 2011
Retailers Increasing Mobile and Social Efforts According to Shop.org/Forrester Survey
According to a new report conducted by Forrester Research for Shop.org, 91% of retailers currently have a mobile strategy in place or in development (up from 74 percent a year ago). Additionally, 72% of retailers say they will increase their spending on social networks this year over last year.

May 3, 2011
This Mother's Day, Mom's Getting Pampered, According to NRF Survey
This year, consumers are fully intent on pampering Mom with some of the finer things in life. According to a new NRF survey conducted by BIGresearch, the average person celebrating the holiday is expected to spend $140.73 on gifts, up from $126.90 last year, and a return to 2008 spending levels. Total spending is expected to reach $16.3 billion.

April 26, 2011
Asia-Pacific Will Lead the Mobile App Gold Rush by 2015, Yankee Group Says
Yankee Group's latest mobile app forecast predicts that by 2015, regions worldwide will reap nearly $36 billion in total app store revenue. But while North America has so far accounted for the lion's share of mobile app revenue, by 2015, Asia-Pacific will be the big generator, accounting for $16 billion, or nearly half of all mobile app revenue.

April 26, 2011
New comScore Report Measures Audience Across Mobile, Apps, Tablet, and Shared-Use Computer Traffic
comScore, Inc. has announced the beta release of the comScore Media Metrix Total Universe report, which provides audience measurement for 100 percent of a site’s traffic, including usage via mobile phones, apps, tablets and shared computers such as Internet cafes.

April 25, 2011
Hispanics More Digitally Engaged than General Population, BIGResearch Finds
Not only are Hispanic consumers more likely to regularly use smartphones and tablets, they tend to be more engaged on their mobile devices than the general population, according to the BIGresearch Simultaneous Media Usage Survey.

April 25, 2011
Green Lifestyles Top-of-Mind for Many Americans in March, According to comScore
comScore, Inc. has released its monthly analysis of US Web activity at the top online properties for March 2011. Green lifestyles were top of mind for many Americans in March as the country took part in the annual Earth Hour (March 26) amid rising fuel costs. Travel sites spiked as springtime rolled in, helping visitors to plan last minute spring break getaways and upcoming summer vacations.

April 22, 2011
Despite Growth in Activity, Magazines Are Still Outpaced by Other Media, Kantar Finds
An analysis by Kantar Media’s new service, DirectHEATSM shows that, despite a growth in activity over the past year, magazines are still being far outpaced by other media, with 85% of all media activity in 2010 occurring outside of magazines.

April 22, 2011
Retail Industry Continues to Lead in Online Ad Spending, eMarketer Says
Retailers spend more on Internet advertising than any other industry, according to new eMarketer estimates. Retailers are expected to spend $5.73 billion on online advertising this year, up from $5.16 billion in 2010, accounting for more than one in every five online ad dollars.

April 22, 2011
Consumer Comfort Index in US Climbs for Fourth Straight Week, Bloomberg Reports
Consumer confidence rose for a fourth consecutive week as Americans became less pessimistic about the state of economy and their personal finances. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index climbed to minus 42.6 in the period to April 17, the best reading since the end of February, from minus 43 the prior week.

April 21, 2011
One in Five Smartphones will have Near Field Communication by 2014, Juniper Research Shows
New market forecasts from Juniper Research show rapid adoption of NFC services over the next 3 years, with at least 1 in 5 smartphones worldwide having NFC contactless functionality. Worldwide, Juniper forecasts almost 300 million NFC capable smartphones by 2014.

April 21, 2011
Mobile Ad Spend for BRIC Countries to Grow, Says eMarketer
Overall ad spending levels in India, Russia, and Brazil are still low, but the Chinese market will see nearly half a billion—$448.7 million—in mobile ad spending this year. Next year, eMarketer predicts, advertisers in China will spend nearly $717.8 million on mobile.

April 20, 2011
Credit Card Shopping More Prevalent as Consumer Sentiment Improves, comScore Reports
comScore, Inc.has released its annual Online Credit Card Report, which provides a comprehensive look at the US online credit card industry over the past year. Among its findings, the study reveals a greater percentage of card shopping activity among consumers who reported having a more positive view of the economy.

April 20, 2011
Apple iPad Held 85% Media Tablet Market Share in 2010, Says ABI Research
Apple’s iPad commanded 85% of the market for media tablets in 2010, according to ABI Research. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab ranked a distant second to the iPad in market share, with about 8%.

April 20, 2011
eReader Market in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa to Match the Size of North American Market by 2015, Says IDC
Figures recently released by International Data Corporation (IDC) show the huge momentum behind ereaders in the EMEA region. IDC forecasts sales in this region to reach 9.6 million units by 2015.

April 19, 2011
Marketers to Slow Pace of New Hiring, According to Bernhart Associates' Survey
Digital and direct marketers have entered the spring season with fewer plans to hire in the current quarter, according to Bernhart Associates' Quarterly Digital and Direct Marketing Employment Report for the second quarter of 2011. 45% ofcompanies responding to the survey said they plan to add to staff in Q2, down from 52% last quarter.

April 19, 2011
Digital Coupons Prove Stronger than Print at Attracting New Product Users, Knowledge Networks Finds
A new analysis from Knowledge Networks suggests that digital print-at-home coupons are more powerful than print FSI (free-standing insert) coupons at getting consumers to try a product for the first time – but yield an 18% lower ROI than print FSI coupons.

April 15, 2011
Search Marketing Industry to Grow to $19.3B in 2011, SEMPO Reports
According to a new SEMPO report conducted by Econsultancy, estimates that the North American search marketing industry will grow by 16% in 2011 to a value of $19.3B, up from $16.6B in 2010.

April 15, 2011
March Retail Sales Indicate Confident, but Cautious Consumer, According to NRF
From clothing and electronics to home furnishings and building materials, retail sales in March increased across the board for the ninth straight month. According to the National Retail Federation, retail industry sales (which exclude automobiles, gas stations, and restaurants) for March increased 0.6% seasonally adjusted from February and 3.9% unadjusted year-over-year.

April 15, 2011
Consumer Comfort in US Climbs for Third Straight Week, According to Bloomberg
Consumer confidence in the US rose for a third straight week as improving job prospects made Americans less pessimistic about the economy and their finances. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index climbed to minus 43 in the period to April 10, the best showing since the end of February, following a minus 44.5 reading the prior week.

April 11, 2011
Global Enterprise Cellular M-to-M Connections Will Nearly Triple by 2015, Yankee Group Predicts
After years of anticipation, the machine-to-machine (M2M) era has finally arrived. A new Yankee Group forecast predicts enterprise cellular M2M connections worldwide will surge from 81.8 million in 2011 to nearly 217.5 million in 2015. In the same time frame, connectivity revenue will more than double from US $3.1 billion to US $6.7 billion, making the M2M market one of the highest growth areas in the wireless arena during the next decade.

April 11, 2011
Social Media has Little Impact on Web Traffic, ForeSee Research Shows
Social media has very little direct impact on most website traffic, according to new research released from ForeSee Results. Less than 1% of website visits, on average, come directly from a social media URL. This finding suggests that the direct impact of social media is minimal, but also that the true value of social media cannot be quantified only by examining the traffic coming directly from a social media URL.

April 11, 2011
Facebook Users Shows Strong Monetization Potential for Music-Powered Social Games, MXP4 Finds
New research from MXP4 has demonstrated the untapped potential of social music gaming on Facebook. According to a survey of Facebook users, one third of Facebook members play games on the social networking site, and only 33% of self-reported Facebook gamers have ever played a music-related game on the site.

April 8, 2011
Magazine Ad Revenue and Pages Grow in Q1, Publishers Information Bureau Reports
Total magazine rate-card-reported advertising revenue for the first quarter of 2011 closed at $4,292,674,279, posting a +6.1% increase versus the same period in 2010, according to Publishers Information Bureau (PIB). Ad pages during the first quarter totaled 35,755, a +2.5% gain compared to January through March, 2010.

April 8, 2011
Consumer Comfort in US Rises for Second Consecutive Week, Bloomberg Index Shows
Consumer confidence in the US rose for a second consecutive week as an improving job market helped ease the burden of higher fuel costs. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index climbed to minus 44.5 in the period ended April 3 from minus 46.9 the prior week.

April 7, 2011
Spending on Food, Gifts, and Apparel Expected to Increase This Easter, According to NRF
According to NRF’s 2011 Consumer Intentions and Actions survey, conducted by BIGresearch, the average consumer is expected to spend $131.04 on everything from candy to clothes – up from last year’s $118.60 but not quite to pre-recession levels. Total spending on Easter related merchandise is expected to reach $14.6 billion.

April 7, 2011
Mobile Entertainment Market to Grow by 15% in 2011, Juniper Finds
A new report from Juniper Research has found that revenues from mobile entertainment content and services are expected to increase by more than 15% this year from $33.2 billion to nearly $38.4 billion.

April 7, 2011
Radio Industry Revenues Rose 5.4% to $14.1 Billion in 2010, BIA/Kelsey Reports
Over-the-air local radio station revenues hit $14.1 billion in 2010, a 5.4% increase over 2009, according to research by BIA/Kelsey. BIA/Kelsey expects 2011 radio industry revenues to rise a moderate 3.7%, and 2012’s election year to bump up revenues 4.5%.

April 7, 2011
Android to Command Nearly Half of Worldwide Smartphone Operating System Market by Year-End 2012, Gartner Says
Worldwide smartphone sales will reach 468 million units in 2011, a 57.7% increase from 2010, according to Gartner Inc. By the end of 2011, Android will move to become the most popular operating system worldwide and will build on its strength to account for 49% of the smartphone market by 2012, Gartner says.

April 6, 2011
Android Platform Now Accounts for One in Three Smartphone Users, comScore Reports
comScore, Inc. has released data from the comScore MobiLens service, which found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 24.8% market share. Google Android led among smartphone platforms with 33.0% market share.

April 6, 2011
Most Sectors Continue to Record Solid Year-Over-Year Sales Growth, According to SpendingPulse
According to MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, electronics sales and department stores showed modest gains while luxury and e-commerce recorded strong growth. Some segments of the restaurant sector also showed strength in March. The travel sectors, particularly airlines, saw improvement as well.

April 6, 2011
Consumer Confidence Falls 2.6 Points in March, Discover Reports
Consumer confidence fell for the second straight month in March, as high gas prices correlated with discouraging consumer views about the direction of the US economy, according to the Discover US Spending Monitor.

April 5, 2011
Mobile Consumers Shun Third-Party Ads, According to Upstream
Mobile operators have significant opportunities to boost revenues by offering deals via SMS but risk large-scale churn if they chase third-party advertising income, according to the 2011 Upstream Mobile Marketing Consumer Attitudes Report, based on independent research conducted by YouGov, which polled 2,198 consumers online.

April 5, 2011
Majority of Marketers and Agencies Plan to Increase Digital Video Ad Spend, IAB Reports
A new study by the IAB shows that 69% of marketers and 55% of agencies plan to increase their Digital Video Advertising (DVA), with a 22% growth predicted in the next 12 months.

April 5, 2011
Brand Advertisers Ready for Real-Time Bidding through Private Marketplaces, PubMatic Study Indicates
PubMatic has revealed the results of an online study showing that Real-Time Bidding (RTB) campaigns sold directly by publishers are in very high demand.

April 4, 2011
Android Will Seize 45% of Smartphone Market by 2016, Says ABI Research
Android’s success since its launch is expected to continue: some 69 million smartphones running the Android operating system shipped last year, and ABI Research expects that in 2016 Android will have captured 45% of the market.

April 4, 2011
MDs Prefer a Mix of Digital, Face-to-Face Marketing, Physicians Consulting Network Finds
For pharmaceutical companies marketing to health care professionals, going mobile is only part of the story. New research by Knowledge Networks using the Physicians Consulting Network (PCN) shows that doctors are seeking a combination of digital and in-person marketing.

April 4, 2011
Consumer Comfort in US Increases for First Time in Five Weeks, According to Bloomberg Index
Consumer confidence in the US rose for the first time in five weeks as Americans said their finances were in better shape. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index improved to minus 46.9 in the period ended March 27 from a seven-month low of minus 48.9 the prior week.

March 30, 2011
Retail Industry Shows Signs of Recovery, According to Interbrand Best Retail Report
A new report by Interbrand shows that US retailers are leading on the road to recovery much as the US was first affected by the economic downturn in 2008. Across Europe, retailers are harder pressed to generate value from cash-strapped consumers and Asian retailers are presented with both opportunities and challenges as markets expand consumers’ preferences.

March 30, 2011
Eversave Survey Reveals Secret Facebook Opinions and Habits of Women
A new survey, conducted by Eversave, uncovered the surprising love/hate relationship women have with Facebook. Eversave confirmed that reason women like Facebook is alerts on daily deals, one of the fastest-growing online activities today.

March 30, 2011
Phishers Use Sophisticated Techniques to Dodge Security Measures, Cyveillance Reports
Cyveillance has announced that despite a decline in traditional phishing attack volume during the second half of 2010, the ability of phishers to attempt successful fraud remained constant. The number of malicious urls discovered continued to increase as fraudsters exploited social networking sites to deploy their malware.

March 30, 2011
Media Tablets Help Drive Worldwide IT Spending Up 5.6% in 2011, Gartner
Worldwide IT spending is forecast to total $3.6 trillion in 2011, a 5.6% increase from $3.4 trillion in 2010, according to the latest outlook by Gartner, Inc. Gartner has slightly raised its outlook for 2011 from its previous forecast of 5.1% growth.

March 29, 2011
IDC Forecasts Worldwide Smartphone Market to Grow by Nearly 50% in 2011
The worldwide smartphone market is expected to grow 49.2% in 2011 as more consumers and enterprise users turn in their feature phones for smartphones with more advanced features. According to research by the International Data Corporation (IDC), the smartphone market will grow more than four times faster than the overall mobile phone market.

March 29, 2011
Americans Give Green Marketing Claims Too Much Credit, Study Finds
Many Americans believe products to be better for the environment than they actually are, according to research by strategy and communications agency Cone. Consumers continue to misunderstand phrases commonly used in environmental marketing and advertising – such as “green” or “environmentally friendly” – giving products a greater halo than they may deserve, the 2011 Cone Green Gap Trend Tracker found.

March 29, 2011
Growing Number of Adults are 'Hooked' to Their Email, Yahoo Study Shows
More than ever before, people rely on digital communication, such as email, instant messaging (IM), and texting to stay connected and get things done. And our evolving online behavior reveals a lot about our habits and values. A new survey conducted by Yahoo! Mail shows the average adult is highly invested in email, regularly using 3 email accounts — 2 for personal use, and 1 for work use. The Yahoo! survey also finds a growing number of adults are “hooked” to their email, with 2 in 3 adults checking their email as soon as they wake up, up from only 41% last year.

March 29, 2011
Amazon and Kohl's Tops in Customer Experience; Healthcare Providers at Bottom, Temkin Survey Shows
A new research report published by Temkin Group provides information about customer experience based on a survey of 6,000 US consumers who had recent interactions with 143 large US companies. Industry leaders Amazon.com, Kohl’s and Costco came out on top of the ratings in which only 24 companies or 16 percent of the total, received a “good” or “excellent” rating.

March 28, 2011
US Local Digital Ad Revenues to Nearly Double to $42.5B by 2015, BIA/Kelsey Forecasts
BIA/Kelsey expects online/interactive advertising revenues to climb to $42.5 billion by 2015, almost double 2010’s $21.7 billion, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.4%.

March 28, 2011
Smaller Regional Financial Brands Gaining Traction in 2011 Harris Study Finds
Consumer confidence in some financial service categories is shifting towards smaller more regional brands according to the 2011 Harris Poll EquiTrend study as the Financial Services Brands of the Year are released in four categories: Retail Bank (BBVA Compass Bank); Financial Investment (The Principal Financial Group); Insurance (USAA), and Payment Card (Visa). Overall, awards are given in each of 46 different categories.

March 28, 2011
M&A Activity in Technology Sector Made Strong Recovery in 2010, Finds IDC
Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector made a strong recovery in 2010 as the global economy and IT spending rebounded from the recession of 2008-2009. According to a new International Data Corporation (IDC) report, there were more than 1,900 M&A deals in the ICT sector in 2010 with a total valuation of over $200 billion.

March 25, 2011
Mobile Financial Account Use Surged 54% in Past Year, comScore Says
comScore, Inc. has released the latest insights on the state of the mobile financial services market from its quarterly Mobile Financial Advisor report. The report found that in Q4 2010, 29.8 million Americans accessed financial services accounts via their mobile device, an increase of 54% from Q4 2009.

March 25, 2011
One in Seven Boarding Passes to Be Mobile by 2013, Juniper Research Reports
One in every seven bar coded boarding passes worldwide will be delivered to passengers' mobile devices within two years, according to the latest forecasts from Juniper Research. This equates to 480 million mobile boarding passes which is treble the 160 million for last year.

March 24, 2011
comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50 US Web Properties for February 2011
comScore, Inc. has released its monthly analysis of US Web activity at the top online properties for February 2011 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. Valentine’s Day propelled gains at Flowers/Gifts/Greetings sites and E-card sites, while Tax sites climbed as Americans began to file their 2010 tax returns.

March 24, 2011
Adoption and Use of Mobile and Video Services Accelerating, QuickPlay Survey Finds
QuickPlay Media, Inc. has revealed the results of an independent Market Tools survey, which shows a continuing acceleration in the adoption and usage of mobile TV and/or video services.

March 24, 2011
Online Reviews More Impactful than Small Companies' Websites, Marchex Reports
Marchex, Inc. has announced that an internal performance analysis of small business search results showed that online consumer reviews and social network sites have a greater impact on the reputation of a small business than its own website.

March 23, 2011
Alarming Complacency Among Users of Mobile Devices on Security Revealed by Ponemon Study
A new study conducted by the Ponemon Institute in concert with AVG confirmed AVG’s concerns focusing on consumers’ indifference to the many serious security risks associated with the storage and transmission of sensitive personal data on iPhone, Blackberry and Android devices.

March 23, 2011
Retail Websites Now Reach 75% of European Web Audience Each Month, comScore Finds
comScore, Inc. has released results from a study of online shopping in Europe. In January 2011, 270.6 million unique visitors in Europe visited sites in the Retail category, representing a market penetration of 74.5% of Internet users, up 8.5 percentage points versus last year.

March 23, 2011
More Than 60% of US Small Businesses in Danger of Losing Critical Emails, GFI Survey Finds
GFI Software has announced the results of an independent survey conducted by Opinion Matters. The study revealed a dramatic lack of adoption of email archiving, opening the door to a host of issues including data loss.

March 23, 2011
When it Comes to Brands, Spelling Matters, Lexicon Study Shows
TLexicon Branding, Inc. has just completed its latest study, which investigates ways that spelling contributes to a brand name’s character. The answers showed reliably that, among other things, products whose names had double letters tended significantly to be judged as having more features and capabilities.

March 22, 2011
Pharmaceutical Websites Drive Conversions Among Prospects and Patients, comScore Reports
comScore, Inc. has released results from its fifth annual Online Marketing Effectiveness Benchmarks for the Pharmaceutical Industry. The study supports previous findings that exposure to online display advertising and branded websites provides a positive lift in awareness and favorability toward pharmaceutical brands.

March 22, 2011
Microsoft Sites Jumps to Second Place in Video Content Ranking, comScore Finds
comScore, Inc. has released data from the comScore Video Metrix service showing that 170 million US Internet users watched online video content in February for an average of 13.6 hours per viewer. The total US Internet audience engaged in more than 5.0 billion viewing sessions during the course of the month.

March 22, 2011
Consumers Will Drive $2 Trillion Technology Market by 2014, Yankee Group Predicts
Yankee Group predicts the growing deployment of wireless and wired connectivity globally is fueling a consumer revolution that will drive $2 trillion in technology spending by 2014.

March 22, 2011
Companies will generate 50% of Their Web Sales via Social Media by 2015, Gartner Predicts
By 2015, companies will generate 50 percent of their Web sales via their social-media presence and mobile applications, according to Gartner, Inc.

March 21, 2011
Online Viewing of TV Network Video Is Growing, Knowledge Networks Reports
A new report from Knowledge Networks indicates that more people are consuming video from TV networks online, and that their tolerance for pre-roll or embedded ads within that video has not diminished since 2006. Knowledge Networks’s most recent TV’s Web Connections report demonstrates that more people are choosing to consume TV network video through free or pay-for-content websites than ever before.

March 21, 2011
Usage of Smartphone Apps in Cars Remains Low in Europe, Frost& Sullivan Finds
A recent Frost & Sullivan survey on consumer preferences for smartphone apps and usage within cars reveals that, in spite of the general perception that awareness and usage of such apps is soaring, actual awareness among European car owners is very moderate — and daily usage is, in fact, low.

March 21, 2011
Latin America's Internet Population Grows 15% in Past Year, According to comScore
comScore, Inc. has released the latest results from a study of the growth in the Internet audience in Latin America. The study found that in the past year the Internet population in Latin America has increased 15% to 112.7 million visitors as the region’s digital ecosystem continued to grow and develop.

March 18, 2011
Healthy Growth for Ecommerce Sales in 2010, eMarketer Forecasts
After strong growth in 2010, the turnaround for online retail sales is expected to continue this year, according to a new forecast by eMarketer. eMarketer estimates US retail ecommerce sales forecast to grow 13.7% to $188.1 billion in 2011. Over the next four years eMarketer expects double-digit growth to taper off as continues to mature.

March 18, 2011
Sentiment Toward Consumer Brands Improving for Second Straight Year, According to Harris Interactive
Brands that give us comfort and provide value are driving an overall improvement in consumer sentiment according to the 2011 Harris Poll EquiTrend study conducted by Harris Interactive. Target Stores, Nintendo, and M&Ms Plain Chocolate Candy were each highest ranked in their respective category.

March 18, 2011
UK Regulator Ofcom Slams Misleading 'Unlimited' Broadband, Text and Call Claims
Broadband Genie has joined communications regulator Ofcom in condemning the use of the word 'unlimited' when selling broadband and mobile phone tariffs that are anything but. Confused consumers have received huge bills, leading to anger and mistrust of broadband and phone suppliers.

March 18, 2011
Gartner Identifies 'Dos and Donts' for Using Context-Enriched Mobile Applications
By 2015, companies will generate 50% of their Web sales via their social-media presence and mobile applications, according to Gartner, Inc. As context gains importance, analysts revealed eight dos and don’ts to leveraging context-enriched mobile applications in customer relationship management (CRM) to drive sales and increase customer satisfaction.

March 17, 2011
US Advertising Expenditures Increased 6.5% in 2010, Kantar Media Finds
Total advertising expenditures increased 6.5% in 2010 and finished the year at $131.1 billion, according to data released today by Kantar Media. Ad spending during the fourth quarter of 2010 was up 7.0% versus last year, propelled by the long-tail of small advertisers outside the Top 1000.

March 17, 2011
Japan Earthquake: Global Supply Chains to Suffer Extensive Disruption, Marsh Risk Consulting Says
Organizations need to prepare for the possibility of an extended disruption to global supply chains resulting from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Marsh Risk Consulting has warned. Thousands of multinational companies that rely on Japanese manufacturers for goods and services, as well as for sales, can expect significant global supply chain disruptions lasting up to several months.

March 17, 2011
Consumer Spending Up in February, According to Deloitte Consumer Spending Index
Deloitte Consumer Spending Index (the Index) rose in February, driven primarily by the slight improvements in real home prices and initial jobless claims. The Index attempts to track consumer cash flow as an indicator of future consumer spending.

March 17, 2011
Tension Envelope Celebrates 125th Anniversary
Tension Envelope Corporation celebrates its 125th anniversary this year, marking it as the oldest family-owned and operated company in the envelope industry. Founded on March 17, 1886, Tension also ranks as one of the oldest continuously family-run companies in the US.

March 17, 2011
eBay Expands Free Listings
eBay has announced new pricing that it says makes it more convenient than ever to sell items on eBay. For the first time, eBay is making it free to list up to 50 items per month in auctions at any start price, and free to add the “Buy it Now” option to those listings.

March 16, 2011
Active Mobile Users Conduct More Regular Product Research Online, BIGresearch Finds
Mobile users who actively search for information, such as news, sports, and TV/videos, are more likely than general consumers to conduct regular product research online, according to the BIGresearch Simultaneous Media Usage Survey.

March 16, 2011
Google Sites Lead Search Market for February, According to comScore
comScore, Inc. has released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the US search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in February with 65.4% of searches conducted.

March 16, 2011
One in Eight Mobile Users Expected to Use Mobile Ticketing by 2015, Juniper Reports
One in every eight mobile users worldwide will either have a ticket delivered to their mobile phone or buy a ticket with their phone by 2015 which equates to over 750 million users, according to new analysis from Juniper Research.

March 16, 2011
Six out of 10 Digital Movies Are Streamed via Netflix, According to NPD
According to research by The NPD Group, Netflix's share of digital movie units — downloaded or streamed — reached 61% between January 2011 and February 2011, followed by Comcast at 8%, and a three-way tie for third at 4% among DirecTV, Time Warner Cable, and Apple.

March 15, 2011
Advertisers Are Missing Out on Opportunity of 'Long-Tail' Internet, According to CONTEXTWEB
A new study and white paper from CONTEXTWEB Inc. reports that advertisers are missing a vast, largely untapped opportunity for digital media performance by focusing on the relatively small number of hugely popular short-tail Internet sites to the exclusion of the long tail – the millions of smaller sites with niche audiences of enthusiasts.

March 15, 2011
26% of Mobile Application Users are Fickle or Loyal, Localytics Finds
In a previous study, Localytics found that, while smartphone and tablet owners are very willing to give applications a try, 26% of the time they never use the same application again. In this study, Localytics found that another 26% of people become very loyal, repeat customers, using a new application more than 10 times.

March 15, 2011
Tablet Sales Booming Alongside 3G and 4G Network Subscriber Growth, According to Parks Associates
Parks Associates forecasts more than 68 million of the 126 million tablets sold worldwide in 2015 will have 3G or greater technology. The research firm's latest report shows 29% of the 16.5 million tablets sold in 2010 featured embedded 3G technology, while tablets with 3G/4G technology will account for over one-half of all tablets sold in 2015.

March 14, 2011
Online is Fastest Growing Fundraising and Engagement Channel, Convio Study Finds
According to a New Study by Convio, Inc., online is the fastest growing fundraising channel for nonprofits. The study shows that online engagement continues to play a crucial role for nonprofits.

March 14, 2011
Amazon.com Leads for Consumer Perception-of-Value, According to Millward Brown
Millward Brown has released a report, revealing that only 7% of consumers truly buy based on price alone. The report ranked the top global brands based on how consumers perceive the value of the brand and the cost associated with it and found that Amazon.com led the Value-D ranking both globally and in the US.

March 14, 2011
Retailers Suffering 'Promotion Fatigue,' Aldata Survey Shows
Aldata Solution, a global leader in retail and distribution improvement software, has revealed that retailers are suffering from 'Promotion Fatigue,' according to its 2011 Global Retail CIO Survey. Almost half of retailers surveyed plan to switch their attention to gaining a 360˚ view of their customers (in-store, online, and via catalog), following two years of focusing on promotions.

March 11, 2011
Google Monthly Share of Searches at 67%, Experian Hitwise Reports
Experian Hitwise has announced that Google accounted for 66.69% of all US searches conducted in the four weeks ending Feb. 26, 2011. Bing-powered search comprised 28.48% of searches for the month, with Yahoo! Search and Bing receiving 14.99% and 13.49%, respectively.

March 11, 2011
February Brings More Good News for Nation's Retailers, NRF Finds
Improvements in the US economy bolstered retailer’s February sales, reflecting improved consumer sentiment as it relates to spending. According to the National Retail Federation, retail industry sales for February were 0.6% seasonally adjusted from January and 4.2% unadjusted year-over-year.

March 11, 2011
70% of Indian Web Users Watch Online Video in a Month, According to comScore
comScore, Inc. has released its latest study on online video viewing in India based on data from its comScore Video Metrix service, which was launched in India earlier this year. The report found that 30.2 million online users in India watched online video in January 2011, representing 72% of the total online population.

March 10, 2011
Mobile Applications Downloads Approached Eight Billion in 2010, Says ABI Research
According to ABI Research’s estimates, the iPhone interface had notched up more than 5.6 billion accumulated downloads by the end of 2010, compared to nearly 7.9 billion total downloads from all stores during that year. However, Apple is set to face more intensive competition in 2011.

March 10, 2011
Nearly 18 Million Media Tablets Shipped in 2010; eReader Shipments Quadrupled to More Than 12 Million, According to IDC
According IDC, 10.1 million media tablets were shipped in the fourth quarter of 2010 (4Q10) - more than double the 4.5 million shipped in the third quarter.

March 9, 2011
Online Users Are Most Likely to Convert After First Exposure to Finance Campaigns, According to MediaMind
MediaMind Technologies Inc. has released a new study that shows that users are most likely to convert after the first exposure to an ad when compared to subsequent impressions.

March 9, 2011
UK to Have 88.8 Million Mobile Subscriber Connections in 2012, IE Market Research Finds
IE Market Research Corp. has announced the release of its 1Q.2011 United Kingdom Mobile Operator Forecast, 2010 - 2015. “Given the latest quarter numbers, we expect that the number of mobile subscriber connections in the UK will rise to 88.8 million in 2012," said Nizar Assanie, VP, research, at IEMR

March 9, 2011
Kantar Media Launches RapidView; Tool Creates TV Audience Profiles Based on Shopping Behavior
Kantar Media is launching RapidView, an end-to-end media planning tool that makes it possible to create and analyze TV audience profiles based on shopping behaviors, including brand loyalty and product category usage.

March 8, 2011
Google Android Captures #1 Position in Smartphone Market, comScore Finds
a new comScore study surveyed more than 30,000 US mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 24.9% market share. Google Android took the lead among smartphone platforms with 31.2% market share, after two short months in second place.

March 8, 2011
St. Patrick's Day Expected to Give US Retailers a Spring Boost, According to NRF
According to a new survey by NRF, 52.4% of Americans will celebrate St. Patrick's day this year, up from 45.2% last year and the most in the survey’s eight year history. The average amount they plan on spending will be a lot closer to what it was last year ($33.97 vs. $33.05 in 2010). Total spending is expected to reach $4.14 billion.

March 8, 2011
Android Explodes in Western Europe, Says IDC
The Western European mobile phone Q4 of 2010, according to IDC's European Mobile Phone Tracker. Android devices along with the iPhone4 from Apple were the most advertised devices in the quarter. This had a direct impact on sales, and Android grew 1,580% year-on-year from a year ago.

March 8, 2011
Smartphone Texting While Driving Rampant, Strategy Analytics Reports
The Strategy Analytics Automotive Consumer Insights (ACI) report, “Widespread Use of SMS and Email While Driving,” shows that 38% of US smartphone owners and 40% of smartphone owners in Western Europe, compose text messages while driving on a daily basis.

March 7, 2011
Kantar Media Analysis Shows 'March Madness' Biggest Spenders and Ad Revenue
An analysis of trend data by Kantar Media shows how the tournament has evolved over the past decade to become one of the largest and most valuable franchises in all of television sports.

March 7, 2011
Affluent Chinese Consumers Becoming More Budget-Conscious, ProsperChina Survey Finds
According to the ProsperChina Q4 Survey of 19,402 respondents, 61.5% of Chinese consumers 18-54 with annual incomes over 100,000 RMB have become more practical with their purchases in the past six months. This reading is up from 58.5% in Q4 2009.

March 7, 2011
More Adults in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and India are Optimistic about Their Economies than Americans, Harris Poll Finds
According to Harris Interactive, when it comes to how optimistic people are about their own country's economy over the next ten years, strong majorities of adults in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and India are optimistic compared to just half of Americans.

March 4, 2011
Consumer Spending on Deal-a-Day Offers Likely to Reach $3.9B by 2015, According to BIA/Kelsey
BIA/Kelsey has released a new forecast on US consumer spending on deal-a-day offers, which the firm expects will grow from $873 million in 2010 to $3.9 billion in 2015, representing a 35.1 percent compound annual growth rate.

March 4, 2011
Smartphones to Drive Enterprise Data Plan Revenues to $102 Billion in 2016, Says ABI Research
Mobile data plan revenues will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 9%, and are expected to exceed $102 billion worldwide by 2016, according to latest ABI Research forecasts.

March 4, 2011
Online Banking on the Rise in Southeast Asia, According to comScore
A new report by comScore, Inc. found that an increasing number of consumers across Southeast Asia turned to online banking throughout 2010. In each of the six markets included in the study, visitation to the online banking category grew by double-digits percentages, outpacing overall Internet growth by a factor of two in most cases.

March 4, 2011
Click Forensics Acquires Adometry; Adopts New Company Name
Click Forensics, Inc. has announced that it has acquired display ad verification technology provider Adometry of Redmond, Washington. In addition, Click Forensics announced it has changed its company name to Adometry. The moves are designed to support the continued expansion of the Click Forensics product line for the display advertising market.

March 3, 2011
Mobile Entertainment Market to Reach $54B by 2015, Driven by Smartphone Adoption, Juniper Predicts
A new report from Juniper Research has valued the Mobile Entertainment market at $33 billion for last year, rising to $54 billion in 2015, driven by the continuing escalation in smartphone adoption and the attendant increase in downloads of consumer-oriented applications.

March 3, 2011
Use of Social CRM for Customer Service Will Grow Rapidly Over Next Two Years, Gartner Says
During the next two years, 30% of leading companies will extend the goals of their online community activities to the design of enhanced service processes, such as social CRM, according to Gartner, Inc.

March 3, 2011
Social Networking Accounts for 25% of Time Spent Online in Argentina and Chile, comScore Finds
A new study by comScore, Inc. has found that in Chile and Argentina, social networking now accounts for more than one-quarter of all time spent online, ranking as the top activity in Chile and the second most popular activity in Argentina.

March 3, 2011
Outlook for Same-Store Sales Growth Down from January, ForecastIQ Finds
The outlook for same-store sales growth continues to decline from the holiday spending high in December, according to the February ForecastIQ. However, the forecast appears slightly brighter than February 2010, with less retailers likely to see decline.

March 2, 2011
Social Media Helps Retailers Win Back Dissatisfied Customers, RightNow Reports
According to the Retail Consumer Report, commissioned by RightNow and conducted by Harris Interactive, retailers are using social media channels to bring back dissatisfied customers. The research demonstrates that by listening and proactively responding to complaints on the social Web, retailers have an opportunity to turn disgruntled customers into brand advocates.

March 2, 2011
Smartphone Adoption Continues to Grow in Japan, comScore Reports
comScore Japan KK has released the latest insights into mobile usage in Japan from its comScore MobiLens service. The report found that Japanese users are continuing to adopt smartphone devices, with Apple and Google platforms seeing significant increases in subscribers.

March 2, 2011
Retail Sales Continue to Maintain Momentum, According to SpendingPulse February Report
According to MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, February 2011 recorded continuing growth across most retail categories, maintaining the positive performance that began in fall 2010.

March 2, 2011
Consumer Confidence Falls Slightly in February, According to Discover
Consumer confidence declined slightly in February, as dampening consumer views about the state of the US economy correlated with rising gas prices sparked by Middle East tensions, according to the Discover US Spending Monitor.

March 1, 2011
Bing Overtakes Yahoo Globally for First Time, According to StatCounter
The Bing search engine overtook Yahoo for the first time worldwide in January and increased its lead in February according to Web analytics company, StatCounter. Its research arm StatCounter Global Stats finds that globally Bing reached 4.37% in February ahead of Yahoo at 3.93%.

March 1, 2011
More Double-Digit Growth Ahead for Online Retail in US and Western Europe, Forrester Forecasts
Online retail in both the US and Western Europe will continue on a double-digit growth trajectory over the next five years, according to two new forecasts released today by Forrester Research, Inc. Both US and European online retail will grow at a 10% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2010 to 2015, Forrester projects.

March 1, 2011
MeritDirect and Ziff Davis Enterprise Announce Strategic Partnership
MeritDirect and Ziff Davis Enterprise have announced a strategic partnership that will provide marketers access to the Ziff Davis Enterprise Database of active IT buyers and purchasing influencers

February 23, 2011
4.5 Million Media Tablets Shipped in 3Q-2010, Says ABI Research
The shipment, price and revenue data for media tablets, eBook readers and netbooks are in for the third quarter of 2010. Published in ABI Research’s “Netbooks, MIDs, Media Tablets, and Mobile CE Market Data,” they show that media tablets were indeed the “promising new talent” they appeared to be: some 4.5 million of the fashionable devices shipped during the quarter.

February 23, 2011
Amazon Adds Instant Videos to Amazon Prime
Amazon.com, Inc. has announced the launch of a new benefit for Amazon Prime members: unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of more than 5,000 movies and TV shows.

February 23, 2011
Advertising Expenditures in Japan Down 1.3% from 2009, Dentsu Reports
Dentsu Inc. has released its annual report of advertising expenditures in Japan for the 2010 calendar year, including an estimated breakdown by medium and industry. According to this report, the nation's advertising expenditures in 2010 totaled 5,842.7 billion yen, a decrease of 1.3% compared with the previous year.

February 22, 2011
Retail Web and Mobile Sites Outperformed this Valentine Season, Shows Keynote Index
According to Keynote Competitive Research has announced the top performers on its ‘Romance Performance Index’ created especially for Valentine’s Day 2011. Other than a few performance hiccups, the results showed that most of the mobile and connected websites dealing in gifts, greeting cards, chocolates, flowers, wine, online dating and restaurant reservations did remarkably well considering the onslaught of visitor traffic typically experienced in the lead-up to Valentine’s Day.

February 22, 2011
Social Networking Accounts for One of Every Five Minutes Spent Online in Australia, comScore Finds
According to a new study by comScore, Inc., social Networking now accounts for the largest amount of total time spent online by Australians, at 22%, an increase of 5.3 percentage points from the previous year.

February 22, 2011
US Consumers More Likely to Purchase a Smartphone than Other Consumer Devices in 2011, Gartner Survey Shows
Consumers in the US are more likely to buy a smartphone in 2011 than PCs, mobile phones, e-readers, media tablets and gaming products, according to a recent survey by Gartner, Inc.

February 18, 2011
Academy Awards Spending Reached $720 Million Over The Past 10 Years, Kantar Reports
According to Kantar Media Intelligence, marketers have spent almost $720 million during the past ten years to advertise during the live network TV broadcast of the awards ceremony.

February 18, 2011
Droid Owners More Likely to Visit Online Communities; eReader Owners More Likely to Shop Online, BigResearch Finds
According to the BIGresearch BlackBerry, Droid, iPad, iPhone and even eReader Owners are more likely to be engaging in social networking, online shopping and downloading music/videos compared to the average consumer.

February 17, 2011
Global Mobile Transaction Value Will Near $1 Trillion by 2014, Yankee Group Forecasts
Yankee Group research shows that, while mobile transaction usage is growing, consumers show little willingness to pay for these services. The company's forecasts predict unprecedented growth in mobile transactions worldwide, with the total value of global mobile transactions increasing from $162 billion in 2010 to $984 billion in 2014.

February 17, 2011
Stronger Discretionary Spending Helps Boost Retail Sales for Seventh Straight Month, According to NRF
With consumers showing spending power beyond the holiday season, January marked the seventh straight month of retail sales gains. According to the National Retail Federation, retail industry sales for January increased 0.2% seasonally adjusted from December and 3.5% unadjusted year-over-year.

February 17, 2011
Bowe Bell + Howell Wins STC Award for Technical Documentation
BÖWE BELL + HOWELL’s (BBH) Technical Communications Department has won an Excellence Award from the Carolina Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (STC). STC chapters award three levels of honors to entries in ascending level: Merit, Excellence and Distinguished. In the eight years BBH has participated in the competition, they have earned 26 awards, including an Excellence and Merit Award at the international level.

February 16, 2011
Apple Launches Subscriptions on the App Store
Apple has announced a new subscription service available to all publishers of content-based apps on the App Store, including magazines, newspapers, video, music, etc. This is the same innovative digital subscription billing service that Apple recently launched with News Corp.’s “The Daily” app.

February 16, 2011
Mobile Media Consumption Intensified in 2010, comScore 'Mobile Year in Review' Report Finds
comScore, Inc., has released The comScore 2010 Mobile Year in Review. According to the report, smartphone adoption accelerated in both the US and Europe. US smartphone adoption reached 27% of mobile subscribers in December 2010, an increase of 10% from the previous year.

February 16, 2011
Customer Satisfaction with E-Commerce Is Down, According to ForeSee
The American Customer Satisfaction Index’s annual E-Commerce Report, produced in partnership with ForeSee Results, shows that customer satisfaction with e-commerce websites is down 2.6% to 79.3 on the ACSI’s 100-point scale, its lowest score since 2004.

February 16, 2011
171 Million US Viewers Watched Online Video in January, comScore Reports
comScore, Inc. has released data from the comScore Video Metrix service showing that 171 million US Internet users watched online video content in January for an average of 14.5 hours per viewer. The total US Internet audience engaged in nearly 4.9 billion viewing sessions during the course of the month.

