Chief Marketer Staff

• Agencies

  Sept. Sales a Mixed Bag for Multichannel Merchants

  J. C. Penney Company Inc. announced that total direct sales for the five weeks ending Sept. 30, 2006 increased 11.8% over the same month last year to $284 million. That compares to a year-over-year increase of only 0.4% in September 2005 and a direct-sales total of $254 million for the month.

• Agencies

  Working Solutions Completes Call Center Buy

  Working Solutions, a provider of remote agent call center services, yesterday completed its acquisition of Advanced Data-Comm, a call-center services company based in Dubuque IA.

• People in the News

  Hodges Named to Head Sales at Enpocket
  Mobile marketing company Enpocket has appointed Dan Hodges executive vice president of sales.

• Agencies

  Ice Cream and Flower Brands Pair for Ultimate Birthday Party

  In an effort to build customer loyalty databases, drive consumers in-store and generate brand awareness, Cold Stone Creamery and 1-800-Flowers.com have paired in a birthday party sweeps.

• Agencies

  Johnny Rockets Expands Music Campaign

  Restaurant chain Johnny Rockets is building off its musical roots with a new campaign meant to revive music fans’ love of rock n’ roll classics via online playlists, giveaway and contests.

• Mobile

  Consumers Say ‘Make Mobile Ads Relevant’: Study

  Consumers are more accepting of ads on their cell phone—if they are relevant, a new report from mobile marketing company Enpocket finds.

• Agencies

  Energizer Brings Pink to Race for the Cure

  Energizer brings its bunny-inspired energy to Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure events this month with a twist on its long-running tagline “Keeps Going and Going and Going.”

• Dow Chemicals Creates VP-Marketing Post

  The Dow Chemical Co. has named Pam Butcher to the newly created position of VP-marketing to oversee the company’s $23 billion performance business that produces material used in a range of products from shoe soles to computer and TV screens.

• News Briefs

  SHOCK COFFEE: has “pimped” out two Hummers and…BUENA VISTA GAMES: is bringing ABC’s popular TV show…FOSSIL, INC.: has teamed up with the…

• Agencies

  Meet the Broker: Michelle Brown

  Today we meet Michelle Brown, a Boulder, CO-based senior account executive at Walter Karl Inc. Brown was one of the principals with The List Group for six years, but she gave that up to join Walter Karl three years ago. “I had to run operations but I wanted work more closely with clients,” said Brown.