Chief Marketer Staff

• Marketing Drive Wins AOR for Pernod Wines and Champagnes

  Marketing Drive has been named agency of record for Pernod Ricard USA’s portfolio of wines and champagnes.

• Agencies

  Blockbuster Pushes “Shrek” DVD Via In-Store Promo

  Blockbuster is driving people to its retail outlets via an in-store promotion and sweepstakes tied to DreamWorks Animation’s DVD release of “Shrek the Third.”

• News Brief

  AMERICAN EAGLE OUTFITTERS: has launched its latest original Web series.

• Zipidee Acquires TotalVid.com

  Zipidee has acquired the TotalVid.com, a digital marketplace for instructional videos.

• Neiman Marcus Earnings Skyrocket

  Neiman Marcus Inc. posted net earnings of $78.8 million for the first quarter, a surge over net earnings of $27.2 million in the prior year.

• Valassis Retiring Advo Name

  Valassis plans to retire the Advo name at the end of the year.

• Merkle Promotes Two Technology Executives

  Database marketing agency Merkle has promoted Christian Wright to the newly created position of chief technology officer and Barry Smith to the position of chief information officer.

• Career Management Names Goodman Vice President

  Career Management, an executive search firm specializing in direct marketing and retailing, has named Alyce Goodman vice president.

• New Products and Services

  Strattem Streamline: marketing database software for mid-sized organizations seeking a more packaged system—ChoicePoint, Alpharetta, GA. …

• Short Cuts

  A three-member arbitration panel has set the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement between the U.S. Postal Service and the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association. The award establishes a four-year contract (from Nov. 20, 2006 to Nov. …