February 15, 2011
Online Giving Grew 35% in 2010, According to Blackbaud
According Blackbaud, Inc.'s new 2010 Online Giving Report, nonprofits of all sizes continue to see growth in online giving, with online giving accounting for 7.6% of all total fundraising.

February 15, 2011
US Retail Sales for January Up 5.5% Year-over-Year, MasterCard Reports
MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse has provided summary results for January 2011. Results show that, excluding auto sales, total retail sales grew by 5.5% year-over-year, on par with December’s growth rate, and slightly higher than November’s.

February 15, 2011
Interest in Mobile Payments Strong Among Most Active Mobile Users, According to Accenture
New research by Accenture shows that nearly half of the most active mobile device users would welcome the opportunity to pay for goods and services using their mobile phone, despite the fact that 73% expressed significant privacy and identity theft concerns.

February 15, 2011
Consumer Interest in the Multi-Screen Experience is High in the UK, QuickPlay Finds
According to a new survey by QuickPlay Media, Inc., the multi-screen entertainment experience is in high demand in the UK, with 58% of respondents expressing interest in the ability to watch TV programming and/or movies on one device and then seamlessly switch to view the content on another device such as a smart phone, TV, PC or tablet.

February 14, 2011
Top 10 Super Bowl Ads Earned Over $1 Million in Media through Online Video in the First Three Days, Kantar Reports
According to a new study by Kantar Video, in the three days after the Super Bowl aired, the top 10 ads have earned a total of over $1 million in media impressions through online video.

February 14, 2011
Augmented Reality Can Transform Mobile Marketing, Says ABI Research
According to a study by ABI Research, Mobile Augmented Reality (AR)has the potential to transform mobile marketing. The key to real AR market growth, says a new study, is to embed AR into a wide range of apps running on a variety of devices.

February 11, 2011
Gartner Identifies Top Ten Mobile Technologies for 2012; Mobile Apps will Increasingly Define the User Experience on High-End Devices
Gartner, Inc. has identified what it believes will be the most important mobile applications in 2012. Winning mobile apps will have unique features that cater to the mobile environment rather than act as a mobile extension of their online peers.

February 11, 2011
Postal Service Begins 2011 with $329 Million Loss in First Quarter
The USPS ended the first quarter of this fiscal year with a net loss of $329 million, compared to a net loss of $297 million for the same period in fiscal year 2010. Excluding the cost of prefunding future retiree healthcare benefits and noncash adjustments to the workers’ compensation liability, the Postal Service would have had a net income of $226 million for the first quarter.

February 11, 2011
Consumers Want Mobile Video Communications, But Lack Interconnectivity, Syniverse Survey Shows
Consumers have video chatted on PCs for more than a decade, and they’re eager to take video communications mobile, according to a recent iGR consumer survey commissioned by Syniverse Technologies. But not everyone who wants to communicate via mobile video can – yet.

February 10, 2011
80% of Web Users Look Online for Health Information, According to Pew Internet Project
In a national telephone survey conducted August 9-September 13, 2010, the Pew Internet Project and California HealthCare Foundation find that 80% of internet users look online for health information, making it the third most popular online pursuit among all those tracked by the Pew Internet Project, following email and using a search engine

February 10, 2011
Consumers Pull Back After Holiday Season; Same-Store Growth Outlook Down, ForecastIQ Finds
The outlook for same-store sales growth declined month over month, ending the upward trend we've seen since September, according to the January ForecastIQ. However, the forecast appears brighter than last January, and more of the retailers tracked will likely see growth rather than decline:

February 10, 2011
Banks Must Adapt to Payment Industry Changes, Says Boston Consulting Group
Major banks must adapt to sweeping changes in the payments industry in order to reverse revenue and profit declines and chart a course to sustainable growth, according to a new report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

February 10, 2011
JC Penney Expands In-Store Digital Experience
In keeping with its commitment to giving customers the very best selection and shopping experience, J. C. Penney Company, Inc.has rolled out its findmore smart fixture to over 120 select stores across the country. Additionally, in conjunction with the launch of its Modern Bride concept, the Company will begin rolling out a findmore experience using iPad to 50 fine jewelry departments.

February 9, 2011
Number of Smartphone Users Up 60% Versus Year Ago, According to comScore
comScore, Inc. has released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the US mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending December 2010. Results show that 63.2 million people in the US owned smartphones during the three months ending in December 2010, up 60% versus year ago.

February 9, 2011
Consumers Break Up with Brands on Email, Facebook and Twitter, Report by ExactTarget and CoTweet Finds
A new study by ExactTarget and CoTweet finds more than 90% of consumers have “broken up” with at least one brand on Facebook, email, or Twitter because of irrelevant, too frequent, or boring marketing messages.

February 9, 2011
Global E-Reader Sales Will Soar to $8.2 Billion by 2014, Yankee Group Forecasts
Yankee Group’s latest forecast predicts global e-reader sales revenue will grow from just $1.9 billion in 2010 to $8.2 billion in 2014, while unit sales will rise from just under 11 million in 2010 to nearly 72 million in 2014.

February 9, 2011
Identity Fraud Fell 28% in 2010 According to New Javelin Report
The 2011 Identity Survey Report, released by Javelin Strategy & Research, reports that in 2010 the number of identity fraud victims decreased by 28% to 8.1 million adults in the US, three million fewer victims than the prior year.

February 8, 2011
comScore Reports Record-Breaking $43.4 Billion in Q4 2010 US Retail E-Commerce Spending
comScore, Inc. has released its Q4 2010 US retail e-commerce sales estimates, which showed that online retail spending reached a record $43.4 billion for the quarter, up 11 percent versus year ago. This growth rate represented the fifth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and second quarter of double-digit growth rates in the past year.

February 8, 2011
Mobile Internet Usage Still Rising, Strategy Analytics Finds
The proportion of mobile device owners who use their phone to access the internet has quadrupled in the US, and tripled in Western Europe over the past four years according to a new report from Strategy Analytics. Smartphone owners, who typically browse the internet on their phones daily, are driving this increase in mobile internet usage.

February 8, 2011
Phishing Game Confirms Majority of Online Users Vulnerable to Attack
PhishMe, a leading provider of anti-phishing training, has announced the results from its free online game devised to assess a player’s phishing knowledge. Over a thousand users played the game, with the majority of players getting fundamental questions wrong.

February 8, 2011
Online Revenue, Traffic, Conversion Rates, Order Values Up in 2010, Endeca Survey Reveals
Results from an ecommerce survey by Endeca Results from an ecommerce survey by Endeca Technologies, Inc., show online revenue, traffic, conversion rates, order values up in 2010. 72% of respondents reported that online revenue was up over the last year. 77% reported higher total traffic, with 61% seeing more natural traffic and 50 percent reporting higher traffic from paid search programs.

February 7, 2011
AOL Agrees to Acquire The Huffington Post
AOL has announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire The Huffington Post, the influential and rapidly growing news, analysis, and lifestyle website founded in 2005, which now counts nearly 25 million unique monthly visitors.

February 7, 2011
Mobile Augmented Reality Global Revenue to Reach $1.5 Billion by 2015, Juniper Predicts
A new report from Juniper Research has found that an increasing number of leading brands, retailers and mobile vendors are investing in mobile augmented reality (AR) applications and services, with global revenues expected to approach $1.5 billion by 2015.

February 7, 2011
Online Video's Explosive Growth Will Continue, YuMe Reports
In a study of viewers across the YuMe video ad network, Frank N. Magid Associates found that not only had use grown substantially over the last 12 months with 66% of respondents reporting increases in usage, but also that the growth would continue at a rapid pace in the coming year.

February 4, 2011
SMS Traffic Growth Driven by Enterprise, Emerging Markets, and Social Networks, Informa Forecasts
According to the latest forecasts from Informa Telecoms & Media, SMS will remain a significant source of revenues and traffic for mobile operators on a global basis until at least 2015. Global SMS revenues are forecast to rise to US$136.9 billion in 2015 from US$105.5 billion in 2010, while global SMS traffic is expected to increase to 8.7 trillion messages in 2015 from 5 trillion messages in 2010.

February 4, 2011
Infogroup Sees 24% Increase in Client Email Volume at End of 2010
Infogroup, a leading provider of data driven and interactive resources for targeted sales, marketing and research solutions today announced that clients of its Infogroup Interactive division saw a 24 percent uptick in email activity in late 2010. In all, Infogroup sent over 7 billion marketing emails on behalf of clients in the fourth quarter of last year. It’s a trend that continues into 2011 with large retailers most active in marketing via email.

February 4, 2011
Food Network Tops Advertiser Survey of Top Media Brands, According to Scripps
Food Network scored two first-place finishes in a semiannual survey of advertisers and agency representatives. The Advertiser Intelligence Reports named Food Network No. 1 among cable networks in Sales Knowledge and in Customer Service.

February 3, 2011
Over Two-Thirds of Americans Planning to Watch the Super Bowl

February 3, 2011
Yahoo Study Highlights the Power of Hyperlocal Online Ad Targeting in Driving Sales
Results of a new Yahoo study show that hyperlocal targeting of a retail display campaign generated more than five times return-on-ad-spend, measured by sales lift at the retailer.

February 3, 2011
Consumers Seek Out Daily Deal Sites for Valentine's Day Shopping, Eversave Survey Finds
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, daily deal sites promise to be popular shopping destinations this year. According to a recent survey by Eversave.com, 92% of consumers surveyed said that they would buy a daily deal voucher for a Valentine’s Day gift.

February 2, 2011
Global Mobile Data Traffic to Grow 26-Fold from 2010 to 2015, According to Cisco
According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast for 2010 to 2015, worldwide mobile data traffic will increase 26-fold during this time period reaching 6.3 exabytes per month or an annual run rate of 75 exabytes by 2015 due to a projected surge in mobile Internet-enabled devices delivering popular video applications and services.

February 2, 2011
One Billion Mobile Broadband Subscriptions in 2011, Says ABI Research
Worldwide mobile broadband-enabled subscriptions are mounting up, and will hit the one billion mark in 2011. According to the latest market data released by ABI Research, at the end of 2010 there were more than five billion mobile subscriptions globally, with one in five of those having access to mobile broadband.

February 2, 2011
US E-Book Revenue Will Outstrip Mobile App Revenue by 2013, Yankee Group Says
In a new report, Yankee Group predicts e-book sales will grow from $313 million in 2009 to $2.7 billion by 2013, a CAGR of 72%. By contrast, the mobile app market will grow from $834 million in 2009 to just $1.6 billion in 2013, a CAGR of only 62%.

February 2, 2011
Love is in the Air; Valentine's Day Spending to Increase 11% This Year, NRF Predicts
According to the National Retail Federation’s 2011 Valentine’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, the average person will shell out $116.21 on traditional Valentine’s Day merchandise this year, up 11% over last year’s $103.00. Total holiday spending is expected to reach $15.7 billion.*

February 1, 2011
Apple to Pass RIM in Smartphone Market Share This Year
Apple is expected to pass Research In Motion as the leader of the US smartphone market in 2011—but not for long. Google's Android platform will overtake both Apple and RIM in 2012, according to a new forecast by eMarketer.

February 1, 2011
Shift to Digital by US Entertainment and Media Industry Boosts M&A Activity, According to PwC US
US entertainment and media (E&M) merger and acquisition (M&A) activity outpaced the overall US deal market in 2010, according to PwC US. With the industry’s fast-paced shift to digital - and attractive levels of corporate cash reserves and private equity dry powder, PwC believes the catalysts are in place for more E&M deal activity during 2011.

January 31, 2011
70% of Users Feel Personal Data is at Risk, Opinions Very on Who to Hold Responsible, Global Survey by 123People Shows
123people recently conducted a user survey on data privacy in thirteen countries, the results showed that, while over 70% of all users feel their personal information is at risk on the Internet, opinions vary greatly on who should be responsible for guarding online privacy.

January 31, 2011
Negative Consumer Confidence Signals Move from 2010 Resilience Says Liberum Capital
Consumer confidence has fallen for the third consecutive quarter to -6.3%, according to figures released by the independent investment bank, Liberum Capital.

January 31, 2011
Mobile Phone Market Grows 17.9% in Fourth Quarter, According to IDC
The worldwide mobile phone market grew 17.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, a new quarterly high driven by smartphones. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped 401.4 million units in 4Q10 compared to 340.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2009.

January 28, 2011
Global Spam Declines: Now Accounts for 78.6% of All Email Traffic, Symantec Finds
Symantec Corp. has announced the publication of its January 2011 MessageLabs Intelligence Report. Analysis reveals that spam now accounts for 78.6% of all email traffic, the lowest rate since March 2009.

January 28, 2011
Click Fraud Rate Drops to 19.1% in Q4 2010, According to Click Forensics
According to new data from Click Forensics, the overall industry average click fraud rate was 19.1% - That's lower than the 22.3% reported for Q3 2010, but higher than the 15.3% reported for Q4 2009.

January 28, 2011
80% of Web Users Participate in Groups, Pew Research Finds
A new national survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project has found that 75% of all American adults are active in some kind of voluntary group or organization and Internet users are more likely than others to be active: 80% of Internet users participate in groups, compared with 56% of non-Internet users.

January 28, 2011
Facebook Overvalued at $50 Billion, Finds Global Poll of Investors by Selzer for Bloomberg
Facebook isn’t worth $50 billion, according to a poll of global investors that shows skepticism about Goldman Sachs’s recent estimate of Facebook's value and concern that a bubble may be forming in the technology sector. The poll was conducted by Selzer & Co. for Bloomberg.

January 27, 2011
United States Is Top Source of Cyber-Attack Traffic, Akamai Reports
A new report by Akamai Technologies finds Asia boasts highest average connection speeds; the US remains top source of observed attack traffic; and mobile providers continue to experience increase in data consumption.

January 27, 2011
Green Teams Help Postal Service Save Millions
Lean Green Teams helped the Postal Service reduce energy, water, solid waste to landfills and petroleum fuel use, saving the agency more than $5 million in 2010. They also helped the Postal Service recycle more than 222,000 tons of material.

January 27, 2011
Ringback Tone Advertising to Hit $780 Million Annually by 2015, Says Juniper Research
A new report from Juniper Research has highlighted the increasing popularity of ringback tone advertising, which is expected to be the destination of more than $780 million in annual adspend by 2015.

January 27, 2011
Third-Party Email Prices Still in Decline, According to Worldata
Worldata’s Winter 2010 List Price Index shows a $12 CPM drop in B2B Aggregated Email Databases. The index also shows continued drops in Permission-Based Email pricing with the most significant decline being in the Consumer sector.

January 26, 2011
Worldwide Mobile App Store Revenue to Surpass $15 Billion in 2011, Gartner Forecasts
Worldwide mobile application store downloads are forecast to reach 17.7 billion downloads in 2011, a 117% increase from an estimated 8.2 billion downloads in 2010, according to Gartner, Inc.

January 26, 2011
Tablet Onslaught Motivates Businesses to Accelerate Mobile App Strategies, IDC Finds
A new survey by Appcelerator and International Data Corporation (IDC) reveals how new entrants to the tablet market are changing application development priorities and how businesses large and small are accelerating their efforts to build a mobile application strategy to deal with an explosion in apps, mobile devices, operating systems, and capabilities.

January 26, 2011
Consumer Confidence in Overall Economy Highest in 35 Months, According to CEA Indexes
Consumer confidence in the overall economy reached its highest level in nearly three years this month, according to the latest figures released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The CEA Indexes also show consumer confidence in technology reached an all-time high for the month of January.

January 25, 2011
FTC Extends Deadline for Comments on Privacy Report to Feb. 18
The FTC has extended the deadline for the public to submit comments on a preliminary staff report issued on Dec. 1, 2010, “Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: a Proposed Framework for Businesses and Policy Makers.” The Commission extended the original Jan. 31 deadline to Feb. 18.

January 25, 2011
Twitter Expected to Hit $150 Million in Ad Revenues This Year, According to eMarketer
Advertising spending on Twitter reached an estimated $45 million in 2010, and is expected to hit $150 million this year, according to eMarketer’s first full forecast of ad spending on the service.

January 25, 2011
Apple's App Store Downloads Top 10 Billion
Apple has announced that more than 10 billion apps have been downloaded from its revolutionary App Store by the more than 160 million iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad users worldwide.

January 25, 2011
Google and Yahoo Lead comScore's 50 US Web Properties for December 2010, According
comScore, Inc. has released its monthly analysis of US Web activity at the top online properties for December 2010. With the holiday season in full swing, December saw increased traffic within E-cards, Shipping, Retail and even Travel sites.

January 24, 2011
Majority of Marketers Have Little Understanding of Social Media Conversations About Their Brands, Alterian Finds
According to a new survey by Alterian, less than one-third of marketers have a strong understanding of social media conversations happening around their brand. In fact, seven in 10 indicated they either have very little to no understanding or use a few ad-hoc tools to track and measure social media conversations.

January 24, 2011
Amazon and Victoria's Secret Are Top-Searched Stores in Online Coupons, RetailMeNot Reports
RetailMeNot.com has announced the release of its 2010 Holiday Consumer Coupon Report. Amazon and Victoria's Secret led the list of most-searched stores in online coupons from November to December.

January 24, 2011
Retailers Say Store Expansion High on Agenda for 2011, NRF/KPMG Report Finds
Retailers in 2011 will be intent on actively growing their businesses and improving customer insight capabilities, in addition to continuing efforts begun during the economic downturn to stabilize operating costs and focus on financial discipline, according to a report from the National Retail Federation’s research and education arm, the NRF Foundation, and KPMG LLP, the US audit, tax and advisory firm.

January 24, 2011
Web-based Email Shows Signs of Decline in the US While Mobile Email Usage on the Rise, comScore Finds
According to the results of a new study by comScore, Inc., in November 2010, the number of visitors to Web-based email sites declined 6% compared to the previous year, while email engagement declined at an even greater rate. During the same time period, the number of users accessing email via their mobile devices grew by 36% as an increasingly complex digital environment influenced consumers’ communication habits.

January 21, 2011
Americans Plan to Give More to Charity in 2011, Dunham+Company Survey Shows
For the first time since the recession began, Americans say that in 2011they are more likely to increase their giving to charity than decrease their charitable support, according to the annual Dunham+Company New Year’s Philanthropy Survey conducted by Wilson Research Strategies.

January 21, 2011
Super Bowl Spending Reached $1.62 Billion Over Past 10 Years, Kantar Media Reports
Kantar Media has mined its extensive database to report on the past 10 years of Super Bowl advertising. From 2001 through 2010, the Super Bowl game has accounted for 425 minutes – over seven full hours – of commercial time representing more than 850 announcements and $1.62 billion of network advertising sales.

January 21, 2011
US Small Business Confidence Drops 12 Points but Remains in Positive Territory, According to HSBC
The HSBC Small Business Confidence Monitor has revealed that US small business confidence remained positive at 108, a slight increase from 4Q2009 but declined versus 2Q2010. Although the US economy is gradually gaining momentum, the US small business economic outlook has retracted over the past six months amid local economic growth concerns.

January 21, 2011
Amazon to Acquire LOVEFiLM International Limited
Amazon.com has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire the remaining shares in LOVEFiLM International Limited. LOVEFiLM is a leading European subscription entertainment service which combines the benefits of online DVD and games rental-by-post as well as streaming films and TV shows instantly over the Internet.

January 20, 2011
Google Sites Lead in December 2010 US Search Engine Rankings, comScore Finds
comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, has released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the US search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in December with 66.6% of searches conducted.

January 20, 2011
19% of Shoppers Will Spend More on Valentine's Day Gifts this Year, According to eBillme Online Spending Index
Love is in the air and so is online shopping. 32% of consumers plan to do their Valentine’s Day shopping online this year, a 9% over last year, while 19% of consumers plan to spend more money this year on Valentine’s Day gifts, according to the eBillme Online Spending Index.

January 20, 2011
Cautious Consumers Put Brakes on Retail Sales Growth, But Profits Increase, Deloitte Report Finds
More than one-third of the world's 250 largest retailers suffered a decline in sales in fiscal year 2009. However, the 2011 Global Powers of Retailing report from Deloitte reveals net profit across the top 250 retailers increased from 2.4% in 2008 to 3.1% in 2009.

January 20, 2011
NextMark Releases 4Q10 Data Card Quality Report
NextMark, Inc. a leading provider of direct marketing tools and resources, has published its fourth quarter 2010 Data Card Quality Report. The report categorizes list management firms based on the number of titles managed, and provides an average data card quality score across each company’s list management portfolio.

January 19, 2011
US Paid Search Market Bounces Back in 2010, According to SearchIgnite Report
US paid search spend bounced back with 18.5% growth year-over-year in 2010. Q4 showed impressive gains, increasing +35.5% YoY with December leading the quarter at 44.8% YoY growth. The Q4 holiday season indicated improved consumer sentiment, with AOV up 31.3%YoY compared to a 13% decline in 2009.

January 19, 2011
Sophos Report Reveals Significant Increase in Social Networking Security Threats
According to findings of a new report by Sophos, by mid-2010, Facebook recorded half a billion active users. Unsurprisingly, this massive and committed user base is heavily targeted by scammers and cybercriminals, with the number and diversity of attacks growing steadily throughout 2010 – malware, phishing and spam on social networks have all continued to rise in the past year.

January 19, 2011
iPad Users Are Not Ready to Pay for Entertainment, Knowledge Networks Report Shows
The iPad is still a ways off from becoming a “fourth screen” and creating new revenue streams for content providers, according to Knowledge Networks’ How People Use Media: iPads – A First Look report. The report found that early iPad adopters are not demonstrating unique behaviors: six of the seven top reported activities are familiar ones, like Web surfing and email.

January 19, 2011
MBS Announces Partnership with Luxury Institute to Offer Unique Consumer Insight to Luxury Brand Retailers
MBS, a premier provider of customer database marketing solutions within the GSI Commerce Global Marketing Services division, has announced a strategic partnership with the Luxury Institute, a key provider of independent primary research and consulting services to the luxury marketing sector.

January 18, 2011
DM Employment in 2011 Starts Off Strong, Bernhart Associates' Survey Finds
Digital and direct marketers are planning a surge in hiring this winter with agencies leading the way, according to Bernhart Associates’ Quarterly Digital and Direct Marketing Employment Report for the first quarter of 2011.

January 18, 2011
Social Media Users More Demanding than Users of Traditional Media, Lightspeed Research Reveals
New research from Lightspeed Research and the IAB revealed that consumers have much higher expectations of social media customer services compared to more traditional channels. The research found that a quarter of people who complain about brands through Twitter or Facebook expect a response within the hour, and around 6% within 10 minutes.

January 18, 2011
Bing Searches Increase in December 2010, Experian Hitwise Reports
Experian Hitwise has announced that Google accounted for 69.67% of all US searches conducted in the four weeks ending Jan. 1, 2011. Bing-powered search received 25.77% of searches for the month, with Yahoo! Search and Bing receiving 15.17% and 10.60%, respectively.

January 18, 2011
Worldwide PC Shipments in Q4 of 2010 Grew 3.1%; Year-End Shipments Increased 13.8%, Gartner Reports
Worldwide PC shipments totaled 93.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2010, a 3.1% increase from the fourth quarter of 2009, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc.

January 18, 2011
Consumers More Bullish Heading Into 2011, ForecastIQ Finds
The outlook for same store sales continues the improvement trend begun in September, according to the December ForecastIQ. But with consumer confidence more than two points lower in December 2010 than it was in December 2009, it’s not certain if the continuing improvement trend will bring sustainable recovery.

January 14, 2011
Consumers Still Slow to Respond to Location-Based Marketing Efforts, Lightspeed Survey Shows
Despite the popularity of location-based services among Smartphone users, location-based advertising and promotions are surprisingly slow to catch on, according to a new mobile survey from Lightspeed Research.

January 14, 2011
Retailers Should Bring the Web Inside Stores with 'Mashop' Experiences, Cisco Survey Suggests
Research from the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) finds that retailers must respond to technology-savvy consumers by combining Web-like and in-store shopping experiences to create "mashops" in order to drive growth and build brand awareness.

January 14, 2011
Marketing a Priority for Small Businesses in 2011, Social Media to Benefit, According to Manta Survey
An overwhelming majority of small business owners plan to spend money on their business in 2011, according to a new survey by Manta. 77% plan to spend in 2011 even though 85% percent reported they implemented across-the-board cuts in 2010.

January 14, 2011
December 2010 US Online Retail Sales Up 12% Over 2009, Reports IBM
The US online retail sector delivered double-digit growth in December 2010 compared to the same period last year, according to analytics-based findings by IBM. IBM's findings expand on the company's earlier report that both Black Friday 2010 and Cyber Monday 2010 delivered strong double-digit growth over 2009.

January 13, 2011
Postal Service to Adjust Prices
The first U.S. Postal Service price change in two years will have minimal impact on retail customers who will continue to pay only 44 cents for a stamp.

January 12, 2011
Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) to Co-Chair Congressional Internet Caucus
The Co-Chairs of the Congressional Internet Caucus have announced Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA) as the newest Co-Chair of the prominent, bipartisan and bicameral Member organization, focused on educating Congress about the promise and potential of the Internet.

January 11, 2011
Consumer Usage of the Mobile Banking Channel Growing Rapidly According to Novarica Research
Driven largely by increased smartphone penetration rates, mobile is really beginning to matter for banking interactions and transactions, according to a new executive brief published by Novarica.

January 11, 2011
Targeted Mobile Threats, and Increased Cyber Espionage Coming Soon, Warns AppRiver
AppRiver, LLC, a leading provider of email messaging and Web security solutions, has released its year-end Threat and Spamscape report. Over the last twelve months, AppRiver quarantined more than 38 billion spam messages, almost double the amount quarantined just two years ago. Of that total, 450 million messages contained viruses.

January 11, 2011
Consumers 'Returned to Fun' This Holiday Season, MasterCard Survey Shows
MasterCard Worldwide has released survey results that reveal how consumers demonstrated a “return to fun” this holiday season as they purchased a combination of gifts that were both pragmatic and pleasurable.

January 11, 2011
Zappos.com Tops in Customer Service, According to NRF/American Express Survey
Zappos.com took top honors in the sixth annual NRF Foundation/American Express Customers’ Choice survey, conducted by BIGresearch. Amazon.com and LL Bean followed close behind.

January 7, 2011
US Consumer Technology Holiday Sales Drop 5% in 2010, According to NPD
US consumer technology holiday sales declined 5% in 2010 totaling $10.3 billion, according to leading The NPD Group. The heavy sales promotion early in November, prior to Black Friday, did not entice shoppers to spend early as sales results for the first three weeks of November fell by 5% compared to the prior year.

January 7, 2011
Free Standing Insert (FSI) Coupon Activity Increased 7.2% During 2010, Kantar Media Reports
Kantar Media reported that Free Standing Insert (FSI) coupon activity increased 7.2% during 2010 versus the previous year to more than 291 billion Coupons Dropped. This is the highest level of activity observed during the past decade by Marx, a Kantar Media solution and the industry standard for tracking FSI coupon activity.

January 7, 2011
comScore Reports Mobile Market Share
A new report from comScore, Inc. found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 24.5% market share, while RIM led among smartphone platforms with 33.5% market share.

January 5, 2011
Global Tablet Market Will Soar to $46 Billion by 2014, Yankee Group Predicts
The tablet PC has hit its stride. Yankee Group released its first-ever global tablet forecast, predicting total global revenue from tablet devices like Apple’s iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab will increase from $16 billion in 2010 to a whopping $46 billion in 2014.

January 5, 2011
AdSpend on Mobile Games to Reach Nearly $900 Million Globally by 2015, Says Juniper Research
A new report published by Juniper Research forecasts that adspend on mobile games will increase tenfold over the next five years. By 2015, adspend on this platform will reach $894 million, up from $87 million in 2010, fuelled by increasing brand interest in mobile as an advertising channel, and apps,of which games are the dominant sector.

January 5, 2011
US Online Holiday Shopping Season Reaches Record $32.6 Billion, According to comScore
comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, has reported that retail e-commerce spending for the entire November – December 2010 holiday season reached $32.6 billion, marking a 12% increase versus last year and an all-time record for the season.

January 5, 2011
Most Retail Categories Record Robust December Growth, SpedningPulse Reports
Accroding to MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, growth in December sales was robust across many retail categories, further building on November’s positive results, with some performing at better than pre-recession levels

January 4, 2011
US Advertising Expenditures Increased 6.4% in First Nine Months of 2010, Kantar Media Reports
Total ad expenditures in the first nine months of 2010 grew 6.45 from a year ago and finished the period at $94.06 billion, according to data released by Kantar Media. Ad spending during the third quarter of 2010 was up 8.7% versus last year, the largest quarterly gain since the end of 2004.

January 4, 2011
Connected TV Sales, Consumer Satisfaction, Are on the Rise, According to NPD
Consumers are using the connected features of their connected TVs and say that they are pleased with the results, according to leading market research company, The NPD Group’s Connected TV Owner Study.

January 4, 2011
Sears Enlists Bloggers for New Social Media Initiative at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show
Sears has announced its launch of a new social media initiative called the Sears Blue Blogger Crew, which is dedicated to providing knowledgeable, industry bloggers the opportunity to engage in consumer electronics announcements, events and activities throughout the year. The goal of the Sears Blue Blogger Crew initiative is to provide enthusiastic bloggers with new resources and early access to consumer electronics information, so they can further report, blog, and interact with their social media communities about the latest technology news.

January 4, 2011
Computers and Mobile Phones Purchases to Decline, New-Tech Purchases to Soar, Accenture Predicts
A new Accenture survey predicts that consumer purchase rates for personal computers and mobile phones (excluding smartphones) will decline by 39% and 56% this year compared with last year, respectively. By contrast, buying rates of 3DTVs are expected to rise 500%; tablet computers 160%; ebook readers 133%; and smartphones 26%.

January 3, 2011
Strong Uptick in M&A Led by Online Media, Marketing Services, and Mobile Sectors, JEGI Finds
M&A activity for the media, information, marketing services, and technology sectors rebounded strongly in 2010, with 845 transactions at a total value of $43.3 billion, as tracked by The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. (JEGI).

January 3, 2011
Majority of Web Users Have Paid to Download Web Content, Pew Research Center Finds
According to The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, nearly two-thirds of internet users (65%)have paid to download or access some kind of online content from the internet, ranging from movies to games to news articles. Music, software, and apps are the most popular content that internet users have paid to access or download.

January 3, 2011
Facebook Was Top Search Term in 2010 for Second Straight Year, Experian Hitwise Finds
Experian Hitwise has analyzed the top 1000 search terms for 2010, and Facebook was the top-searched term overall. This is the second year that the social networking website has been the top search term overall, accounting for 2.11% of all searches.

January 3, 2011
Final Pre-Christmas Push Propels US Online Holiday Season Spending to Record $30.8 Billion, comScore Finds
comScore has reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 56 days of the November – December 2010 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $30.81 billion has been spent online, marking a 13% increase versus the corresponding days last year.

December 30, 2010
More than Seven Trillion SMS Messages Will Be Sent in 2011, According to ABI Research
According to ABI Research estimates, more than seven trillion SMS messages will be sent worldwide, from nearly 4.2 billion mobile subscriptions. Messaging is also more prevalent among younger subscribers, and as they replace older subscribers, messaging will get a further boost.

December 29, 2010
Not All US E-Retailers Had a Happy Holiday, ForeSee Reports
ForeSee Results has released its annual holiday survey showing that while many e-retailers had a holiday to celebrate, customer satisfaction with the top 40 online retailers overall has fallen since last year. The overall decline can largely be attributed to declining scores for some computer and electronics retailers and mass merchants

December 29, 2010
Third-Generation Kindle Now the Bestselling Product of All Time on Amazon Worldwide
Amazon.com has announced that the third-generation Kindle is now the bestselling product in Amazon's history, eclipsing "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)."

December 29, 2010
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index Dips in December
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had improved in November, decreased slightly in December. The Index now stands at 52.5 (1985=100), down from 54.3 in November. The Present Situation Index declined to 23.5 from 25.4. The Expectations Index decreased to 71.9 from 73.6 last month.

December 28, 2010
Strong Holiday Season for Retailers; eCommerce and Apparel Fare Best, MasterCard Data Reveals
According to MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse, during Nov. 5 through Dec. 24 - the data showed overall season-over-season growth of 5.5%, as consumer spending continued to show progress compared to the same period in 2009.

December 28, 2010
PayPal Grows in Volume and Independence, says Auriemma Consulting Group
PayPal, once seen as a niche product, has achieved mainstream status for American consumers, according to a new survey conducted by by Auriemma Consulting Group, which found that 76% of American consumers have an active PayPal account.

December 28, 2010
Consumer Confidence in Technology Reaches New High, According to CEA Indexes
Consumer confidence in technology reached an all-time high in December, according to the newest figures released from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The CEA Indexes also show that consumer confidence in the overall economy is at its highest point in 18 months.

December 28, 2010
US Consumers More than Twice as Likely to Buy Portable Computers as Desktops in the Next Six Months, ABI Research Survey Finds
A Study by ABI Research has revealed that while desktops are the most common type of computer in consumers’ homes, consumers are more than twice as likely (35 percent) to buy laptops, netbooks, or media tablets than desktops in the next six months.

December 22, 2010
Smartphones Being Used for Holiday Shopping, According to Q&A
According to a new survey conducted by Q&A Research and marketing firm Thomas/Ferrous, Inc., many consumers are now integrating the use of smartphones into their shopping behavior.

December 22, 2010
Debt-Weary Consumers Move from Credit to Debit Cards for Web-Purchases, Javelin Research Finds
A new Javelin Strategy & Research report finds that the economic downturn has not dampened consumer online spending, but it is changing how consumers pay for their purchases. With the Federal Reserve proposing changes to merchant debit card transaction costs, these shifts take on increased significance.

December 22, 2010
Prepaid Cash Cards Offer Option in Personal Finance, Says Turner Investments
It’s estimated that the percentage of US households without bank accounts may be as high as 26 percent. So what happens to the $1.1 trillion that those households take in each year? According to the latest Sector Focus commentary by Turner Investments, much of that money is likely to end up on prepaid cash cards over the next five years.

December 22, 2010
Shoppersto Pack Stores on Christmas Eve, According to ICSC and Goldman Sachs
Based on the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs (ICSC-GS) holiday consumer tracking survey, 15% or 23.1 million consumers (16 years of age or older) plan to shop on Christmas Eve.

December 20, 2010
Holiday Shoppers are Empowered by the Mobile Internet, Poll from SapientNitro Shows
Findings from a new GfK Roper Poll, conducted on behalf of SapientNitro, part of Sapient, demonstrate that American consumers are increasingly empowered by their mobile devices when it comes to researching products and finding the best prices while holiday shopping.

December 17, 2010
Mobile Commerce Sales Explode in United States in 2010, According to ABI Research
In the US, purchases attributed to mobile online shopping – excluding travel – grew from $396.3 million in 2008 to an impressive $1.4 billion in 2009. ABI Research believes that in 2010, mobile online shopping excluding travel in the US had more than doubled again, to total more than $3.4 billion by year’s end.

December 17, 2010
Charitable Donations Increase by 42% During Holiday Months, Causes.com Survey Finds
A new survey released by Causes.com, conducted on its behalf by Harris Interactive, found that 85% of Americans have donated to a charitable organization and that among them, 34% are more likely to make contributions during Holiday season.

December 17, 2010
Moms Turn to Social Media When Buying Electronics, CEA Study Finds
A new study from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) reveals that most moms use social media to share and review opinions of technology products and retailers to make informed purchasing decisions.

December 17, 2010
Contact Centers Spending More on Self-Service Solutions, but with Low Success-Rates, inContact Survey Finds
A recent survey by inContact illustrates that contact centers are accelerating spending on self-service solutions. However, based on low success rates, the majority of those contact centers are still searching for optimal strategies for self-service success.

December 15, 2010
Media Tablets Poured into World Markets in 2010, Says ABI Research
Most people in North America or Western Europe, if asked how many media tablets had been commercially launched so far, would say "just one or two." But the reality is very different: in fact more than 60 distinct media tablet models from nearly 50 different manufacturers are already available in at least one country or region.

December 15, 2010
Oodle Launches New Social Marketplace
Social commerce pioneer Oodle has launched a new version of its popular classifieds platform, turning it into a social marketplace. The new social marketplace powers both the Facebook Marketplace and Oodle, and is also available on smart phones.

December 15, 2010
M&A Activity in Media and Marketing Services to Increase in 2011 According to AdMedia Partners
According to a new survey by AdMedia Partners, M&A Activity in Media, Marketing Services, and Internet Expected to Increase in 2011.

December 15, 2010
Organizations Targeting Students Should Focus on Their Own Websites, Not Social Networks, Research by Nielsen Norman Group Suggests
According to a new study by Nielsen Norman Group, students associate social networking sites with private discussions, not with corporate marketing, suggesting that organizations targeting students that should focus their efforts on their own sites.

December 13, 2010
Mobile Marketing and Ad Revenue Will Approach $1.5 Billion in 2016, According to ABI Research
The audience for mobile marketing and advertising is growing steadily, and spending on the new medium is growing in parallel. A new ABI Research study indicates that in 2016, revenue from mobile display ads will be getting close to $1.5 billion.

December 9, 2010
Social Networking by Small Business Nearly Triples in Past Three Years, Discover Survey Finds
Social networking by small business owners has nearly tripled in the past three years, jumping 23% in the past six months alone, according to a new survey from Discover, but less than a third of owners are using it to promote their businesses.

December 7, 2010
Consumers Want to Connect with Financial Institutions via Social Media, Says Fiserv Survey
Results from a new survey by Fiserv, Inc. show that that 11% of online consumers are currently connected with their bank or credit union through a social site, and more than one-third of those not connected are interested in doing so.

December 7, 2010
70% of Online Shoppers Say eGift Card Offerings Impact Brand Loyalty, CashStar Survey Finds
According to a new survey sponsored by CashStar, Inc., more than half of online shoppers are planning gift card purchases this holiday season and nearly a quarter will wait until the week leading into the holiday to make their purchase.

December 7, 2010
Digital Media Strategies Undermined by 'Growing Pains,' According to Meltwater Group
According to new research by Meltwater Group, companies are learning ‘on-the-job’ how best to create and distribute content, and effectively connect with audiences. Only 40% consider that their company fully embraces social media, yet budget is only an issue for 18%.

December 7, 2010
Intersection of Mobile and Social Enables More Connections with Consumers, Hipcricket Survey Reveals
The evolving relationship between mobile devices and social networks presents brands with significant new opportunities to connect with consumers. The third annual Hipcricket Mobile Marketing Survey found that 57% of consumers would be interested in opting in to a brand’s loyalty club via a mobile social networking application such as Facebook. Despite these insights, the survey also found that 80 percent of respondents stated that they still have not been marketed to by their favorite brands via their mobile device.

December 3, 2010
Amazon, JCPenney, and Kohl's Tops in Customer Service, NRF Finds
A new survey by the NRF Foundation, the research and education arm of the National Retail Federation, has announced the top 10 retailers for customer service selected by shoppers. Amazon.com and JCPenney top the list.

December 1, 2010
Competitive Strength of Retailers & Manufacturers in 2010 on the Rise, According to wRatings Study
A new study by wRatings Corporation finds that consumers are willing to pay a premium for items that are “on display,” whereas “behind the scenes” products like toiletries are open to the trade down syndrome seen throughout the past recession.

November 30, 2010
UK Retail Banks, Credit Card Providers, and Mortgage Lenders Improve; Home and Motor Insurance Companies Fall, National Customer Satisfaction Index Shows
UK Customer satisfaction rises again, but at a slower pace, according to the latest National Customer Satisfaction Index (NCSI UK) results.

November 29, 2010
Mobile Shopping Warriors Will Account for 28% or $127 billion of Overall 2010 Holiday Spending, IDC Predicts
According to a new survey by IDC Retail Insights, mobile shopping "warriors" (hyper-connected individuals) and mobile shopping "warrior wannabies" (moderately connected individuals) will account for 28% or $127 of the $447 billion the NRF predicts US consumers will spend this holiday season.

November 24, 2010
Encouraging Signs for Retailers Approaching Black Friday, US Spending Monitor Shows
The number of shoppers who say they expect to spend less this holiday season has fallen 10 percentage points from this time last year, according to early data from the Discover US Spending Monitor.

November 24, 2010
Small Businesses See Social Media as Key to Customer Engagement, Positive about Future, Finds Constant Contact
Constant Contact, Inc. has released the results from the company’s latest Small Business Attitudinal Survey. In the fall 2010 survey, small businesses reported an increased use of social media tools, viewing these tools as additive and complementary to other marketing activities.

November 24, 2010
Amazon, JCPenney, and Kohl's Tops in Customer Service, NRF Finds
The National Retail Federation has announced the top 10 retailers for customer service, with Amazon.com and JCPenney topping the list.

