Chief Marketer Staff

• Acxiom Avoids Shareholder Fight: Appoints Two Dissidents to Board

  Acxiom Corp. has reached a compromise with a shareholder that had threatened a hostile takeover.

• SEM Firm Catalyst On-line Acquired by WPP Unit

  Grey Healthcare Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of global ad conglomerate WPP, has agreed to acquire Boston-based Catalyst On-line, a digital marketing firm specializing in search marketing.

• CADM to Install White as President

  Carol White, president, CL Associates, will be installed as the 52nd president of the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing at the group’s annual business and volunteer recognition meeting on Wed., Aug. 9 at The 410 Club in Chicago. The 2006-07 vice …

• PennySaverUSA Adds Weekly Circulars to Web Site

  Harte-Hanks Inc. has formed a partnership with ShopLocal LLC to expand its online advertising program at PennySaverUSA.com. The partnership brings PennySaverUSA hundreds of new retail advertisers with searchable listings. National and regional retailers …

• IProspect Opens San Francisco Office

  Search engine marketing firm iProspect has opened a fully staffed San Francisco office to serve West Coast clients and sales operations there. The agency expects to hire additional paid and organic search specialists and sales representatives to …

• People in the News

  Scott Loly has been appointed vice president of merchandising at RedEnvelope Inc. Loly will oversee product development and offers for the online gift marketer. He formerly was senior merchant at Design Within Reach Inc. …

• Short Cuts

  Opfer Communications Inc. has inked a deal to develop a direct response television campaign to sell a new book title for Martin Nutraceuticals Inc. …

• Letters to the Editor

  : I have a blog (who doesn’t these days) that the public religiously avoids reading, but on May 26th I commented on the “evolutionary set-back” that Burger King was delivering to mankind. I think that the best that Burger King has been able to do is …

• Agencies

  Weight-loss Instructor Drops Suit Against My Coke Rewards

  The weight-loss instructor who filed a lawsuit several weeks ago against the Coca-Cola Co. claiming that its popular My Coke Rewards program might prompt kids to drink so much soda that they could die or at the very least become obese, has dropped the suit.

• General Mills Sets Minority Marketing Platforms

  General Mills has created separate marketing platforms to target Hispanics and African-Americans with ads, promotions and specialty publications for brands across its portfolio.