Chief Marketer Staff

• Ingenio Deal Puts Pay-per-Call Ads on Podcasts

  Pay-per-call ad platform Ingenio has signed a deal to serve audio ads on the Podbridge podcast network.

• Pier 1 Losses Mount in Quarter

  Pier 1 Imports reported a net loss of $23.2 million for the first quarter compared to a net loss of $12.5 million last year.

• TeleTech Holdings Acquires Direct Alliance

  TeleTech Holdings, a business process outsourcing provider, will acquire Direct Alliance Corp., an e-commerce systems developer.

• West Corp. to Add Jobs at Florida Call Center

  West Corp. plans to add 300 new jobs at its Pensacola, FL call center, according to the Pensacola News Journal.

• FTC Settles With ‘Credit Counseling Service’

  A credit counseling service and related companies and individuals have agreed to pay $926,754 in consumer redress and civil penalties to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they made false claims about their debt management program and violated the FTC

• Iseemedia Closes Acquisition of RealBiz360

  Iseemedia Inc., a developer of online rich media content, it has closed its acquisition of RealBiz360.

• DMA Discontinues InMarketing Magazine

  The Direct Marketing Association has discontinued InMarketing, its 12-times-a-year house publication. The June issue will be its last.

• Agencies

  Synonyms Ain’t Synonymous

  Editor’s note: Herschell Gordon Lewis, Direct’s Curmudgeon-at-Large, is a copywriter renowned as an authority on the use of words. This is one of an occasional

• Agencies

  AIG’s Homegrown Solution

  WHAT HIGH-PRICED system did American International Group buy in 1998 when it needed a way to shovel leads to commercial insurance brokers in the United

• Agencies

  Click Fraud Has Radiator.com Boiling

  CLICK-FRAUD TROUBLES HAVE given industrywide prominence to a handful of small search marketers unaccustomed to the spotlight: Lane’s Gifts & Collectibles,