Chief Marketer Staff

• News Briefs

  ABC: is boosting the return of its hit show Lost with new Web site features and a sneak peek at the Lost Survivor Guide before the series’ return at 10 p.m. ET Wednesday.

• Listline e-Newsletter 02/05/07

  More than 1 million postal and e-mail addresses are available from
  Buddy2Buddy.com. These consumers registered online to receive
  third-party offers.

• Agencies

  Brady Corp. Acquires Clement Communications

  Brady Corp., a safety and identification products giant, has acquired Clement Communications Inc. a $12 million direct marketer of safety-related posters and newsletters.

• Agencies

  Printable Technologies Acquires Prospect Smarter

  Printable Technologies Inc., a developer of online printing systems, has acquired of certain assets of Prospect Smarter Inc., for an undisclosed sum.

• Agencies

  Florida Telemarketer Settles With FTC

  A Florida-based telemarketer will pay $1 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it allegedly called people on the national do-not-call list through an automated dialing service and left pre-recorded messages, according to the FTC.

• AutoNation Taps Polk for Database Services

  AutoNation, an organization of new and used car dealers, has tapped R. L. Polk & Co. to manage customer-prospecting activities for its 257 dealerships in 17 states.

• Agencies

  Loose Cannon: Only Skin Deep

  An early episode of “The Simpsons” featured Grandpa Abe Simpson and fellow nursing home denizen Jasper walking out of a movie theater, complaining about the film they’d just seen. Among their complaints: “The romantic subplot felt tacked on!”

  That pretty much sums up the allegedly Valentine’s Day-themed edition of The Vermont Country Store’s catalog. In 92 pages, the nod to the patron saint of love and epilepsy is confined to the cover, a double bind-in card, and a tiny reproduction of 50-year-old ad for Lollipop underwear

• MeritDirect Oversees Lists for Franklin Covey

  MeritDirect has been appointed to manage four new-to-market files for Franklin Covey Co. This corporate training products and services firm has a master file with 1.1 million seminar attendees and buyers.

• Interference, Turner Issue Apology in Cartoon Network Stunt

  Interference, Inc., the agency behind the Cartoon Network marketing stunt that prompted a citywide bomb scare in Boston Wednesday, and its client, Turner Broadcasting System, issued a public apology today for the ruckus.

• Agencies

  Supervalu Names Parker as Its First CMO

  Grocery giant Supervalu has hired its first chief marketing officer, six months after completing its $17.4 billion buyout of Albertsons.