Chief Marketer Staff

• Shoppers Sue Ralphs Over Hotel Promotion

  Ralphs Grocery Co. faces a handful of lawsuits after suspending its Great Escape promotion. The Kroger Co. division offered a two-night hotel voucher

• Draft Opens Athens Office

  Draft has opened a new office in Athens, Greece. The office will work closely with Lowe Athens, a sister advertising agency in the Interpublic group of

• List and Database News

  TV Guide The redesigned TV Guide magazine is offering a file of 5 million subscribers. A 30-day hotline of 389,000 and a last-three-month hotline of 1

• Banta Posts Level Sales for Third Quarter

  Menasha, WI-based Banta Corp. posted sales of $352 million for the third quarter ended Sept. 27, equal to sales during the same period last year. Net

• Response to DTC Drug Ads Rising

  Direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising awareness is at an all- time high, with 81% of those surveyed recalling seeing DTC ads for their conditions,

• Vantage to Pay $4.5 Million Postal Fraud Settlement

  The Vantage Group and its subsidiaries Vantage Financial Services Inc. and Vantage Direct Marketing Services Inc. have agreed to pay $4.5 million to settle

• Zipatoni Hires New Creative Director

  Zipatoni has hired Dino de Leon to the newly created position of VP-senior creative director. He will head the new business and innovation teams. Dino

• Kids Make Animated Cartoons in Discovery Kids Promo

  Kids can create their own cartoons online in a Discovery Kids promotion supporting the launch of its two new animated cartoons. The new RealToon seriesKenny

• Mail-Well Reorganizes Into Two Units

  Mail-Well Inc., a printer and provider of e-services, has organized its business into two segments — commercial and resale. The Englewood, CO-based company

• Maine’s Anti-Spam Law Not Wicked Effective

  Folks in Maine are still experiencing e-mail inboxes bulging with spam even though an anti-spam law went into effect in that state a month and a half