Chief Marketer Staff

• Metris Offers All Employees Stock Options

  Metris Companies Inc., St. Louis Park, MN, has created a stock option price for all of its employees. Under the Ownership Bonus Program, once the options

• Virginia Company Launching Home-Banking DM Campaign

  A McLean, VA, outfit said yesterday that it was launching a pilot marketing campaign designed to convert home-banking users into home bill payers.Online

• Catalog Earnings Down, E-Commerce Up At Playboy

  Playboy Enterprises Inc., Chicago, reported revenue from its Catalog Group declined 4% while revenue from its Web ventures more than doubled for its fourth

• Short Cuts

  GTV Direct selected Soltoff Direct Corp. as its direct agency of record. GTV is a Deerfield, FL-based manufacturer of consumer goods. Soltoff, based in

• DIRECT Listline

  U.S. Fencing File The 17,590-name list of members of the United States Fencing Association is available.Cost: $90/MSelections: Gender, state/SCF/ZIPContact:

• Internet Ad Revenue Tops $1 Billion

  Internet advertising revenue topped the $1 billion mark for the first time during a single calendar year in 1998, according to IAB Ad Revenue Report.

• Sears Unit Pleads Guilty, Is Socked With Fine

  Sears Bankruptcy Recovery Management Services. Inc. has agreed to plead guilty to one count of bankruptcy fraud and pay a $60 million fine, the largest

• Snyder Reports $815 Million in Revenue for 1998

  Snyder Communications Inc., Bethesda, MD, reported net income of $21.7 million on net revenue of $226 million for the fourth quarter ended December 31,

• Nike Tests Nike.com

  Nike Inc., Beaverton, OR, launched nike.com, an e-commerce site offering Nike products direct to consumers only in the United States.The site is a three-month

• Staples Names New VP Operations For Staples.com

  Staples Inc., Westborough, MA, promoted Jacqueline Shoback to vice president of operations for Staples.com, its e-commerce division. She had been vice