Chief Marketer Staff

• Sharper Images Debuts New Internet Auction Site

  Sharper Image Corporation, San Francisco, has opened an Internet-based site for its products. The auction site is accessible from the company’s Web site,

• Direct Focus Nearly Doubles Sales in 1998

  Direct Focus, Inc., Vancouver, WA, had 1998 sales of $57.3 million, up 188% from $19.9 million in 1997. Higher sales and a 4% improvement in gross margins

• DM Sweeps Industry Faces Review By Attorneys General

  The direct mail sweepstakes industry, which has been under attack both by state and federal authorities in recent months, will be strongly defended today

• Beyond.com To Acquire BuyDirect.com for Over $133 Million

  Internet software superstore Beyond.com has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Buydirect.com in a stock-for-stock transaction valued at more than

• Short Cuts

  Teleservices bureau Convergys Corp., based in Cincinnati, plans to open a call center in Clarksville, TN, creating nearly 1,000 new jobs and building

• FusionDM Names Spagnola Executive Creative Director

  Direct response agency FusionDM, formerly Times Direct Marketing, Inc., has named Jeff Spagnola to the newly created position of executive creative director.Spagnola

• Alcatel, GlobalSign Win EU Data Transmission Contracts

  The European Commission has awarded Alcatel and GlobalSign the Contract to Establish a Trans-European Securedata transmission network.The two companies

• Netcreations Signs New List-Management Agreement

  NetCreations, New York, has signed a list management agreement with Cool Site of the Day (http://www.coolsiteoftheday.com). NetCreations will build and

• NMOA Announces European Market CD-ROM

  The National Mail Order Association announced the availability of a new CD-ROM that details the mail order marketplace in Europe.The disk, entitled “Mail

• DIRECT Listline

  Physicists at Work A list of 31,874 physicists who work in the areas of nuclear, atomic, molecular, chemical, biological and plasma physics is newly updated.