November 23, 2010
Consumer Confidence in Economy, Technology Hit Highest Level for 2010, According To CEA Indexes
Consumer confidence in the overall economy and in technology spending both improved in November to the highest points of the year, according to the latest figures released today by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).

November 23, 2010
Majority of Holiday Shoppers Are Avoiding Credit Cards as Primary Form of Payment, Green Dot Finds
As Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals usher in the holiday shopping season, a new online survey conducted by Harris Interactive for Green Dot finds the majority of holiday shoppers are shunning credit as their primary form of payment this holiday season.

November 19, 2010
Google Sites Led The Explicit Core Search Market in October, comScore Finds
comScore, Inc. has released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the US search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in October with 66.3% of searches conducted.

November 19, 2010
Amazon.com Announces Launch of New Visual Search Capability for Customers
Amazon.com, Inc. has announced a new search capability that allows customers to search and browse for shoes based on how they look, allowing them to find the styles they want easily and quickly.

November 19, 2010
US Online Hispanic Consumers More Likely to Have Positive Association with Advertising than Non-Hispanics Online, comScore Finds
comScore, Inc. has released results of a study of US Hispanic consumers, including insights into their online behavior and engagement with advertising. The study found that US online Hispanic consumers’ sentiment towards, and response to, advertising often varies significantly from Non-Hispanic online consumers, providing critically important insights for brands looking to reach and engage this dynamic consumer segment

November 19, 2010
Website Visitors Influenced by Social Media Spend 40% More Than Those Not Influenced by Social Media, ForeSee Report Shows
ForeSee Results has announced the creation of a new benchmark for its proprietary Social Media Value Calculation. The study found that, on average, 20% of visitors to websites studied reported being influenced by social media, while only 1% came directly from a social media URL

November 19, 2010
Indian Sub-Continent Mobile Data Revenues to Reach $10 billion by 2015, Juniper Forecasts
Juniper forecasts that operator billed data revenues will increase from $4 billion in 2010 to $10 billion in 2015. The new Juniper study found that while mobile content service revenues are currently dominated by the Music sector, User Generated Content will surpass Music to generate the highest revenue by 2015.

November 18, 2010
Brands Need a More Human Face in Social Media, Research from Firefly Millward Brown Suggests
New research by Firefly Millward Brown has found that although most organizations recognize the potential and importance of social media, they are confused about the rules of engagement and lack organizational support and confidence. As a result, many stay away from social media or jump in without fully understanding the impact it can have on their brand.

November 18, 2010
Consumer Holiday Spending Outpacing Earlier Expectations, Burst Media Finds
According to a study by Burst Media found that most holiday shoppers still have purchases to make. The study also found that among holiday shoppers who have completed their purchases, a considerable number spent more on holiday gifts in 2010 compared to 2009.

November 17, 2010
Consumers' Reliance on Credit Cards for Holiday Purchases Lowest Since '02, According to NRF
To ensure they only spend within their budget, more Americans will use their debit cards or cash for their holiday purchases, while the use of credit cards is expected to decrease, according to NRF’s 2010 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions survey, conducted by BIGresearch.

November 17, 2010
US Monthly Magazines Look to Mobile Action Codes to Engage Readers, According to Nellymoser Study
A new study by Nellymoser of the nation's leading monthly magazines has revealed that mobile action code usage is adding to consumer engagement in both editorial and advertising content.

November 17, 2010
Customer Satisfaction Weakens, According to American Customer Satisfaction Index
After almost two years of stalling scores, the overall American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) falls 0.3% for the third quarter, which brings the Index to a score of 75.7 on a 0-100 point scale.

November 16, 2010
Black Friday Sales to Increase, According to BDO USA Survey
According to BDO USA, LLP,CMOs at leading US retailers expect Black Friday sales to increase by 3.8% and Cyber Monday sales to grow by 2.5% this holiday season.

November 16, 2010
Boomers Spend 150+ Minutes/Month on Facebook, According to comScore Study
Baby Boomers caring for aging parents rely on the Internet, and social media in particular, for emotional support and practical suggestions, spending more than 150 minutes per person per month viewing 1,010 pages on Facebook, over 70% more time and more pages than the average Internet user, according to the Age Lessons Boomer Social Media Study.

November 16, 2010
Consumers Value Texting for a Range of Activities, According to Survey by Q&A Research and Thomas/Ferrous
According to a new survey conducted by Q&A Research and marketing firm Thomas/Ferrous, Inc., many US consumers are now using text messaging to accomplish a range of tasks that go beyond simply communicating with other individuals.

November 16, 2010
Lack of Competition in Broadband Providers Hurts Rural Small Businesses, Office of Advocacy Study Finds
The availability, speed, and price of broadband services vary significantly between metro area and rural businesses, according to a new study released by the SBA Office of Advocacy. The study found that when prices are held constant, rural small businesses get less service compared with metro small businesses.

November 15, 2010
AOL Unveils Preview of New Email Initiative, Project Phoenix
On the heels of the launch of the new AOL.com and several new local content initiatives, AOL has unveiled a preview of the new AOL Mail, code-named Project Phoenix. Phoenix was designed and built from the ground up as an innovative and intuitive email solution that fits the way consumers communicate today.

November 15, 2010
Postal Service Ends 2010 with $8.5 Billion Loss
The US Postal Service has reported its 2010 financial results, showing a net loss of $8.5 billion for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30. Excluding charges to income primarily resulting from changes to interest rates that impact the organization’s workers’ compensation liability, the net loss was $6 billion.

November 15, 2010
eBay Launches 'Love to Give' Social Shopping Campaign
eBay has kicked off the holiday shopping season with its Love to Give campaign. eBay says that Love to Give celebrates “unwrap attacks” – those unforgettable, uncontrollable emotional moments that occur when someone receives the perfect gift.

November 15, 2010
Consumers on a Holiday Budget, but Likely to Bust, Western Union Survey Finds
The Western Union Company found in a recent survey conducted with Wakefield Research that 54% of consumers say they are likely to create a budget this holiday season.

November 12, 2010
Return Fraud to Cost Retailers $3.7 Billion This Holiday Season, NRF Survey Finds
According to NRF’s annual Return Fraud Survey, the retail industry will lose an estimated $3.68 billion to return fraud this holiday season, up from $2.74 billion last year. Return fraud will cost retailers an estimated $13.95 billion during the 2010 calendar year, up from $9.59 billion in 2009.

November 12, 2010
Ad Spending in China to Top $33 Billion as Marketers Flock Online, According to eMarketer
With the world’s most vibrant economy and the second largest consumer market, advertising spending in China is expected to grow 14.6% to $33.64 billion this year, according to a new report from eMarketer.

November 12, 2010
Walmart Offers Free Holiday Shipping for Online Purchases
Walmart has announced that it is offering free shipping to home on nearly 60,000 holiday items,with no minimum purchase requirement or subscription fees, now through Dec. 20 at Walmart.com.

November 12, 2010
Demographic Differences Surface in Economic Outlook and Holiday Intentions, Deloitte Research Shows
While many consumers are uncertain about the economy heading into the holidays, a few important demographic segments are exhibiting more seasonal cheer, according to Deloitte’s 25th annual holiday survey of consumer spending intentions and trends.

November 11, 2010
Facebook.com Now Accounts for Nearly 25% of Online Display Ads in US, comScore Reports
Data from the comScore indicates that nearly 1.3 trillion display ads were delivered to US Internet users during the third quarter, marking a 22% increase versus year ago - and Facebook ranks as the top display ad publisher in Q3 2010.

November 11, 2010
AOL and Michael Eisner's Vuguru Team Up to Create Original Content for AOL
AOL and Vuguru, an independent studio that finances content for digital and emerging platforms, have announced that Vuguru will develop and produce a minimum of six original scripted series for distribution by AOL.

November 11, 2010
Consumers Search for Online Coupons or Deals When Shopping Online, According to Ipsos Survey
A new survey by Ipsos and commissioned by Offers.com shows that while 63% of online shoppers search for online coupons or deals at least some of the time before making an online purchase, only 21%report doing so most or all of the time.

November 11, 2010
20% of Employees will Use Social-Networking Services for Business Communications by 2014, Gartner Predicts
Greater availability of social-networking-services, coupled with changing demographics and work styles, will lead 20% of employees to use social networks as their business communications’ hub by 2014, according to Gartner, Inc.

November 10, 2010
Online Retail Sales to Charge Ahead This Holiday, According to Forrester
Online retail sales in the US will reach nearly $52 billion this holiday season, a 16% increase over last year’s weak numbers, according to a new forecast by Forrester Research.

November 10, 2010
Customer Engagement Levels Fail to Bounce Back After Recession, According to PeopleMetrics
Consumers are starting to spend more, but they’re not emotionally connecting with brands and companies the way they did before the recession, a new study by PeopleMetrics has revealed.

November 10, 2010
Travel Industry Revenue Projected to Increase to Near Pre-Recession Levels, According to Maritz Survey
Holiday travel, an economic bellweather for the airline and hospitality industry, is projected to increase to near pre-recession levels, according to findings from the annual Maritz Poll.

November 10, 2010
Employees Will Shop Less Online But Take Bigger Risks During 2010 Holiday Season, ISACA Survey Finds
Employees in the US plan to spend less time shopping online from a work-supplied computer this holiday season than they did a year ago, but more of them are engaging in risky online behavior, according to a new ISACA survey.

November 9, 2010
Location-Enabled Services Set for Strong Growth; 1.7 Billion Geo-enabled Browsers by 2016, ABI Predicts
Location-Enabled Services are set for strong growth driven by standards such as the W3C’s geo-location API. ABI Research forecasts that 1.7 billion geo-enabled browsers will be in use worldwide by 2016.

November 9, 2010
US Retailers Forecast 2.83% Increase in Comparable Store Sales This Holiday Season, According to BDO USA Survey
According to BDO USA, LLP, CMOs at leading US retailers expect comparable and overall sales to increase by 2.83% and 3.51% respectively for the 2010 holiday season -- a big jump in expectations from last year.

November 9, 2010
40% of Online Adults Don't Look for Coupon Codes on the Web, According Coupons.com
Gift givers will become bargain hunters this holiday season. That's because 94% of online adults say getting deals on the gifts they purchase is at least somewhat important to them, according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive.

November 9, 2010
Americans Tightening Belts for Leaner Thanksgiving, First Command Reports
The latest results of the First Command Financial Behaviors Index reveal that 38% of families are changing their Thanksgiving plans for economic reasons, continuing a larger trend toward more responsible spending and saving.

November 5, 2010
Android Platform Now Reaches More than One in Five US Smartphone Subscribers, comScore Reports
comScore, Inc. has released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the US mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending September 2010. The September report found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall, while RIM led among smartphone platforms.

November 5, 2010
Santa Will Be Nice to Some Retailers But Not Others, According to ForecastIQ
The October same-store sales forecast appears to bring some retailers reason for cautious optimism this holiday season, according to ForecastIQ (a service from Prosper Technologies, LLC). 14 of the 27 retailers tracked are forecasted likely or almost certain growth in November and December.

November 5, 2010
Global Tablet Device Shipments to Exceed 80 Million Annually by 2015, Says Juniper Research
The number of annual shipments for tablet devices will reach 81 million by 2015 as an increasing number of consumer electronics players and handset manufacturers enter the market, finds Juniper's latest report.

November 5, 2010
Yahoo and Samsung Expand Availability of Yahoo Connected TV to Millions of Consumers Across Europe
Yahoo! and Samsung have announced an extended partnership to deliver Yahoo! Connected TV in 26 new countries across Europe, bringing Yahoo! Connected TV on Samsung TVs to 39 countries worldwide.

November 3, 2010
US Postal Service Announces Shipping Prices for 2011
The simpler way to ship – with Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes from the US Postal Service – is set to extend its popularity with consumers and shippers in the new year when new prices take effect. Prices for Priority Mail, Express Mail and other Shipping Services will change Jan. 2, 2011.

November 3, 2010
Retailers Can Capitalize on Last-Minute Holiday Shoppers, Acxiom Study Shows
Retailers can reap the benefits of last-minute holiday shoppers by adjusting their December marketing strategies, according to new research released today by Acxiom Corporation, a global leader in marketing services and technology.

November 3, 2010
Many US Retail Industry Sectors Swing to Positive Momentum, According to SpendingPulse
According to MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse, During the month, sales in most sectors posted positive year-over-year growth compared with retail sales a year ago. From a sector-by-sector point of view, categories continued to stabilize, building strength onto the more tepid growth seen in previous months.

November 3, 2010
Ballantine Expands Services to Include Tech-Savvy Imprinted Promotional Products
Ballantine Corporation, a leading, full-service direct marketing production firm, announced this week that they have added a new client service to its roster - imprinted promotional products.

November 2, 2010
Traditional Authentication Methods for Online Banking Do Not Work, Javelin Report Finds
A new Javelin Strategy & Research report finds that traditional authentication methods used for online banking do not work for mobile banking and new approaches are needed that exploit mobile phone security features.

November 2, 2010
Nearly One-Third of US Adults Plan to Cut Holiday Spending, VeraQuest Survey Finds
Americans may be spending less money at the mall and more of it in the kitchen this holiday season, according to a recent national online omnibus survey among US adults conducted by VeraQuest. Nearly one-third plan to decrease holiday spending this year and only 14% plan to spend more.

November 2, 2010
Amazon Announces New Method for Sending Gift Cards through Facebook
Amazon.com has announced a new method for sending Amazon.com Gift Cards to friends on Facebook. Customers can now connect to their Facebook account on Amazon.com and create a personalized gift card that will be delivered on the recipient's Facebook Wall.

November 2, 2010
Inter/Media and Anders Ekman Launch New Pay-Per-Performance Venture, Performant
Anders Ekman and the Inter/Media Group of Companies have teamed up to create a new venture, Performant, that is intended to bring big agency skills and campaigns and a pay-per-performance business model to the world's largest marketers.

November 2, 2010
10 Million UK Consumers Sought Financial Advice Online in September 2010, According to comScore
comScore has released a ranking of top Financial Information/Advice Sites in the UK based on September 2010 data from its comScore Media Metrix service. Nearly 10 million internet users turned to the Web for financial advice, spending an average of 15 minutes on sites in the category during the month.

November 1, 2010
comScore Reports Q3 2010 US Retail E-Commerce Spending Up 9% vs. Year Ago
comScore, Inc. has released its Q3 2010 US retail e-commerce sales estimates, which showed that online retail spending reached $32.1 billion for the quarter, up nine percent versus year ago. This growth rate represented the fourth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth following a year of flat or negative growth rates.

November 1, 2010
Social Media Drives Face-to-Face Interations, ExactTarget Study Finds
A new study by ExactTarget and CoTweet finds that consumers’ increased usage of social media directly corresponds to more face-to-face interactions.

November 1, 2010
Online Shopping Behaviors Vary Significantly Along Demographic Lines, ATG Study Reveals
ATG (Art Technology Group, Inc.) has released a new report that describes how different groups of consumers research and purchase products and services across different channels - including websites, stores, contact centers, mobile, and social channels - and how they assess these experiences.

November 1, 2010
Thomson Reuters Acquires Highline Financial; The Jordan, Edmiston Group, represented Highline Financial in This Transaction
Thomson Reuters has acquired Highline Financial, a financial information and analytics provider focused on the US banking sector. The acquisition supports Thomson Reuters’ strategy of providing timely, accurate and high quality information by expanding its offering to include differentiated financial content and analytics for the banking and capital markets sector.

November 1, 2010
Data-Mail Expands Direct Mail Production Capabilities with New Digital Print Technology and Envelope Converting Operations
Data-Mail, a provider of integrated direct marketing solutions, has announced it will expand its in-house production capabilities to include digital full color web printing.

October 28, 2010
New Fundraising and Communication Channels Growing, But Not Replacing Traditional Channels, Blackbaud Survey Reveals
Blackbaud, Inc. has announced the release of the results from The State of the Nonprofit Industry Survey. Findings show that new fundraising and communication channels, although growing, are not replacing traditional channels.

October 28, 2010
44% of Shoppers Plan to Do Their Holiday Gift Buying Online, Research by MarketLive and E-tailing Group Shows
MarketLive, Inc. and the e-tailing group have revealed results from the 2010 Mindset of a Multi-Channel Shopper Survey. The survey reveals that 44% of shoppers plan to do their holiday gift buying on the Internet, compared to 37% percent in 2009.

October 28, 2010
Troubles Seen for Traditional Media, Both Print and TV, According to New 24/7 Wall St./Harris Poll
According to research by 24/7 Wall St. and Harris Interactive, while two-thirds of Americans still agree that they prefer to get their news in more traditional ways such as network TV, newspapers, or magazines, over half of Americans say traditional media as we currently know it will no longer exist in ten years.

October 27, 2010
Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index Improves Slightly
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had declined in September, increased slightly in October. The Index now stands at 50.2 (1985=100), up from 48.6 in September. The Present Situation Index increased to 23.9 from 23.3. The Expectations Index improved to 67.8 from 65.5.

October 27, 2010
19% of All Mobile Phones Shipped in 2Q Were Smartphones, According to ABI Research
Smartphone markets continue to forge ahead at an extraordinary pace. According to ABI Research, smartphones made up 19% of all handsets shipped in the second quarter; that represents a 12% increase over the first quarter, and a 50% jump compared to the same quarter in 2009.

October 27, 2010
Frugal Holidays Ahead for Middle-Class Families, First Command Reports
Middle-class families are preparing to extend their belt-tightening ways into the holiday shopping season, with three out of four consumers cutting back in some way this year. The latest results of First Command Financial Behaviors Index reveal that 71% of middle-class families plan to cut back by changing their gift-giving behaviors.

October 26, 2010
Consumers Are Changing Their Payment Methods Online, Javelin Reports
A new Javelin Strategy & Research report issued in conjunction with Shop.org finds that consumers are not only spending more online, but they are also changing their payment methods: over one half are using online alternative payment options.

October 26, 2010
Facebook Should Learn Security Lesson from Apple, Sophos Poll Suggests
A Sophos poll of over 1000 people has revealed that more than 95 percent believe that Facebook should follow Apple's example and security-check all third party apps running on the site.

October 26, 2010
Retailers Poised to Become the New 'Googles' of the Consumer Goods Industry, According to Havas Media and MPG
Research by Havas Media and MPG shows that retail is perceived to be a leading sector in sustainability, with over 85% of all retail brands within the analysis recording above average results. Furthermore, half of the top 20 brands were from the retail sector.

October 26, 2010
Online Poker Tournaments Drive Traffic to Gambling Sites; Education Sites Spike as School Year Kicks Off, According to comScore
Online Gambling sites were popular in September as the competition heated up at several online poker tournaments, according to comScore, Inc. Classes resumed for schools and universities nationwide prompting teachers and students alike to visit Education sites

October 25, 2010
Worldwide Mobile Subscriptions Number More than Five Billion, According to ABI Research
ABI Research estimates that at the end of the second quarter of 2010, more than five billion mobile subscriptions were active worldwide. Emerging markets such as India, Indonesia and China have continued to add mobile connections at a rapid clip, and show no signs of slowing down.

October 25, 2010
Majority of Consumers will Shop Online for the Holidays; 38% will Spend More than Last Year, eBillme Finds
Thirty-eight percent of consumers plan to spend more online for holiday gifts this year, a 9% increase over last year, according to the eBillme Online Spending Index. During the fourth quarter, consumers are planning to spend an average of $283.68 online, a 3% increase over Q4 2009.

October 25, 2010
Majority of Online Retailers Expecting Strong Sales This Holiday Season, According to Shop.org
The holiday season may be merry and bright for online retailers, according to results of Shop.org’s eHoliday Study conducted by BIGresearch. Nearly two-thirds of retailers expect their company’s online sales to grow by 15% or more compared to last holiday season, up from less than half of retailers who had those expectations last year.

October 25, 2010
Mobility Will Be a Trillion Dollar Business by 2014, Gartner Says
Worldwide mobile voice and data revenue will exceed one trillion dollars a year by 2014, according to Gartner, Inc. Mobile will generate revenue from a wide range of additional services such as context, advertising, application and service sales, and so on.

October 22, 2010
NRF Forecasts Holiday Sales Increase of 2.3%
After a ho-hum 2009 and a disastrous 2008, holiday retail sales* are expected to increase a more moderate 2.3 percent this year to $447. 1 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. While that grow October 8, 2010 — After a ho-hum 2009 and a disastrous 2008, holiday retail sales* are expected to increase a more moderate 2. 3 percent this year to $447. 1 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. While that growth remains slightly lower than the ten-year average holiday sales increase of 2.5 percent, it would be a marked improvement from both last year’s 0.4 percent uptick and the dismal 3.9 percent holiday sales decline retailers experienced in 2008. th remains slightly lower than the ten-year average holiday sales increase of 2.5 percent, it would be a marked improvement from both last year’s 0.4 percent uptick and the dismal 3.9 percent holiday sales decline retailers experienced in 2008.

October 21, 2010
Calculated Consumption by Cautious Consumers Are Holiday Watch Words, According to NPD
The NPD Group, Inc., a leading market research company, released the results of its ninth annual survey of consumers’ holiday spending intentions. The study’s results suggest that consumers will approach this holiday shopping season with care.

October 20, 2010
Outdoor Advertising Demonstrates Direct Sales Lift, MarketShare Study Finds
With the Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising industry in the midst of a major transformation, thanks to the advent of digital technology and new outdoor measurement developments, Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CCO) today released a ground-breaking study entitled “How Out-of-Home Advertising Works” in conjunction with MarketShare Partners, the leading cross-marketing optimization company. The new study offers an analysis of Out-of-Home (OOH), including its financial contribution and return-on-investment as part of a balanced marketing mix to help marketers make more informed decisions regarding their overall marketing allocations.

October 11, 2010
OgilvyOne Launches '21st Century Guide to Selling' at DMA2010
OgilvyOne Worldwide has launched the “21st Century Guide to Selling” at DMA2010, DMA's Global ROI Marketing event. The guide was developed in collaboration with Todd Herman, the winner of OgilvyOne’s Search for the World’s Greatest Salesperson contest, and advocates a complete rethink by sellers at a time when the buying process has fundamentally changed.

October 7, 2010
Bernhart Associates' Q4 Employment Survey Released: Hiring Indicators Holding Steady
According to Bernhart Associates' latest Quarterly Digital and Direct Marketing Employment Report, direct marketer looking for employment will not see much of a change during the rest of 2010.

September 20, 2010
Google Sites Lead in comScore's August 2010 US Search Engine Rankings
comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, has released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the US search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in August with 65.4 percent of searches conducted.

September 10, 2010
Credit Card Usage Hits All-Time Low, Javelin Report Reveals
According to a new Javelin Strategy & Research report, the pain of the recession has produced a risk-adverse, cash-hoarding cautious consumer, who is dropping credit cards and opting cash, checks, debit, prepaid and gift cards at a higher rate than ever before.

September 10, 2010
Amazon, Walmart, eBay Top List of Shoppers' Favorite Online Retailers, According to BIGresearch
Brand loyalty proves to be quite strong in the latest STORES Media Favorite 50 Online Retailers survey, conducted by BIGresearch and published in the September issue of STORES Magazine.

September 10, 2010
Four Out of Five Internet Users in Australia Viewed Online Video in July, comSore Finds
A new report by comScore, Inc. found that 81% of Australia’s Internet population viewed video online in July, with an average viewer watching more than seven hours of video during the month.

September 10, 2010
Americans Still Spend Money on Their Passions During Recession and Beyond, Accordng to American Express Survey
While Americans remain budget-conscious and focused on saving since the onset of the economic downturn, the majority say they did not decrease spending in the areas they are most passionate about.

September 2, 2010
FTC Announces Fees Telemarketers Pay to Access the National Do Not Call Registry Will Not Increase in FY 2011
The fees that telemarketers pay to access phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry will remain unchanged in fiscal year 2011, the Federal Trade Commission has announced. All telemarketers making calls to consumers in the US are required to download the Do Not Call list to make sure consumers who have placed their numbers on the list do not receive unwanted calls.

August 26, 2010
US Mobile Learning Revenues Reached $632 Million in 2009, Ambient Insight Reports
The US demand for Mobile Learning is growing by a five-year compound annual growth rate of 18.3% and revenues will reach $1.4 billion by 2014 according to a new report by Ambient Insight.

August 25, 2010
Dicounts and 'Social Badging' Primary Reasons Consumers 'Like' Brands on Facebook, According to ExcactTarget
A new study by ExactTarget finds that, while consumers primarily turn to Facebook to connect with friends and for entertainment, discounts and 'social badging' are the primary reasons consumers 'like' brands on Facebook.

August 24, 2010
Direct Marketers Facing Longer Unemployment, Bernhart Survey Finds
The job outlook for unemployed direct marketers has sharply deteriorated since last summer, according to a new study by Bernhart Associates Executive Search, LLC, a leading digital and direct marketing executive search firm.

August 23, 2010
Marketers Send High Volumes of Email to Non-Responsive Customers, Return Path Study Finds
According to new research by Return Path, e-retailers continue to struggle with building customized, 1-to-1 email marketing efforts tailored to subscriber response rates, or more importantly, lack of response.

August 23, 2010
Marketers Not (Yet) Sold on Social Media, According to KRC Research
Tweeting and Facebooking may be the rage among the YouTube generation, but many corporate leaders are reluctant to change their marketing approaches for the sake of social networking, according to a new national survey by KRC Research.

August 20, 2010
Phishing Attacks Drop Year-Over-Year According to IID Report
According to IID, phishing attacks were down 10 percent from April to June 2010 compared to the second quarter of 2009. Despite this drop, phishing attacks targeting e-commerce, gaming, web services and social networking sites significantly increased.

August 20, 2010
Average Family Has Completed More School Shopping Compared to Same Time Last Year, NRF Finds
Consumers got a jump start on their back-to-school and college shopping this summer, according to a new survey by NRF. The average family has completed 43.2% of their school shopping, compared to 41.6% at this time last year.

August 20, 2010
Fixed Broadband Subscriber Numbers Approach 449 million in 2Q 2010, According to ABI Research
The number of fixed broadband subscribers totaled just under 449 million in the second quarter of 2010, according to ABI Research’s most recent broadband subscriber Market Data. This represents a 10% increase over the same period in 2009.

August 13, 2010
July Total US Retail Sales Show Mixed Results, According to SpendingPulse
July total retail sales grew by 1.4% year-over-year with seasonally adjusted month-to-month sales declining by 0.9%. Excluding auto and gasoline, on a seasonally unadjusted basis, year-over-year sales in July grew by 1.0%, according to MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse.

August 13, 2010
The 'Big Ad Gig' Returns - Top Agencies Offer Jobs to Five Finalists: Submissions Deadline Aug. 23
Eight young advertising creatives will once again compete to win a 30-day paid freelance position at five of today’s top advertising agencies, with the return of The Big Ad Gig (www.thebigadgig.com), to Advertising Week 2010.

August 3, 2010
Mobile Data Usage Grows Exponentially but Data Revenue Lags, According to ABI Research
According to ABI Research, mobile data usage continues to grow exponentially as 3G technology spreads globally. From 2009 to 2015 data usage in Western Europe and North America is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 42% and 55% respectively.

August 3, 2010
Americans Budgeting More for Back to School Shopping, According to American Express
The majority (80%) of consumers with children in preschool through high school expect to spend more (39%) or the same (41%) per child on back to school shopping this year compared to last year, according to the latest American Express Spending & Saving Tracker.

August 3, 2010
Twitter Users Three Times More Likely to Impact Brands Online, ExactTarget Finds
A new study by ExactTarget finds consumers active on Twitter are three times more likely to impact a brand’s online reputation through syndicated Tweets, blog posts, articles, and product reviews than the average consumer.

July 23, 2010
Attention Mobile Operators: Courting Apple Owners Is Good Business, Says Yankee Group
1.7 million consumers bought iPhone 4s in its first three days of sale, sending Apple more than $1 billion in revenue. Research from Yankee Group shows that those same consumers will be worth more than $1.8 billion to AT&T this year, and more than $9 billion to it over the next five years.

July 23, 2010
Competition Will Drive Smartphone Pricing Down, Finds Juniper Research
A new study from Juniper Research has forecast that challengers from the consumer electronics market will achieve global sales of smartphones exceeding 26 million by 2015. In addition, Asia will assert greater influence in the production of Smartphone devices.

July 23, 2010
Spring Radio Ratings Shows Stability of Overall Listening Habits, Nielsen Finds
Radio consumption shows impressive year-over-year stability, according to an analysis of key listening metrics included in Nielsen’s spring 2010 ratings within 51 US markets.

July 23, 2010
PC Game Digital Downloads Reaching Parity With In-Store Purchases, Finds NPD Group
According a new report from The NPD Group, in 2009, 21.3 million PC Game full-game digital downloads were purchased online in the US compared to 23.5 million physical units purchased at retail during the same period.

July 22, 2010
Mobile App Store Downloads to Reach 25 Billion by 2015, Juniper Report Finds
As network operators and vendors increasingly deploy their own dedicated app stores, a new Juniper Research report has found that the annual number of consumer-oriented handset downloads is expected to rise from less than 2.6 billion in 2009 to more than 25 billion in 2015.

July 22, 2010
Facebook Flops in Customer Satisfaction, According to ACSI E-Business Report
Despite being the most popular website in America, consumers don't like Facebook, according to the 2010 American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) E-Business Report, produced in partnership with ForeSee Results. Facebook scored 64 on the ACSI's 100-point scale, which puts its satisfaction even lower than IRS e-filers.

July 22, 2010
Click Fraud Rate Rises Slightly in Q2 2010 to 18.6%, Click Forensics Finds
According to Click Forensics, the overall industry average click fraud rate was 18.6% in Q2 2010. That’s up from the 17.4% reported for Q1 2010 and the 12.7% rate reported for Q2 2009.

July 22, 2010
Banks Can Do More to Mitigate Escalating Malware Attacks, Javelin Report Finds
A new Javelin Strategy & Research report finds that banks can do more to partner with security vendors and with their customers to mitigate malware attacks. Only two of the top 25 banks offer free or discounted unbundled antivirus protection to account holders.

July 21, 2010
Leading Retailers Aim for First-Mover Advantage in the Mobile Channel, According to Forbes Insights
As consumers are starting to look to their smartphones for an enhanced shopping experience, leading US retailers are hoping to capture first-mover advantage in the growing mobile channel, according to a new study released today by Forbes Insights.

July 21, 2010
Marketers Should Wake Up to the Potential of Mobile, says ABI Research
The first waves of what could become a marketing “perfect storm” are already lapping at the feet of marketing departments in many parts of the world, and according to ABI Research practice director for mobile marketing strategies Neil Strother, it’s time for marketing professionals to take note.

July 21, 2010
Online Retail Sales Projections Up 8% for Q3, eBillme Online Spending Index Shows
Seventeen percent of consumers plan to do their back-to-school shopping online this year, a five percent increase over last year, according to the eBillme Online Spending Index, a quarterly survey conducted by Javelin Strategy and Research.

July 21, 2010
Bowe Bell + Howell and Gunther International Announce Strategic Marketing Agreement
BÖWE BELL + HOWELL and Gunther International have announced an agreement whereby Gunther International will offer its customers disaster recovery and overflow services available through BBH. The BBH facilities offer secure mail-production services, from data management, printing and verification to induction by the USPS.

July 19, 2010
Mobile Video Services Revenue to Exceed $2 Billion in 2013, Says ABI Research
Revenue from mobile video services is expected to top $2 billion worldwide in 2013, according to the latest data from ABI Research. Video services included in this forecast are video telephony, video messaging, video sharing, video-on-demand, VoD downloads, and “other” video services.

July 19, 2010
Customer Profitability Still Down at Big Retail Banks, Accenture Survey Finds
According to a survey by Accenture, a majority of executives at leading retail banks globally say average customer profitability has remained below pre-crisis levels, while their customers’ price-sensitivity and inclination to "shop around" have increased.

July 19, 2010
Parents Will Not Be Cutting Back on Back-to-School Spending, Burst Media Survey Shows
A new survey by Burst Media found that consumers will not cut back on back-to-school spending, as more than half plan to spend more or at least the same amount on back-to-school clothing and supplies as they did last year.

July 14, 2010
Shoppers Prefer Email Promotions Over Social Media, CrossView Survey Shows
According to a new survey by CrossView, 35% of respondents said they were shopping due to a recently received promotion from a retailer. Of those who did not receive a promotion, 68% said they would have been more likely to visit a store if they had been given one.

July 14, 2010
United States Extends Lead as Top Spamming Nation as European Output Rises, Sophos Reports
Sophos has published its latest report into the top twelve spam-relaying countries, covering the second quarter of 2010. The US continues to be the number one spam polluter, piping out 15.2% of all global spam messages – an increase from 13.1% in the first quarter of 2010.

July 12, 2010
Mobile Banking Usage Nearly Doubled Since Last Year, According to IDC Study
According to a new report by IDC Financial Insights, mobile banking has seen an increase in usage and in institutions offering the service in the last year. In fact, reported mobile banking usage has almost doubled since last year's survey.

July 12, 2010
Google Sites Has Largest Audience in Asia Pacific
comScore has released its May 2010 ranking of the top online properties in the Asia-Pacific region. Google Sites led as the most-visited property in the region reaching 55% of the online population, while Tencent led in engagement with visitors averaging 6.5 hours at the property during the month.

July 8, 2010
Six in Ten Americans Go Online Wirelessly; African-Americans Lead in Cellphone Usage, Pew Study Finds
A May 2010 survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project finds that six in ten American adults now go online wirelessly using either a mobile phone or a laptop with a wireless Internet connection. Americans are also taking advantage of a much wider range of cell phone data applications than at a similar point in 2009.

July 7, 2010
US Spending on Mobile Display Ads Will Nearly Quadruple over the Next Five Years, Says ABI Research
According to ABI Research, over the next five years, spending on mobile display ads in the US, estimated at just under $313 million today, will almost quadruple to exceed $1.2 billion in 2015.

June 29, 2010
Nearly 75% of Online Retailers Are Dialing up Mobile Strategies, According to Shop.org/Forrester Research
According to a Forrester Research study produced in partnership with Shop.org, nearly 75% of online retailers either already have or are developing a mobile strategy. One in five boasts having a fully-implemented mobile strategy in place already.

June 29, 2010
Smartphones Drive Gains in US Mobile Navigation, comScore Finds
A new study by comScore on mobile map usage has found that 14% of mobile users in the US accessed maps on their devices in April 2010, as the mobile map audience reached 33.5 million users, up 44% from the previous year.

June 29, 2010
Flash and Rich Media Ads Represent 40% of US Online Display Ad Impressions, comScore Reports
According to comScore's Ad Metrix Creative Summary report, JPEG display ads led the market with more than 42% of impressions in the U.S., while “leaderboard”-style banner ads (728 x 90 in dimension) were the most commonly viewed display ad by size.

June 23, 2010
Small Businesses Investing More in Email Marketing; Look to Integrate Social Media, AWeber Survey Finds
According to a new survey by AWeber Communications, Email marketing continues to bring significant value to businesses, with more than 82% of respondents planning to increase their email marketing efforts over the next year.

June 23, 2010
More than 55 Million Smartphone Shipments in the First Quarter of 2010, Says ABI Research
The world’s smartphone markets continued to build on their strong 4Q-2009 performance in the first three months of 2010. According to the latest ABI Research data, a little more than 55 million smartphones shipped during the quarter.

June 23, 2010
Harte-Hanks Names Brian Dames Its CMO for Direct Marketing
Harte-Hanks, Inc. has announced that it has promoted Brian Dames to the newly created position of CMO, Harte-Hanks Direct Marketing. Since first joining the company in 2007, Dames has been managing director in charge of data services and data solutions for Harte-Hanks Direct Marketing.

June 22, 2010
Tablets to Outsell Netbooks By 2012, Forrester Predicts
Fueled by a growing interest in tablet computers, nearly half a billion PCs will be sold to consumers in the US between now and 2015, according to a new report by Forrester Research.

June 22, 2010
Online Behavior Leaves Consumers Vulnerable to Identity Theft, Finds Ponemon Study
The use of social media can increase consumer vulnerability to identity theft because of the amount and type of personal information people share on these networks. However, consumers do little or nothing to protect themselves, according to a recent study conducted by the Ponemon Institute.

June 22, 2010
Nine of 10 Americans Have Cell Phones, but Talking Isn t All That Matters, Finds BIGresearch
An increasing number of people are looking for phones which offer access to email, the Internet, picture-taking, and even calendars, according to new research, conducted by BIGresearch for the National Retail Federation’s Mobile Retail Initiative.

June 17, 2010
Mobile Phone Adoption Steps Backward as 23 Million Cash-Strapped Consumers Drop Out, Javelin Report Finds
A new Javelin Strategy & Research report finds that the economy sucker punched overall mobile phone adoption, which dropped sharply from 85% in 2009 to 74% in 2010. The 23 million consumers who cancelled their contracts apparently considered having a mobile phone a luxury.

June 16, 2010
Mobile Apps Revenues to Exceed $30 billion by 2015, Juniper Reports
A new report published by Juniper Research forecasts that the combined revenues from apps funded by pay-per-download (PPD), value-added services (VAS, including freemium and subscription) and advertising is expected to rise from just under $10 billion in 2009 to $32 billion in 2015.

June 16, 2010
Americans conducted 15.9 billion core searches in May, comScore Finds
comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, has released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the US search marketplace. In May 2010, Americans conducted 15.9 billion core searches, up 3 percent vs. April.

June 16, 2010
Retail Fraud, Shoplifting Rates Decrease, According to National Retail Security Survey
As severe economic pressures slowly subside, retailers are noticing the same slight movement in merchandise losses, also known as shrinkage, and other types of criminal activity in their stores. Preliminary results of the latest National Retail Security Survey show that retail shrinkage decreased to 1.44% of retail sales in 2009, down from 1.51% in 2008.

June 16, 2010
BOWE BELL + HOWELL Announces Expansion Plans for Customer Excellence Center
BÖWE BELL + HOWELL has announced expansion plans for a new customer excellence and demonstration center at its facility in Durham, N.C. This center will feature the widest range of inserting, sorting, software, vision and service offerings available today, and provide an opportunity for customers to meet with BBH industry experts.

June 15, 2010
Market for US Mobile Broadband about to Speed Up, IDC Says
According a new forecast by IDC, the market for mobile broadband connectivity for portable computers has been slow to gain momentum over the past several years. Only in the past 18 months has the US market taken significant steps toward broader adoption beyond the traditional mobile worker. The report shows that the US mobile broadband market will grow from 6.5 million subscribers in 2009 to 30.2 million in 2014.

June 15, 2010
National Retailers Increasingly Concerned About Energy Efficiency, Prenova Survey Finds
According to a survey by Prenova, Inc., findings indicate national retailers are increasingly concerned about energy efficiency and are refocusing efforts to promote cost-saving, sustainable business practices.

June 14, 2010
Organized Retail Crime Still Growing Problem for Industry, According to NRF
According to NRF’s sixth annual ORC survey, 89.5% of retailers surveyed say their company has been a victim of organized retail crime within the past 12 months, a slight decrease from last year’s 92.2%.

June 14, 2010
Debit Card Use Remains Robust in Midst of Economic Downturn, According to PULS
A new study commissioned by PULSE reveals that the debit market remained robust during the second year of the economic downturn and is projected to grow strongly in 2010. The study finds that much of the growth in debit use is in small-ticket transactions, suggesting that more consumers prefer debit over cash.

June 14, 2010
Consumers Prefer Email Embedded with Streaming Video, Goodmail Study Reveals
Goodmail Systems has announced that a majority of consumers respond positively to streaming video in email as a new, effective and preferred marketing channel. This, acccording to a study conducted for Goodmail by the Adams Company.

June 14, 2010
Broadband Adoption Emerging at Different Rates for Latin American Consumers, According to Forrester
According to a new report by Forrester Research, Brazilians are fanatical about social networking, with 40 million of them regularly using social networking sites.

June 14, 2010
MeritDirect Announces Asset Acquisition of Venture Direct Worldwide
MeritDirect is proud to announce its agreement to acquire Venture Direct Worldwide. MeritDirect will now be managing all of Venture Direct Worldwide’s List Services Division including Xactmail – email and postal databases.

June 11, 2010
BOWE BELL + HOWELL Wins Five STC Awards for Technical Documentation
BÖWE BELL + HOWELL’s (BBH) Technical Communications Department has won two Excellence Awards and three Merit Awards from the Carolina Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (STC).

June 10, 2010
Half of All 'Americans' Start Their Day on Email, ExactTarget Finds
A new study released today by ExactTarget found 58% of US online consumers begin their day interacting with companies on email, compared to 20% who start their day on search engines and 11% on Facebook.

June 10, 2010
Fixed Broadband Revenue Expected to Top $184 Billion by the End of 2010, Says ABI Research
Global fixed broadband service revenue totaled $170 billion by the end of 2009, with YoY growth of 14%. DSL remains the largest broadband revenue generator with 62% of total global broadband service revenue.

