Q&As

It doesn’t matter if your clientele has four legs, two legs, wings or fins: good customer relationships are vital. We chatted recently with Dave Ratner, the “chief instigating officer” of Dave’s Soda and Pet City, an Agawam, MA-based chain of pet supply stores (that, yes, also sells soda).

Companies that utilize automated voice messaging may have a double edged sword to look forward to in 2007, according to on-demand voice firm Vontoo.

(Multichannel Merchant) During the next five years, retail store sales are projected to grow by 2.4%. In contrast, e-commerce sales are expected to climb by 13%-14%.

(Multichannel Merchant) With a postal rate increase on the horizon, you might expect catalogers to be agonizing over their mailing plans and slashing circulation. But so far, list industry executives say, that’s not the case.

Calling all songwriters. Warner Bros. Pictures and cable music channel VH1 are on the hunt for an original love song as part of a new online contest.

Natural foods grocer Wild Oats is launching an in-store program to teach consumers how to age gracefully

USA Network and Sonic Drive-In have teamed up for a co-branded marketing partnership for Nashville Star, which includes TV spots and an in-store sweeps.

New Yorker writer Roger Angell steadfastly refuses to resume his once-annual tradition of encapsulating the just-ended year into a series of verses, and readers are poorer for it.

With a tip of the Loose Cannon derby in his direction, I offer what might have been

Not too long ago I spent a day teaching a group of marketing professionals about loyalty marketing. Fun it was not.

Dear 1940 Graduate:

Your class graduated right into the middle of the greatest world crisis in five generations!

Your are taking your first jobs just when Business is caught in the cross-currents of a war-time boom. You are casting your first ballots