Christopher Saunders

Online marketer e-centives told investors this week that it plans to raise about $20 million in new capital, although details are scant at this point. The Bethesda, Md.-based firm, which is traded on the Swiss New Market, said during its annual shareholder meeting on Thursday that the funding would help it reach profitability before charges […]

Anti-spam group Mail Abuse Prevention System has again settled with a longtime foe, e-business hosting and services firm Media3 Technologies. Through the settlement with Pebroke, Mass.-based Media3, MAPS agreed to remove the firm’s mail servers from its own Realtime Blackhole List. The RBL is a database of reported spammers’ mail servers, used by many ISPs […]

Microsoft is quietly hatching plans to build a streaming media ad network, based on the newest version of its Windows Media Player software, which will ship with Windows XP. According to the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant, the new Windows Media Player will have ad-insertion features that ostensibly allow it to place an ad before any […]

In the wake of its “Monopoly” game scandal, McDonald’s Corp. is debuting a new game designed to boost its reputation, and using the Internet to get the word out. Beginning Thursday and continuing until Monday, the McDonald’s contest will award five $1 million prizes and 50 $100,000 cash prizes to lucky visitors to any of […]

Travel site Travelocity.com will be the exclusive online marketing partner for JetBlue Airways, through a partnership that continues a string of promotional efforts. As a result of the new agreement, Fort Worth, Texas-based Travelocity will be the only Web site (other than its own) to offer JetBlue fares online, and will promote the offerings with […]

Offline couponer Valassis said it will not continue funding its majority-owned online unit, Save.com — effectively terminating the operation. Instead, Livonia, Mich.-based Valassis said it would concentrate on its offline businesses while maintaining its minority investment in privately-held Coupons.com, a competitor of Save.com. Valassis has held a stake in Coupons.com since mid-2000. Nevertheless, despite the […]

Beginning next year, IBM Corp. will limit its interactive and direct marketing spending to two WPP Group agencies — OgilvyOne Worldwide and Wunderman. Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM said an internal marketing team had decided to streamline its integrated marketing and efforts at so-called “demand generation” across all of the company’s services and product lines. IBM does […]

Claiming that it’s had enough of the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s “unfounded accusations and threats,” startup Gator.com is suing the New York-based industry association and seeking to clear its name. Redwood City, Calif.-based Gator filed a suit Monday in federal court, it said, to protect its right to use its Companion Pop-up Banner, which occasionally appears […]

Despite some effort at reconciliation last week, the conflict between the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Gator.com is again heating up, with the New York-based industry group charging that the startup violates publishers’ and advertisers’ legal rights. Last week, attorneys for the IAB said they planned to recommend options to the industry association’s leadership — including […]

Polling giant NFO WorldGroup is allying with Community Connect to create what it tabs as the U.S.’s largest online research panel comprised of minority groups. Through the agreement, Greenwich, Conn.-based WorldGroup’s NFO InDepth Interactive will be working with Alley-based Web publisher Community Connect, which runs minority-focused Web sites BlackPlanet.com, AsianAvenue.com, and MiGente.com. The idea is […]

Smaller U.S. wireless carriers appear to be better at marketing their services online than their larger peers, according to new findings from Jupiter Media Metrix. In a new study, New York-based Jupiter found that visitors to the Web sites of smaller domestic wireless carriers are more likely to enter into a transaction — in most […]

Toyota is rolling out a massive cross-media ad campaign in support of its 2002 Camry sedan, with a significant portion of that push going to Web channels, courtesy of AOL Time Warner and Microsoft’s MSN. Torrance, Calif.-based Toyota Motor Sales USA did not disclose how much of the $160 million campaign will be carried out […]