June 9, 2010
Retail Recovery Hits Bump; Consumer Purchase Plans Dip, According to ForecastIQ
With May consumer confidence down a point from April and retailers still feeling the effects of an early Easter, it’s not surprising that forecasts for same store sales growth for June and July are off. However, outlooks remain up year-over-year, according to ForecastIQ.

June 9, 2010
Comscore Reports April 2010 US Mobile Subscriber Market Share
A new report by comScore, Inc. has found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 22.1% percent market share, while Verizon led among mobile operators with 31.1% market share.

June 8, 2010
Mobile Developers Cite Collaboration as the Most Important Enterprise Application for Mobile Devices in New Evans Data Survey
Collaboration tools, followed by enterprise instant messaging, and logistical tools were cited by global developers as the most important enterprise applications for mobile devices, according to Evans Data’s newly released Mobile Development Survey, 2010.

June 8, 2010
Affluent Consumers Pave the Way for Retail Recovery, According to L.E.K. Consulting
The L.E.K. Consulting Consumer Sentiment Survey (CSS) has identified shifts in consumer attitudes and spending behaviors that have important ramifications for retailers. Key findings include a significant uptick in affluent consumer spending and optimism, insight into major drivers of purchasing decisions, and shifting online commerce expectations.

June 4, 2010
Clothes, Gadgets and Gift Cards Prevail as Top Gifts This Father's Day, According to NRF Survey
According to a new survey by NRF, Americans will spend slightly more on Father's Day this year. Total Father’s Day spending is expected to reach $9.8 billion.

June 4, 2010
Most Industrial Companies Plan to Introduce New or Improved Products in 2010, According to Global Spec Survey
According to a new survey by Grant Marketing, industrial marketers will promote new products and services through email marketing, websites, and press releases in the remainder of 2010.

June 3, 2010
Hearst Corporation to Acquire Global Digital Marketing Services Company iCrossing
Hearst Corporation reached an agreement to acquire iCrossing, one of the largest independent digital marketing services providers in the world. The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. (JEGI) initiated this transaction and acted as Hearst’s exclusive financial advisor.

June 3, 2010
Consumer Takes a Respite as Spending in Many Sectors Declines, According to SpendingPulse
MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse report, this month, more retail sectors showed a respite in year-over-year growth, as slow economic recovery appeared to weigh on the US consumer’s spending behaviors.

June 2, 2010
Outbound Spam Costs Majority of Service Providers Big Bucks, According to Commtouch Study
Sixty-eight percent of service providers say outbound spam costs them up to $100,000 per year, according to a new research study by industry analyst firm Osterman Research and Commtouch.

June 1, 2010
FTC Extends Enforcement Deadline for Identity Theft Red Flags Rule
At the request of several Members of Congress, the FTC is further delaying enforcement of the “Red Flags” Rule through December 31, 2010, while Congress considers legislation that would affect the scope of entities covered by the Rule.

May 25, 2010
Mobile Local Search Users to Reach Almost 1.5 Billion by 2014, Juniper Research Report Finds
A continuing surge in mobile Internet usage, allied to the increasing penetration of integrated GPS receivers within both smartphones and featurephones, will see location-based local search and information services used by nearly 1.5 billion mobile users by 2014, according to a new report from Juniper Research.

May 25, 2010
Worldwide Mobile PC Shipments Grew 43% in First Quarter of 2010, Gartner Says
Worldwide mobile PC shipments totaled 49.4 million units in the first quarter of 2010, a 43.4% increase from the first quarter of 2009, according to final results by Gartner, Inc.

May 25, 2010
Big Changes in Online News Consumption Revealed: Gather Survey
New Research by Gather reveals that individuals are increasingly turning to the internet – not only when news breaks, but more and more frequently to share and get perspective on news stories.

May 25, 2010
Online Bill Payment Now Mainstream, Women Edge out Men, Says Fiserv Survey
According to a new survey by Fiserv, Inc., bill payment and e-bill usage continues to grow, and the online bill payment population has changed significantly during the last decade. Between 2000 and 2010, the number of households that use online banking increased more than six-fold, the survey found.

May 24, 2010
comScore Ranks Top-Growing Properties and Site Categories for April 2010
comScore has released its monthly analysis of US Web activity at the top-growing properties and site categories for April 2010. Community sites such as Home and Beauty/Fashion/Style saw gains during the month. Photo sharing sites also experienced a boost in activity .

May 24, 2010
Radio Advertising Revenue Growth Shows Strength, Radio Advertising Bureau Finds
According to research by the Radio Advertising Bureau, radio has delivered its best results in quarter-to-quarter revenue comps since Q1 2007 with a +6% overall increase to $3.687B, reflecting growing signs that the US economy is back.

May 24, 2010
E-Commerce Spending in Q1 Accelerates to a 10% Growth vs. Year Ago, comScore Finds
New research from comScore, Inc. shows that online retail spending neared $34 billion for the quarter, up 10% versus year ago. The strong acceleration represented the first time growth rates reached double-digits since the second quarter of 2008.

May 24, 2010
Mobile Music on the Increase Across Europe
comScore, Inc. has released data showing that 23.8% of mobile users across five leading European mobile markets listened to music on their mobile handsets during the three month period ending March 2010 - a 10% increase in the past year.

May 20, 2010
Mobile Marketing CAGR at Least 40% to 2015, According to ABI Research
In 2009, well under half a billion dollars were spent on mobile marketing and advertising. Over the five years to the end of 2015, that expenditure will grow at a compound annual rate of more than 40%, according to estimates from ABI Research.

May 20, 2010
Dramatic Turnaround in Consumer Confidence and Plans to Travel This Summer, Burst Media Survey Shows
A newly released survey by Burst Media found one quarter of respondents plan to take more vacations this summer compared to last year, and 44% plan to take about the same number. The study’s most striking finding is that only one-in-ten respondents said they plan to reduce their number of summer trips compared to 2009.

May 20, 2010
Philadelphia Direct Marketing Association and Three Other Philadelphia Powerhouse Organizations Join Forces to Host Knockout Networking Event, Raise Funds For Haiti
The Philadelphia Direct Marketing Association, Philadelphia American Marketing Association, and Sales and Marketing Executives International’s Central Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Chapters joined forces to host an educational event and donated more than $1,000 in support of Haiti relief efforts in the process.

May 19, 2010
Banking, Investment Direct Marketing Mail Volumes Remain Steady in Q1, Reports Mintel Comperemedia
While the US finance market is still volatile, there are signs that life is starting to become more stable. According to Mintel Comperemedia, direct marketing mail volumes across the banking and investment categories appear to show stability in the first quarter of 2010.

May 19, 2010
Consumers Will Increase Spending on Electronics Accessories by 5% This Year, CEA Study Finds
A new study by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) finds that nearly half of consumers will shop to replace an accessory included with their consumer electronics purchase and that they will base their accessory purchase decisions on functionality rather than price.

May 19, 2010
Consumers Back in the Practice of Gift Giving this Graduation Season, According to NRF
Graduates have had it rough when it comes to job hunting, but this year family and friends will soften the blow of the real world by giving graduates cash, gift cards, and even electronics or apparel - according to a new NRF survey,conducted by BIGresearch. The survey found fewer people will buy graduation gifts this year (31.4% vs. 32.5% in 2009) but each gift giver will spend slightly more.

May 19, 2010
Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales Grew 17% in First Quarter 2010, Gartner Says
Worldwide mobile phone sales to end users totalled 314.7 million units in the first quarter of 2010, a 17% increase from the same period in 2009, according to Gartner, Inc.

May 18, 2010
McAfee Reveals the Top Five Malware and Spam Trends Worldwide in Q1 2010
McAfee Inc. has unveiled its McAfee Threats Report, which uncovered that a USB worm has taken the No. 1 spot for top malware worldwide. Spam trends show that email subjects vary greatly from country to country with diploma spam out of China and other Asian countries on the rise.

May 17, 2010
Economic Conditions Linger as Chief Concern for Retailers in 2010, Finds BDO
New research released by BDO identifies general economic conditions as the leading risk factor by far among the 100 largest public US retailers for the second year in a row.

May 17, 2010
April Retail Sales Show Continued Momentum, According to NRF
Retail sales continued their upward climb in April, showing evidence of a much more confident consumer compared to this time last year, according to the National Retail Federation.

May 17, 2010
Worldwide Mobile Gaming Revenue to Grow 19% in 2010, Gartner Says
Worldwide mobile gaming end-user revenue is forecast to surpass $5.6 billion in 2010, a 19% increase from 2009 revenue of $4.7 billion, according to Gartner, Inc.

May 14, 2010
Americans Received 1 Trillion Display Ads in Q1 2010, According to comScore
comScore, Inc. has released an overview of the US online display advertising market for Q1 2010, which showed strong gains following softness for much of 2009. Data from comScore’s Ad Metrix services shows that US Internet users received a record 1.1 trillion display ads during the first quarter, marking a 15% increase versus year ago.

May 14, 2010
Three-Fourths Living a Simpler Life Because of Recession, According to American Pulse Survey
74.1% of Americans say they are living a simpler life – spending less, being more frugal, not trying to keep up with the Joneses – as a result of the recession, according to the latest American Pulse survey of 5,079 Americans.

May 14, 2010
Retail Container Traffic to be Up 10% in May, NRF Reports
Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to be up 10% in May with double-digit increases expected into this fall as the US economy improves, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

May 14, 2010
Bowe Bell + Howell Business Continuity Production Services Achieves SAS 70 Certification for All Mail Processing Centers
BÖWE BELL + HOWELL has announced that it has been awarded SAS 70 Type II Certification. The Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 70 certification is the latest demonstration of BBH’s ongoing commitment to internal controls and security of customer information.

May 13, 2010
Customer Satisfaction with Online Banking Slips, But Still Significantly Beats Offline Banking, ForeSee Finds
According to a new study from ForeSee Results and Forbes, customer satisfaction with online banking fell two points in 2010, from 83 in 2009 to 81 (on a 100-point scale).

May 13, 2010
Online Ad Spending Sees 25% Year Over Year Growth In, Rubicon Project Reports
A new report by the Rubicon Project shows that March ad spending on average was 38% stronger than January 2010.

May 11, 2010
Regional ISPs Drive Broadband Growth in Rural Markets, comScore Finds
comScore, Inc. has released a study that found that broadband penetration in rural markets has experienced double-digit growth in the past year, driven largely by regional providers continuing to capture an increasing share of the market in these areas.

May 11, 2010
Social Media: Banks' Secret Weapon to Combat Consumer Mistrust, According to Mintel
Less than half of respondents to a recent Mintel Comperemedia survey stated that they believe their bank is a company they can trust. In the same survey, 22% of consumers said that they think that social media sites help them make good decisions about purchases.

May 11, 2010
Consumers Choose Retailers That Offer More Control Over Interactions, NCR Study Finds
North American consumers are choosing retailers that offer them more control over where, when and how they interact across a range of channels—including social media and smart phones—according to a new study commissioned by NCR Corporation.

May 10, 2010
Android Shakes Up US Smartphone Market, Finds NPD Group
The Android operating system continued to shake up the US mobile phone market in Q1 of 2010, moving past Apple to take the number-two position among smartphone operating systems, according to The NPD Group.

May 10, 2010
Mobile Banking Appeals to the Younger Consumer, says Auriemma Consulting Group
Mobile banking has been widely predicted to become a mainstream technology, but current usage is very much a youth phenomenon, according to Cardbeat, a syndicated market research report published by Auriemma Consulting Group (ACG).

May 10, 2010
Pharmaceutical Promotional Spending Indicates Trend Toward Electronic and Online Promotion, SDI Reports
SDI, a leading healthcare market insight and analytics firm, reports evidence of pharmaceutical promotion shifting away from print advertising toward electronic promotion — for marketing to both professionals and consumers.

May 6, 2010
Mobile Payments Market to Quadruple by 2014, Jupiter Study Finds
A new study from Juniper Research has found that the value of mobile payments for digital and physical goods, money transfers and NFC (Near Field Communications) transactions will reach almost $630bn by 2014, up from $170bn this year, representing the gross value of all purchases or the value of money being transferred.

May 6, 2010
StrongMail Research into Travel and Hospitality Sector Reveals Top Email Marketing Challenges and Priorities
According to a research by StrongMail, only 30% of email marketers are using subscriber information and behavior to target customers with pre- and post-stay emails, signaling a significant market opportunity to increase revenue and differentiate their brand.

May 6, 2010
Smartphone Downloads from Mobile App Stores to Peak in 2013, Says ABI Research
According to ABI Research data, last year consumers downloaded some 2.4 billion applications from such stores, and the download rate will accelerate over the next few years until in 2013 smartphone downloads are expected to peak at just below seven billion. Apple’s app store will continue to lead the field.

May 5, 2010
US Consumer Spending Rebounded in april According to Discovery US Spending Monitor
Consumer confidence rebounded in April, fueled by a distinct change of heart among 18- to 39-year-olds about the state of the US economy, according to the Discover US Spending Monitor.

May 5, 2010
US Born & Non-US Born Hispanics Differ in Shopping Behavior and Media Usage, BIGresearch Finds
According to a survey by BIGresearch, there are some key similarities and differences every marketer should know about Hispanic groups in America, including those households that speak English a majority of the time and those who don’t, as well as Hispanics who were born in the US and those who were not.

May 5, 2010
Ballantine Releases White Paper Providing Tips for Choosing Right Vendor for Direct Mail Campaigns
Ballantine Corporation has announced that they are offering their expertise in a newly-released white paper that focuses on how to make the best vendor choice.

May 4, 2010
comScore ARS Reports Decline in Loyalty for Many Consumer Goods Brands During Recession
comScore has released the March 2010 results of a study on brand loyalty among consumer goods products, showing a significant decline in consumers’ allegiance to their favorite brands during the past two years.

May 4, 2010
The Nielsen Company Launches New Sites Targeting Asian-American, Hispanic, and African-American Communities
The Nielsen Company has unveiled its in-language microsites for the Asian-American, Hispanic/Latino and African-American communities. The three sites highlight Nielsen’s diversity efforts, explain measurement methods and services, how panels and surveys are representative of the diverse population and how data is captured and utilized.

May 3, 2010
Privacy Concerns Thwart Ad Spend on Behaviorally Targeted Campaigns, Ponemon Study Concludes
According to a new study by Ponemon Institute, hundreds of millions of dollars are being held back from online behavioral advertising (OBA) over concerns that a lack of consumer trust in the practice could damage brand reputation.

May 3, 2010
e-tailing group Study Reveals Changes in Consumers' Online Shopping Habits and Usage of Customer Reviews
A new study by the e-tailing group and PowerReviews reveals that online research remains central to consumer shopping behavior, with 50% of respondents reporting that they conduct research online for at least half of the purchases made.

April 26, 2010
Mother's Day Second Only to Winter Holidays, According to NRF Survey
Behind the winter holidays (Christmas, Chanukah, and Kwanza), Mother’s Day is the second largest US consumer spending holiday. NRF’s 2010 Mother’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, found the average person will shell out $126.90 on Mother’s Day gifts, compared to $123.89 last year. Total spending is expected to reach $14.6 billion.

April 26, 2010
UK Online Video Viewing Up 37% During Past Year, comScore Reports
comScore has released data from the comScore Video Metrix service indicating that 5.5 billion videos were viewed online in the UK in February 2010, up 37% versus the previous year.

April 26, 2010
Online Auto Insurance Quotes and Policies Purchased Rebound in 2009, comScore Finds
comScore has released its 2010 US Online Auto Insurance report, which found that US consumers submitted requests for 38.8 million online quotes in 2009 and purchased a record 2.8 million policies online during the year, each representing an increase of more than 20% versus the previous year.

April 23, 2010
Nearly Half of Mobile Phone Users Worldwide to Make Mobile Payments by 2014, according to Juniper Research
A new study by Juniper Research has forecast that nearly half of all mobile phone users worldwide will pay by mobile for digital and physical goods by 2014, representing growth of nearly a billion users compared to 2010.

April 23, 2010
Global Luxury Goods Market to Expand 4% in 2010, Predicts Bain & Company
Global luxury goods industry revenues will increase 4% from 153 million euro in 2009 to a projected 158 million euro for 2010, according to the Spring 2010 update of Bain & Company’s ‘Luxury Goods Worldwide Market Study.’

April 23, 2010
Scareware Hackers Exploit Mcafee False Positive Problem, Sophos Reports
According to Sophos, hackers are exploiting a problem with McAfee's anti-virus product that has caused hundreds of thousands of computers around the world to repeatedly reboot themselves.

April 23, 2010
72% of Teens are Texters; Average Texter Exchanges 1,500 Texts Per Month, Pew Finds
Daily text messaging among American teens has shot up in the past 18 months from 38% of teens texting friends daily in February of 2008, to 54% of teens texting daily in September 2009.

April 23, 2010
PDMA Presenter and Author Hollis Thomases Helps Marketers Avoid Web Marketing Pitfalls
Author Hollis Thomases was the keynote presenter at a recent networking & lunch meeting hosted by the Philadelphia Direct Marketing Association (PDMA). “Marketers need to leverage the measurability of the Web, and that starts with developing a holistic strategy,” Thomases remarked.

April 21, 2010
United Kingdom, France, India Among Cheapest for Mobile Broadband, Finds ABI
Comparing mobile data pricing in a number of countries, ABI Research found that the UK, France, and India have among the world's lowest prices for mobile broadband plans.

April 21, 2010
Grocery Shoppers Influenced by Online Ads, According to Burst Survey
A new survey by Burst Media has revealed that Internet food and product ads have considerable influence in the decision making process for both online and in-person store shoppers.

April 19, 2010
comScore Ranks Top-Growing Properties and Site Categories for March 2010
comScore, Inc. has released its monthly analysis of US Web activity at the top-growing properties and site categories for March 2010 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. Automaker discounts and incentives compelled millions of Americans to visit auto manufacturer sites to seek information and investigate possible purchases.

April 19, 2010
Philadelphia Direct Marketing Association (PDMA) Presents 'The Strategic Power of Online Video' at April 21 Networking Meeting
Business and marketing professionals from across the Delaware Valley are invited to attend the April 2010 networking & breakfast meeting hosted by the Philadelphia Direct Marketing Association. Chris Crafton, CMO for eCorpTV.com, Inc., and Craig Hunter, director of Internet marketing for VISHAY Intertechnology, will present “The Strategic Power of Online Video” on Wednesday, Apr. 21, 2010 at Penn State Great Valley in Malvern, PA.

April 19, 2010
Steve Kunkel Joins DMW Direct as VP of Business Development
Warren Hunter, chairman and CEO of direct response advertising agency DMW Direct, has announced that Steve Kunkel has joined the company as VP of business development.

April 16, 2010
Adults exposed to 237 Million Video Ads in Last Four Months of '09, Finds Nielsen
In the last four months of 2009, adults 18 years or older were exposed to 237 million video ads per month in the ten location-based video networks included in The Nielsen Company’s inaugural “Fourth Screen Network Audience Report.”

April 16, 2010
TV Hit Hardest as Consumers Reduce Media Time by Two Hours a Day, Yankee Group Reports
The economic crisis hit the US ad market harder than expected, with overall revenue dropping from $77 billion in 2008 to $67 billion in 2009. According to a new Yankee Group report,the lion's share of the decline was due to TV advertising, which plummeted from $52 billion in 2008 to just $41 billion in 2009.

April 16, 2010
BOWE BELL + HOWELL Names Hank Martin VP, Postal Software Marketing
BÖWE BELL + HOWELL has announced that industry expert Hank Martin has joined the company as VP, Postal Software Marketing. Martin brings more than 25 years of experience to the company, most recently with AVI, and prior to that with postal software provider Firstlogic.

April 12, 2010
Social Networking Habits Vary Considerably Across Asia-Pacific Markets, comScore Finds
According to a new study by comScore, 50.8% of the total online population in the Asia-Pacific region visited a social networking site in February 2010, reaching a total of 240.3 million visitors.

April 12, 2010
10% of US Fraud Victims Fell Prey to Fraudulent ATM Withdrawals in 1009, Javelin Reports
In a new report, Javelin Strategy & Research states that 10% of all fraud victims in the US experienced fraudulent ATM cash withdrawals and as a result, 23% those left their primary financial institution.

April 9, 2010
Smartphones, Tablets, E-Readers Create New Revenue Opportunities for Publishers, Outsell Finds
The surging popularity of untethered devices like the iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, Kindle and Sony Reader will help breathe new life into the publishing and information industries, but which revenue models will take hold will depend on the device, according to a new report from Outsell, Inc.

April 9, 2010
The Commercials ARE Louder Than the TV Shows, Adweek Media/Harris Poll Survey Reveals
More than four in five Americans say that, compared to the shows themselves, TV commercials seem louder. In fact, over half say the commercials seem much louder than the shows, according to a new Adweek Media/Harris Poll.

April 9, 2010
Karmin Group Makes TV Debut with DRTV Campaign Created by Northern Lights
The Karmin Group is making its television debut with a direct response television (DRTV) campaign for its Cool Crisp product created by Northern Lights Direct Response.

April 7, 2010
Confidence Returning to Job Market for Digital and Direct Marketers, Bernhart Survey Finds
Digital and direct marketing job seekers can expect a spring thaw in layoffs and hiring freezes, according to the latest quarterly employment report by Bernhart Associates Executive Search, LLC.

April 5, 2010
M&A Recovery in Full Swing in Q1 2010, According to Jordan, Edmiston Group
In Q1 2010, the number of deals announced increased 70% and overall transaction value rose to over five times the Q1 2009 levels, across the 10 media, information, marketing services and technology sectors tracked by The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc.

April 5, 2010
Harte-Hanks Selects Veracentra to Power Private Label On-Demand Marketing Solution for Direct Marketers
VeraCentra, Inc., an innovative leader of on-demand marketing software and services, has announced that it has signed an agreement with Harte-Hanks Inc., a worldwide direct and targeted marketing company, to brand and sell the VeraCentra Collaborate solution, an on-demand marketing intelligence tool and delivery platform.

April 5, 2010
IWCO Direct Completes Acquisition Of Transcontinental Direct US Operations
IWCO Direct, a leading, US-based privately held provider of direct marketing solutions, announced it has successfully completed the acquisition of US operations from Transcontinental Direct, a high-volume direct mail organization with facilities across the US.

March 31, 2010
Postal Service Files Five-Day Delivery Plan with Postal Regulatory Commission
The Postal Service yesterday took its case for five-day delivery to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). The Postal Service is required by law to seek an advisory opinion from the PRC any time a nationwide change in service is proposed.

March 30, 2010
Credit Card Usage Falls and Online Payments Surge, According to Packaged Facts Research
According to research by Packaged Facts, the world of payments continues to change as consumers back off checks and credit cards, debit cards move toward saturation, online payment options proliferate, and contactless payments and mobile payments move closer on the horizon.

March 30, 2010
Mobile Web Presence-Based Revenues to Generate $6 Billion by 2012, According to Juniper Research
The value of presence based Mobile Web 2.0 services will increase to more than $6 billion by 2012, according to a new report from Juniper Research.

March 30, 2010
Mobile Data Traffic from PC Modems and Routers Will Increase Fourfold by 2014, According to ABI
Mobile data traffic from PC modems and routers is forecast to increase fourfold between 2010 and 2014, according to a new Research Brief from ABI Research.

March 30, 2010
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index Rebounds in March
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had decreased in February, rebounded in March. The Index now stands at 52.5 (1985=100), up from 46.4 in February.

March 29, 2010
Low Prices Replace Customer Service as Top Driver of Customer Loyalty, Finds COLLOQUY
Walmart dominated the 2010 COLLOQUY Retail Loyalty Index, in results that low prices drove consumer loyalty. “Low prices have stepped up to become retail’s strongest loyalty lure according to consumers,” said COLLOQUY Partner Kelly Hlavinka.

March 29, 2010
Same Store Sales Outlook Up; Consumers More Bullish, According to ForecastIQ
For the first time in the 18 months, ForecastIQ has been predicting that for same-store sales, the number of those forecasted to either likely or almost certainly see growth is higher than those likely to see a decline.

March 29, 2010
Retailers Focusing on Leadership Development and Diversity to Nurture Talent, Deloitte/NRF Survey Finds
A new study by Deloitte and the National Retail Federation identified that, while the majority of respondents agree that talent management is part of their company’s strategic planning process, they appear to be challenged in translating strategy into action.

March 25, 2010
Video and Display Advertising Driving Uplift in Site Visitation, According to .Fox Networks and comScore
Video and display advertising are effective at driving significant uplift in site visitation and advertiser search queries, even in the face of minimal clicks on ads, according to findings by.Fox Networks and comScore.

March 25, 2010
Gartner Outlines 10 Mobile Technologies to Watch in 2010 and 2011
According to Gartner, Inc., Investments in mobile applications and technologies will increase through 2011 as organizations emerge from the recession and ramp up both business-to-employee (B-to-E) and business-to-consumer (B-to-C) mobile spending.

March 25, 2010
Web 2.0 Mobile Revenues to Reach $18.9 Billion by 2014, Says Juniper Research
Demand for mobile access to Web 2.0 applications and services will see related annual revenues from these services hit $18.9 billion in 2014, a new report from Juniper Research has found.

March 25, 2010
iPhone Poses Biggest Smartphone Security Risk, According to nCircle Survey
iPhones present the greatest smartphone security risk to the enterprise, according to a recent survey from nCircle, a network security and compliance auditing firm.

March 24, 2010
Mobile Broadband Subscriptions Surpassed 271 Million by Year End 2009, ABI Research Finds
According to ABI Research, mobile broadband subscriptions grew to 271 million for a year-over-year growth rate of 43%.

March 24, 2010
MetaResponse Group Announces Formation of MetaInfo Services Division
MetaResponse Group is pleased to announce the formation of its MetaInfo Services division, offering an integrated suite of data and information processing services.

March 24, 2010
PerksCard Network Launches New Website Platform Promoting Loyalty, Savings and Discounts
PerksCard Network, a premier loyalty savings and discount network, has announced the launch of a new website and program platform.

March 23, 2010
Strong Consumer Interest in Multi-Screen Viewing of TV & Movies Revealed in QuickPlay Survey
According to the results of a new QuickPlay Media survey, there is a high level of interest in new TV and video entertainment delivery models, particularly multi-screen video services.

March 23, 2010
Consumers Show High Level of Interest in e-Readers, comScore Study Finds
Results of a new comScore study show very high awareness of the iPad out of the gate, with an aided awareness of 65%, the same as that of the Amazon Kindle e-reader. Overall, consumers have demonstrated a high level of interest in these types of devices.

March 19, 2010
Easter a Warm Welcome for Shoppers and Retailers, According to NRF
According to NRF’s 2010 Easter Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, holiday celebrants will spend slightly more this year with the average person expected to shell out $118.60, up from $116.59 last year. Total spending is expected to reach $13.03 billion.

March 19, 2010
comScore Ranks Top-Growing Properties and Site Categories for February; Valentine's Day Brings Traffic to Personals, e-Cards, and Gift Sites
comScore has released its monthly analysis of US Web activity at the top-growing properties and site categories for February 2010. Valentine’s Day celebrations sent millions of Americans to Personals, e-Cards, and Gifts Sites as they planned for the occasion, while millions also flocked to tax sites as the Apr. 15 filing deadline inched closer.

March 19, 2010
China will be World's Fastest Growing Enterprise Software Market Through 2013, Gartner Says
China’s enterprise software market is forecast to maintain its strong performance, with an estimated compound annual growth rate of 14.6% from 2008 to 2013, the highest growth rate in the world, according to Gartner, Inc.

March 17, 2010
US Advertising Expenditures Declined 12.3% in 2009, Kantar Media Reports
Total advertising expenditures fell 12.3% in 2009 to $125.3 billion as compared to 2008, according to data newly released by Kantar Media.

March 17, 2010
Financial Institutions Losing Revenue by Not Capitalizing on Mobile Marketing, Javelin Reports
In a new report issued this week, Javelin Strategy & Research states that financial institutions are losing revenue opportunities due to their lack of mobile marketing and advertising to a captive and willing audience.

March 16, 2010
2010 Could be Break-Out Year for Mobile Mobile Ads, Projects Mojiva and DM2PRO.com
According to a poll conducted by DM2PRO.com in collaboration with Mojiva, 2010 could be a break-out year for mobile advertising, but that publishers are struggling to participate in the upside of the latest media ad boom.

March 16, 2010
MeritDirect and Penton Announce Marketing Partnership
MeritDirect and Penton Media have announced a marketing partnership, effective April 1, that will provide marketers’ access to Penton Media’s Database and suite of integrated marketing solution products.

March 15, 2010
Male Voices in Ads Seen as More Forceful - Female Voices More Soothing; Harris Poll Finds
According to a new Harris Poll, 48% of Americans believe a male voice is more forceful while 46% believe a female voice is more soothing in an ad. However, almost half of US adults also say it makes no difference to them and neither voice is more forceful.

March 15, 2010
Americans Eager to Enjoy Tax Refunds This Year, According to NRF Survey, According to NRF
According to NRF’s 2010 Tax Returns Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, 43.9% of Americans expecting a refund will pay down debt, fewer than the 48.0% in 2009.

March 11, 2010
Display Advertising in Europe Has Greater Impact Than in US, comScore Study Suggests
comScore, Inc. has announced the release of a new report that revealed that those exposed to online ad campaigns in Europe were 72% more likely to visit the advertiser’s website and 94% more likely to conduct a trademark search query on the advertiser’s brand, compared to a control group of similar Internet users who were not exposed to the campaigns.

March 8, 2010
Marketers' Digital Spending to Overtake Print for First Time Ever, According to Outsell
For the first time, spending on digital/online advertising and marketing will overtake print in 2010, according to new projections from Outsell, Inc.

March 8, 2010
Double-Digit Growth for Online Retail in US And Western Europe, Forrester Forecasts
Despite entering a more mature phase in its evolution, online retail in both the US and Western Europe remains poised for a robust period of double-digit growth over the next five years, according to two new forecasts by Forrester Research Inc.

March 8, 2010
US Internet Users Watched 32.4 Billion Videos in January, comScore Finds
comScore has released January 2010 data showing that nearly 173 million US Internet users watched online video during the month. Video viewers at YouTube.com watched 93 videos on average during the month, a 50% increase versus a year ago.

March 5, 2010
Mobile Access for Facebook and Twitter Grows by Triple-Digits, comScore Reports
A new study by comScore, 30.8% of smartphone users accessed social networking sites via their mobile browser in January 2010, up 8.3 points from 22.5% one year ago. Access to Facebook via mobile browser grew 112% in the past year, while Twitter experienced a 347% jump.

March 5, 2010
Philadelphia Direct Marketing Association (PDMA) Presenter Chris Brown Explains How to Maximize Frontline Sales and Customer Service
“What is your role as marketing professionals and how are you maximizing the performance of your frontline sales and customer service teams,” asked Chris Brown of the marketing professionals attending the Feb. 17, 2010 networking & lunch meeting hosted by the Philadelphia Direct Marketing Association.

March 4, 2010
Oneupweb Eye Tracking Study Shows Surprising Trends in Real-Time Search
Oneupweb recently conducted a study to determine whether the average user is recognizing and understanding what real-time results are and if they’re finding and clicking on them.

March 3, 2010
More than 130 million Enterprise Users in the Mobile Cloud by 2014, Juniper Report Finds
As collaborative applications become ever more important for enterprise, a new report from Juniper Research has found that the number of enterprise customers using mobile cloud-based applications will rise to more than 130 million by 2014.

March 3, 2010
Most US Retail Industries Show Continued Positive Trends, According to SpendingPulse
While severe snowstorms hurt apparel sales in the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and North Central regions, easy year-over-year comparisons helped produce positive results in other sectors, according to research by SpendingPulse,

March 1, 2010
Text Messaging to Remain Dominant in Near Future, Evolve with New Capabilities, Says Frost & Sullivan
Text messaging (SMS) will continue its dominance in the messaging arena for the foreseeable future and will evolve with additional features over the next three to five years, according to Frost & Sullivan in a report exclusively licensed to Comverse.

February 26, 2010
US Ad Spending Down 9% in 2009, Nielsen says
US ad spending declined 9% in 2009, according to preliminary figures released today by The Nielsen Company. Spending fell an estimated $11.6 billion to a total of $117 billion last year.

February 26, 2010
Colorado Governor Proposes Tax Bills Affecting Direct Marketers
Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter has proposed a package of 11 tax bills to remove sales tax exemptions on a variety of products and services and to raise money needed to close the gap. Two of the bills (HB 1189 and HB 1193) are bills that affect direct marketers.

February 26, 2010
Sports Site Traffic in India Reaches New Heights, comScore Finds
A new study by comScore has found that more than 10 million Internet users at home and work locations in India visited a sports site in January 2010, nearly double the number from the previous year.

February 25, 2010
Insurance Companies Maintain Steady Direct Mail Through End Of 2009, Mintel Reports
Direct mail is still a formidable force in the insurance industry: Mintel Comperemedia reports that insurance companies upheld direct mail volumes throughout 2009, despite budget cuts and the growing strength of social media.

February 25, 2010
Outlook for Retailers Continues to Improve, According to Prosper Technologies
Month-over-month, forecasts for same store sales growth look brighter for many retailers, according to the February ForecastIQ. However, the positive outlook could turn out to be a dead cat bounce in light of the fact that the BIGresearch consumer confidence reading dropped to 27.2 percent.

February 25, 2010
Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales to End Users Grew 8% in Fourth Quarter 2009, Gartner Says
Worldwide mobile phone sales to end users totaled 1.211 billion units in 2009, a 0.9% decline from 2008, according to Gartner, Inc. In the fourth quarter of 2009, the market registered a single-digit growth as mobile phone sales to end users surpassed 340 million units.

February 24, 2010
93 Million Americans Disconnected From Broadband Opportunities, FCC Survey Finds
The FCC has released its National Broadband Plan Consumer Survey, Broadband Adoption and Use in America, which found that affordability and lack of digital skills are the main reasons why 93 million Americans,one-third of the country,are not connected to high-speed Internet at home.

February 23, 2010
163 Million Smartbooks Expected to Ship in 2015, Says ABI Research
A new ABI Research study estimates that 163 million smartbooks will ship worldwide in 2015 – a significant rate of growth given that the very first models only appeared in 2008.

February 23, 2010
UK Customer Satisfaction with Retail Rebounds, According to National Customer Satisfaction Index
UK Customer satisfaction is improving for the first time after three straight quarters of small declines, according to the National Customer Satisfaction Index (NCSI). The study measures customer satisfaction with department stores, supermarkets, electrical retailers, petrol stations, and e-commerce.

February 23, 2010
Discover Card Ranked Tops in Customer Loyalty for 13th Consecutive Year
The Discover brand remains on top of the credit card category for the 13th consecutive year, finishing in a tie with American Express for No. 1 in the 2010 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index.

February 23, 2010
Omeda, EE Times Group Sign Database Management Agreement
Omeda, a leading integrated database management provider, has reached an agreement to provide database management and email deployment services for EE Times Group, a division of United Business Media.

February 22, 2010
Consumer Interest Growing for Over-the-Top Video and Web-Enabled TV Devices, Says In-Stat
Nearly 37% of broadband households in North America are extremely or very interested in viewing Over-the-Top video content on the home TV, according to market research firm, In-Stat. The demand is growing as companies such as Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, and Apple offer streamed or downloadable TV and movie content.

February 22, 2010
Mobile is the Next Frontier in Online Shopping, According to eMarketer
More than 80 million US mobile phone users will access the Internet from their device in 2010, eMarketer forecasts. That’s nearly 35% of all mobile phone users and almost 27% of the US population

February 22, 2010
Facebook Will Be No. 1 Social Network in All But 25 Countries, Gartner Predicts
Facebook will be the Number One social network in all but 25 countries. However, in countries such as Brazil, Russia, India, China, and Japan, it will not be No. 1. This prediction is one in a series Gartner analysts have made on customer relationship management (CRM).

February 19, 2010
More Than One Billion Mobile Workers Worldwide by Year's End, According to IDC
According to a new forecast from IDC, the world's mobile worker population will pass the one billion mark this year and grow to nearly 1.2 billion people by 2013, with the most significant gains in the emerging economies of Asia/Pacific.

February 19, 2010
Interest Low for Person-to-Person Mobile Payments, ABI International Survey Finds
A consumer survey conducted by ABI Research in November 2009 in seven countries on three continents has found consistently low levels of interest in making person-to-person payments via the mobile phone.

February 19, 2010
Amazon Expands Kindle Digital Text Platform to Include Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian
Amazon.com has announced that authors and publishers around the world can now use the self-service Kindle Digital Text Platform (DTP) to upload and make available their books in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian to customers worldwide in the Kindle Store.

February 18, 2010
Women Predominate in European Online Retailing, According to Deutsche Card Services
According to an analysis by Deutsche Card Services, women played a predominant role in European online retailing. The “E-Retail-Report 2009” shows that women initiated 61.35% of all transactions in European online shops.

February 18, 2010
Consumer Media Consumption Will Splinter in 2015, Says New Report from Unilever, Mindshare, and ESPN
In 2015, consumers will be more in control of a fragmented media marketplace than they are today and will compartmentalize their media consumption habits into segments that align with their attention spans, personal tastes, information needs, and technological savvy. This according to a new report commissioned by Unilever, Mindshare, and ESPN.

February 18, 2010
US Travel Spending Declines In 2009, Growth Expected in 2010, According to Mintel
While travel spending in the US saw a decline of 9% in 2009, Mintel expects to see more people taking off in the new decade with a 6% increase in travel spending expected for 2010.

February 18, 2010
Atlantic List Company Acquires Bush Company
Atlantic List Company, Inc., an employee owned list brokerage and list management business, announces the acquisition of Bush Company, Inc. based in Newport Beach, California.

February 12, 2010
Majority of B-to-B Marketers Cannot Track ROI, Velos Study Finds
Nearly 65% of B-to-B marketers cannot track return on investment, according to results of a study created by The Velos Group.

February 12, 2010
January Retail Sales Continue Slow Road to Recovery, According to NRF
Post holiday sales and gift cards helped consumers open up their wallets to take advantage of special deals on popular apparel, electronics and sporting goods items. According to the National Retail Federation, January retail industry sales increased 0.5% seasonally adjusted month-to-month and decreased 0.2% unadjusted year-over-year.

February 12, 2010
Love Is Cheap Majority of Americans to Spend Under $50 on Valentine's Day, Zogby Survey Finds
Two-thirds of Americans say they plan to spend less than $50 on Valentine's Day this year, a new Zogby Interactive survey of adult Americans finds.

February 11, 2010
Mobile Broadband Investment Set to Soar, According to GSMA
The GSMA has announced that mobile operators around the world will invest up to $72 billion in Mobile Broadband technologies in 2010. The new operator CAPEX investment data comes as global HSPA connections reach the 200 million milestone.

February 11, 2010
Seven Out of Ten Consumers Plan Valentine Purchases This Year, According to ICR Survey
70% of consumers are planning Valentine purchases this year, according to a survey just completed by ICR/International Communications Research. 70% of men and 65% of women intend to buy Valentine cards, candy, flowers, and other gifts.

February 11, 2010
Women Shoppers Trending Toward Online for Clothing Purchases in 2010, According to Survey by CheapToday
According to a survey by CheapToday, women expect to spend about the same this year as they did last year on clothing, with the tendency to make clothing purchases online.

February 11, 2010
Identity Theft Rises but Resolution Times and Consumer Costs Plummet, According to Javelin Report
Last year the economy helped drive up the number of identity theft cases and the overall cost of identity fraud, but consumers had lower out of pocket costs and resolution times fell 30% to 21 hours, according to the Javelin Strategy & Research 2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report, co-sponsored by ITAC.

February 11, 2010
Mobile Sector Will Comprise 62% of Total Telecom Market in 2010, IDC finds
According to a new report from IDC, the mobile sector is now a 850 billion global market, comprising 57% of the global telecom market. It is also the fastest growing segment and will comprise 62% of the total telecom market in 2010.

February 10, 2010
TV Ad Budgets Are Under Siege, According to ANA/Forrester Survey
Respondents to a new ANA/Forrester study of national advertisers said their TV ad spending will remain flat this year. They also reported allocating only 41% of their media budgets to television last year versus 58% in 2008.

February 10, 2010
NPD Reports Home Appliance Holiday Sales Show Signs of Hope
According to The NPD Group, both major and small appliance sales posted positive dollar and unit sales figures in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to fourth quarter 2008.

February 10, 2010
Retail Container Traffic to be Up 25% in First Half of 2010, NRF Reports
According to the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates., import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports will be a full 25% higher during the first half of 2010 compared with the same period a year ago.

February 9, 2010
US E-Commerce Spending in Q4 2009 Reached $39 Billion, Up 3% from Previous Year, comScore Reports
comScore has released its Q4 2009 US retail e-commerce sales estimates, which showed that online retail spending reached $39 billion, up 3% versus a year ago. Total retail e-commerce spending reached $129.8 billion for the full year 2009, marginally below the previous year’s total of $130.1 billion.

February 9, 2010
UK Consumers Hold Retailers Responsible for Safety of Online Shopping, CyberSource Survey Finds
Almost a quarter of UK adults believe retailers are primarily responsible for making online shopping safer, according to a survey by CyberSource Ltd.

