Brian Morrissey

Bonzi Software, one of the most prolific banner advertisers on the Internet, has been hit with a lawsuit alleging the company has engaged in a “diabolical scheme” of deceptive advertising. The class action suit was filed in Washington State Superior Court on behalf of “all persons residing in the United States who have, while operating […]

Search marketing company LookSmart announced Wednesday that it and British telecom giant BT had agreed to end their 18-month-old joint venture, BT LookSmart, in the United Kingdom and Japan. LookSmart will take over the venture, merge its operations into its own and pay BT $5 million in cash and 1 million shares. The agreement to […]

Two months after it was shut out of MSN’s announcement that it would accept outside rich media ads, New York-based Unicast Communications has received MSN’s blessing of its rich media ad formats. The alliance means Unicast’s Online Format Suite — including its Superstitials, floating ads, and in-page units — will be available throughout the Microsoft’s […]

Online ad firm Avenue A added creative capabilities to its technology and media offerings, announcing on Tuesday the acquisition of i-FRONTIER, a Philadelphia-based Web shop focused on the pharmaceutical industry. The deal brings to Seattle-based Avenue A a full-service interactive agency, which offers services like Web site and online ad development, search-engine optimization, and media […]

New York Times Digital (NYTD), the online arm of The New York Times Co. and a pioneer of online advertising formats, has rolled out an month-long interstitial campaign for Sony Pictures’ recent release, “Adaptation,” reprising an earlier experiment. The interstitials, designed by Los Angeles-based rich media ad company FPBA, are running on NYTimes.com’s books, business, […]

After two years of contraction, eMarketer expects online advertising will rebound in 2003, growing a modest 5 percent. Compiling figures from nearly two dozen industry researchers, eMarketer projects online ad spending will increase from $6.4 billion this year to $6.7 billion in 2003. The forecaster points to a variety of factors for the increase, beginning […]

Paid-search provider Overture said Monday its deal with British Internet service provider (ISP) Freeserve has automatically renewed, giving it until February to strike a long-term deal and fend off another Google encroachment. The automatic renewal will keep the same terms as the two-year deal Overture (then called GoTo) struck with Freeserve in October 2000. That […]

NetCreations Upgrades PostMasterDirect E-mail list manager NetCreations announced Monday the availability of PostMasterDirect 7.0, the new release of its opt-in e-mail list rental service. The New York-based company said PostMasterDirect 7.0 would give e-mail marketers 75 new features, including buffed-up e-mail acquisition capabilities, better targeting, and more precise list-owner crediting. “This is an important advance […]

Online marketing technology giant DoubleClick has released its e-mail trend report for the third quarter, showing the e-mail marketing industry holding open and click rates holding steady in the face of rising volume. According to DoubleClick’s figures, which were culled from users of its DARTmail e-mail delivery platform, the click-through rate in the quarter was […]

With the Christmas blockbuster season just weeks away, AOL Time Warner’s New Line Cinema and Verizon Wireless have announced a two-year promotional deal for the next two installments of New Line’s “Lord of the Rings” franchise. The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, includes an array of promotional vehicles, including a co-branded Web site; […]

AOL Rolls Out Looney Tunes ‘IM Buddies’ AOL will roll out wireless stuffed animals that can speak pre-recorded phrases cued through AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), just in time for the holidays. The eight-inch “Instant Messaging Buddies,” designed by United Internet Technologies, are based on AOL Time Warner sister company Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes characters, Daffy […]

The Network Advertising Initiative (NAI), a coalition of online ad network operators and ad servers, Tuesday released guidelines for how Web sites and marketers should use “Web bugs” or “Web beacons,” small graphics files used to track user activity on a Web site. The standards mostly mandate the industry’s preferred opt-out approach, instead of privacy […]