Chief Marketer Staff

• Agencies

  Silly Sneaker Site

  Nike’s revamped Web site (www.nike.com) proves to be an interesting exercise in frustration. Its mix of Gen-X graphics, celebrity endorsements, products

• Agencies

  F&G Buys Two, Sells Two

  Horticulture direct marketer Foster & Gallagher Inc., Peoria, IL, has acquired two plant catalogs – Gurney’s Seed & Nursery Co. and Henry Field’s Seed

• Agencies

  MySoftware Co. Picks Up MarketHome

  MySoftware Co., Palo Alto, CA, will acquire Berkeley, CA-based MarketHome Inc., which manages e-mail campaigns. The companies expect to close the $15

• Agencies

  Converging in Bentonville

  Convergence – I’m tired of the whole trendy idea. We’re all waiting around watching “convergence” happening, and I suppose it is. Television and www.com.

• Agencies

  Sunbelt Rises: New call center expands outbound calling efforts for brokerage

  Call volume for Sunbelt First Financial Inc. should increase substantially this fall when Florida joins the list of six states where the firm is licensed

• Border Crossing

  Calgary, Alberta-based event marketer Xentel DM, Inc. gained a foothold in the U.S. with the purchase of assets from two Ft. Lauderdale, FL-based event

• Valassis, Sunflower in Discovery: Sunflower denies all claims in sampling suit.

  A lawsuit filed by Valassis Communications, Livonia, MI, charging rival sampler Sunflower Group with unfair competition and misappropriation of confidential

• Agencies

  Starbucking

  Starbucks’ notion of managing customer loyalty and relationships is curiously postmodern. The signs and signifiers are all there, but they’re clapped

• Extending the End Cap

  Effective P-O-P has always relied on the cooperation and competence of retailers. Ever watched a stock boy try to assemble an end-aisle display? It’s

• Fussy Plush

  We were impressed with the quality and the lifelike appearance of the plush animals from Douglas Cuddle Toys, so we rang up HQ in Keene, NH, to find out