February 9, 2010
US Consumers Are Changing from Big Spenders to Big Savers, According to Allianz Study
The US savings rate could rise as high as 6% in the wake of the crisis, according to a recent study by Allianz Group Economic Research. Moreover, saving patterns are set to change; with US consumers particularly shy of risky assets.

February 9, 2010
The Ballantine Corporation Releases Direct Marketing Trends for 2010
Ballantine Corporation has assembled a new white paper that reveals the likely direct marketing trends for 2010.

February 9, 2010
HMS National Names Douglas Stein President
HMS National, Inc., a leading provider of home warranties, has announced that it promoted Douglas Stein to president. Stein will focus on growing HMS' client base and maximizing customer lifetime value through a range of leading marketing, sales, and client management strategies.

February 8, 2010
Mintel Comperemedia Predicts Banking Industry Changes for 2010
Mintel Comperemedia forecasts five major changes for banks in 2010. "From the fall of free checking to the rise of comprehensive banking rewards programs, banks seem poised to make 2010 a year of innovations,” states Susan Wolfe, Mintel's VP of financial services.

February 8, 2010
Philadelphia Direct Marketing Assocation (PDMA)Presents Marketing Consultant and Author Chris Brown at February Networking Meeting
On Wednesday, Feb. 17, at the Clarion Hotel Park Ridge in King of Prussia, PA., the Philadelphia Direct Marketing Association (PDMA) will host a networking & lunch meeting featuring a presentation by marketing consultant and author, Chris Brown, entitled “Tough Times, Focus Inward – Effective Use of Frontline Sales and Customer Service Teams.”

February 8, 2010
Boost Mobile, Home Away, E*Trade & Google Scored Integrated Marketing Standouts at Superbowl, According to Reprise Media
Marketers competed in their own game during this year's Super Bowl: Boost Mobile, Home Away, E*Trade & Google were the integrated marketing standouts in Reprise Media's 6th annual Search Marketing Scorecard.

February 8, 2010
Dydacomp Posts Record Active User Base and Revenue Growth in 2009
Dydacomp, a leading provider of business automation software, has announced that in 2009 the size of their Mail Order Manager active user base reached an all-time high in their 20 year history, fueled by tripled new business sales in December and lapsed customer re-engagement.

February 5, 2010
15 Billion Tickets to be delivered via Mobile Phone by 2014, Forecasts Juniper Research
A new study by Juniper Research has forecast that nearly 15 billion tickets will be delivered to subscribers' mobile devices worldwide by 2014, compared to just over two billion this year.

February 5, 2010
US Heads the Top Ten List of Countries for Hosting Malware, According to Sophos
According to Sophos, the US has the dubious distinction of being the number one country for hosting malware on the Web January-December 2009. The US is followed by US, Russia, China, Peru, Germany, South Korea, Poland, Thailand, Turkey, and the UK

February 4, 2010
Retailers Bolster Multichannel Offerings, According to eMarketer
According to research by eMarketer, many retailers conduct business in multiple channels — via stores, a Website and catalog/call centers — but few have mastered the coordination of these channels.

February 4, 2010
Winter Olympics to Boost Sales for Canadian Retailers, eMarketer Predicts
Retailers will see a small uptick in sales from the 2010 Winter Olympics, according to eMarketer, but it won’t result in high gains for retailers who are already taking a hit from weak consumer confidence, according to a recent Reuters article.

February 4, 2010
Consumer Trust In US Financial Institutions Is Returning, According to Forrester
One year after the depths of the worst financial crisis in half a century, Americans are more likely to say their financial institutions are doing what's best for them, according to the seventh annual customer advocacy rankings by Forrester Research, Inc.

February 4, 2010
This Valentine's Day, Couples Cut Back on Gifts to Each Other, According to NRF Survey
According to a new NRF survey, couples plan to spend less on each other this year for Valentine's Day, but more on their family, friends, co-workers, even their pets.

February 3, 2010
Radio, TV, Print Budgets Slashed as Marketers Look Online to Build Brand Reputation, According to ExactTarget
According to new research conducted by Econsultancy and ExactTarget, increasing investment in social media, mobile marketing, email marketing, and search will fuel a 17% surge in digital marketing spending this year, as marketers migrate budgets from television, print and radio.

February 3, 2010
Merkle Releases 'View from the Social Inbox' Consumer Email and Social Networking Trends Report
According to a new report by Merkle, time spent with personal, or social, email to friends and family is unchanged from last year, with 71% of respondents spending 20 minutes or more weekly. These numbers contradict early speculation that social networking would quickly replace traditional email use.

February 3, 2010
Retailers Missing the Mark with Product Recommendations, ChoiceStream Survey Finds
According to the finding of a survey by ChoiceStream, the quality of product recommendations on retailers’ sites declined significantly year over year with many more shoppers reporting that they received poor quality recommendations in 2009 versus 2008.

February 2, 2010
Life Insurance Searches in the US Increase 15% in 2009 to Reach Record Number, comScore Finds
comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, has released a study on life insurance search activity in 2009. The study found that searches for life insurance information grew to 16.6 million queries, an increase of 15% versus the previous year, as more consumers turned to the Web to research policies.

February 2, 2010
Mintel Comperemedia Predicts Five Financial Services Trends for 2010
On the heels of a year full of economic turmoil and uncertainty, Mintel Comperemedia forecasts five consumer-focused trends that will impact the financial services industry in 2010. Mintel Comperemedia looks at how consumers’ actions and beliefs about their finances will change next year, and how this will impact companies trying to do business with them.

February 1, 2010
Malware and Spam Rise 70% on Social Networks, Sophos Report Reveals
A new report published by data protection firm Sophos has revealed an alarming rise in attacks on users of social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, by cybercriminals.

January 29, 2010
In Australia, Online Retail Sites See Traffic Surge in December, According to comScore
A new study by comScore found that three out of five Australians online visited a retail site in December, as traffic to the category reached its highest volume of the year with more than eight million visitors during the month.

January 29, 2010
Boomers Are Multichannel Media Consumers, eMarketer Reports
In the US, boomers account for about one-third of Web traffic on a typical day, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Still, boomers who use the Internet remain avid consumers of TV, radio and newspaper.

January 29, 2010
Senate Commerce Committee to Hold Hearing on Role of FTC in Consumer Protection
The Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance will hold a hearing on “Financial Services and Products: The Role of the Federal Trade Commission in Protecting Consumers,” Thursday, Feb. 4, at 2:30 p.m.

January 28, 2010
Credit Card Direct Mail Back on the Rise, According to Mintel Comperemedia
According to Mintel Comperemedia, in Q4 2009—for the first time in three years — credit card direct mail volume increased from the previous quarter. With a 47% increase in direct mail compared to Q3 2009, credit card issuers demonstrate increased confidence in the economy and willingness to extend more consumer credit.

January 28, 2010
Shopping on Mobile Sites Has Long Way to Go, According to Study from Keynote
According to Keynote Research, shopping on mobile websites still has a lot of catching up to do in both download performance and uptime when compared to the performance of connected websites.

January 28, 2010
PDMA January Speaker, Det Ansinn, Brings Mobile Age into View For Regional Marketers
At a recent networking & lunch meeting of the Philadelphia Direct Marketing Association (PDMA), Det Ansinn, VP of mobile technology for Mobile Tag Company and president of BrickSimple LLC, gave a keynote presentation, entitled “How to Hit a Moving Target: Secrets of Marketing in the Mobile Age.”

January 27, 2010
One Third of Companies Plan to Reinstate Pay Cuts, Bernhart Survey Finds
According to Bernhart Associates' latest Quarterly Digital and Direct Marketing Employment Report, among employers who imposed pay cuts last year, 37% said they plan to either partially or fully reinstate those reductions in 2010.

January 27, 2010
comScore Reports November 2009 German Mobile Market Share
comScore, Inc. has released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the German mobile phone industry over the three month period between August and November 2009. The report found Nokia to be the most popular brand of handset with a 35.4% market share, while its Symbian operating system continues to lead among smartphones with a 58.5% market share.

January 27, 2010
23% of Consumers Will Shop Online for Valentine's Day, According to eBillme Online Spending Index
According to the eBillme Online Spending Index, 23% of consumers plan to shop online for Valentine’s Day gifts, with 9% indicating they will spend more money online compared to last year. This represents an increase in online shoppers over the 2009 Valentine’s Day holiday.

January 27, 2010
Innovyx Introduces Dialogue 1to1 Version 8.0 Email Technology Platform
nnovyx, an email service provider that deploys email campaigns and customer communications programs for agencies and Global 2000 companies, today announced a major new release of Dialogue 1to1, the company’s proprietary email technology platform.

January 26, 2010
Zinio Reveals Second of Three Core Elements of 'UNITY' Design
Zinio, a world leader in digital publishing, technology, distribution and services, has announced the second element of its "UNITY" platform -- design optimization -- in conjunction with the latest addition to its newsstand from the United States Tennis Association: USTA Magazine.

January 26, 2010
2010 US Virtual Goods Market to Surpass $1.6 Billion, Concludes Inside Network
A new report by research firm Inside Network concludes that the total US market size for virtual goods will reach $1.6 billion in 2010, with social gaming contributing $835 million of that total.

January 26, 2010
Food and Drink Product Launches Decline During 2009, According to Mintel Data
The economic slump paid its toll on US food and drink manufacturers in 2009, according to a recent review of Mintel’s Global New Product Database (GNPD). Food and drink product launches show a substantial decline of nearly 30% from 2008.

January 25, 2010
Ads Integrated Within Interactive TV Environment Outperform Broadcast TV Equivalents, Akoo Study Finds
Traditional 30-second TV commercials, when integrated within an interactive, social TV programming environment, often outperform broadcast TV equivalents in brand metrics such as recall, consideration, and purchase intent. This, according to a new study by Akoo, a leading social music television network.

January 25, 2010
Newspaper-Magazine Ads Seen as Best Way to Find Bargains, According to Harris Poll
According to a new Adweek Media/Harris Poll, almost one-quarter of adult Americans (23%) believe that newspaper and magazine advertisements are where they can find the best bargains.

January 21, 2010
FCC Proposes Tougher Restrictions on Pre-recorded Telemarketing Calls
The FCC has proposed revisions to its rules under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to further empower residential telephone subscribers to avoid unwanted telephone solicitations. The proposals would require sellers and telemarketers to obtain written consent from recipients before making prerecorded telemarketing calls.

January 21, 2010
Daily Media Use Among Children and Teens Up Dramatically from Five Years Ago, Kaiser Study Finds
With technology allowing nearly 24-hour media access as children and teens go about their daily lives, the amount of time young people spend with entertainment media has risen dramatically, especially among minority youth, according to a study released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

January 21, 2010
Most Super Bowl Viewers Tune in for the Commercials, Nielsen Says
The majority of Super Bowl viewers enjoy the game’s ads more than the action on the field, according to results of a new survey released by The Nielsen Company.

January 21, 2010
Mobile Product Recommendations Heat Up In 2010, According to ChoiceStream Survey
According to findings of a new survey by ChoiceStream, there is a significant opportunity for product recommendations to lift mobile commerce revenue. A full 65% of m-commerce shoppers indicated that they would buy more products from their mobile devices if it were easier to find products on them from trusted retailers.

January 20, 2010
Consumers Willing to Spend More to Go Green, Burst Media Survey Shows
According to a new survey by Burst Media, consumers are willing willing to pay more for a variety of products that are "green," and 90% of respondents have incorporated some level of “greenness” into their daily lives.

January 20, 2010
83% of Brands Remain in the Dark about Mobile Campaign Performance, Bango Reports
According to statistics released by Bango Inc., 83% of brands do not use mobile specific analytic tools, leading to inaccurate data on campaigns performance.

January 20, 2010
Mothers Today Play Important Roles in Tech Purchase Decisions, BabyCenter Report Finds
According to a new report by BabyCenter, the 21st-century Mom has become tech fluent, and takes an important role in the tech purchase decision process.

January 19, 2010
Search Marketing Sector Rebounds After Positive Holiday Season, According to Efficient Frontier
According to Efficient Frontier, the search engine marketing (SEM) industry posted solid sequential and year on year growth for the fourth quarter of 2009. Marketers, especially in the retail category, took advantage of growing consumer demand and took a more aggressive position with their search campaign spend.

January 19, 2010
BIA/Kelsey Analysts Identify Key Local Media Trends to Watch in 2010
According to BIA/Kelsey's analysts, the next two years will fundamentally alter the local media market landscape, based on the thesis that the economic implosion over the past year and a half will irrevocably change advertiser behavior.

January 15, 2010
BIGresearch's Electronics Retail Ratings: Best Buy Increases Hold on Top Spot; #2 Walmart Gaining Ground
One-third of adults 18+ say they shop Best Buy most often for Electronics, and its preference among consumers is growing, according to the December Retail Ratings Report from BIGresearch. Walmart, Amazon, Target and Sears all experienced positive gains in consumer share.

January 15, 2010
2009 US Video Game Industry and PC Game Software Retail Sales Reach $20.2 Billion, NPD Reports
According The NPD Group, US retail sales of video games, which includes portable and console hardware, software and accessories, generated revenues of close to $19.66 billion, an 8% decline over the $21.4 billion generated in 2008.

January 15, 2010
Bowe Bell + Howell Business Continuity Production Services Achieves Compliance with Payment Card Industry s Data Security Standard
BÖWE BELL + HOWELL has announced that it has achieved the highest certification level of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS).

January 15, 2010
NextMark Releases 4Q09 Data Card Quality Report
NextMark, Inc. a leading provider of direct marketing tools and resources, has published its fourth quarter 2009 Data Card Quality Report. The report categorizes list management firms based on the number of titles managed, and provides an average data card quality score across each company's list management portfolio.

January 14, 2010
Online Retailers Deliver Strong Performance During '09 Holiday Season, AlertSite Finds
According to metrics released by AlertSite, online sales, totaling approximately $27 billion, was not the only positive outcome for online retailers in the 2009 holiday season. Overall, during the period beginning Nov. 26, Thanksgiving Day, and ending Dec. 31, online retailers showed strong Web performance.

January 14, 2010
Mobile Security Market to Exceed $4 Billion by 2014, Says ABI Research
Strong enterprise demand for data security is driving rapid growth in mobile device management services. According to a new study by ABI Research, the number of smartphones protected by advanced security software will increase fivefold over the next five years.

January 14, 2010
comScore Releases December 2009 Ranking of Top Ad Networks
comScore has reported the top 15 ad networks based on their reach among US Internet users in December 2009. The ranking showed that AOL Advertising remains the top ad network, reaching 187 million US Internet users, or 91% of the total audience.

January 14, 2010
comScore Releases December 2009 Ranking of Top Ad Networks
comScore has reported the top 15 ad networks based on their reach among US Internet users in December 2009. The ranking showed that AOL Advertising remains the top ad network, reaching 187 million US Internet users, or 91% of the total audience.

January 13, 2010
After Holidays, Americans Slightly More Likely to Spend Money, Harris Poll Finds
According to results of a recent Harris Poll, after the holidays, spending may slow as people pay off holiday bills, but in looking ahead for the next six months, it appears that spending on most things is likely to increase, but not by a lot.

January 12, 2010
Retailers Succeed with Mix of In-Store, Online & Catalog Shopping, Allen & Gerritsen Survey Finds
Retail stores still trump online stores as the go-to holiday destination, but online retailers are delivering higher customer satisfaction, according to a post-holiday surveyconducted by advertising agency Allen & Gerritsen.

January 12, 2010
Super Bowl Spending Reached $2.17 Billion Over The Past 20 Years, According to TNS
According to TNS Media Intelligence, from 1990 thru 2009, the Super Bowl game has generated $2.17 billion of network sales from a total of 210 different advertisers and more than 1,400 commercial messages.

January 12, 2010
Online shopping shows strong growth for the 2009 holiday season, According to Chase Paymentech
For 2009, the number of online shopping transactions soared 30 percent over 2008, while total sales volume increased 17.3%, according to Chase Paymentech. The difference in these two numbers can be attributed to the decline in average ticket value, which dropped 9.8%.

January 12, 2010
Shoppers Want Enhanced Personalization, More Choices from Retailers' Social Media Programs, NCR Survey Finds
Shoppers are looking for enhanced personalization and more choices in how they interact with retailers through social media, according to a recent survey conducted by NCR Corporation. The NCR survey polled more than 400,000 consumers regarding their experiences with social media and how retailers can better serve their needs.

January 11, 2010
Zinio Launches Iphone App as Key Element of 'Unity' Reading Platform
Zinio has announced the launch of its iPhone app as the cornerstone of its ubiquitous “Unity” reading platform. Currently offering its digital content to be read on PC, Mac, netbook, touch-screen, and tablet devices, Zinio now adds another reading access point to its multi-platform-enabled portfolio.

January 11, 2010
Northern Lights Creates Lavalife DRTV Campaign to Connect Singles
Lavalife has announced that it launching a new direct response television (DRTV) campaign created by Northern Lights Direct Response. The dynamic, 30-second DRTV commercial promotes Lavalife’s popular phone service, Lavalife Voice, and will air in both Canada and the US starting January 11.

January 11, 2010
NextMark Releases 4Q09 Data Card Quality Report
NextMark has published its fourth quarter 2009 Data Card Quality Report. The report categorizes list management firms based on the number of titles managed, and provides an average data card quality score across each company's list management portfolio.

January 8, 2010
Free Standing Insert Coupon Activity Increased 8% During 2009, Accordint to TNS
Free Standing Insert (FSI) coupon activity increased 8% during 2009 versus the previous year to more than 272 billion Coupons Dropped, according to Marx Promotion Intelligence, a division of TNS Media Intelligence.

January 8, 2010
Free Standing Insert Coupon Activity Increased 8% During 2009, Accordint to TNS
Free Standing Insert (FSI) coupon activity increased 8% during 2009 versus the previous year to more than 272 billion Coupons Dropped, according to Marx Promotion Intelligence, a division of TNS Media Intelligence.

January 7, 2010
comScore Reports $29.1 Billion in US Retail E-Commerce Spending for Full November-December Holiday Season
comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, has reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the entirety of the November – December 2009 holiday season. For the full holiday online shopping season, $29.1 billion was spent online, marking a 4-percent increase versus the same period last year. The season featured distinct periods of strong spending growth surrounding the Thanksgiving-Black Friday timeframe and the final shopping week leading up to Christmas

January 7, 2010
Return Path Identifies Top 10 Email Trends in 2009
Return Path, a leading email deliverability and reputation management company, has released its Top Email Trends in 2009 report. While 2010 promises even more changes in the email industry, Return Path has identified the top trends in email in the past year.

January 7, 2010
Customers Reward Marketing and Advertising that Employs 'Green' Messages, According to Report from Environmental Leader
A newly study by Environmental Leader shows that customers reward companies that use "green" marketing messages, with 82% of respondents saying that their companies intend to increase spending on green marketing.

January 6, 2010
November Sees Number of US Videos Viewed Online Surpass 30 Billion for First Time on Record, comScore Finds
comScore has released November 2009 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, showing that more than 170 million US Internet users watched online video during the month.

January 6, 2010
Boomer Women Are Savvy and Profitable Media and Technology Consumers, According to Vibrantnation
Recent insights garnered from a media/technology survey conducted by VibrantNation.com, a leading online community for smart, successful women over 50, suggest these women represent a larger and more important consumer segment than most media and consumer electronics marketers recognize.

January 5, 2010
US Job Satisfaction at Lowest Level in Two Decades, Conference Board Finds
Americans of all ages and income brackets continue to grow increasingly unhappy at work-a long-term trend that should be a red flag to employers, according to a report released today by The Conference Board.

January 5, 2010
Mobile Augmented Reality App Downloads to Pass 400 Million a Year by 2014, Juniper Finds
The annual number of mobile downloads featuring augmented reality (AR) content is expected to rise from less than 1 million in 2009 to more than 400 million by 2014, according to a new report from Juniper Research.

January 5, 2010
FTC Approves Two Reports to Congress on the National Do Not Call Registry
The FTC, as required by The Do-Not-Call Registry Fee Extension Act of 2007, has approved two reports to Congress: a biennial report focusing on the use of the Do Not Call Registry by both consumers and businesses, as well as the impact that new technologies have had on the Registry, and a one-time report on enforcement efforts and consumers’ perceptions of the Registry’s effectiveness.

January 4, 2010
Customer Satisfaction with E-Retail Rebounds, According to ForeSee Results
Customers of the largest online retailers are more satisfied than ever according to ForeSee Results' annual report on holiday shoppers.

December 23, 2009
Internet Users Now Spending an Average of 13 Hours a Week Online, According to Harris Poll
A new Harris Poll finds that adult Internet users are now spending an average of 13 hours a week online. Of course, people’s usage varies greatly; 20% of adult Internet users are online for only two hours or less a week while 14% are spending 24 or more hours a week online.

December 22, 2009
Wintry Weekend Boosts Online Holiday Sales in Final Shopping Weekend of the Season, comScore Reports
comScore has reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 50 days of the November – December 2009 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $25.5 billion has been spent online, marking a 4% increase versus the corresponding days last year.

December 22, 2009
No Light at the End of the Tunnel for Retailers in Early 2010, According to ForecastIQ
Coming out of a sluggish holiday season, the new year doesn't hold much promise for retailers when it comes to their same store sales, according to the December ForecastIQ. Same store sales growth will likely be off over the next 75 days, although a repeat of last January's plunge isn't expected.

December 21, 2009
Mobile Application Downloads to Hit Five Billion in 2014, According to ABI Research
ABI Research expects application downloads to reach five billion by 2014. That is an increase from an estimated 2.3 billion applications downloaded in 2009. The growing adoption of smartphones which saw sales rise 20% in 2009, according to ABI.

December 17, 2009
Americans Aim to Curb Spending and Cut Debt in 2010, First Command Reports
According to survey by First Command, Americans are increasingly concerned that economic conditions will continue to deteriorate and they are aiming to modify their financial habits accordingly. The survey reveals that 32% of middle-class consumers think the US economy will continue to fall deeper into a recession.

December 17, 2009
Amazon Associates and Google Blogger Expand Monetization Opportunities for Bloggers
Amazon and Google have announced a new collaboration that enables Bloggers to monetize their content by adding relevant Amazon products to their blog posts without interrupting the blog editing process.

December 16, 2009
Most Shoppers Have Completed Less than Half of Shopping, NRF Survey Finds
According to NRF’s 2009 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, the average person had completed 46.7% percent of their holiday shopping by the second week of December, less than the 47.1% completed by this time last year.

December 15, 2009
More Than a Quarter of US Small Businesses to Spend More on Online Video, Social Media Marketing, Ad-ology Research Finds
According to Ad-ology Research, 28% of small business owners say they plan to spend more on online video in 2010, up 75% over last year’s plans. Twenty five percent say the same about social networking, while 21 percent plan to commit more resources to mobile advertising.

December 15, 2009
Consumer Spending Outlook is Brightening According to Market Force Survey
The upward tick in November retail sales is just the beginning of a spending rebound, if consumers follow through with their intentions expressed in a consumer survey conducted this month by Market Force Information. A full 65% of respndents said they planned on splurging on an item in the next three months.

December 14, 2009
Consumers Plan to Shop Later, According to American Express Survey
A new survey from American Express reveals that 66% of consumers have yet to finish their holiday shopping and that holiday festivities will spur spending among partygoers in a variety of ways, from party primping expenses to purchasing hostess gifts.

December 14, 2009
Word of Mouth Influences Most Electronics, Apparel Purchases, According to RAMA Survey
According to a Retail Advertising and Marketing Association survey conducted by BIGresearch, word of mouth remains the biggest influence in people’s electronics and apparel purchases, though advertising inserts, articles, and in-store promotions also sway buying decisions.

December 14, 2009
Majority of Credit Card Consumers Modify Spending Habits or Change Providers in Response to Issuer Changes, comScore Finds
A new report by comScore reveals that more than two-thirds of consumers have responded to changes in their credit card terms and conditions by reducing spending behavior, terminating the account or switching brands.

December 14, 2009
Online Holiday Spending Approaches $20 Billion for the Season
According to comScore, for the holiday season-to-date, $19.9 billion has been spent online, marking a 3% increase versus the corresponding days last year. The most recent week saw above average online spending growth of 4% versus year ago.

December 10, 2009
Hudson Valley DMA Holiday Party Hits High Note
The Hudson Valley DMA (HVDMA) celebrated the holidays at the Tamarack Country Club in Greenwich, CT on Dec. 4th. Margaret O'Halloran of Staywell Communications, was appointed HVDMA President, and The Founders Award was presented to Rich Mercado, who was instrumental in building HVDMA membership.

December 9, 2009
Medicare Direct Mail to Increase, Mintel Comperemedia Forecasts
Mintel Comperemedia predicts insurance companies will increase Medicare direct mail during this year’s Annual Election Period (Nov. 15-Dec. 31, 2009). Observing a 13% rise in Medicare acquisition mailings for October 2009 versus October 2008, Mintel Comperemedia forecasts this year's fourth quarter mail will top Q4 2008 by 20%.

December 9, 2009
Christmas Shopping Season Sparks Increased Visitation to European Online Retailers, comScore Finds
Offering signs of tempered optimism that the consumer economy might be beginning to rebound after a tumultuous year, the European online Christmas shopping season got off to a solid start this year in the UK, France, and Germany, according to a new report by comScore.

December 8, 2009
Online Shopper Satisfaction Holds Steady, But Still Disappoints, According to ForeSee Results
Customer satisfaction with retail websites for the week following the Thanksgiving weekend is on par with satisfaction on Cyber Monday, according to ForeSee Results’ weekly holiday benchmark. The satisfaction score is 3% lower than at the same time last year and does not bode well for a retail industry hoping to regain its footing during the holiday shopping season.

December 8, 2009
Yahoo Introduces Ad Interest Manager
Yahoo has released a beta version of a new consumer tool called Ad Interest Manager, where Yahoo visitors can see a concise summary of their online activity and make choices about their exposure to interest-based advertising served from the Yahoo Ad Network.

December 8, 2009
US Online Holiday Spending Reaches $16 Billion for First 36 Days of Shopping Season, comScore Finds
comScore has reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 36 days of the November – December 2009 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, nearly $16 billion has been spent online, marking a three-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year.

December 4, 2009
Geotargeted Display Ad Revenues to Grow to $1.9B in 2013, BIA/Kelsey Predicts
The geotargeted display (or banner) ad market will grow from $897 million in 2008 to $1.9 billion in 2013, representing a compound annual growth rate of 16 percent, according to BIA/Kelsey.

December 4, 2009
Security Concerns Hinder Cloud Computing Adoption, According to Forrester
Concerns about the security of cloud computing environments top the list of reasons for firms not being interested in the pay-per-use hosting model of virtual servers, according to the latest Enterprise And SMB Hardware Survey, North America And Europe, Q3 2009, by Forrester Research, Inc.

December 3, 2009
Cyber Monday Online Sales Up 5% vs. Year Ago to Match Heaviest Online Spending Day in History, comScore Finds
A new report by comScore shows that, for the holiday season-to-date, $12.26 billion has been spent online, marking a 3% increase versus the corresponding days last year. Cyber Monday reached $887 million in online spending, up 5% versus a year ago, and matching the heaviest online spending day on record.

December 3, 2009
Shift in US Spending Habits Revealed by Coinstar Poll
A new Coinstar Currency Poll on economic trends reveals that more than three in five Americans plan to alter their financial plans due to economic uncertainty in the months ahead. In addition, more women than men plan to change their financial plans.

December 2, 2009
Email and Social Media Marketing Are Top Areas of Investment in 2010, StrongMail Finds
The majority of businesses plan to increase marketing spend in email marketing and social media in 2010, making them the top two areas of investment according to a new survey today by StrongMail.

December 2, 2009
Online Shopper Satisfaction Down on Cyber Monday, According to ForeSee Results
Cyber Monday shoppers were less satisfied this year than they were at the same time last year, according to ForeSee Results’ annual benchmark of satisfaction with online holiday shopping.

December 1, 2009
Online Holiday Giving to Exceed $4 Billion, Convio Predicts
Convio, Inc. estimates that US online giving to nonprofit organization will be more than $4 billion during the holiday season of 2009 as more than 111 million say they plan to give via the Internet this year.

December 1, 2009
Cyber Monday Spending Shifts to Early Mornings and Evenings, According to Shop.org
According to Shop.org, this year, many retailers saw Cyber Monday traffic and sales shift this year from mid-day hours to the early morning and evening hours as more Americans shopped for deals from home.

December 1, 2009
Optimizing Web App Performance Drives Revenues, Aberdeen Report Finds
Companies with best-in-class Web application performance saw a 25% increase in Web-related profitability compared to an industry-average 5% decrease from 2008 to 2009, according to a new report from Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company.

December 1, 2009
Majority of Retailers Say Holiday Advertising and Marketing Budgets Flat According to BDO Seidman
According to a study conducted by BDO Seidman, LLP, one of the nation's leading accounting and consulting organizations, more than half (55%) of retailers say that their 2009 advertising budget is flat this holiday season, up from 43% in 2008.

December 1, 2009
RetailMeNot.com Releases Black Friday Special Report
RetailMeNot.com has released the Black Friday 2009 Special Report on traffic, retail sales and consumer coupon usage on RetailMeNot.com. "Despite signs that the economy is rebounding, we’re seeing enormous gains both in traffic and the quantity of coupons being offered by retailers this holiday season," said Guy King, co-founder, RetailMeNot.com.

November 17, 2009
DMA Global Advisory Board (GAB) Extends Worldwide Initiatives
The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has instituted a Global Advisory Board to provide an enhanced global perspective to DMA and to shepherd initiatives extending DMA's service to direct marketers worldwide.

November 12, 2009
Half of Americans Will Buy Toys This Holiday Season, According to Harris Interactive
According to Harris Interactive, half of Americans (54%) will be buying toys as gifts this year, up from 47% who said they would be buying toys last year. Among those who have children in their household, seven in ten (69%) will be buying toys this year and just under half of those in household without children will be buying toys this year (46%).

November 9, 2009
US Retailers Face $191 Billion in Fraud Losses Each Year, LexisNexis Reports
US merchants are incurring $191 billion in fraud losses each year, according to a new report by LexisNexis Risk Solutions. Among the findings, the study discovered that merchants must absorb nearly 10 times the identity fraud cost incurred by financial institutions

November 9, 2009
Internet Top for Sports Content, Burst Media Survey Shows
According to a new survey by Burst Media, although people turn the TV on to watch the actual game, the Internet tops the charts for both men and women as their primary source to get sports news and information.

November 9, 2009
TFC Inc. Completes Corporate Name Change to VeraCentra
TFC Inc. has announced the immediate change of its company name from TFC Inc. to VeraCentra. This new corporate identity reflects the company’s ability to provide intelligent software and marketing services to help marketers succeed in highly competitive environments.

November 5, 2009
US Postal Service Announces 2010 Shipping Prices; Price of First-Class Postage Will Not Change
The USPS has announced that, in addition to an average price increase of 3.3%, on average, for Priority Mail, there will be new prices for Express Mail, Global Express Guaranteed, Express Mail International, Priority Mail International, Parcel Select and Parcel Return Service, effective Jan. 4. Prices for First-Class Mail, Standard Mail, Parcel Post and other mailing services products will not change in 2010.

November 5, 2009
US Consumers Turning to Social Networking for Entertainment Options, According to The NPD Group
According to the latest update to a study conducted by The NPD Group, many consumers expect to be spending the same amount on traditional entertainment categories during the coming holiday season, even as their participation in newer forms of entertainment continues to rise. The most notable increases occurred in social networking and text messaging.

November 4, 2009
Touchscreen Mobile Phone Adoption Grows at Blistering Pace in US During Past Year, comScore Finds
comScore, Inc. has released a study of touchscreen mobile phone adoption in the US, which showed a significant 159% growth rate during the past year to 23.8 million users in August 2009. The growth in touchscreen device adoption substantially outpaced the already strong 63% growth in US adoption of smartphones.

November 4, 2009
Amazon.com Acquires Zappos.com
Amazon.com, Inc. has announced the completion of its acquisition of Zappos.com

November 3, 2009
Top 10 Words That Matter Most to Consumers, According to Tagline Guru
Tagline Guru has released the results of a content analysis of more than 150 corporate taglines that debuted in 2009. According to the study, some of the most commonly used words or concepts include “believe,” “together,” and “you.”

November 2, 2009
US Retailers Forecast a 1.4% Increase in Comparable Store Sales, BDO Seidman Finds
According to BDO Seidman, LLP, CMOs at leading US retailers expect both overall sales and comparable store sales to increase by 2.6% and 1.4%, respectively, for the 2009 holiday season.

November 2, 2009
Shoppers Planning to Use More Cash, Less Credit for Holiday Purchases, USAA Survey Finds
Many holiday shoppers are embracing healthier money management habits to help keep debt at bay, according to a new USAA survey.

October 30, 2009
Swine Flu Drives Over-the-Counter Medicine Sales Across Borders, According to Mintel
Autumn has arrived in the northern hemisphere and with shades of yellow and orange comes a less-welcome visitor: cold and flu season. Made worse this year by the H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic, people around the world are flocking to drugstores and supermarkets to stock up on over-the-counter (OTC) medicine, says market research firm Mintel.

October 30, 2009
People Prefer Branches over Internet for Bank Communication, Mintel Finds
According to Mintel Comperemedia, people would still rather contact their bank at a branch than online or through email. Two in three adults say they prefer to get up close and personal at a bank branch to communicate, according to a new Mintel survey.

October 30, 2009
'Retailers Should Be Where Customers Hang Out Online,' Says eMarketer
According to eMarketer, forward-thinking retailers want to bring their Web stores to the environments where their customers like to spend time. That’s why almost three-quarters of the merchants in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide have a presence on at least one of the major social networks or social shopping sites.

October 29, 2009
36 Million German Internet Users Viewed More Than 6 Billion Videos Online in August 2009
comScore has released data from the comScore Video Metrix service, indicating that 35.7 million German Internet users viewed at least one video online in August 2009, up 38% versus the previous year.

October 26, 2009
Social Networking Sites Account for More than 25% of UK Online Display Ad Impressions, According to comScore Ad Metrix
A new study by comScore showes that social networking sites accounted for 13.8 billion display ad impressions in August 2009, representing more than 25% of all display ads viewed online.

October 26, 2009
Holiday Shopping Season to Start Early but Discounts May Disappoint, Accenture Study Finds
The newly-released Accenture Holiday Shopping Survey released finds that, although consumers intend to shop early this holiday season, a problem may be in store for retailers as shoppers fail to find the discounts that they expect.

October 26, 2009
Nonprofits Struggle with Email Customization, Return Path Study Finds
Most nonprofit organizations have mastered the basics of email marketing, yet room for improvement remains, according to a new Return Path study.

October 26, 2009
Online Retailers to Emphasize Free Shipping, Social Media this Holiday Season, Shop.org Study Forecasts
The economy is not only impacting shoppers, it’s affecting online retailers, too. According to results of Shop.org’s eHoliday Study, conducted by BIGresearch, shoppers will see changes in retail marketing and promotions this holiday season in response to economic uncertainty.

October 26, 2009
Telematch Launches Multiple-Source Validated Email Database for Appending and Verifying Customer Files
Telematch, Inc., has annoucned the release of its first and unique Email Database, for use by US consumer marketers to validate, match, and append customer records, as well as to forward and reverse append postal and telephone information associated with email data.

October 19, 2009
DMA09 in San Diego: Ford's Scott Monty Puts the 'Car In Karma' During Keynote
In today’s increasingly digital world, the importance of social media is becoming more and more apparent. On Sunday, Scott Monty, global digital & multimedia communications manager for Ford Motor Company, explored this topic, drawing from years of personal experience with the leading American auto maker, and sharing examples of how to use social media wisely. His luncheon keynote address took place during the DMA09 Conference & Exhibition at the San Diego Convention Center.

October 19, 2009
DMA Announces Winners for New DMA Future Innovators Awards
DMA has announced winners for the inaugural DMA Future Innovators Awards (FIA), which recognize the innovative advances being made in the field of marketing.

October 14, 2009
Digital and Direct Marketing Employment Outlook Shows Improvement for Q4, According to Bernhart Survey
The latest Bernhart Associates Quarterly Digital and Direct Marketing Employment Report shows digital and direct marketers are poised in the current fourth quarter (Q4) to add to payrolls for the third consecutive quarter.

October 12, 2009
Paid Search Spend Increases in Q3, Supported by Strong Retail Growth, SearchIgnite Reports
According to a new report by SearchIgnite, US paid search spend was flat year-over-year, yet up 10% quarter-over-quarter on a sequential quarterly basis, a solid increase heading into Q4.

October 1, 2009
M&A Transactions Worth $16.4 Billion Announced Across the Media in First Three Quarters, JEGI Reports
The first three quarters of 2009 saw 466 M&A transactions worth $16.4 billion announced across the media, information, marketing services and technology sectors, as tracked by The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. (JEGI). Two markets actually saw growth in M&A activity in 2009 over 2008 – the Mobile and Education sectors.

September 22, 2009
Cellular M-to-M Connections to Triple by 2014, Says ABI Research
Cellular M-to-M connections – which enable wireless data calls between machines – will approximately triple their current number of about 75 million by 2014, according to a new study from ABI Research. These connections are split almost equally between telemetry and telematics applications, with the former growing at a slightly faster rate.

September 22, 2009
Ballantine Releases New Direct Marketing Tip Sheet
The Ballantine Corporation, a family-owned direct mail company, has announced the release of a free direct marketing white paper that provides clear and insightful direct marketing how-to information that will positively influence any business's bottom line.

September 14, 2009
Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Unveils Digital Collector's Edition For Fans of the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has announced the global launch of Celebrating…Emmy. This digital-only issue is a customized, interactive publication that provides fans worldwide with immediate access to this year's event that can be enjoyed on multiple devices.

March 13, 2009
comScore Releases February 2009 US Search Engine Rankings
comScore has released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the US search marketplace. Americans conducted 13.1 billion core searches in February 2009, down 3% versus January – a decline that is primarily the result of the shortened month.

March 13, 2009
Tim Armstrong Named Chairman and CEO of AOL
Tim Armstrong, Google senior VP, has been named chairman and CEO of AOL, LLC, Time Warner Inc. Chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes has announced. Current AOL Chairman and CEO Randy Falco and President and COO Ron Grant plan to leave the company after a transition period.

March 12, 2009
'Buy Local' Message Has Global Appeal, Needs More Local Support, According to Mintel
According to a new survey by Mintel, just one in six adults (17 percent) buy local products and services as often as possible. These "True Locals" are willing to pay a higher price and they'll even buy local if competitive products are better.

March 12, 2009
Yahoo Sites Leads Search Market in Japan in Jan. '09, comScore Reports
comScore has released its ranking of the top search properties in Japan based on data from the comScore qSearch service. In January, 6.8 billion searches were conducted in Japan, representing a 9% increase versus year ago and the highest monthly search volume on record.

March 10, 2009
US Mobile TV and Video Poised For Continued Growth, QuickPlay Survey Reveals
QuickPlay Media, a leading provider of mobile TV and video solutions, has revealed the results of a new survey that shows that consumers are confident in the uptake of mobile TV and video, with 78% expecting an increase in usage by 2010.

March 10, 2009
Yahoo Sites Leads Search Market in Japan in Jan. '09, comScore Reports
comScore has released its ranking of the top search properties in Japan based on data from the comScore qSearch service. In January, 6.8 billion searches were conducted in Japan, representing a 9% increase versus year ago and the highest monthly search volume on record.

March 9, 2009
AOL Latino Launches TecnoPadres.com
AOL Latino has launched TecnoPadres.com, a Spanish-language resource for parents who want to learn, understand, and discuss technology as it relates to their children and their online safety. The new site is part of part of AOL Latino’s women's lifestyle network Tu Vida y Más.

March 9, 2009
ExactTarget Continues Record Growth with More Than 50% Increase in '08 Revenue
ExactTarget, a leading provider of on-demand email and one-to-one marketing solutions, has announced it posted record-setting annual performance in 2008, boosting revenue by more than 50%.

March 9, 2009
Mobile, Broadband and Pay TV Could See $5 Billion Decrease, In-Stat Says
According to In-State, about 15% of US consumers intend to cut on Subscription-TV, Broadband, and Mobile Services. As a result, In-Stat estimates that consumer spending across these segments could see nearly a $5 billion decrease during the next 12 months.

March 6, 2009
Mobile Web Trudges Forward, According to eMarketer
According to eMarketer, the fact that mobile Web users in the UK visit so few sites is evidence that the mobile Web still offers a very limited range of useful content. There are not many worthwhile mobile Websites to visit, and the user experience is not yet compelling enough to support long sessions browsing via mobile.

March 6, 2009
eMarketer Revises E-Commerce Numbers
eMarketer revised its US retail e-commerce forecast, estimating that US retail e-commerce sales (excluding travel) will shrink by 0.4% in 2009, falling to $133 billion. In 2011, eMarketer predicts that online sales will reach double-digit growth rates, similar to those seen prior to 2008.

