Chief Marketer Staff

• News Briefs

  DRAFT: Chicago, hired John Kenny as VP-strategic planning director, a new post, working on Nokia’s global account. Kenny had been senior consumer planning manager retail and spirits at Diageo in Ireland. Kenny’s first task at Draft: Study shopper …

• Third Investor Firm Raises Questions About infoUSA Buyout

  Cardinal Capital Management, a Greenwich, CT-based investor group, has requested documents from infoUSA regarding CEO Vinod Gupta’s proposed purchase of the Omaha, NE-based data firm.

• PacificNet to Acquire an Interest in a Chinese Infomercial Firm

  PacificNet Inc. has entered an agreement to acquire a (51%) controlling interest in Hitching International Corp., an infomercial and call center services firm located in China. A $10.2 million price tag has been set, subject to HIC meeting certain financial targets.

• Influent Plans to Enlarge Call Center it Bought

  Influent Inc. plans to expand a 144-seat call center in Quincy, IL that it has acquired from APAC Customer Services. Terms were not disclosed.

• Don McKenzie Joins Petsky Prunier as President and CEO

  Don McKenzie has been named president and CEO of Petsky Prunier LLC, a Wall Street investment-banking firm that provides merger and acquisition services for direct marketing firms.

• Agencies

  Third Investor Firm Raises Questions About infoUSA Buyout

  Cardinal Capital Management, a Greenwich, CT-based investor group, has requested documents from infoUSA regarding CEO Vinod Gupta’s proposed purchase of the Omaha, NE-based data firm.

• PacificNet to Acquire an Interest in a Chinese Infomercial Firm

  PacificNet Inc. has entered an agreement to acquire a (51%) controlling interest in Hitching International Corp., an infomercial and call center services firm located in China. A $10.2 million price tag has been set, subject to HIC meeting certain financial targets.

• Influent Plans to Enlarge Call Center it Bought

  Influent Inc. plans to expand a 144-seat call center in Quincy, IL that it has acquired from APAC Customer Services. Terms were not disclosed.

• Don McKenzie Joins Petsky Prunier as President and CEO

  Don McKenzie has been named president and CEO of Petsky Prunier LLC, a Wall Street investment-banking firm that provides merger and acquisition services for direct marketing firms.

• Agencies

  Disney Backs Cinderella DVD with $150 Million Push

  The Walt Disney Co. has rolled out a $150 million marketing campaign this week around the release of its Cinderella Special Edition DVD. The campaign kicked off Sunday with the Cinderella Ball—sponsored by Procter & Gamble’s Swiffer Wet Jet …