Chief Marketer Staff

• Target, Marvel Give Comics to School Kids

  Target Stores and Marvel Enterprises are distributing 1 million custom-published comics to promote literacy. Target and Marvel are producing a series of custom comics featuring Marvel characters such as Spider-Man and Captain America in storylines that …

• Cuervo and Domecq Pour On the Holiday Spirit

  The battle for market share during the holidays is heating up with at least two liquor makers vying for customer’s attention with eye-catching designs, value adds and discounts. Tequila maker Jose Quervo will debut a holiday point-of-sale campaign Nov. …

• News Briefs

  ACTRESS SUSAN LUCCI: will begin selling her fragrance Invitation in Wal-Mart Stores. The brand has been sold online and through HSN Home Shopping Network. This is the first retail distribution for the fragrance that’s sold by Lucci’s company, SL …

• House Passes Anti-Spyware Bill

  Companies and others that secretly install spyware programs on people’s computers to surreptitiously monitor their Internet activities would face large federal fines under a new bill which has passed the House.

• Online Product Research Drove Offline Spending: Report

  Online product research conducted by consumers during the past year helped drive $180.7 billion in offline spending, compared to $106.5 billion in direct online consumer spending, according to Dieringer Research Group.

• DMC Advertising Acquires Marek Litho

  DMC Advertising & Direct Marketing Inc. will acquire Marek Litho, a printing services firm in Muskego, WI.

• Online Merchants See Holiday Sales Growth

  A full 98% of online merchants anticipate sales growth this holiday season.

• AvenueA/Razorfish Forms Search Marketing Unit

  AvenueA/Razorfish will form a new search marketing unit, AvenueA/Razorfish Search.

• New Products and Services

  AdCenter: provides advertisers the tools needed to handle the creation and placement of online ads– Belo Interactive, Dallas. Online Catalog and Marketing Tool Kit: a tool for retailers, manufacturers, and designers to promote and advertise platinum …

• Short Cuts

  Rainmaker Systems Inc., a provider of online sales and marketing programs, has named Bradford Peppard to its board of directors.