March 5, 2009
YouTube Surpasses 100 Million US Viewers for the First Time, Finds ComScore
comScore has released January 2009 data showing that US Internet users viewed 14.8 billion online videos during the month, an increase of 4% versus December 2008. YouTube led the growth charge, accounting for 91% of the incremental gain in the number of videos viewed versus December, surpassing 100 million viewers for the first time.

March 5, 2009
148 Million Mobile Data Roaming Subscribers This Year, Says ABI Research
While the idea of mobile data roaming is not new, demand is clearly taking off, driven by the broadening rollout of 3G networks. This according to a new ABI Research Brief.

March 4, 2009
Amazon Introduces Kindle for iPhone
Amazon.com, Inc. has introduced “Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch,” a new application available for free from Apple's App Store that lets customers enjoy over 240,000 books, including 104 of 112 New York Times Bestsellers, on the iPhone and iPod touch using Apple's Multi-Touch user interface.

March 4, 2009
Consumers Cut Back on St. Patrick's Day Celebrations, According to NRF Survey
According to NRF’s St. Patrick’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, people celebrating the Irish holiday will spend an average of $32.80 on decorations, food and beverage and festive attire, compared to an average of $35.04 in 2008. Total spending is expected to reach $3.29 billion.

March 4, 2009
7.5% of US Adults Lost Money as a Result Financial Fraud in 2008, Says Gartner
Approximately 7.5% of US adults lost money as a result of some sort of financial fraud in 2008, in large part because of data breaches, according to a recent survey by Gartner, Inc. Analysts said this is having an adverse effect on consumer victims who are significantly changing their financial transaction behaviors.

March 3, 2009
Despite Recession, US Smartphone Market is Growing, According to the NPD Group
According to The NPD Group, consumer sales of smartphones to US consumers represented 23% of all handset sales in the fourth quarter (Q4) 2008 compared to just 12% in Q4 2007. Led by the release of Apple’s iPhone 3G at $199, the average price for a smartphone fell 23% from $216 in Q4 2007 to $167 last year.

March 3, 2009
Light PC Internet Users More Likely than Heavy PC Internet Users to Access Mobile Content, comScore Reports
A new study by comScore finds that light PC Internet users are 30% more likely than heavy PC Internet users to use their mobile devices to access Internet content.

March 3, 2009
MapQuest Enhances Business Locator
MapQuest announced the re-launch and enhancement of Business Locator, an integrated search tool featuring one click integration that lets users display retail locations directly on their maps or along their routes.

March 3, 2009
Search Engine Optimization Pays Off, eMarketer Finds
In a recession, marketers need to increase website traffic and drive better conversions—and search marketing is the best customer acquisition tool in the online space, according to eMarketer. By 2013, when total US search marketing will reach nearly $23.4 billion, marketers will be spending more on search engine optimization (SEO) than on contextual advertising, eMarketer says.

March 2, 2009
Kadence Announces New Study Revealing Most Recession-Resistant Brands
A major new Kadence study, which investigated consumer perceptions of 650 leading US brands has shown a strong link between the affection consumers hold for a brand and its stock performance.

February 27, 2009
M&A for Media and Information Industry Will be Stronger than Headlines Suggest, JEGI Predicts
M&A for the media and information industry will be stronger in 2009 than recent headlines suggest, according to The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. (JEGI) of New York, NY.

February 27, 2009
Trust is Crucial Issue in 2009, According to Mintel
Following President Obama's address to the nation Tuesday evening, Mintel expert Joan Holleran comments on the importance of recovering trust in America this year. Mintel expects trust-building to emerge as the paramount concern of 2009

February 24, 2009
More Than 16% of US Respondents Spent More Than $100 Last Year on Mobile Apps, Finds ABI
A survey conducted by ABI Research in November reveals that a surprising 16.5% spent between $100 and $499. That level of spending is especially significant given the low cost of most mobile applications, ranging from as little as a dollar or two at Apple’s iPhone App Store, to at most about $25.

February 24, 2009
Consumer Use of Cash Declines, Card-Based Options Embraced, Finds Study Conducted by BAI and Hitachi
Consumers’ use of cash is declining as they continue to embrace a range of card-based payment options, according a nationwide study conducted by BAI Research and Hitachi Consulting, and sponsored by First Data, MasterCard Worldwide, Metavante, and PULSE.

February 23, 2009
Homeowners Insurance Direct Mail Increases 19% in 2008, Reports Mintel Comperemedia
While overall direct mail volume plummeted from most financial services companies during 2008, mail from homeowners insurance providers rose. Mintel Comperemedia reports a 19% increase in homeowners insurance direct mail sent to acquire new customers.

February 23, 2009
B-to-B Marketers Need to Keep Up with Business Technology Buyers on Social Media, Finds Forrester
Despite the fact that 77% of business technology decision-makers engage with social media on the job, most B-to-B marketers are not effectively using social technologies to influence the purchasing decisions of their customers, according to new research from Forrester Research, Inc.

February 23, 2009
Economic Recession Gives Online Marketers Opportunity to Influence Purchase Decisions, According to JupiterResearch
Nearly half of all online shoppers plan to spend less this year, but a majority of those reluctant to make certain purchases can be positively influenced by online shopping resources, according to a new study commissioned by Bazaarvoice and richrelevance, and conducted by JupiterResearch, a Forrester Research company.

February 20, 2009
comScore Releases January 2009 US Search Engine Rankings
comScore has released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the US search marketplace. In January 2009, Americans conducted 13.5 billion core searches, a 7% gain versus December 2008.

February 20, 2009
comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50 US Web Properties for January 2009
comScore has released its monthly analysis of US consumer activity at the top online properties for January 2009 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. The Tax category led as the top-gaining category as January marked the beginning of tax season, while Job Search, Government and travel-related sites also witnessed strong gains.

February 20, 2009
The Philadelphia Direct Marketing Association (PDMA) Presents 'Getting and Keeping the Job You Love!'
The Philadelphia Direct Marketing Association (PDMA) is offering a program for both professional direct marketers and students, entitiled “Getting and Keeping the Job You Love.” The program will be held on Wednesday, Mar. 25, at Arcadia University in Glenside, PA, and features two panels of regional experts.

February 19, 2009
Social Network Marketing Continues to Evolve, According to eMarketer
According to eMarketer, the number of Internet users visiting social networks at least once per month increased an estimated 11% in 2008, to 79.5 million, and will rise another 11% in 2009, to 88.1 million. Between 2008 and 2013, the number of social network users in the US will increase by an estimated 44.2%, to nearly 115 million.

February 19, 2009
Yahoo Introduces Yahoo! Mobile
Yahoo has announced the upcoming launch of its new Yahoo Mobile service, a highly-personalized mobile starting point to the Internet. Yahoo Mobile will be available on the mobile Web, as an app developed for the Apple iPhone, and as an app developed for smartphones from Nokia, RIM, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola, as well as those powered by Windows Mobile.

February 19, 2009
80% of Web Users Are Concerned about Privacy Online, Burst Media Study Reveals
Burst Media has released the results from a survey it conducted about online privacy. In addition to finding that privacy is a significant concern amongst Web users, the survey also revealed that concern increases with the age of the respondent.

February 19, 2009
Economic Downturn Will Create Opportunities for Mobile Advertising, Says Analysys Mason
Prospects for mobile advertising in 2009 are promising despite the economic downturn, but realism is called for, says Analysys Mason, the global telecoms adviser during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

February 19, 2009
Consumer Products Manufacturers Rank Consumer Centricity Among Top Keys to Success, According to DemandTec
DemandTec, and Precima, Inc. have released the findings of a survey measuring how retailers and consumer products manufacturers use consumer-centric data and analysis to drive their businesses.

February 19, 2009
Pocket Tissue Marketing, Made Popular in Japan, Becomes Popular Among US Marketers, AdPack Reports
Since the economic downturn, the popularity of direct mail has come roaring back, after a five-year decline, as consumers and marketers alike look for ways to save and as advertisers cut spending by 3% and higher. According to AdPack USA, a division of Japan's giant ITOCHU Corporation, consumers are looking for coupons and samples, and marketers are looking for the "biggest bang for their marketing buck."

February 18, 2009
India's Social Networking Market Sees Global Brands Gain Prominence in 2008, According to comScore
comScore has released a report on the top social networking sites in India, finding that visitation to the site category increased 51% from the previous year to more than 19 million visitors in December 2008. The study also found that global social networking brands continued to gain prominence in India during the year.

February 18, 2009
Drop in E-Commerce Satisfaction Ends Three Year Climb in American Customer Satisfaction Index, ForeSee Finds
Customer satisfaction with the e-commerce sector falls for the first time in three years, dropping 2% to a score of 80 on a 100-point scale, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).

February 18, 2009
Customers Predict Significant Rise in Mobile TV and Video Usage by 2010, According to QuickPlay Media
QuickPlay Media has revealed the results of a survey focused on mobile TV and video consumption in the UK. On a positive note the research revealed consumers are confident in the uptake of mobile TV and video, with 74% of respondents expecting an increase in usage by 2010.

February 13, 2009
UK Men Forge Ahead Online, According to eMarketer
Males accounted for 49.6% of the total UK population in 2008, but online, men take the lead. eMarketer estimates that there will be more than 20 million men online in the UK in 2009—51

February 13, 2009
Event Industry CEOs Provide a Mixed Outlook for 2009, According to JEGI
Event industry CEOs provided a mixed outlook for 2009, according to the 2009 Exhibition and Conference Industry Outlook conducted by the Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. The survey provides an in-depth look at event industry CEO's key strategic goals and growth drivers, challenges and opportunities, and their view of the M&A market for events.

February 12, 2009
Consumers Continue Cost Cutting and Saving in 2009, First Command Reports
Amid continuing concerns about the economy, American families are moving into the new year with a newfound commitment to cutting household expenses and saving money, according to the First Command Financial Behaviors Index.

February 12, 2009
Walmart Tops in Health & Beauty; Walgreens Tops For Prescriptions, BIGresearch Finds
A third of consumers shop Walmart most often for their health & beauty aid purchases, followed by Target and CVS, according to the January Retail Ratings Report from BIGresearch. Although Walgreens was edged out of the top 3 in January for HBA, they top the list in the Prescription Drug category.

February 12, 2009
US Retail E-Commerce Declines 3% in Q4 2008 Versus Year Ago; Sales for Full Year Grew 6%, comScore Reports
According to comScore, Inc., online retail spending in Q4 2008 declined 3% versus year ago, the first recorded quarter of negative growth since comScore began tracking e-commerce spending in 2001. Nonetheless, for the full year 2008, retail e-commerce grew 6% to $130.1 billion.

February 12, 2009
North Shore Animal League Selects MBS to Provide Database Services
MBS, a leading provider of advanced marketing services, has announced that it has been selected by North Shore Animal League to provide marketing database services for the not-for-profit’s marketing and fundraising programs. Founded in 1944, the North Shore Animal League is the world’s largest no-kill pet rescue and adoption organization. Since its founding, the League has placed close to one million pets into carefully selected homes.

February 11, 2009
Postal Service Mailing Services Prices to Change on May 11
The Governors of the USPS have approved new prices for mailing services, including a 2-cent increase in the price of a First-Class Mail stamp to 44 cents. Prices for mailing services are reviewed annually and adjusted each May. The new prices will go into effect Monday, May 11.

February 11, 2009
Black Women Say Advertisers Don't Know How to Talk to Them, According to Lattimer Communications Study
According to a new Lattimer Communications study, 86% of African-American women say that advertisers need to do a better job of talking to them,. Advertisers need to re-evaluate their marketing campaigns targeting this important segment.

February 10, 2009
Charming Shoppes Announces Executive Appointments; Bill Bass Appointed Interim President of Company's Direct Division
Charming Shoppes has announced the appointment of Anthony M. Romano as executive VP, Business Transformation. Bill Bass has been appointed interim president of the company's Charming Direct division. Rachel A. Ungaro has been promoted to senior VP, General Merchandising, and James A. Ferree has been appointed as senior VP, General Merchandising, both of the company's Fashion Bug brand.

February 9, 2009
Identity Fraud Increased 22%, According to Javelin
The 2009 Identity Fraud Survey Report, released by Javelin Strategy & Research, confirms that the number of identity fraud victims has increased 225 to 9.9 million adults in the US, while the total annual fraud amount only increased slightly by 7% to $48 billion over the past year.

February 9, 2009
Mobile Revenue from European Mobile Business Customers to Grow, ABI Research Projects
According to ABI Research, Europe as a region has the highest adoption of mobile services at 121% penetration, and this is expected to rise to 135% by 2012. At these high penetrations, overall service revenue growth through the handset is expected to decline.

February 9, 2009
Small Businesses Don't Expect Strong Valentine's Day Sales, Constant Contact Survey Shows
According to responses from a recent survey by Constant Contact, Inc., the majority of respondents do not anticipate strong Valentine’s Day sales.

February 5, 2009
Card Issuers Send Lowest Volume of Credit Card Mail in Past Eight Years, Says Mintel Comperemedia
New data from Mintel Comperemedia shows only 5.4 billion credit card direct mail offers were sent to Americans in 2008. This is the lowest annual total the firm has reported since 2000.

February 5, 2009
36% of Social Network Users Want to Access Social Media on Their TVs, According to ABI Research
A new survey by ABI Research shows that today’s consumers are looking to extend their social networks to the TV, as 36% of those who currently use social media on a regular basis say they’d like to access their networks on the TV screen.

February 4, 2009
ALC Acquires Equity Stake in Empathy Lab
ALC, a leading independent data marketing services provider, has announced that it has acquired an equity interest in Empathy Lab, a rapidly-growing, cutting-edge digital strategy and execution firm, located just outside of Philadelphia.

February 4, 2009
Economy Holds Little Sway on Valentine's Day Purchase Plans, Discover Survey Reveals
Discover Card has released the results of its fourth annual Valentine's Day Shopping Survey, which highlights consumer shopping trends and intentions for the upcoming holiday. The poll also revealed insights as to why some consumers may spend differently this year.

February 4, 2009
On-Line Retailers Winning Internet Search Battle According to Internet-Engine Study
A new study by Internet-Engine, a leading Internet marketing firm, has found that on-line retailers are winning the Internet search battle against traditional retailers.

February 4, 2009
Brooks Brothers Selects MBS as Marketing Database Services Partner
MBS, a leading provider of advanced database and interactive marketing solutions, has announced that it has been selected by Brooks Brothers to provide marketing database services for the retailer’s multi-channel marketing programs.

February 3, 2009
Older Consumers Prefer Identifiable Photos, According to Creating Results Survey
Creating Results has unveiled the results of a survey addressing what type of photography is most effective when advertising to the mature consumer. Researchers surveyed 414 Americans over 40 years old, and revealed, among other findings, that single image ads are significantly more effective than multi-image Collage style pieces.

February 3, 2009
Influent Is Finalist in Tech Columbus Innovation Awards, Outstanding Technology Team
Influent, a leading provider of outsourced customer sales and service solutions with call center facilities in the US, Philippines, and Panama, is pleased to announce that they are a finalist in the 2008 Tech Columbus Innovation Awards for the Outstanding Technology Team category.

February 3, 2009
Consumers Won't Give Up Fast-Food, Discounted Apparel, or Cable TV, BIGresearch Reports
While the economy is forcing many consumers to make sacrifices, a handful of must-have’s remain on the list. A recent survey conducted by BIGresearch found that Americans have redefined what’s “untouchable” and what is “expendable” in their lives to adjust to the current economic climate.

February 2, 2009
comScore 2008 Digital Year in Review Report Highlights Key US Digital Marketing Trends
comScore has released a new report, The comScore 2008 Digital Year in Review, which recaps key trends in US digital marketing for the year. One of the trends that heavily affected US Internet usage in 2008 was the economic meltdown, with several of the top gaining site categories reflecting the current environment.

February 2, 2009
Bebo Launches 'Bebo Open Mobile'
Bebo, a global social media network, has announced the launch of Bebo Open Mobile, a new global partnership program which offers a suite of tools to provide customers with access to the Bebo social networking experience.

February 2, 2009
Mobile Game Downloaders Increased 17%, comScore Finds
comScore reports that the number of mobile game downloaders grew 17% from November 2007 to November 2008, when 8.5 million people, or 3.8% of mobile subscribers, downloaded a game to their mobile device.

February 2, 2009
Sales of Smartphones to Reach 300 Million by 2013, According to Juniper Research
High-end mobile handsets (so-called "smartphones") are expected to account for a growing proportion of mobile phones sold each year. A new report from Juniper Research forecasts that, between 2008 and 2013, annual sales of smartphones will rise by 95% to over 300 million.

January 30, 2009
DMANF Honors Mal Warwick with Max L. Hart Nonprofit Achievement Award
The Nonprofit Federation of the Direct Marketing Association (DMANF) has announced that Mal Warwick, founder & chairman, Mal Warwick Associates, has been selected as the 2009 recipient of its Max L. Hart Nonprofit Achievement Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement by an individual within the nonprofit community.

January 30, 2009
Valentine s Day Spending Is Down From Last Year, Finds BigResearch
The National Retail Federation's 2009 Valentine's Day Consumer Intentions and Actions survey, conducted by BIGresearch, found that consumers plan to spend an average $102.50 on Valentine’s gifts and merchandise, down from last year’s $122.98 per person. Total Valentine’s Day spending is expected to reach $14.7 billion.

January 28, 2009
Online Gaming Surges, According to comScore
comScore has released an analysis of Americans’ usage of online gaming sites, showing that the category has grown 27% during the past year to 86 million visitors in December 2008, while the total time spent playing online games has jumped 42%.

January 28, 2009
Gartner Reveals Eight Mobile Technologies to Watch in 2009 and 2010
Gartner, Inc. has identified eight mobile technologies that it predicts will evolve significantly through 2010, impacting short-term mobile strategies and policies, including Bluetooth 3.0, Mobile User Interfaces (UIs), and Location Sensing.

January 28, 2009
Nielsen Company Releases Guide to Super Bowl XLIII
The Nielsen Company has released its annual Guide to the Super Bowl, which showcases a full range of consumer and media information about the most anticipated marketing event in the US. This year's matchup between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers is scheduled for Feb. 1 in Tampa, FL.

January 27, 2009
Consumer Confidence Continues Downward Slide in January, According CEA-CNET Indexes
Consumer confidence in the overall economy continues to slide downward in January, according to figures released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and CNET. The CEA-CNET Indexes also show consumers are less likely to spend money on consumer electronics and technology products.

January 27, 2009
Increased Spam and Phishing Attacks Tops Email Marketer Challenges for 2009, JupiterResearch Finds
Increased spam and phishing attacks along with further email and image blocking by ISPs top the lists of marketer’s concerns for 2009, this according to a recent Goodmail-sponsored survey conducted by JupiterResearch.

January 27, 2009
UK Retailers See Increase in December Online Traffic, comScore Reports
The onset of the Christmas shopping season brought increased traffic to the UK's online retail sites, with the jewelry/luxury goods/accessories category experiencing the strongest growth, followed by the mall, music, and flowers/gifts/greetings categories. This according to According to comScore, Inc.'s December rankings of the Internet properties and site categories in the UK.

January 26, 2009
Harris Poll Finds Substantial Increase in Public Preference for Generic over Brand Name Drugs
The Harris Poll finds a substantial change in the pharmaceutical drugs people buy, and how and where they buy them. Between October 2006 and December 2008, the proportion of adults who would choose generic drugs in preference to brand name prescription drugs has increased from 68% to 81%. And the number who would more often choose branded drugs has almost halved, down from 32% to only 19%.

January 26, 2009
Reprise Media Announces 5th Annual Super Bowl Search Marketing Scorecard
Reprise Media will release its 5th annual Super Bowl Search Marketing Scorecard on Feb.2, 2009. The Scorecard ranks Super Bowl advertisers based on the level of integration between their TV commercials and presence in search and social media, measuring how prepared each brand is to handle online interest and buzz.

January 26, 2009
Global Internet Audience Surpasses 1 billion Visitors, According to comScore; Asia-Pacific Region Accounts for 41% of Internet Users
comScore, Inc. has reported that total global Internet audience has surpassed 1 billion visitors in December 2008, based on data from the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service. The Asia-Pacific region accounted for the highest share of global Internet users at 41%.

January 23, 2009
Young Consumers Changing Competitive Landscape of Specialty Retailers, Finds ForecastIQ
Although retail sales continue to slump, two specialty stores are almost certain to see same store sales growth over the next two months. According to ForecastIQ, forecasts bode well for both Aeropostale and Buckle. However, Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle are almost certain to see a decline.

January 23, 2009
AOL Launches New Version of Web Mail
AOL's Products and Technologies Group have announced the launch of an enhanced version of AOL Web Mail that offers users one-click access to Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and a variety of third-party sites and destinations directly from the AOL Web Mail page.

January 22, 2009
New Administration Sparks Signs of Strengthening Consumer Confidence, According to eBillme
According to the eBillme Online Spending Index, 50% of consumers reported they will have more confidence in the economy while more than 25% feel more comfortable increasing their everyday spending now that the new administration has taken over.

January 21, 2009
Consumers Spend 11% More Time Online Than Watching TV, Yankee Group Finds
Yankee Group has unveiled US survey results that suggest the current economic crisis will make Internet video a champion in 2009. Consumers are spending 11% more time online than watching TV, and Internet video is emerging as the key platform for the delivery of on-demand video services.

January 21, 2009
US Electronics Retailers' Performance Jumps, According to Tech Channel Index
The Tech Channel Index reports that after enduring a tough holiday shopping season, US electronics retailers had their first week of marked improvement finishing week of January 3, 2009, just 2% last year's sales of consumer IT and entertainment electronics products.

January 20, 2009
Distrust of Financial Services Companies Shown in Cohn & Wolfe Survey
A study of 650 US consumers, conducted by Lightspeed Research, in conjunction with Cohn & Wolfe, reveals a lack of trust in financial advisors, insurers, and other financial services companies.

January 20, 2009
comScore Releases December 2008 US Search Engine Rankings
comScore, Inc. has released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the US search marketplace. In December 2008, Americans conducted 12.7 billion core searches, a 3% increase versus November.

January 20, 2009
Numbers Show Newspapers Heading for Demise, According to eMarketer
eMarketer estimates that newspaper advertising revenues dropped 16.4% to $37.9 billion in 2008. By 2012, those revenues will tumble to $28.4 billion, eMarketer says. That is a little more than one-half the industry’s revenue peak of $49.4 billion in 2005.

January 20, 2009
Singapore's Online Ad Revenues to Reach US$413 Million In 2013, Frost & Sullivan Finds
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan Singapore Online Advertising Market, finds that the online market was worth US$142.1 million in 2007 and forecasts this to reach US$413.5 million by end-2013, growing at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 19.5 percent (2008-2013).

January 20, 2009
Toronto Humane Society Makes DRTV Donations Plea with Campaign by Northern Lights
The Toronto Humane Society is urging people to help them save animals in need with a short-form direct response television (DRTV) campaign created by Northern Lights Direct Response.

January 15, 2009
Magazine Advertising Shows Effects of Soft Economy, PIB Reports
Magazine ad revenue for 2008 posted a 7.8% decline against the previous year, according to Publishers Information Bureau (PIB). "Like other ad-supported media, magazines have been affected by the economic slump, which deepened as 2008 progressed," said Ellen Oppenheim, EVP and CMO, Magazine Publishers of America, which administers PIB.

January 15, 2009
Major Shift from Physical to Virtual Events in 2009, ON24 Survey Shows
A recent survey by ON24 polled the anticipated use in 2009 of trade shows, conventions, and seminars against virtual events such as webinars and virtual shows. The survey results showed a significant shift from physical to virtual events.

January 15, 2009
DMW Worldwide Ranked with Top Winners in Prestigious DMA Analytics Challenge
Warren Hunter, chairman and CEO of DMW Worldwide LLC, has announced that the agency has been named to the winner’s list of the third annual Analytics Challenge competition, sponsored by DMA's Analytics Council and the CAC Group, Inc.

January 14, 2009
BigResearch Releases Retail Ratings Report; Amazon Makes Strides in Electronics Category
BIGresearch’s December 2008 Retail Ratings Report reveals that Best Buy continues to be the store shopped most often for almost one in three consumers for electronics with an overall share of 29.8%, while Amazon more than any other retailer in the electronics category.

January 13, 2009
Personalized Ads Attract High-Value Customers, According to ChoiceStream
ChoiceStream, a leading recommendations service provider for retail and entertainment brands, has announced the findings of its 2008 Personalization Survey. According to the survey, retailers’ most attractive prospects, those who spend the most money and shop most frequently, are more likely to click on personalized ads than non-personalized ads.

January 13, 2009
Global IT Purchases Will Decline In 2009, Forrester Predicts
Global purchases of IT goods and services by businesses and governments will decline by 3% in 2009 to $1.66 trillion, according to a new forecast from Forrester Research. The 2009 drop measured in US dollars is a distinct shift from 2008, when global IT purchases increased by 8%.

January 12, 2009
Search Still Online-Marketing Heavyweight, According to eMarketer
According to eMarketer, search’s growth is projected at only 14.9% in 2009, and is not expected to see gains until 2012. Search ad spending growth in the mid-teens in 2009 is still impressive, especially compared with other ad formats and media.

January 12, 2009
AOL Centralizes Publishing Unit with Creation of MediaGlow
AOL has announced a series of significant developments that it says will dramatically expand, reposition and monetize its digital publishing business in 2009. Anchoring this announcement is the creation of a new AOL business unit, MediaGlow, which will centralize AOL’s entire publishing efforts, with the goal of greatly expanding the unit’s global reach.

January 9, 2009
Transformation of Media Industry Exemplified by Types of Deals Completed in 2008, Finds JEGI
According to The Jordan, Edmiston Group (JEGI), the projected shift in growth for the media industry over the next few years is stunning, with $.88 of every dollar of industry revenue growth flowing to four growth sectors: database & information; B-to-B online media; consumer online media; and interactive marketing services, and only $.12 flowing to traditional media.

January 9, 2009
DMW Worldwide Honored with PIMA Marketing Methods Awards
Warren Hunter, chairman and CEO of DMW Worldwide LLC, has announced that the agency and two of its clients recently were honored in the 2008 Marketing Methods competition, held annually by the Professional Insurance Marketing Association (PIMA).

January 8, 2009
Outlook Optimistic for 2009, ICR Survey Finds
Although 85% of US adults described the state of the US economy in 2008 as being worse than in 2007, Americans are optimistic for the new year, with 41% of adults surveyed believing that 2009 will turn out to be better than 2008. This according to a recent survey conducted by ICR / International Communications Research,

January 8, 2009
Older Americans Embrace Technology, According to TNS Compete and CEA
TNS Compete and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) have announced a new joint study, revealing that the age segments of 50-somethings, 60-somethings and 70+ use many technologies at or near comparable rates as younger age segments. Consumers

January 7, 2009
Online Spending Outperforms Brick-and-Mortar in Key Retail Categories, Finds comScore
comScore has released online spending data by category for the online holiday shopping season, which showed that trends in online spending outperformed offline in several key product categories. Findings showed that the top growing online product category for the season was Sport & Fitness, which grew 18% versus year ago.

January 7, 2009
Consumer Spending Intentions Reach Lows, According to Discover Spending Monitor
The Discover US Spending Monitor fell for the fourth consecutive month in December, declining more than three points to a new low. Both components of the monthly spending index – consumer confidence in the US economy and consumer spending intent – reached new lows during the month, as concerns about the economy may be weighing on post-holiday spending plans.

January 7, 2009
Nearly Half of Mobile Phone Users Eschew Multimedia Features, Finds NPD Group
According to a new report by The NPD Group, a leader in market research for the wireless industry, 45% of US mobile phone users prefer to use their mobile phones to make calls, and not for other available multimedia features.

January 5, 2009
Gaps Revealed in Web Security, Osterman Research - Purewire Survey Finds
Purewire, Inc., a Web security SaaS vendor, has announced end-user survey results illustrating severe vulnerabilities to corporate networks due to malware-infected Web applications, remote workers, and shrinking IT budgets.

January 5, 2009
Retail Sales Increase 21.2% for Week Ending Dec. 27, ShopperTrak Reports
ShopperTrak’s retail traffic index has reported that total US foot traffic for Christmas week (12/21 – 12/27) fell 4.9% as compared to the same period in 2007, while the company’s retail sales estimate reported a strong 21.2% retail sales increase for the week.

December 30, 2008
Credit Card Alter Terms to Stay Profitable, Mintel Comperemedia Reports
Mintel Comperemedia, a service that provides direct marketing competitive intelligence, reports that many credit card issuers are communicating big changes in account terms, conditions and fees to their clients through direct mail.

December 29, 2008
Consumer Confidence Down Slightly in December, According CEA-CNET Indexes
Consumer confidence in the overall economy decreased slightly in December, according to figures released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and CNET. The CEA-CNET Indexes also showed consumers are slightly less likely to spend on consumer electronics (CE) and technology products.

December 29, 2008
DMW Worldwide Ranked with Top Winners in Prestigious DMA Analytics Challenge
Warren Hunter, Chairman and CEO of DMW Worldwide LLC, announced that under the leadership of Jeff Williams, director, Decision Support, the agency has been named to the winner’s list of the third annual Analytics Challenge competition, sponsored by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) Analytics Council and the CAC Group, Inc.

December 23, 2008
Holiday Spending Down or Stagnant in US and Five Largest European Countries, Harris Interactive Finds
As the holiday shopping season draws to a close, retailers in the US and some European countries are not that happy. Just over half of Italians (56%) and 48% of Americans as well as pluralities in France (45%), Spain (43%) and Great Britain (42%) all say they will be spending less than last year for the holiday season.

December 22, 2008
Four out of Five Consumers Plan to Cut Spending, According to NPD Group
The NPD Group, Inc. released the results of its latest Consumer Spending Indicator study. According to the December survey, 81% of consumers say they plan to spend less money than usual.

December 22, 2008
Heavy Online Spending Continues Later into the Season, Finds comScore
comScore has reported its tracking of holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 49 days of the Nov.–Dec. 2008 holiday season. For the holiday season through December 19, $24.03 billion has been spent online, down 1% versus the corresponding days last year. The most recent week of the season has seen several strong online spending days.

December 19, 2008
Free Shipping an Important Stimulus of E-Commerce This Holiday Season, Finds comScore
comScore has reported its tracking of holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 44 days of the November – December 2008 holiday season. For the holiday season through December 14, $20.17 billion has been spent online, essentially the same level compared to the corresponding days last year.

December 19, 2008
Major Retailers Experience 161% Increase in Attempted Hacker Attacks, According to SecureWorks
SecureWorks, a leading security as a service provider, reports they have seen a 161 percent increase in the number of attempted hacker attacks they are blocking for their retail clients. Attempted attacks increased from an average of 56,000 per client per month in the first six months of the year to 133,000 per client per month for the last five months. The attack statistics represent the attack activity for 36 major retail corporations located across the country.

December 19, 2008
Advenix VisualSubject Customized Email Previews Boost User Engagement by 125%
Advenix, creator of the VisualSubject customized email preview, reports a 42% lift in email results among recipients who engaged with VisualSubject, a user-initiated graphic that complements the email subject line with a visual preview. Findings are based on a series of email campaigns Advenix ran September through November 2008.

December 18, 2008
More Consumers Plan to Resell Holiday Gifts Online This Year, eBay Research Reveals
With financial concerns weighing on Americans' minds this holiday season, consumers are becoming more resourceful than ever. To cope, they are learning how to manage unwanted gifts. Over half of US adults who have resold gifts online plan to do so this year, a 10% increase from last year

December 18, 2008
Websites Play Tangible Role in Sales and Brand Loyalty, ForeSee Reports
ForeSee Results has unveiled research showing that online customer satisfaction plays a critical role for consumer packaged good (CPG) companies that are using their website to engender loyalty and encourage purchase behavior online or offline.

December 18, 2008
NPD Group Introduces Monthly Report on Consumer Attitudes and Spending
The NPD Group, a leading market research company, has launched a new monthly report, The Economy Tracker, to monitor how the economy is affecting consumer attitudes and shopping behavior.

December 17, 2008
41 Million People Have Not Started Holiday Shopping, Finds BIGresearch
According to NRF’s 2008 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, the average person had completed 47.1% of their holiday shopping by the second week of December, about 10% less than the 52.6% average completed by this time last year.

December 17, 2008
Experts and Analysts Assess Future of Internet in New Pew Survey
A survey of internet leaders, activists, and analysts shows they expect major tech advances as the phone becomes a primary device for online access, voice-recognition improves, artificial and virtual reality become more embedded in everyday life, and the architecture of the internet itself improves.

December 17, 2008
Economy Will Permanently Alter Communications Marketplace, Yankee Group Predicts
Yankee Group Yankee Group has unveiled its top 10 predictions for 2009, projecting that the economy will drive profound changes to forever alter the communications marketplace.

December 17, 2008
comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50 US Web Properties for November 2008
comScore has released its monthly analysis of US consumer activity at the top online properties for November 2008 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. The official start to the holiday shopping season unleashed droves of Americans on retail sites, propelling several categories, including Toys, Consumer Electronics and Department Stores, to double-digit traffic gains in November.

December 16, 2008
Consumers Likely to Start Online But Purchase in the Store, Finds Harris Interactive
According to a new study by Harris Interactive, shoppers consult an average of four resources on their path to purchase. Most consumers begin their research online, but ultimately make their purchase in a brick-and-mortar store.

December 16, 2008
Week After Cyber Monday Brings Slight Lull in E-Commerce Sales Growth, comScore Finds
According to research by comScore, for the holiday season through December 12, $19.44 billion has been spent online, essentially the same level compared to the corresponding days last year. For the twelve days beginning with Dec. 1 (Cyber Monday), the kick-off to the heaviest part of the online shopping season, sales were up 3% versus a year ago. However, the most recent work week (Dec. 8-12) saw e-commerce sales decline by a marginal 1%, although Dec. 9 emerged as the highest online spending day on record.

December 16, 2008
Late Black Friday, Shorter Holiday Season Impact November Retail Sales, According to NRF
According to the National Retail Federation, retail industry sales for November (which exclude automobiles, gas stations, and restaurants) increased 0.6% seasonally adjusted from October and decreased 2.0% unadjusted year-over-year. Industry related month-to-month sales saw the first increase in four months.

December 16, 2008
A Few Bright Signs Uncovered in a Challenging Environment, SpendingPulse Find
SpendingPulse has provided summary results for the holiday shopping season through the first week of December. Michael McNamara, VP of SpendingPulse, pointed to some good news: relative strength in eCommerce sales and the general merchandise sector, and a rise in gasoline pumping, responding to the dramatic fall in the price per gallon.

December 16, 2008
BZ Media Has Sold Software Test & Performance to Redwood Collaborative Media
BZ Media LLC, a high-tech B-to-B media company, has sold its Software Test & Performance business unit to Redwood Collaborative Media, an integrated B-to-B media company. The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc., a leading provider of independent investment banking services, represented BZ Media in this transaction and acted as its exclusive financial advisor.

December 15, 2008
Businesses Plan to Increase Marketing Budgets in the New Year, StrongMail Survey Finds
Despite economic concerns, businesses will continue to invest in key marketing programs in the coming year, according to new survey released by StrongMail Systems, Inc. Results show that more than half of the nearly 1,000 global business leaders polled plan to increase their marketing budgets in 2009 to focus on programs that yield a higher return on investment (ROI), such as email marketing and search.

December 15, 2008
Retailers and Hotels Top Forrester's Annual Customer Experience Ranking
Only 11% of companies garnered a rating of “excellent” in this year’s Customer Experience Index of large US firms, released by Forrester Research, Inc. Forrester asked more than 4,500 consumers about their interactions with 114 companies across 12 different industries and developed its Customer Experience Index based on the usefulness, ease of use, and enjoyability of those experiences. Thirty-eight percent of firms were rated as “poor” or “very poor.”

December 15, 2008
New Research by OTX Supports Value of Brands Engaging Directly with Consumers Online
A new research study conducted by OTX, a global consumer research and consulting firm, confirms the value of brands engaging directly with consumers online. The initial findings of the new study revealed that 54% of consumers agree that information from a brand representative would be more valuable than what is typically found on a company website.

December 12, 2008
Postal Regulatory Commission Verifies Competitive Products Price Changes for 2009
The Postal Regulatory Commission has issued its review of price adjustments sought by the USPS for competitive postal products. Chairman Dan G. Blair announced the Commissions’ unanimous decision that the increases sought for competitive products were not unlawful.

December 12, 2008
Online Video Viewers to Approach One Billion by 2013, According to ABI Research
While today’s consumer is most likely to watch online video on the PC screen, over time, more and more consumers will watch over-the-top video delivered to the living room, according a new study from ABI Research.

December 12, 2008
BurrellesLuce Issues Rankings of Top Media
Facebook, MySpace, and Hi5 were the three most utilized social networks, according to rankings made available by BurrellesLuce. The report lists the top 100 daily newspapers by circulation, the 25 biggest consumer magazines, the 25 most popular blogs, and the 25 busiest social networks.

December 12, 2008
Clicks-Per-Visitor Show Dramatic Increase on Cyber Monday, ClickStream Finds
ClickStream Technologies' standing panel of US adult internet users showed that internet retail sites received a dramatic increase in average clicks per visitor on Cyber Monday. Activity increases ranged from 500% to 14,500 times the average daily clicks per site.

December 11, 2008
US Advertising Expenditures Declined 1.7% in First Nine Months of 2008, TNS Reports
Total measured ad expenditures in the first nine months of 2008 declined by 1.7% as compared to the same period in 2007, according to data released by TNS Media Intelligence. Ad spending during the third quarter of 2008 was off 2.0% versus last year, despite a positive stimulus from the Summer Olympics and political elections.

December 11, 2008
90% of American Adults Concerned about the Safety of Personal Information Online, According to CA, Inc.
A recent survey by CA, Inc. reveals a gap between online security awareness and safety precautions by teens, adults and seniors, with varying behaviors across regions. Survey results showed that 57% of American adults fear their identity might be stolen online within the next two years, and 90% worry about the security of their personal information.

December 11, 2008
Web Users Pay less Attention to Ads on Cluttered Sites, Burst Survey Finds
Burst Media has released the results from a survey on the topic of ad clutter. Overwhelmingly, the findings reveal that websites cluttered with advertisements do a disservice to the publisher, the advertiser, and the visitor.

December 11, 2008
Consumers Likely to Become Less Passive with Mobile Social Networks, ABI Research Predicts
Consumers using mobile social networks today are mainly checking messages, status updates, and comments of friends, rather than posting photos or comments themselves, according to a recent study by ABI Research. However, this pattern is changing as more consumers have access to better-equipped phones and social network applications that allow for easy uploading and communication.

December 9, 2008
Holiday E-Commerce Season Sales Finally Match Last Year, According to comScore
comScore has reported its tracking of holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 35 days of the November – December 2008 holiday season. For the holiday season through December 5, $14.92 billion has been spent online, essentially the same level compared to the corresponding days last year.

December 9, 2008
Majority of American Families Spending Less for Holidays, First Command Reports
More than half of American families expect to cut back on holiday spending this year, citing less money and uncertainty about the economy as motivating factors, according to the First Command Financial Behaviors Index.

December 8, 2008
Holiday Shoppers Plan to Spend Nearly 10% Less This Year, According to Discover
Discover Card has released its annual Holiday Shopping Survey, which assesses consumer spending trends and gift intentions for the 2008 holiday season. On average, shoppers expect to spend nearly 10% less this year than in 2007, according to the survey.

December 8, 2008
One Third of Retailers Cut Holiday Marketing Budgets This Year, According to BDO Seidman
According to a new study conducted after the financial market meltdown by BDO Seidman, LLP, one-third of CMOs at leading US retailers state that their holiday marketing and advertising budgets have been reduced this season.

December 5, 2008
Consumers Not Likely to Layaway Gifts This Season, Finds BIGresearch
Over half (56.7%) of Americans say they will be spending less due to the economic environment, according to the American Pulse Survey of 4,348 respondents. In addition, 51.2% say they will be looking for sales more than last year while 31.8% are hoping to find deals online.

December 5, 2008
FedEx Helping Customers Gear Up for Holiday Season
FedEx Corp. is offering solutions to help its customers save time and money as they prepare to ship millions of precious holiday packages this holiday season.

December 5, 2008
Mailers Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC) Offers Guidelines for Mailers Using Move Update
Communicating Entry Requirements/In-Home Delivery Dates Solutions/Seasonality Impact

December 4, 2008
AOL Reveals Top Web, Mobile and Video Searches of 2008
The presidential elections dominated user searches this year, according to AOL’s annual lists of top Web, mobile and video searches across more than 40 categories for 2008. But celebrities continued to be hot topics for searchers as well.

