Q&As

Canadian wireless and data services provider Rogers Wireless has begun offering MySpace functionality on select phones, marking the social networking site’s first mobile deal in the Great White North.

Albert Saxon, a direct mail copywriter, artist and frequent contributor to Direct Magazine and the DIRECTTips newsletter, died Oct. 4 of a heart attack.

Ken Lane says most mailers will focus on the back end of the merge/purge process, like combining the duplicates and eliminating nixies. But Lane, president and founder of catalog consultants Hathaway & Lane, says a great attention to detail needs to be paid even before you begin merging lists. Lane offers a list of 10 things that all mailers need to know before they send their lists off for merge/purge.

Unilever’s is out with a national contest tied to its All Small & Mighty concentrated laundry detergent that gets kids thinking green while getting a chance to win $50,000 for their school and other prizes.

An animated Pirates-themed video was the top vote-getter in Dippin’ Dots recent online contest.

The Weather Channel is looking to build a franchise of “Epic Conditions” with Nissan as sole sponsor of the show on air and online.

Farmers Insurance is building its profile with U.S. ethnic communities, currently sponsoring a major Latino film festival and a traveling Smithsonian exhibition about Vietnamese communities.

Drivers who slow and gawk at accidents will understand my instinct regarding the National Do Not Call Registry. I’ve got a pretty good idea there’s an impending pileup, and I’ve staked out a vantage point, packed some sandwiches and potato salad, and am waiting for the show to start.

The hell of it is, this wreck is avoidable. There’s even an opportunity for the direct marketing community hidden within it.

Pure Collection’s newest catalog offers prospects discounts of up to 50% off its cashmere merchandise. The Archdiocese for the Military Services USA is soliciting prayers and funds to provide pastoral services for Catholics serving in the armed forces. And King Arthur Flour has sent out a double postcard advertising The Baking Sheet, a baking enthusiasts’ newsletter.

The Federal Trade Commission has lodged complaints against seven online marketers of alternative hormone replacement therapy products and settled with six, the commission announced last week.