Chief Marketer Staff

• Recipes, Body Fat and Star Power on Tour with StarKist Tuna

  StarKist is using healthy recipes, body fat measurements and the star power of celebrity chef Sandra Lee to market its tuna during a month long tour

• MeritDirect Acquires Venture Direct Worldwide

  MeritDirect has acquired Venture Direct Worldwide from Plattform Advertising.

• Email

  First-Quarter Open Rates Rise: Study

  Those who are writing off e-mail as a dying marketing channel, take heed: Open rates for the first quarter of 2010 were up 1.1% from the previous first quarter, according to a study by Epsilon and the Email Experience Council.

• Data & Analytics

  Impersonally Identifiable Information

  Can marketers serve up relevant offerings on the Web to a never-before-seen site visitor? Quova Inc. offers a geography-based identification service based on surfers’ IP addresses. Direct Newsline spoke with Quova president and CEO Marie Alexander about the opportunities and limitations IP address-based efforts afford marketers.

• No Online Real Estate Advertising? No Sale!

  In his 105th posting at the BiggerPockets real estate blog, Jason Hanson takes 531 words to tell us that a direct mail generated lead is worth more than an Internet generated lead (because a mail lead is more likely to lead to a deal).

  No argument here.

  But the headline for his piece reads: Why You Should Do Almost ZERO Internet Marketing

• Email

  A 10-Step Program for Building E-Mail Lists

  There is simple beauty in using e-mail campaigns to market a business. E-mail marketing’s ROI, especially during an economic downturn, is impressive.

• Email

  The More E-mail Versions the Merrier for American Greetings

  Still need proof that segmenting your e-mail house file and creating unique messages for each group can pay off? Consider the lift that American Greetings enjoyed from doing just that

• Agencies

  Radio Station Launches Personalized Postcard Effort

  KCSM-FM, a nonprofit San Francisco-area jazz radio station, has so far pulled in 52 responses to a just-launched 23,000-piece postcard fundraising campaign that used personal urls (PURLs).

• Agencies

  German Loyalty Marketer Payback Acquires I-Mint

  Payback GmbH, a German loyalty program marketer, has acquired I-mint, an Indian loyalty program, for an undisclosed sum.

• Mobile

  Stakool to Purchase LinQpay

  Stakool Inc., a mobile payment services company, will acquire LinQpay, a similar company.