December 4, 2008
Retailers Counting on Cyber Monday, Finds BIGresearch
According to the eHoliday Survey, conducted for Shop.org this fall by Shopzilla, 83.7% of retailers will have a special promotion for Cyber Monday, up from 72.2 % last year. The most popular promotions are expected to be specific deals (38.8 percent), email campaigns (32.7 percent), and one-day sales (24.5 percent).

December 3, 2008
Consumers Cutting Back on Consumer Technology This Holiday Season, According to NPD Group
Consumers plan to cut back this holiday season on consumer technology purchases, according to a new report by leading market research company The NPD Group. NPD’s Consumer Technology Holiday Snapshot Report examined consumer purchase intent for popular holiday gift categories including flat-panel TVs, desktop and notebook PCs, MP3 players, digital cameras, GPS devices, and digital picture frames.

December 3, 2008
NRF Survey Finds Black Friday Gets Holiday Season Off to Energetic Start
According to the National Retail Federation's 2008 Black Friday Weekend survey, conducted by BIGresearch, more than 172 million shoppers visited stores and websites over Black Friday weekend, up from 147 million shoppers last year. Shoppers spent an average of $372.57 this weekend, up 7.2 % over last year’s $347.55. Total spending reached an estimated $41.0 billion.

December 2, 2008
Black Friday Sees $534 Million in E-Commerce Spending, Up 1% Versus Year Ago, comScore Finds
ComScore has reported its tracking of holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 28 days of the November – December 2008 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $10.41 billion has been spent online, marking a 4-percent decline versus the corresponding days last year, while Black Friday saw $534 million in online spending, up 1%. For the combination of Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday, online sales were up 2% relative to last year.

December 2, 2008
eMarketer Revises Online Ad Spending Predictions
eMarketer has revised its Internet ad spending projections, estimating that advertisers will spend $23.6 billion online this year in the US. That estimate is slightly lower than the one eMarketer put out in August 2008, which said that US online advertising spending would reach $24.9 billion in 2008.

December 1, 2008
Online Video, TV, and Magazines Influence Video Game Purchases, Find Ad-Ology Survey
A surprising 70% of recent video game/game systems buyers reported some or significant influence from television and 54% reported influence from online video, according to the Fall 2008 Ad-ology Media Influence on Consumer Choice survey.

December 1, 2008
Consumers Plan to Spend Less This Holiday Season, MyPoints Survey Shows
MyPoints, Inc., a leading online loyalty program, has announced that 82% of consumers plan to spend less this holiday season than they did last year according to a new survey. The survey found that 87% of those surveyed have set a budget for this year's holiday shopping to help achieve the goal.

December 1, 2008
USPS Revises Move Update Mailer Advisement Policy; Provides FAQs
The USPS has revised the Move Update standards, which provide ways for mailers to reduce the number of mailpieces that require forwarding, return, or are undeliverable-as-addressed by the periodic matching of a mailer’s address records with customer-filed change-of-address orders. The USPS has also issued Move Update Verification Frequently Asked Questions.

December 1, 2008
Northern Lights Selected as DRTV Media Agency for Unirush
UniRush, LLC has announced it has selected Northern Lights Direct Response as its DRTV media buying agency for its RushCard pre-paid debit card campaign.

November 26, 2008
PRC Approves Service Measurement Systems
The Postal Regulatory Commission has issued Order No. 140 granting formal approval for the USPS to utilize both external and internal service measurement systems – including the Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMb) – to report on service performance for market dominant postal products.

November 26, 2008
Discovery, Differentiation, and Discounts Drive Holiday Shoppers to Search, According to Performics
Performics, a leading performance marketing agency, has released data illustrating purchasing behaviors specific to search engine utilization, across seven consumer segments and ten product categories. In collaboration with ROI Research, Performics surveyed 7,043 consumers on the role of search engines in their purchasing decisions.

November 26, 2008
Forecast is Mixed for Consumer Technology and Media Holiday Sales, Finds Oilver Wyman
As the holiday shopping season approaches, six out of ten US consumers intend to cut their spending in at least one area of communications and media entertainment, according to a new survey by international management consulting firm Oliver Wyman.

November 26, 2008
DMW Worldwide Adds Mark Fink
DMW Worldwide LLC has announced that the agency has added T. Mark Fink as Database Manager/Administrator in the Decision Support team.

November 25, 2008
Many Consumers Expect to Spend Same or More This Holiday Season, ABI Research Finds
But a recent survey conducted by ABI Research has shown that not all consumers intend to cut back on spending, and some are even thinking of spending more than last year.

November 25, 2008
Consumer Confidence up Slightly in November, According to Latest CEA-CNET Indexes
Consumer confidence in the overall economy increased slightly in November following a record low October level, according to figures released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and CNET. The CEA-CNET Indexes also showed consumers are slightly more likely to spend on consumer electronics (CE) and technology products.

November 25, 2008
Conner Strong Customer Data Integration Case Study Published
Business Development Solutions, Inc. ("BDS") has announced the publication of a customer data integration case study outlining its implementation of SingleVision software for Conner Strong.

November 24, 2008
One in Every Five ID Fraud Victims Leaves Their Bank, Reports Javelin
Javelin research shows that the average identity fraud case costs the industry $5,574 per victim and takes 26 hours to resolve. One in every five ID fraud victims leaves their bank, and one in every six changes card issuer.

November 21, 2008
Retailers Brace for Increased Shoplifting This Holiday Season, According to NRF
According to a recent NRF conducted by the University of Florida, with a funding grant from ADT Security Services, retailers lost almost $12 billion to the 27 million shoplifters who stole merchandise from them in 2007.

November 21, 2008
Mobile Websites Don't Make the Grade According to Yankee Group
Yankee Group has released a new report that shows mobile Web sites struggle to deliver an effective experience to the millions of consumers they serve. Based on a new Yankee Group methodology, the report scores 32 mobile websites on a scale of 1 to 100 and finds not one Web site with a passing grade of 70.

November 21, 2008
Internet Advertising Revenues in Q3 '08 at Nearly $5.9 Billion, Reports IAB
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) have announced that Internet advertising revenues reached almost $5.9 billion for the third quarter of 2008, representing an 11 percent increase over the same period in 2007.

November 21, 2008
DMW Worldwide Promotes Jeff Williams
DMW Worldwide LLC, has announced that Jeff Williams has been promoted to Director, Decision Support.

November 19, 2008
Consumer Outlook Bleak for Holiday Season, Worse for 2009, Credit.com Survey Finds
According to a new national survey from Credit.com, consumers are very concerned about the upcoming holiday shopping season and don’t think 2009 will be any better. While the survey found people were generally worried about their personal finances during this time of economic turmoil, more than half of respondents think their situation will improve in 2009.

November 18, 2008
Customer Service, Not Price, Remains Top Cause of Customer Churn, Accenture Study Finds
Service again ranked above price as a global driver of customer churn, according to Accenture's fourth annual study on customer service satisfaction, titled "High Performance in the Age of Customer Centricity."

November 17, 2008
Four Out of Five Adults Now Use the Internet, According to Harris Poll
In 1995, when The Harris Poll began measuring online activity, less than 18 million adults used the Internet in their homes, offices, schools, libraries or other locations. Now, thirteen years later, fully 184 million adults are online.

November 17, 2008
Black Friday to Grow 2.4% This Year, According to BDO Seidman
According to a new study conducted after the financial market meltdown by BDO Seidman, LLP, CMOs at leading US retailers expect "Black Friday" (November 28 this year) sales will grow 1.2% this holiday season, while "Cyber Monday," the first Monday after Thanksgiving, will grow by 2.4% this year.

November 17, 2008
Majority of Mobile Users Would View Ads for Discount on Bill, Finds iGR Survey
Transverse, a pioneer of open source business solutions, has released the results of a survey that provides insight into mobile customers' phone use and their willingness to view advertisements in exchange for discounts to their monthly service bill.

November 17, 2008
Boomer Women Generate Better Word-of-Mouth Than Younger Women, Prevention Finds
Findings from a new report by Prevention, partnering with Keller Fay Group, show thatBaby Boomer women (43-62) have higher quality WOM than younger women (18-39).

November 14, 2008
Earth911.com, USPS Provide Green Holiday Tips
As people across the country prepare to celebrate the 11th annual America Recycles Day on Nov. 15, Earth911.com and the USPS are presenting the "Green Your Holidays" channel with simple, practical tips to stay environmentally responsible during the holidays.

November 14, 2008
Yahoo is Top Destination for Major Events According to comScore Media Metrix
Yahoo has released new comScore Media Metrix figures showing that Yahoo! News attracted 7.6 million unique users on Election Day, Nov. 4, the largest single-day audience in online news history.

November 13, 2008
Economy-Driven Mail Volume Decline Contributes to USPS $2.8 Billion Year-End Loss; FY 2008 Marked by Record On-Time Mail Delivery
The USPS concluded the 2008 fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2007-Sept. 30, 2008) with a net loss of $2.8 billion as the national economic slowdown lowered mail volume and as the Postal Service bore additional costs mandated by the Postal Act of 2006. The Postal Service continued to improve national on-time First-Class Mail delivery performance, reaching record highs in FY 2008.

November 12, 2008
Nearly 80% of US Adult Online Consumers Made Internet Purchases in Last Six Months, According to Nielsen Online
Nielsen Online, a service of the Nielsen Company, today announced that 78% of adult online consumers made a purchase over the Web in the previous six months, according to @Plan, Winter 2008/2009 Release.

November 12, 2008
Global Theft Costs Retailers, Consumers $104 Billion Annually, According to Checkpoint
The level of global retail theft reached $104.5 billion in the past year, leading to increased costs for both retailers and consumers alike. The second annual Global Retail Theft Barometer found that while global retail shrink as a percentage of total sales has declined slightly in the past 12 months, the overall cost of retail crime has increased substantially.

November 12, 2008
RSVP Publications is First to Receive Third Party License from Forestry Stewardship Council for Environmental Responsibility
RSVP Publications, a direct mail marketing company specializing in reaching affluent homeowners, has become the first in the direct marketing field to receive a third-party license from the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) in recognition of the company's commitment to environmental responsibility.

November 12, 2008
Consumers Cut Back on Dining Out and Apparel, According to The NPD Group
The NPD Group, Inc., a leading market research company, has released the results of its latest Consumer Spending Indicator study. Results indicate that, in October, consumers said they were most likely to cut back on dining out, followed by apparel and entertainment.

November 12, 2008
Mobile Coupons to Exceed 200 Million Users by 2013, Predicts Juniper Research
Coupons delivered and redeemed via mobile phones are forecast to be used by some 200 million mobile subscribers globally by 2013, according to a new study by Juniper Research.

November 12, 2008
Financial 'Tsunami' Sends Traffic to European Financial News Sites, Finds comScore
comScore, Inc. has released the results of a study examining online visitation to UK, French, and German financial news and research sites in September during the height of the global financial crisis, based on data from the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service.

November 10, 2008
Cash-Based Alternative Payment Methods Growing in Popularity with Online Consumers, Javelin Reports
Javelin Strategy & Research has announced release of its 2008 Online Retail Payments Forecast, which delves into the increasing appeal and growth of alternative payment methods and the impact it represents to banks and traditional card networks like Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover.

November 10, 2008
Online Bargain Hunting Becoming Increasingly Social, Guidance Survey Reveals
This year, social shopping techniques will play a role in how people find deals online, as nearly 30% of online shoppers say the best way to find discounts online is through link forwarding, peer comments or social sites. That's the main finding of a new nationwide survey from Guidance.

November 10, 2008
AOL's Platform-A to Deliver Two-Day, Billion Impression Ad Campaign for T-Mobile
AOL's Platform-A has announced that it will launch, in partnership with T-Mobile USA, an unprecedented billion-impression Web advertising campaign across Platform-A during a two-day period on November 10 – 11.

November 7, 2008
Online Viewers at TV Network Websites Increase 155% in September, According to Nielsen Online
Nielsen Online, a service of The Nielsen Company, has announced that all four TV networks enjoyed month-over-month growth in online video viewers in September, coinciding with the season premieres of many popular and new TV shows.

November 7, 2008
Rapid Adoption of Advanced Mobile Devices Driving Increased Mobile Local Search Activity, Finds Kelsey Group
According a study conducted by The Kelsey Group with research partner ConStat, 18.9% of mobile consumers now use a smartphone. Among those surveyed, 49.2% plan to purchase an advanced mobile device within the next two years.

November 6, 2008
More People Intend to Give to Charity This Holiday Season, According to PayPal
Despite a tough economic environment, the holiday season is still a time for giving back. According to PayPal’s 2008 Holiday Survey conducted by Ipsos, nearly three quarters (73%) of online shoppers intend to give to charity this season, compared to 60% in 2007.

November 6, 2008
Record Low Economic Sentiment Weighs on Consumer Spending Intentions, Discover Reports
The Discover US Spending Monitor fell a record six points in October to 80.4 (based off of 100), as consumers’ economic confidence reached record lows and views of their personal finances deteriorated.

November 6, 2008
Location-based Mobile Social Networking Subscriptions to Reach 82 Million by 2013, ABI Research Predicts
Mobile location-based social networking is expected to become a key driver for the uptake of location-based services as it provides a unifying framework for a large set of applications such as friend finders, local search and geo-tagging. This according to ABI Research.

November 6, 2008
Social Media Practices Still in Infancy Stages Says Marketing Executives Networking Group
The Marketing Executives Networking Group has announced the findings of their social media membership survey, which reveals most marketers are still in the early or experimental phases of adopting and measuring social media. The survey found 67% of respondents consider themselves beginners at using social media for marketing purposes.

November 6, 2008
Northern Lights Direct Response Sees 'Blitz of Inquiries' Due to Strength of US Dollar Against Canadian Dollar
Northern Lights Direct Response, one of Canada’s top direct response agencies, has announced that it has seen a dramatic increase in demand for its services, thanks to the rapid rise in the value of the US dollar against the Canadian dollar, which is currently trading at $1.15.

November 5, 2008
Online Retailers 'Resilient, Not Immune' to Challenging Holiday Season, Finds Shipzilla
According to results of the 2008 eHoliday Study, conducted by Shopzilla for Shop.org, more than half of online retailers expect their holiday sales to increase at least 15% over last year. However, the rate of growth is slowing: three-fourths of retailers surveyed last year expected their sales to grow more than 15%.

November 5, 2008
TV Viewing and Internet Use Are Complementary, Nielsen Reports
According to the Nielsen Company's new TV/Internet Convergence Panel, TV viewing and online video streaming are complementary activities, with the heaviest users of the Internet also among the heaviest viewers of TV.

November 4, 2008
Business Customers' Mobile IM Adoption Is More About Familiarity than Mobility, Says ABI Research
In a new White Paper, ABI Research examines the mobile messaging adoption and usage patterns of mobile business customers from four US operators. One of the key findings is that mobile IM adoption is negatively correlated to mobility.

November 4, 2008
Consumer Electronics Retailers Get High Marks from Customers, CEA Study Finds
Consumers are very satisfied when shopping online and at traditional retail outlets for consumer electronics (CE), according to new data from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The study, Trends in CE Retailing, found that consumers and retailers have benefited from changes in the CE shopping and buying process.

November 4, 2008
DHL Helps Mailers Comply with New USPS Move Update Standards
The USPS will implement revised Move Update standards effective November 23, and DHL Global Mail is taking numerous steps to educate customers and ensure they comply.

November 4, 2008
Staffing Industry Analysts Sold to Crain Communications
Staffing Industry Analysts, Inc., a leading research, data, and analysis firm covering the temporary workforce, has been sold to Crain Communications Inc., a 90+ year-old business-to-business media company. The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc., a leading provider of independent investment banking services for media, information, marketing services and related technologies, represented Staffing Industry Analysts in this transaction and acted as its exclusive financial advisor.

November 3, 2008
Small Businesses Embrace Social Networking Sites in the US, AMI Study Finds
More than 600,000 small businesses in the US will deploy integrated social networking services in the next 12 months—up from about 300,000 currently, according to the latest study by Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc.

November 3, 2008
More Than 100 Million Americans Viewed Mobile Ads in Q3 '08, According to Limbo Study
Limbo, a leading mobile social networks, and GfK Technology, a leading market research agency, have released their latest joint Mobile Advertising Report (MAR). The third quarter report reveals that mobile advertising awareness grew 33% in nine months against a backdrop of 6% growth in cell phone usage. This suggests an increased allocation of ad dollars to mobile formats through the first nine months of the year.

November 3, 2008
Global RFID Market to Reach $5.3 Billion This Year, Says ABI Research
The worldwide RFID market will exceed $5.3 billion in 2008, according to a new forecast from ABI Research. Annual revenue growth will increase over the next five years, accelerating over the mid-term as high-growth, high-volume applications such as supply chain management, ID documents, ticketing, and contactless payment drive shipments.

November 3, 2008
Social Networking Prevalent US and UK Employees, According to 8e6 Technologies
8e6 Technologies, a leading Internet security company, has announced the results of a recent survey of employees in the US and UK. Results indicate the most popular sites viewed at work in both countries include Web 2.0 destinations that are heavy on video and third party applications, especially social networking and news sites.

October 31, 2008
Retail Traffic Down for Eighth Consecutive Week, Hitwise Report
US visits to online retail websites have declined for the eighth consecutive week, according to Hitwise, an Experian company. US visits to a custom category of 500 retail websites declined 3% for the week ending Oct. 25, 2008, compared with the same week the previous year.

October 31, 2008
Internet Bolsters UK Economy, Reports eMarketer
The UK is expected to cope and bounce back quickly from the 2008 financial downturn because of its Internet presence and status as a major online powerhouse. And the Internet population continues to grow. eMarketer estimates that 1.3 million UK residents have come online since 2007.

October 31, 2008
Credit Crunch Fatigue Sets In, According to Mintel
After months of hand-wringing and finger-pointing, the economic crisis is beginning to wear on many Americans. Despite a long road ahead to recovery and stability, market research firm Mintel anticipates many will move on with their lives sooner rather than later.

October 30, 2008
Consumers to Open Their Wallets and Enjoy the Holidays, New IRI Survey Finds
Shoppers are tired of bad news and will open their wallets this holiday season, new research announced by IRI reveals. Consumers also cited an increased importance of holiday rituals as they take comfort with friends and family and noted that they plan to make better use of merchandising and promotions to maintain appearances.

October 30, 2008
Websites Now Influence Over Half of US Toy Purchasers, Ad-ology Survey Finds
More than half of recent toy purchasers rank manufacturer and store websites as having some influence on their buying decision, according to the Fall 2008 Ad-ology Media Influence on Consumer Choice survey. Product reviews and other information and advertising found online also play a role in influencing buying decisions.

October 30, 2008
Consumers Show Increased Concern about Identity Theft, According to IdentyTruth
IdentityTruth has anounced results of a survey that addressed consumer concerns about identity theft. The survey shows that a majority of consumers are more concerned today than a few months ago about protecting their identity.

October 29, 2008
Yahoo Launches Initiative to Protect Free Expression and Privacy for Internet Users
Yahoo has announced the launch of the Global Network Initiative: Protecting and Advancing Freedom of Expression and Privacy in the Information and Communication Technology Industry (GNI). Yahoo says the initiative will help guide information and communications technology companies in protecting and advancing freedom of expression and privacy when they encounter laws and policies that interfere with these rights.

October 29, 2008
Social Media Redefining Retail Financial Services Web Experience, Corporate Insight Reports
Corporate Insight has released a new report detailing the evolution of social media, such as blogs, forums and online communities, among major financial services companies, providing a clear understanding of market trends and leading tactics. The research reveals that social media is beginning to reshape the way financial services firms communicate with their customers, as well as how investors interact with each other.

October 28, 2008
US Small Businesses Boost Marketing Efforts in Response to Economic Uncertainty, According to Constant Contact Research
Rather than accept the dire predictions of lower sales, most small businesses will bolster their holiday sales efforts with aggressive marketing plans, according to Constant Contact's 4th Annual Small Business Holiday Outlook.

October 28, 2008
US Online Holiday Giving to Exceed $3 Billion, Predicts Convio
Convio, Inc. estimates that US online giving to nonprofit organization will be more than $3 billion during the holiday season of 2008. A survey conducted by JupiterResearch reveals that in the US more than half plan to donate to charities of their choice during the upcoming holiday season via the Internet.

October 28, 2008
High-End Mobile Applications Under-used by US Consumers, Finds Accenture Survey
Despite the rapidly increasing use of handheld mobile devices throughout the US, higher-end applications remain vastly under-used by the country’s consumers, according to results of a newly-released Accenture survey.

October 27, 2008
US Retailers Forecast 2.7% Decrease in Comparable Store Sales This Holiday Season, According to BDO Seidman
According to a new study conducted after the financial market meltdown in September by BDO Seidman, LLP, CMOs at leading US retailers expect comparable store sales for the 2008 holiday season to decrease from last year by a drastic 2.7%.

October 27, 2008
Consumer Online Credit Card Applications Down 6% in Q2 08 Versus Year Ago, comScore Finds
comScore, Inc. has released results of a study, revealing that, for the first time in the five most recent quarters, the total number of credit card applications submitted online at the top ten credit-card issuer sites declined, dropping 6% in Q2 2008 versus the same period in 2007.

October 27, 2008
Industry Click Fraud Rate Hovers at 16% for Q3, Click Foresics Reports
Click Forensics, Inc. has released industry pay-per-click (PPC) fraud figures for Q3 2008. Findings who that the overall industry average click fraud rate was 16.0% for Q3 2008, down slightly from the 16.2% rate reported for both Q2 2008 and Q3 2007.

October 27, 2008
Credit Crunch Has Deep Impact on Holiday Shopping, According to eBillme Spending Index
The impact of the credit crunch is expected to effect holiday shopping as projected consumer spending online remains steady at $100 - $250 on average. This is according to the eBillme Online Spending Index, conducted by Javelin Strategy and Research.

October 24, 2008
Identity Theft Remains a Concern for Bank Customers, Harris Interactive Survey Finds
The results of a new consumer survey conducted by Harris Interactive for Secure Identity Systems found that more than half of bank customers worried about the current state of their bank are concerned that their money and identity are not safe. The survey polled 2,212 US adults ages 18 and up on the topics of banking and identity theft.

October 24, 2008
Online Reviews Second Only to Word of Mouth as Purchase Influencer in US, Rubicon Survey Finds
Online reviews and comments written by users are second only to word of mouth as a purchase influence for most Americans, according to a survey of Web users released by tech strategy firm Rubicon Consulting.

October 24, 2008
Adoption of SaaS and Cloud Computing Is Increasing, Keynote Survey Finds
Keynote Systems has announced the results of a new survey of 600 conference attendees, which found that 48% of the respondents have already deployed, or plan to deploy applications or services via Cloud Computing or SaaS in the next six months.

October 24, 2008
Marketsmith, Inc. and Lett Direct, Inc. Announce Alliance
Lett Direct, Inc. and Marketsmith, Inc. have formally announced they have signed an agreement to offer services and expertise jointly to the clients they serve. The alliance shows a long term commitment to each other, a mutual platform, and the mission to serve the catalog community with excellent service, low cost, high value solutions and a wide breadth and depth of expertise.

October 23, 2008
Amazon.com Announces Third Quarter Sales up 31% to $4.26 Billion
Amazon.com, Inc. has announced financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2008. Operating cash flow was $1.27 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $1.0 billion for the trailing twelve months ended September 30, 2007.

October 23, 2008
Economy to Significantly Slow US Online Holiday Sales, Forrester Predicts
US online retail sales this holiday season will reach $44 billion, a 12% increase over last year and the slowest growth rate to date, according to Forrester Research. Forrester says that this year's weakened growth is indicative of the difficult economic environment catching up with formerly resilient Web buyers.

October 23, 2008
CHIP Selects Northern Lights as Direct Response AOR
CHIP Home Income Plan, a leading provider of reverse mortgages, has named Northern Lights Direct Response as its Direct Response Agency of Record (AOR). As the Direct Response AOR, Northern Lights will lead the charge on the media management, creative, and production for CHIP's DRTV and DR online campaigns.

October 23, 2008
IWCO Direct to Close Elm City, North Carolina Plant
IWCO Direct, a leading provider of integrated direct mail production services and marketing solutions, has announced it will immediately close its facility in Elm City, North Carolina and will transfer equipment and production operations to three other IWCO Direct facilities in Minnesota.

October 20, 2008
Postmaster General Names William Gilligan Acting Chief Postal Inspector
Postmaster General John E. Potter has announced the appointment of William Gilligan as acting chief postal inspector to replace Chief Postal Inspector Al Lazaroff, who retires Nov. 3.

October 20, 2008
Acxiom Study Reveals Which Consumer Groups Are Most Likely to Spend During Challenging Economic Times
Acxiom Corporation has announced the release of the first issue of its Retail Consumer Dynamics Study (RCD), an industry-specific analysis of consumer shopping behavior and attitudes in today’s difficult economic times.

October 20, 2008
Convergence Helps Companies Be 45% More Productive: Aberdeen
The latest ERP benchmark report "Do More with Less: Merging Enterprise Applications with Desktop Tools" (September 2008) found that top performing companies are integrating enterprise and desktop applications, and as a result, are seeing significant improvements in corporate productivity and profitability.

October 17, 2008
Gartner Identifies Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2009; Virtualization, Cloud Computing Top List
Gartner, Inc. analysts have highlighted the top 10 technologies and trends that will be strategic for most organizations. Gartner defines a strategic technology as one with the potential for significant impact on the enterprise in the next three years.

October 17, 2008
73% of Best-in-Class Companies to Increase Budget for Enterprise Use of Social Media Technologies: Aberdeen
A recent study, "Sales 2.0: Social Media for Knowledge Management and Sales Collaboration," conducted by the Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company, reveals that 59%of Best-in-Class companies consider the use of social media collaboration tools within the sales department to be a priority to the organization, compared to 35% of all others.

October 17, 2008
Tech Giants Increase Paid Search Spending Despite Weak Economy, Finds Covario
Covario, Inc. has announced the release of the Q3 2008 edition of its Global Search Spend Analysis series. Despite the faltering economy, Covario has observed a spike in year-on-year (Y-o-Y) paid search spending growth to 51% from 43% growth rate in the previous quarterly analysis.

October 17, 2008
Nanci Langley Named PRC Vice-Chairman
Postal Regulatory Commission Chairman Dan G. Blair announced that Commissioner Nanci Langley has been named Vice-Chairman of the Commission, succeeding Vice-Chairman Mark Acton.

October 17, 2008
Small Business Remains Confident Despite Wall Street Turmoil: Opinion Research Corp.
Despite the turmoil on Wall Street, small business owners and managers remained positive about the condition of their individual businesses, according to a survey taken Sept. 25 through Oct. 6 by Opinion Research Corporation, an infoGROUP company.

October 17, 2008
US Economic Slowdown Continues to Affect Display Advertising, Finds PubMatic
PubMatic, which provides online publishers with real-time ad optimization, has unveiled the PubMatic AdPrice Index for Q3 2008, a quarterly industry-wide measure of online ad network pricing for publishers. The index shows that online ad prices declined overall this past year by 27%.

October 17, 2008
ShopperTrak Reports Total US Foot Traffic Falls 9.3% in September
ShopperTrak RCT Corporation's Retail Traffic Index has reported that total US foot traffic for the month of September fell a sharp 9.3% while the company's National Retail Sales Estimate reported retail sales fell 1.0% for the same period – the first year-over-year sales decline since March 2003.

October 16, 2008
Google Continues to Dominate Search Advertising, But Yahoo Gained Ground, Finds Study
Efficient Frontierhas released the "US Search Engine Performance Report: Q3 2008." The report, the largest independent research in the search marketing industry, was based on an analysis of 60 billion impressions and 428 million clicks across an index of Efficient Frontier advertisers.

October 16, 2008
Mintel Comperemedia Sees Green Marketing, Business Tactics Used to Weather Financial Crisis
Mintel Comperemedia, a service that tracks direct marketing and print advertising, observes more financial services companies going green in recent months. Because green marketing and eco-business tactics can save companies money and help them attract new customers, Mintel expert Susan Menke thinks this is a wise strategy.

October 16, 2008
USPS Committed to Continued Affordable Universal Service; Tells PRC No Need for Change to Monopoly
The US Postal Service submitted a report to the Postal Regulatory Commission on its position related to the Universal Service Obligation (USO) and postal monopoly. In its report, the USPS confirms its continued commitment of trusted, affordable universal service to the US public.

October 16, 2008
Shoppers Plan to Spend 1.9% More This Holiday, Use Internet to Compare Prices: NRF Survey
According to NRF's 2008 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, US consumers plan to spend an average of $832.36 on holiday-related shopping, up 1.9% over last year’s $816.69.

October 10, 2008
Companies Fail to Realize Customer Revenue Potential, Reports CMO Council
The shift to Individualized Relationship Marketing (IRM) is one of the key preliminary findings from the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council's new thought leadership initiative, "Precision Promotion: Timely, Targeted and Trackable," sponsored by the InfoPrint Solutions Company, a joint venture between IBM and Ricoh.

October 10, 2008
iPerceptions Study Uncovers Consumers' Real Online Ad Preferences
iPerceptions Inc., a leading provider of Web-focused voice of customer analytics, today announced the results of a new study that delivers accurate insights into which types of online ads are popular with consumers.

October 10, 2008
Consumer Spending on Mobile Broadcast TV to Reach $2.7 Billion by 2013: Juniper Research
The increasing availability of mobile handsets capable of receiving free-to-air analogue and digital terrestrial TV signals will adversely impact the prospects for dedicated mobile broadcast TV networks, according to a new report from Juniper Research.

October 10, 2008
Financial Institutions Not Communicating with Customers Enough, Opinion Research Finds
According to a survey from Opinion Research Corporation (an infoGROUP Company), banks, savings and loans, and credit unions appear to be doing a poor job of keeping their customers informed in this turbulent economic climate.

October 10, 2008
Viewers Changing the Way They Watch Sports Events, Finds Optimedia
Don't just take those TV ratings as an indication of a sports worth--especially in this growing digital age. Publicis Groupe’s media agency Optimedia says there is a lot of other media to consider.

October 9, 2008
Discover US Spending Monitor Down 2.2 Points to 86.5, as Consumer Confidence Falls
The Discover US Spending Monitor dipped 2.2 points to 86.5 in September, as consumers grew increasingly concerned about the US economy and worked hard to hold-the-line on future spending plans. More than 55% of the nation’s adults rated the economy as poor.

October 9, 2008
Coupons Make Comeback as Consumers Spend Less, Finds Harris/RetailMeNot Survey
The results of a consumer survey conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by RetailMeNot.com found that 45% of adults plan to spend less money on gifts this holiday season compared to last year, given the current state of the economy, and one in five plan to spend significantly less.

October 9, 2008
Americans View TV, Daily Newspapers as Most Credible, Finds Opinion Research
A new survey finds that Americans consider television and daily newspapers the most credible sources of news and information. Television was viewed as the most trusted media source, scoring a 6.6 on a one-to-10 credibility scale.

October 9, 2008
Consumers Concerned Retailers Not Doing Enough to Protect Financial Data, Solidcore Survey Finds
Solidcore Systems, Inc. has announced the results of a consumer confidence survey linked to data security at retail locations. Solidcore surveyed more than 500 consumers nationwide about credit card use, and to gauge their privacy fears and buying habits when shopping at various retail stores.

October 9, 2008
UPS Joins EPA's 'Climate Leaders' Program
As part of its continued commitment to sustainable business practices, UPS announced its participation in the US Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Leaders program. UPS is the first shipping company to join the program.

October 9, 2008
Industry Visionary Dave Lewis Joins Message Systems as CMO
Message Systems, a global leader in digital messaging solutions, announced that Dave Lewis has joined the company as chief marketing officer.

October 8, 2008
Americans Are in a Pessimistic Mood, Finds CNN/Opinion Research
According to the latest CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, 80% of Americans think that things in the country are going either “pretty badly” or “very badly.” The poll, conducted October 3-5, 2008 by Opinion Research Corporation (an infoGroup Company), showed that economic conditions are taking their toll on the mood of the nation.

October 8, 2008
Internet Advertising Up 15% in First Half of 2008, Reports IAB
Internet advertising revenues (US) for the first six months of 2008 were $11.5 billion, setting yet another new half-year record that represents a 15.2% increase over the first half of 2007, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau(IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC),

October 8, 2008
Google Unveils AdSense for Games in Effort to Fuel Online Gaming's Growth
To continue to fuel the growth of online games for users and as part of its ongoing efforts to develop new ways for publishers to earn revenue, Google has announced the availability of AdSense for Games, a program that integrates video advertisements into Web-based games, complemented by text and image ads.

October 8, 2008
Olympics Drive a Banner August for Sports Websites at Work, Reports Nielsen Online
Nielsen Online, a service of The Nielsen Company, has reported a 26% year-over-year increase in unique visitors at work to online sports destinations, growing from 33.4 million unique visitors in August 2007 to 42.3 million unique visitors in August 2008, driven in large part by the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the kick-off of football season.

October 8, 2008
'Hire Slow and Fire Fast,' Advises JoAnne Dunn at Hudson Valley DMA Masters of the DM Universe Event
At the Hudson Valley DMA’s seventh annual Meet the Masters event, held Oct. 1 at the Fairview Country Club in Greenwich, CT, special guest speaker JoAnne Monfradi Dunn shared twenty-five years of ups and downs from her beginnings in direct mail to her current role as the entrepreneurial leader of Alliant Data Systems.

October 7, 2008
Neel Kashkari Appointed Interim Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability; Treasury Announces Solicitations for Agents
Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. has designated Neel Kashkari as the Interim Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability pursuant to the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. In this capacity, Kashkari will oversee the Office of Financial Stability, including the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

October 7, 2008
World Adspend to Grow 4% in 2008 and 2009 Despite Economy, Forecasts ZenithOptimedia
ZenithOptimedia has reduced its forecast for advertising spend growth to 4.35 in 2008, down from the 6.6% growth forecast it published in June. It has also reduced its growth forecast for 2009 from 6.0% to 4.0%.

October 7, 2008
MySpace and Facebook Taking Lead in Mobile Social Networks, Says ABI Research
According to a recent online survey conducted by ABI Research, nearly half of those who use social networks have also visited a social network through a mobile phone. Of these, nearly 70% have visited MySpace and another 67% had visited Facebook.

October 7, 2008
Ask.com Launches Next Generation of its Site
Ask.com, an operating business of IAC, has announced it has unveiled a new version of its site that the company says includes significant relevance, user interface, and speed enhancements.

October 7, 2008
Marketing M&A Activity Resilient but Slowing for Third Quarter 2008, Petsky Prunier Finds
According to Petsky Pruner, merger and acquisition activity in the marketing, advertising, and digital media industries proved surprisingly resilient during the first two months of the third quarter of 2008, but began to soften in September.

October 7, 2008
SkyMall Launches Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews
Bazaarvoice, a worldwide leader in hosted social commerce applications that drive sales, has announced that leading multi-channel retailer SkyMall has launched Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews on its website, skymall.com.

October 7, 2008
Fingerhut Direct Marketing Poised for Strong Holiday Season
Fingerhut Direct Marketing, Inc. (FDM) yesterday announced it is well-positioned for the upcoming holiday season and anticipates slightly better sales than it enjoyed last year.

October 6, 2008
Americans Expect Companies to Have Social Media Presence, Reports Cone Study
Nearly 60% of Americans interact with companies on a social media website, and one in four interact more than once per week. These are among the findings of the 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study.

October 6, 2008
Postal Regulatory Commissioner Ruth Goldway Confirmed for Third Term
Postal Regulatory Commissioner Ruth Y. Goldway has been confirmed by the US Senate for her third term as a Commissioner of the Postal Regulatory Commission. Goldway was nominated by President Bush on July 10, 2008. Her term will extend through November 22, 2014.

October 6, 2008
Companies Need to Connect to Social Applications to Engage Customers, According to Gartner
To do business with the growing "Generation Virtual" population, companies will need to provide or connect to social applications to attract and engage customers, gathering information about their future wants and needs to lead them toward products and services, according to Gartner, Inc.

October 6, 2008
Direct Marketing Fourth Quarter Hiring Plans Plunge, Bernhart Survey Finds
Direct marketers are coping with the slumping economy by making deep cuts in their hiring plans for the remainder of 2008, according to the latest Bernhart Associates employment survey. According to the survey, 31% of companies responding said they plan to add to headcount during the current Q4, down sharply from 47% last quarter.

October 6, 2008
eBay Buys Payments and Classifieds Businesses, Reduces Global Workforce by 10%
eBay has announced it is acquiring the US-based online payments business Bill Me Later, and Denmark's online classifieds site dba.dk and vehicles site bilbasen.dk. eBay will also reduce its global workforce by approximately 10%, affecting about 1,000 employees in addition to several hundred temporary workers and the reduction of open positions.

October 3, 2008
M&A Activity Continues for Mid-Sized and Smaller Transactions, Reports JEGI
So far, 2008 is a tale of two markets, according to The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. (JEGI). Banking and debt market upheaval and an incipient pullback in advertising spending have led to an overall slowdown in M&A.

October 3, 2008
US Postal Service Releases New Five-Year Plan; Focuses on Meeting Customer Needs
The US Postal Service (USPS) has released Vision 2013, its new five-year strategic plan that balances near-term priorities with long-term needs to adapt to changing customer needs.

October 3, 2008
US Postal Service 'Unplugs' -- Postmaster General Kicks Off Conservation Campaign
Unplug. Turn off lights. Close doors. Adjust thermostats. Report HVAC problems. Turn off unused equipment. Become personally responsible for conservation. Simple steps that, taken collectively among the 685,000 employees at the USPS and throughout its 34,000 facilities, will have a dramatic impact on the environment.

October 3, 2008
Retailers Apprehend Record Number of Shoplifters, Finds Jack L. Hayes International
Shoplifters and dishonest employees stole over $6.7 billion in 2007 from just 24 major retailers, according to the 20th Annual Retail Theft Survey conducted by Jack L. Hayes International, a leading loss prevention and inventory shrinkage control consulting firm.

October 2, 2008
Contrasting Views on Cloud Computing Creating Confusion, Finds Gartner
The term “cloud computing” is being loosely applied and defined differently, and it's creating a lot of confusion in the market, according to Gartner, Inc. Analysts say it is imperative to understand these different perspectives and set the proper expectations to obtain the anticipated benefits.

October 2, 2008
More Shoppers Plan to Spend More for Halloween, Reports NRF
The spookiest holiday of the year may bring a bit of needed relief to consumers and retailers. According to the National Retail Federation's Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, more consumers plan to celebrate the holiday this year (64.5%vs. 58.7%).

October 2, 2008
FTC's Cyber Security Site Gets an Upgrade; Makeover Marks National Cyber Security Awareness Month
FTC's website that helps consumers stay on guard against Internet fraud is revamping to provide extra tools for cyber safety. The FTC's announcement of the newly designed and improved site comes on the first day of National Cyber Security Awareness Month.

October 2, 2008
President Bush Nominates Robert McGowan to USPS Board of Governors
President Bush on Sept. 30 sent to the Senate the nomination of Robert W. McGowan, of Nevada, to be a Governor of the US Postal Service for a term expiring Dec. 8, 2015. McGowan served as the elected Assessor of Washoe County, NV from 1984 through 2006.

October 2, 2008
National Advertisers Interested in Local Online Advertising, Finds Sterling Study
Among national advertisers there is significant interest in local online advertising, according to a new study conducted by Sterling Market Intelligence and commissioned by Marchex, Inc., a local search and advertising company.

October 2, 2008
Contact Center Compliance Launches New Employee Training Solution
Contact Center Compliance has announced a full range of online training solutions that will help clients cultivate an ethical corporate culture that will effectively help manage the governance, ethics and compliance processes throughout the entire organization.

October 1, 2008
Consumers Trust Online Payment Providers More Than Traditional Banks, Finds Cisco
Important consumer segments such as baby boomers trust online payment providers more than they trust traditional banks, according to a survey recently conducted by the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG). Consumers are demanding the same convenience they receive online when shopping in a brick-and-mortar environment.

October 1, 2008
Online Reviews Significantly Influence Mobile Phone Purchases, Finds Ad-ology Research
According to the September 2008 Ad-ology Media Influence on Consumer Choice survey, 60.5% of US consumers who recently purchased a mobile or wireless phone said online product reviews and user comments had some or significant influence on their purchase decision.

October 1, 2008
Presidential Campaigns Should Harness the Power of Search, According to eMarketer
Voters are online to find out about issues, not just candidates. According to eMarketer, 42% of US adults said they look to the Internet for political information—but they are not necessarily looking for ads. Despite the hype surrounding social media, only 7% of voters are visiting social networks to find out about candidates and issues. But eMarketer estimates that 83.5% of US Internet users will use search in 2008.

October 1, 2008
dELiA*s, Inc. Enters into Agreement to Sell CCS Brand
dELiA*s, Inc., a direct marketing and retail company, has announced that it has entered into an agreement to sell the assets related to its CCS brand to Foot Locker, Inc. The purchase price for the transaction is $102 million in cash, subject to adjustment as provided in the agreement.

