Chief Marketer Staff

• Agencies

  Denny’s Fights the Stay-cation with Resort Sweepstakes

  To counter an economy that has lots of its customer base vacationing in the backyard this year, casual chain Denny’s will give away 42 Caribbean vacations in a contest that ties store visits to an online instant-win game

• Jones Soda Contest Hits the Road for Travel Photo Ops

  Premium soda brand Jones Soda, which styles itself “the Official Soda of the Roadtrip,” wants to see where people are going on their own driving vacations this summer and will put the finalists of a North American travel photo contest on an international run of its product bottles

• How to Define and Communicate Word-of-Mouth Success

  After embarking on a campaign to promote your brand with word-of-mouth its is now time to present your report to company management. But how will your group communicate WOM results to show the real value?

• Former Dr Pepper Marketing Exec Advises for TracyLocke

  TracyLocke has hired Rady Gier, a former chief consumer officer of Dr Pepper Snapple Group, as an advisor to the CEO and other top executives.
  In addition to CEO Ron Askew, Gier will also advise Beth Ann Kaminkow, recently promoted to COO and Stewart Campbell the agency’s CFO

• June Retail Sales Fall 3.8%

  In June, retail sales (which exclude automobiles, gas stations, and restaurants) fell 3.8% compared to one year ago, according to the National Retail Federation

• News Briefs

  COCA-COLA: is today unveiling a 49-foot-tall Coca-Cola Contour bottle at Turner Field, home of the Atlanta Braves

• Digital River to Axe 120 Positions

  Digital River Inc., an online marketing systems provider, is cutting 120 positions worldwide, outsourcing the majority of its customer service operations.

• Grainger Earnings Fall 18% in Quarter

  W.W. Grainger posted net earnings of to $92 million for the second quarter, an 18% decrease from $113 million in the prior year.

• Agencies

  MFSA Hires Cooper as First Paid Lobbyist

  The Mailing & Fulfillment Service Association has hired Ben Cooper to serve as its first paid lobbyist to represent its membership’s positions on Capitol Hill

• Agencies

  Meet the Broker: Jeremy Johnson

  Today we meet Jeremy Johnson, vice president of brokerage at Specialists Marketing Services Inc. since Dec. 2006. He started his career in 1997 as an intern at Millard Group Inc. (now Direct Media Millard) where he worked until joining Specialists.