October 1, 2008
Lisa Olson Joins infoGROUP's Leadership Team as SVP Corporate Communications
infoGROUP, a leading provider of proprietary business and consumer databases, sales leads, direct marketing, email marketing and global information solutions, has announced the appointment of Lisa Olson as the senior vice president of corporate relations. In this role, she will be responsible for investor relations, public relations, internal communications, government, and community relations.

October 1, 2008
Message Systems' Delivery Manager Selected by mobileStorm to Boost Email Marketing
Email solutions provider Message Systems has announced that its Delivery Manager has been selected by mobileStorm to boost the performance of its email marketing service and scale with the company’s growth, while ensuring client campaign deliverability.

September 30, 2008
USPS Announces New International Shipping Requirements, Effective Sept. 30
Effective Sept. 30, the US Census Bureau is requiring mandatory filing of export information through the Automated Export System (AES) or through AESDirect for all international shipments, where a Shipper’s Export Declaration (SED) was previously required.

September 30, 2008
Small Business Economic Confidence Falls, According to Discover Small Business Watch
Economic confidence among small business owners declined sharply in September amid rising concerns about economic conditions for their businesses and a bleak vision of where the economy is headed. The Discover Small Business Watch fell to 74.6 in September, down 12.3 points from August.

September 30, 2008
Google TV Ads Platform Adds Bloomberg TV to US Inventory
Continuing efforts to make TV advertising more relevant, accountable and measurable, Google has announced that the Bloomberg Television network will make national cable advertising time in the US available through the Google TV Ads platform.

September 30, 2008
Facebook Visits Up 50% Year over Year, According to Hitwise
MySpace.com received 67.54% of the market share of US visits in August 2008 among a custom category of 56 of the leading social networking websites according to Hitwise. The market share of US visits to the social networking custom category decreased 2% in August 2008 to 6.40%of all US visits compared to July 2008.

September 30, 2008
Green Consumers Don't Always Practice What They Preach, Finds Information Resources
A New study by Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), a leading global provider of market insights, revealed revealed significant disparity in how well environmentally conscious consumers actually follow their convictions by purchasing environmentally friendly products.

September 30, 2008
Salesgenie.com Teams with Google Maps to Map Sales Leads
Salesgenie.com (an infoGROUP company)has announced that subscribers can now improve planning and efficiency for B-to-C and B-to-B sales calls through new sales lead mapping capabilities.

September 30, 2008
MBS Promotes David Braunstein and Michele Jones
MBS, a leading provider of advanced direct marketing services, has announced that it has promoted David Braunstein to senior VP, strategic services, and Michelle Jones to VP, account services.

September 29, 2008
Prospects Want Answers Fast, Finds Silverpop B-to-B Study
A new Silverpop study of online lead management practices found that people are willing to answer a lot of questions as long as they can do it quickly, and once registered, are anxious to hear from companies.

September 29, 2008
E-Commerce May Cure Retailers' Holiday Blahs, Says Turner Investment Partners
According to the latest Sector Focus commentary by analysts at Turner Investment Partners, consumers may be especially discretionary in their discretionary spending during the holiday shopping season. Even so, they are likely to increasingly patronize retailers with strong e-commerce businesses.

September 29, 2008
Visa to Develop Mobile Payment-Related Services for Android Platform
Visa has announced plans to make mobile payment-related services broadly available to US consumers by the end of the year. Central to this effort is Visa's delivery of mobile applications for the Android platform, which will be available for download on Android-powered handsets and initially available to Chase Visa cardholders.

September 29, 2008
RadioShack Sees 8.4% Brand Awareness Increase with Mobile Ad Campaign
Greystripe, creators of a leading in-game mobile ad network, has announced the results of a recent mobile advertising campaign with RadioShack. Results indicated a significant statistical increase in unaided brand awareness from exposed respondents.

September 29, 2008
Consumer Reports Poll Finds Americans Extremely Concerned About Internet Privacy
A poll released by the Consumer Reports National Research Center shows that most Americans are very concerned about what is being done with their personal information online. According to the poll, 82% of consumers are concerned about their credit card numbers being stolen online, while 72% are concerned that their online behaviors were being tracked and profiled by companies.

September 25, 2008
USPS Says Challenging Economic Conditions Continue to Reduce Mail Volume, Revenue
As the current economic climate continues to contribute to a decrease in mail volume, and with no reversal in the trend in sight, the US Postal Service reported it expects to end the current fiscal year with a volume decline of nine billion pieces. In its third quarter, total mail volume dropped 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

September 25, 2008
Quill Founder Jack Miller Presents Lessons of Entrepreneurship in New Book, Simply Success'
In his recently published book Simply Success, Jack Miller, former chairman and founder of Quill Corporation, presents key lessons of entrepreneurship, including getting started, vision, financing, forecasting, customer service, and building a successful corporate culture. Based on his own experience, Miller shares his most hard-earned lessons, in order to help others avoid learning the same lessons the painful way.

September 25, 2008
CRS Prepares Report for Members of Congress, Titled 'Do Not Mail Initiatives and Their Potential Effects.'
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has released an updated version of a 29-page report titled “Do Not Mail Initiatives and Their Potential Effects: Possible Issues for Congress.”

September 25, 2008
USPS Issues Service Update for Hurricane Ike
The USPS has issued an update regarding Hurricane Ike as of Thursday, September 25 at 9:00 a.m. (EDT). The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) will continue to update this information — via its homepage “Marketing News” and “3D-DMA Daily Digest” — as the USPS makes it available to the public.

September 25, 2008
Yahoo Launches Transformative Digital Ad Platform Called APT
Emmy Award nominee and Golden Globe Award winner Jon Hamm of AMC's drama series Mad Men, joined Yahoo's CEO Jerry Yang, President Sue Decker, and EVP of Yahoo US Hilary Schneider for the fifth annual Advertising Week conference in New York City to announce the launch of APT from Yahoo.

September 24, 2008
Yahoo Forms Digital Advisory Council to Drive Discussions with Advertisers on Open Marketplaces, Digital Media Convergence
Yahoo has announced the formation of a Digital Advisory Council that will consist of industry executives from its agency and advertiser partners. The council will work collaboratively to explore the continued evolution of digital media and online advertising.

September 24, 2008
TNS Media Intelligence Reports US Ad Expenditures Down 1.6% in First Half 2008
Total measured ad expenditures in the first six months of 2008 declined by 1.6% as compared to the same period in 2007, according to data released by TNS Media Intelligence. Ad spending during the second quarter of 2008 was off 3.7% versus last year, the steepest quarterly drop since 2001.

September 24, 2008
Gartner Dispels Common Myths, Misconceptions and Paranoias About Information Security
In the keynote presentation at the Gartner IT Security Summit, Gartner security, privacy and risk analysts Andrew Walls and Eric Ouellet said security professionals need to qualify threats that are reasonably anticipated, and dispel those which are pure myths, misconceptions, or based on paranoia of the unknown.

September 24, 2008
USPS Issues Service Update for Hurricane Ike: Wednesday PM
The USPS has issued an update regarding Hurricane Ike as of Tuesday, September 23 at 6:00 p.m. (EDT). The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) will continue to update this information — via its homepage “Marketing News” and “3D-DMA Daily Digest” — as the USPS makes it available to the public.

September 24, 2008
Economy Triggers Decline in Charitable Donations, Finds Capital One
A recent online National Survey of US Adults on Current Charitable Giving Practices conducted by Capital One reveals that, while 73% of surveyed adults report that they have a credit card for personal use, as few as 185 have ever made a charitable contribution via an online Web site using their credit card.

September 23, 2008
NRF Foresees Challenging Holiday Season, Forecasts Meager Sales Gains of 2.2%
The National Retail Federation (NRF) has released its forecast for the upcoming 2008 holiday season, projecting that sales will rise 2.2% this year to $470.4 billion. This gain would fall well below the ten-year average of 4.4% holiday sales growth and would represent the slowest growth since 2002, when holiday sales rose 1.3%.

September 23, 2008
Texting Now More Popular than Calling, Finds Nielsen
The Nielsen Company has released figures showing that the typical US mobile subscriber now sends and receives more SMS text messages than they do mobile telephone calls.

September 23, 2008
USPS Issues Service Update for Hurricane Ike
The USPS has issued an update regarding Hurricane Ike as of Tuesday, September 23 at 9:00 a.m. (EDT). DMA will continue to update this information — via its homepage “Marketing News” and “3D-DMA Daily Digest” — as the USPS makes it available to the public.

September 23, 2008
USPS Publishes Final Rule for Parcel Select Marking Requirements
The US Postal Service (USPS) has published in the Federal Register, a final rule that revises its mailing standards (Domestic Mail Manual) to reflect changes to the marking requirements of its Shipping Services product, Parcel Select.

September 23, 2008
Buying Online for Pickup In-Store Is Becoming Part of Retail Culture, Finds e-tailing Group
A recent study by the e-tailing group concludes that buying online for pickup in-store is definitely becoming more a part of stores' culture. According to Lauren Freedman, e-tailing group’s president, "Customer adoption coupled with growth among key multi-channel merchants embraces cross-channel customer convenience."

September 22, 2008
comScore Releases August 2008 US Search Engine Rankings
comScore, Inc. released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the US search marketplace. In August 2008, Americans conducted 11.7 billion core searches, virtually unchanged from July, as Google Sites extended its lead in core search market share by 1.1 percentage points.

September 22, 2008
National Study Reveals How Teens Are Shaping & Reshaping Their Wireless World
A generation widely defined by mobility, today's teenagers are now making demands of their mobile devices and, in doing so, redefining what mobility will be in the future, according to a national survey, "Teenagers: A Generation Unplugged," released by CTIA – The Wireless Association® in conjunction with Harris Interactive.

September 22, 2008
Year-Over-Year Retail Sales Rise 5.0% for Week Ending Sept. 13, Finds ShopperTrak
ShopperTrak RCT Corporation's National Retail Sales Estimate™ (NRSE) has reported that year-over-year retail sales for the week ending Sept. 13 rose 5.0%, while week-over-week sales fell a sharp 8.4% as compared to the previous week ending Sept. 6.

September 22, 2008
USPS Issues Service Update for Hurricane Ike
The following is the USPS's service update regarding Hurricane Ike as of Monday, Sept. 22 at 12:00 p.m. (EDT).

September 19, 2008
USPS Issues Service Update for Hurricane Ike
The USPS has issued a service update regarding Hurricane Ike as of Friday, September 19 at 9:00 a.m. (EDT). DMA will continue to update this information — via its homepage “Marketing News” and “3D-DMA Daily Digest” — as the USPS makes it available to the public.

September 19, 2008
US Ad Spending Down Slightly, Nielsen Reports
Advertising spending for the first half of 2008 declined slightly compared to the same period last year, according to preliminary figures released by Nielsen Monitor-Plus, the competitive advertising information service of The Nielsen Company.

September 19, 2008
PRC Approves Negotiated Service Agreements; Enhancing Postal Service Pricing, Product Flexibilities
Continuing its implementation of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA), the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) this week approved seven competitive negotiated service agreements requested by the United States Postal Service (USPS). Approval was contained in Commission Order No. 107.

September 19, 2008
comScore Releases Asia-Pacific Search Rankings for July 2008
comScore, Inc. has released its ranking of the top search properties in the Asia-Pacific region, revealing that Google Sites continued to lead the region with 33.5% of the more than 27 billion searches conducted in July. Baidu.com ranked second with 27.4% search share, followed by Yahoo! Sites in third with 19.7% share.

September 19, 2008
Nielsen Launches New Service to Measure Out-of-Home Video Network Advertising Industry
The Nielsen Company has expanded its suite of out-of-home media measurement services to cover the $1.3 billion advertiser-based video network business. The new service, Nielsen On Location Media, will provide syndicated reporting for ad-backed video networks in health clubs, gas stations, hotels, retail outlets, amusement parks, arenas, on airplanes, and other commercial locations that are estimated to have combined revenues of $1.3 billion.

September 18, 2008
Advertising to Fuel Mobile Social Networking Growth, Juniper Report Reveals
Ad-funded social networks will provide the bulk of revenues in the mobile user-generated content (UGC) space by 2013, according to a new report from Juniper Research.

September 18, 2008
Retailers Believe Online Shopping More Resilient Than Other Channels, According to Shop.org/Forrester Research Study
According to The State of Retailing Online 2008, the 11th annual Shop.org study conducted by Forrester Research, Inc., 72% of online retailers believe that the online channel is better suited to withstand an economic slowdown than offline channels.

September 18, 2008
Rapp Collins Worldwide Becomes Rapp; New Brand Is Manifestation that 'All Marketing Is Direct Marketing'
In a move that emphasizes its leadership position as a best-in-class global direct marketing network, Rapp Collins Worldwide has announced that it is changing its name to Rapp. The new branding is the manifestation of Rapp's point of view about the future of direct marketing: as a result of the digitization of content and communications channels, all marketing is Direct Marketing.

September 18, 2008
Postmaster General Cautions of Perfect Economic Storm; Outlines Plan to Tackle Tough Times
Postmaster General John E. Potter challenged the mailing industry yesterday, cautioning mailers about the severity of the current economic climate and urging them to create new growth opportunities.

September 18, 2008
RFID Adoption Spreading Across a Broad Range of Verticals, According to ABI Research
An online end-user survey recently completed by ABI Research has found that RFID is being used or evaluated for a growing number of applications across a wide range of vertical industry sectors.

September 18, 2008
USPS Issues Service Update for Hurricane Ike
The USPS has issued a service update regarding Hurricane Ike as of Thursday, September 18 at 11:00 a.m. (EDT). DMA will continue to update this information — via its homepage “Marketing News” and “3D-DMA Daily Digest” — as the USPS makes it available to the public.

September 18, 2008
dComm Productions Teams with International Commerce Agency for Total Gym Infomercial
dComm Productions, LLC and International Commerce Agency, LLC have been selected by American Telecast Products, LLC to produce and distribute a new 15-minute infomercial program featuring a smaller, sleeker Total Gym model.

September 17, 2008
US Shoppers Plan to Cut Back On Holiday Gifts, Finds Reuters/Zogby Poll
Reuters today reported that nearly six times as many US shoppers say they will cut back on gift-buying this holiday season than those who plan to spend more, according to a new Reuters/Zogby poll.

September 17, 2008
New Study Shatters Stereotypes About Teens and Video Games, Pew Research Finds
A survey conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds that virtually all American teens play computer, console, or cell phone games and that the gaming experience is rich and varied, with a significant amount of social interaction and potential for civic engagement.

September 17, 2008
USPS Issues Service Update for Hurricane Ike
The USPS has issued an update regarding Hurricane Ike as of Tuesday, September 16 at 6:30 p.m. (EDT). DMA will continue to update this information — via its homepage “Marketing News” and “3D-DMA Daily Digest” — as the USPS makes it available to the public.

September 17, 2008
US Postal Service Website Gets a Makeover
The USPS has announced that its award-winning website USPS.com has been simplified and is now easier to navigate. The revamped site launched Monday with a new look and feel aimed at even further improving customer satisfaction and ease of use.

September 17, 2008
eBay Top Paid Search Term in August, Hitwise Finds
The top US paid search term in August 2008 was "ebay," receiving .12% of paid clicks among all websites reported Hitwise, an Experian company. The top organic search term was ‘myspace’ receiving 3.1% of organic clicks in August.

September 17, 2008
Product Placements Decline By 15% in First Half, Nielsen Reports
The Nielsen Company has reported that product placements for the first half of 2008 fell by almost 15% on primetime programming for the 11 measured networks on broadcast and cable TV. Broadcast TV placements grew by almost 12%, while placements on cable television declined by 20%.

September 17, 2008
Acxiom Acquires Alvion Unit to Improve Online Access to Products and Services
Acxiom Corporation, a global interactive marketing services company, has announced the acquisition of the direct marketing technology unit of Alvion, LLC.

September 16, 2008
USPS Issues Service Update for Hurricane Ike
The USPS has issued an update regarding Hurricane Ike as of Monday, September 15 at 5:00 p.m. (EDT). DMA will continue to update this information — via its homepage “Marketing News” and “3D-DMA Daily Digest” — as the USPS makes it available to the public.

September 16, 2008
Search Beats Display Ad Spending in the UK, eMarketer Finds
As Yahoo tries to assert itself globally against Google, it rebranded its advertising network this week, which it says reaches 80% of Web users in the UK and Ireland. Search will be more and more important, according to eMarketer.

September 16, 2008
JoS. A. Bank Announces Leadership Succession Plan; R. Neal Black New CEO
JoS. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc. has announced the implementation of its leadership succession plan under which three top officials will remain with the company and assume new roles. Robert N. Wildrick will become chairman of the board; R. Neal Black will become chief executive officer and a director of the company and Andrew A. Giordano will become chairman emeritus.

September 16, 2008
More Than Three-Billion Videos Watched Online in UK in June 2008, comScore Finds
comScore, Inc. has released data indicating that more than 27.4 million UK Internet users (78% of the total UK Internet audience) viewed 3.2 billion videos online in June 2008.

September 16, 2008
Startup BlueKai Offers 'True Intent' Data to Boost Ad Targeting
Omar Tawakol, and team of seasoned executives with decades of experience in online advertising, behavioral targeting and data mining, have announced the launch of BlueKai, a data exchange focused on intent data and consumer control.

September 15, 2008
USPS Issues Service Update for Hurricane Ike
The USPS has issued a service update regarding Hurricane Ike as of Sunday, September 14 at 9:00 p.m. (EDT). DMA will continue to update this information — via its homepage “Marketing News” and “3D-DMA Daily Digest” — as the USPS makes it available to the public.

September 15, 2008
Postmaster General Jack Potter Names Cochrane and Betman to VP Positions
Postmaster General Jack Potter has announced the appointment of Jim Cochrane as VP of Ground Shipping and Mitzi Betman as VP of Corporate Communications. "Both have been acting in their respective positions for several months, and each has done an outstanding job during that time," Potter said.

September 15, 2008
Retailers Report Weak August as Sales Increase Just 1.1% Over Last Year, NRF Finds
Retailers’ summer started off with a bang but ended with a whimper. According to the National Retail Federation, retail industry sales for August decreased 0.35 seasonally adjusted month-to-month and increased 1.1% unadjusted over last year.

September 15, 2008
Mobile Search Grew 68% in US and 38% in Western Europe in Past Year, Finds comScore
comScore, Inc. has announced that mobile search is gaining in both popularity and frequency of use in the US and Western Europe. comScore M:Metrics reports that in June 2008, 20.8 million US mobile subscribers and 4.5 million European mobile phone subscribers accessed search during the month, an increase of 68% and 38% from June 2007, respectively.

September 12, 2008
FTC Testifies on the 'Call Center Consumer s Right to Know Act'
The FedFTC has provided testimony before the US House of Representatives' Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection regarding the "Call Center Consumer's Right to Know Act" (H.R. 1776). Lois Greisman, Associate Director of the Division of Marketing Practices, Bureau of Consumer Protection, testified on behalf of the FTC.

September 12, 2008
PRC Proposes Regulations Prescribing Accounting Practices and Procedures for USPS
The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) has published proposed regulations prescribing the accounting practices and procedures to be followed by the USPS, along with substantive rules for determining the assumed Federal income tax on competitive products income.

September 12, 2008
USPS Issues Latest Service Update for Hurricane Ike
The USPS has released its latest update regarding Hurricane Ike as of Friday, Sept. 12 at 11:00 a.m. (EDT). DMA will continue to update this information — via its homepage "Marketing News" and "3D-DMA Daily Digest" — as the USPS makes it available to the public.

September 12, 2008
Google Receives 71% of US Searches in August 2008, Hitwise Finds
Google accounted for 71.01% of all US searches in the four weeks ending August 28, 2008, Hitwise has announced. Yahoo Search, MSN Search and Ask.com each received 18.26%, 5.32%, and 3.45% respectively. The remaining 46 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool accounted for 1.95% of US searches.

September 12, 2008
ForeSee Results to Support Online Comparison Shopping Site Customer Satisfaction
ForeSee Results has announced they will be measuring customer satisfaction internationally for Shopping.com, an eBay company. ForeSee Results will apply the methodology of the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) to help Shopping.com understand and improve customer satisfaction online.

September 11, 2008
YouTube Draws Five Billion US Online Video Views in July 2008
comScore has released July 2008 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, reporting that Americans viewed more than 11.4 billion videos for a total duration of 558 million hours during the month, with Google sites maintaining a dominant position.

September 11, 2008
Email Aggregation Launches on AOL.com
AOL has announced the launch of a new feature on AOL.com that allows consumers to access multiple email services from one convenient online location. The move comes as the company has revealed plans to revamp AOL.com to offer more consumer choice and customization.

September 11, 2008
AOL Launches New Online Safety Site, Upgrades Parental Controls
AOL has launched a new online safety education website, SafetyClicks.com, and introduced an improved version of its free, downloadable parental controls software (parentalcontrols.aol.com). The upgraded software no longer requires an AOL screen name and now works with any e-mail address.

September 11, 2008
Pitney Bowes Launches New Mailstream Productivity Series
Pitney Bowes Inc. a leading mailstream technology firm, has announced the introduction of the new Mailstream Productivity Series, a new generation of ultra high-speed production mail systems.

September 11, 2008
Online Brokerage Sites See Increased Visitors, Finds comScore
comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, has released a study of the online trading and brokerage industry showing strong visitor growth to online brokerage sites coinciding with heavy online advertising efforts by several of the key brokerages.

September 11, 2008
Edith Roman Launches New Nielsen Business Media Mailing Lists Website
Edith Roman and Nielsen Business Media have jointly announced that they have launched the Nielsen Business Media Mailing Lists website. Marketers can now explore the multitude of list opportunities offered by Nielsen Business Media online.

September 11, 2008
USPS Issues Service Updates for Hurricanes Ike and Gustav
The following is the USPS's service update regarding Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Gustav as of Thursday, Sept. 11 at 3:00 p.m. (EDT). DMA will continue to update this information — via its homepage "Marketing News" and "3D-DMA Daily Digest" — as the USPS makes it available to the public.

September 10, 2008
Online Health Info Category Grows 400% Faster than Total Internet, Finds comScore
comScore, Inc. has released results of a study showing that the health information site category has grown 21% during the past year, which is more than four times the growth rate of the total US Internet population.

September 10, 2008
Mobile Payments to Grow Nearly Ten Fold by 2013, Juniper Research Forecasts
Purchases via mobile devices of digital and physical goods, contactless NFC (Near Field Communications) transactions and money transfers will together generate transactions worth over $600 billion globally by 2013, according to Juniper Research’s Mobile Payments Study.

September 10, 2008
No Turnaround in the Job Market Anytime Soon, Conference Board Index Suggests
The Conference Board Employment Trends Index (ETI) continued its year-long decline in August, suggesting even more softening to come in the labor market. The index fell in August to 110.8, down 0.5% from July's revised figure of 111.4, and down more than 8% from a year ago.

September 10, 2008
Pitney Bowes Appoints CEO Murray Martin Chairman of the Board
The Board of Directors of Pitney Bowes Inc. yesterday announced that effective January 1, 2009, Pitney Bowes CEO Murray D. Martin will become chairman of the board of directors.

September 10, 2008
infoUSA Announces Partnership with TCS
infoGROUP, a leading provider of proprietary business and consumer databases, local business listings for directories, points of interest (POI) for navigation systems, sales leads, direct marketing, email marketing, and global information, has announced TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (TCS), a leading provider of mission-critical wireless communications, has entered into an agreement with infoUSA's license division to obtain 14 million US and 129,000 Puerto Rico business records.

September 10, 2008
Stratmark Hires James Dunne III to Spearhead its For-Profit Expansion
Stratmark has named James E. Dunne III as its senior VP of market and product development. Dunne, former president of Rapp Collins Worldwide, will pilot the addition of commercial marketing services for Stratmark, which, since 1978, has catered almost exclusively to non-profit organizations.

September 9, 2008
USPS Issues Service Updates for Hurricanes Ike and Gustav: Monday Morning
The USPS has issued updates regarding Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, which struck the Gulf Coast states one week ago, as of Monday, September 8 at 12:00 p.m. (EDT). DMA will continue to update this information — via its homepage “Marketing News” and “3D-DMA Daily Digest” — as the USPS makes it available to the public.

September 9, 2008
Google and NBC Universal Partner to Bring New Ad Clients to TV
As part of its continuing effort to offer innovative advertising solutions to its clients, NBC Universal will join forces with Google to form a strategic multi-year advertising, research, and technology partnership. The two companies will work together to develop more effective ad metrics, attract non-traditional ad partners to NBCU, and incorporate self-service buying opportunities through the Google TV Ads platform.

September 9, 2008
IT Security Spending Rising, Finds Forrester Survey
Spending on IT security will continue to grow next year, according to new data unveiled by Forrester Research. The survey found that 21% of respondents expect to increase their IT security budgets in 2009, while nearly 75% of those surveyed expect no cutbacks in their security spending.

September 9, 2008
Residential Finance Appoints Jessica Manna VP, CMO
Residential Finance Corporation (RFC), a nationwide mortgage lender, has announced the recent addition of Jessica Manna to its executive management team. Manna joins RFC as VP and CMO to direct marketing, communications and business-growth strategy for the mortgage lender.

September 9, 2008
Wired Baby Boomers Are Going Digital, NPD Report Finds
According to The NPD Group, online activities once mainly popular with teens and young adults, are now enjoying active participation by baby boomers, too. Recent consumer surveys of US consumers show that 61% of baby boomer Internet users had visited sites that offer streaming or downloadable video, while 41% had visited social networks.

September 9, 2008
Users Don't Search Google Effectively, Finds Boost eLearning Survey
Boost eLearning has announced results of a new survey indicating 39% of all Google searches fail, leading to more than 40 hours of lost productivity per user per year. The online survey found that respondents perform about 12 searches per day and, statistically, 4.7 of those searches do not obtain the desired results.

September 9, 2008
Small Business Owner Optimism Continues to Drop, Wells Fargo/Gallup Survey Finds
Reflecting signs of a weaker economy and rising costs, small business owners’ optimism continues to decline. According to the recent Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index, surveyed in July, small business owner optimism has fallen to 45, the lowest score reported since the survey began five years ago. The Index has been declining since mid-2007.

September 9, 2008
Majority of Consumers Cite Interest in Mobile Banking Services, According to Fiserv Study
Consumer interest in mobile banking and payments services offered by their financial institution has increased significantly in the past two years, according to new findings from a consumer research study released by Fiserv, Inc.

September 8, 2008
USPS Issues Service Updates for Hurricanes Ike and Gustav: Monday Morning
The US Postal Service is now issuing service updates for Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Gustav, which struck the Gulf Coast states one week ago. DMA will continue to post these updates.

September 8, 2008
FTC to Host Second Roundtable, 'FTC at 100: Into Our Second Century,' on Sept. 25 in Chicago
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced its second US roundtable to be held as part of the ongoing agency initiative “FTC at 100: Into Our Second Century.” The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held at the Searle Center at Northwestern University School of Law on September 25, 2008.

September 8, 2008
Europeans and Americans Agree Purchasing Power is Sharply Lower, Finds Harris
According to new Harris survey, all across Europe and the US, people are concerned about their country’s purchasing power, and many feel that certain countries fare worse than others. When focusing on the purchasing power of the individual, the feelings of Europeans and Americans are strikingly similar -- and negative.

September 8, 2008
Research Corporation Launches CARAVAN International
Opinion Research Corporation has announced the launch of CARAVAN International, weekly Online omnibus studies which, according to the company, will provide clients with cost-efficient international consumer research for obtaining measurements including brand awareness, product image, advertising awareness, concept testing and emerging market trends as well as answers to topical questions of interest to marketers.

September 8, 2008
AT&T Launches Yahoo oneSearch as the Default Mobile Search Engine on AT&T MEdia Net
AT&T and Yahoo have announced that oneSearch now powers mobile Internet searches made through AT&T's on-deck MEdia Net portal. AT&T is the first US carrier to integrate Yahoo's innovative mobile search service directly into their portal. This announcement builds on the expanded strategic alliance the companies announced earlier this year.

September 5, 2008
comScore: All Consumer Income Segments Cutting Back; Majority Use Internet to Find Better Prices
comScore released the results of a study examining recent changes in consumer attitudes and perceptions about the state of the US economy. The study showed that consumers in all income segments are cutting back on spending.

September 5, 2008
FedEx Express to Deliver Broadest Next-Business-Day Service from Europe to the Eastern US
FedEx Express has upgraded its next-business-day delivery service FedEx International Priority® from Europe to major US East Coast cities.

September 5, 2008
Nielsen and IMMI Begin Providing First Daily All-Electronic Ratings for Viewing Outside the Home
The Nielsen Company and Integrated Media Measurement Inc. have begun delivering the first daily all-electronic national TV ratings of television viewing that occurs outside of the home. This includes audience estimates of TV viewing in out-of-home locations such as offices, fitness clubs, hotels and bars.

September 5, 2008
Diamond Resorts International Selects Contact Center Compliance
Diamond Resorts International® (DRI) has selected Contact Center Compliance to be the sole provider of "Do Not Call" regulatory solutions for its membership sales and service center.

September 5, 2008
USPS Service Updates for Hurricane Gustav: Friday Morning
The following is the US Postal Service’s (USPS) service update regarding Hurricane Gustav as of Friday, September 5 at 8:00 a.m. (EDT).

September 4, 2008
NebuAd Halts Plans for Web Tracking as Congress Reviews Privacy Implications
The Washington Post today reported that technology firm NebuAd has put on hold plans to widely deploy an online advertising technology that tracks consumers' every Web click while Congress reviews privacy concerns associated with the technique.

September 4, 2008
As Shoppers Shift Shopping Patterns, Discount and Value Retailers Benefit: Report
In American ShopperScape™ 2008, TNS Retail Forward reports that shoppers are trading down to save money and seeking one-stop shopping venues and stores closer to home to save time and gasoline.

September 4, 2008
USPS Service Updates for Hurricane Gustav: Thursday Morning
The following is the US Postal Service's service update regarding Hurricane Gustav as of Thursday, Sept. 4 at 10:30 a.m. (EDT).

September 4, 2008
CPP North America Adds DataPatrol to Identity Theft Product
CPP North America has signed a major distribution deal to enhance its Identity Protection offering by adding DataPatrol from Garlik, a global leader in IP solutions.

September 4, 2008
infoUSA Provides Business Location Data for Limbo's Mobile Social Network Location Tools
infoGROUP has announced that its infoUSA database license division has licensed its US business database to Limbo, one of the largest, fastest growing mobile social networks in the US. Limbo’s mobile location tools help its two million members connect with friends by sharing where they are, who they’re with, and what they're doing.

September 3, 2008
High Costs Defer Agencies' Adoption of Emerging Marketing Technologies, Finds DMA-Sponsored Winterberry Group White Paper
Though slow to adopt new automation and campaign execution tools, marketing agencies appear poised to increase their technology investment significantly over coming years, according to new white paper by Winterberry Group, sponsored by DMA’s Marketing Technology and Direct Marketing Agency councils.

September 3, 2008
eBay Launches WorldofGood.com, An Online Marketplace for Ethically Sourced, Eco-Friendly Products
eBay today unveiled a new ecommerce marketplace called WorldofGood.com by eBay, which offers products that have a positive impact on people and the planet, empowering consumers to align their social values with their shopping.

September 3, 2008
Google Launches Chrome, A New Take on the Browser
Google has launched Google ChromeTM, a new open source browser intended to create a better web experience for users around the world. Available in beta in more than 40 languages, Google Chrome is a new approach to the browser that's based on the simplicity and power that users have come to expect from Google products.

September 3, 2008
Harte-Hanks Direct Marketing Names Jeannine Falcone Managing Director
Jeannine Falcone has been named managing director of Harte-Hanks Direct Marketing Agency Services. Falcone has been with Harte-Hanks for 15 years, and most recently held the position of Senior Vice President of Client Services within the agency services group.

September 3, 2008
USPS Service Updates for Hurricane Gustav: Wednesday Afternoon
The following is the US Postal Service's service update regarding Hurricane Gustav as of Wednesday, Sept. 3 at 3 p.m. (EDT). This information covers four hurricane-impacted states: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.

September 2, 2008
USPS Service Updates for Hurricane Gustav: Tuesday Afternoon
The following is the US Postal Service’s (USPS) service update regarding Hurricane Gustav as of Tuesday, September 2 at 3 p.m. (EDT). This information covers four hurricane-impacted states: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.

September 2, 2008
Microsoft to Acquire Greenfield Online Including Its European Subsidiary Ciao, a Leading Price Comparison Site
Microsoft Corporation has reached an agreement to acquire Greenfield Online Inc, owner of Ciao GmbH, one of Europe's leading price comparison, shopping and consumer reviews sites, in a move that will further extend Microsoft’s search and e-commerce services in Europe.

September 2, 2008
Google Unveils 'Google Video' for Business
Google announced Google Video™ for business, a new application in Google Apps™ for sharing video in an organization in two easy steps — simply upload a video to Google Apps, and then invite others to view it.

September 2, 2008
FedEx Launches Domestic Service in Mexico
FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp., has announced the introduction of FedEx Express Nacional, a domestic next-business-day service that provides highly reliable, convenient and quality express shipping solutions across Mexico.

September 2, 2008
UPS Issues New Sustainability Report
UPS has released its sixth annual Corporate Sustainability Report with progress reports on the company's economic, social, and environmental performance. The report is based on data from 2007, UPS's 100th anniversary.

September 2, 2008
DMW Worldwide Offers Insight into Media Trends with 'Television Is Everywhere Or Is It?'
DMW's latest Special Report — "Television Is Everywhere…Or Is It?" — offers an insightful peek into the future of television, including the impact of TV's continuing migration to the Internet and elsewhere.

September 2, 2008
Contact Center Compliance Appoints Michael Kovatch as New CEO
Contact Center Compliance, a leader in compliance technology services, has appointed Mike Kovatch as the new Chief Executive Officer.

August 29, 2008
Nielsen Reports Growth in Asian and Hispanic US Households for 2008-2009 TV Season
The Nielsen Company has announced that the total number of television households within the US for the 2008-2009 season will be 114.5 million, an increase of 1.5% from last year. The National Universe Estimates show a continued increase of Hispanic and Asian TV Households in comparison to Total TV Households.

August 29, 2008
Olympics Websites Win Gold Medals for Speed and Reliability, Keynote Finds
Keynote Competitive Research has announced the results of its analysis surrounding the speed and reliability of Mobile and Internet sites central to the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games. While the websites monitored scored nearly "perfect tens," the five mobile news and sports sites faltered.

August 29, 2008
Federal Express Issues Virus Alert: Fraudulent Emails May Contain a Virus
Federal Express has issued a virus alert regarding fraudulent emails that may contain a virus, stating, "The respected FedEx brand has recently been misused by individuals who are sending a rash of fraudulent emails containing a virus that claim a FedEx package could not be delivered."

August 28, 2008
More Than 75% of Online Americans Bank, Pay Bills Online, Fiserv Survey Finds
More Americans than ever, an estimated 63.1 million households or three-fourth of those online, are paying their bills online rather than writing paper checks, according to a survey sponsored by CheckFree, now part of Fiserv, Inc., a leading provider of information technology services to the financial industry

August 28, 2008
Yahoo! Awarded Highest Technical Honor for Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery
Yahoo! has announced that Dr. Raghu Ramakrishnan, Yahoo! VP, research fellow and chief scientist for the Audience Technology and Cloud Computing & Data Infrastructure (CCDI) groups, has been awarded the 2008 Innovation Award by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special interest Group on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (SIGKDD). ACM's SIGKDD Innovation Award is the highest technical award in the fields of data mining and knowledge discovery.

August 28, 2008
Gander Mountain Returns to Catalog Business After 12 Years
Gander Mountain, one of the nation's largest retail network of stores for hunting, fishing, camping, boating, marine, and outdoor lifestyle apparel and footwear, products and services, has announced that it has begun a limited national distribution of its 244 page catalog to customers. The catalog marks Gander Mountain's return to direct marketing after 12 years.

August 27, 2008
USPS Proposes New Automation Requirements for Detached Address Labels
In today's Federal Register, the US Postal Service proposes revisions to its mailing standards for detached address labels (DALs). Comments are due on or before Sept. 26, 2008.

August 27, 2008
Microsoft Ranks as Top US Online Display Advertiser in June, Reports comScore
comScore, Inc. released its June ranking of the top online display ad publishers and advertisers, based on data from the comScore Ad Metrix service. Fox Interactive Media, which owns MySpace.com, ranked as the top display ad publisher with 15.9% of all display ads viewed, while Microsoft was the top display advertiser with 1.7% of total views.

August 27, 2008
Consumer Confidence Improves in August, Reports The Conference Board
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index™, which had improved moderately in July, made further gains in August. The Index now stands at 56.9 (1985=100), up from 51.9 in July. The Present Situation Index decreased to 63.2 from 65.8 last month. The Expectations Index, however, increased to 52.8 from 42.7 in July.

August 26, 2008
comScore Study Examines Breakdown of Visitors to Official Beijing 2008 Olympic Website
comScore has released a study of global visitation to Beijing2008.cn, the official website of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. The study revealed a tight race between China and the US, with China taking the gold.

August 26, 2008
Telecom Carriers Are Well-Placed to Win Ad Revenue, Gartner Says
Telecom carriers around the world are turning their attention to advertising as a potential source of revenue, according to Gartner Inc. Gartner forecasts that the worldwide mobile ad market alone will be worth over $12 billion by 2011, but advised carriers that they will need to rise to some key challenges if they are to realize their advertising ambitions.

August 26, 2008
Hackers Stoop to New Lows in Attempt To Infect Computers, Reports SophosLabs
Experts at SophosLabs, Sophos's global network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centers, have warned of a widespread spam campaign that pretends that the recipient's baby has been kidnapped. The campaign tries to trick innocent computer users into opening a file claiming to be photographs of the infant, but are really malicious software.

August 25, 2008
PRC Issues Proposed Rulemaking for Periodic Reporting
The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) has published proposed regulations prescribing the form and content of information the USPS will routinely report to the Commission to achieve transparency and accountability of the Service. The information will be used by the Commission to prepare its annual report to Congress.

August 25, 2008
Nearly Half of Search Marketers Do Not Integrate Efforts with Offline Channels: iProspect Study
Search Engine Marketing Firm, iProspect has published the iProspect Search Engine Marketing Integration Study. The study reveals that 45% of search engine marketers do not integrate their search marketing efforts with offline channels.

August 25, 2008
NBCOlympics.com Brings in $5.75 Million in Video Ad Spending, eMarketer Estimates
The 2008 Beijing Olympics had millions of Americans glued to the screen, whether on television or online, with record viewership and Web site traffic. However, the great popularity of the games did not quite translate to huge amounts of video advertising.

August 25, 2008
Harris Interactive Study Finds Consumers' Attitudes Differ Widely by Generation
A recent survey by Harris Interactive conducted for Charles Schwab and Age Wave asked almost 4,000 Americans aged 21 to 83 what they thought of different generations. The results show how very differently people view the different generations, with many people holding strong positive and negative opinions about them.

August 25, 2008
Ron Jacobs Helps Architect New Certificate in Multichannel Marketing Program at DePaul University
Direct marketing evangelist Ron Jacobs is helping to pioneer a certificate program and graduate degree course for marketers at DePaul University to debut in Fall 2008. The Jacobs and Stone Multichannel Marketing Communications Graduate Certificate program, dubbed MC2, was named in honor of Ron Jacobs and Bob Stone, co-authors of the seminal direct marketing text, Successful Direct Marketing Methods.

August 22, 2008
comScore Releases July 2008 US Search Engine Rankings
comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the US search marketplace. In July, Americans conducted 11.8 billion core searches (up 2% versus June) as Google Sites slightly extended its lead in core search market share by 0.4 percentage points.

August 22, 2008
The Conference Board US Leading Index Decreased 0.7% in July
The Conference Board announced today that the US leading index decreased 0.7%, the coincident index increased 0.1% and the lagging index increased 0.4% in July.

August 22, 2008
PRC Issues Proposed Rulemaking for Complaints
The Postal Regulatory Commission yesterday published a notice of proposed rulemaking to update the Commission rules for complaints. This is part of a series of rulemakings initiated by the PRC to fulfill its responsibilities under the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act.

August 22, 2008
Amazon Web Services Launches the Amazon Elastic Block Store for Amazon EC2
Amazon Web Services LLC has launched the Amazon Elastic Block Store, a new persistent storage feature for the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud. Amazon EC2 is an infrastructure service that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud.

August 22, 2008
Economic Conditions Forcing Marketers to Reduce Advertising Budgets: ANA Survey
Marketers from a broad cross-section of categories and industries are feeling the pinch of belt-tightening with their budgets, according to a recent survey from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA).

August 21, 2008
FTC to Host Sept. 23 Workshop to Explore RFIDs, Consumer Protection, Privacy Implications
The FTC will host a “Transatlantic RFID Workshop on Consumer Privacy and Data Security” on September 23, 2008, to explore emerging applications of radio frequency identification technology and their implications for consumer protection policy. The workshop will bring together industry representatives, government officials, and consumer advocates from Europe and the US.

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.