Zachary Rodgers

The Kellogg Company signed a multi-year deal to use Manticore’s Virtual Traffic Master to manage and optimize its online marketing initiatives. Through the agreement, Kellogg will use the software to deploy various e-mail campaigns and brand and product-specific Web sites, such as Keebler.com and Frootloops.com. Autobytel’s Automotive Information Center has launched an enhanced vehicle viewing […]

Call it the Cuban missile crisis of rich media advertising. Though it may not be quite as harrowing as that historical event or as dramatic in the telling, one patent conflict has come close to threatening this entire subset of the interactive advertising business. The danger appears over for now. After saying it would release […]

Switchboard Inc. named Stephen Killeen, president and CEO of WorldWinner, to its board of directors. Prior to leading WorldWinner, Killeen served stints as president of Terra Lycos U.S., director and president of Marketing Services Group, and president and CEO of Raging Bull. “Stephen brings a wealth of Internet experience and knowledge to the board and […]

A new variant of the “Mydoom” virus is blocking millions of infected computers worldwide from accessing ad servers managed by DoubleClick , FastClick, Atlas DMT and others. The worm does not launch a denial-of-service attack on these servers. Rather, it prevents the infected computer from communicating with those servers by altering their IP addresses to […]

Interactive agency Avenue A named Maggie Boyer to head its new Chicago office. The new VP and general manager is best known for her work as Avenue A’s VP of media, where she led the agency’s media group operations and publisher relations from 1998 to 2003. Most recently, Boyer was Avenue A’s VP of the […]

Eyeblaster Secures $8 Million Funding Round Eyeblaster closed an $8 million round of venture funding from New York-based Insight Venture Partners. The rich media provider said it would use the money to expand operations, sales and marketing efforts while moving into “new growth markets.” Deven Parekh, managing director at Insight Venture Partners, will join Eyeblaster’s […]

Circuit City has handed its interactive advertising business to Sharpe Partners. Sharpe will provide strategic planning, creative development, media planning, and optimization for all the retailer’s online campaigns. “Sharpe Partners impressed us with its considerable strategic thinking, its dynamic creative and its proven ability to deliver results-driven online marketing programs,” said Fiona Dias, president of […]

He’s short. He naps at inappropriate times. He’s intense, even annoying. Those are a few details you may know about Sam Solovey, the latest contestant to be “fired” from reality show du jour, “The Apprentice.” You may not know that Sam’s an interactive media veteran and ad sales exec, a co-founder of the influential D.C-based […]

Microsoft has granted pop-up ads a stay of execution. The default setting for blocking the widely hated, much used units is “off” in the beta release of Microsoft’s service pack 2 update for Internet Explorer. As most users historically don’t edit their browser’s default settings, conventional wisdom says pop-ups will continue to be seen by […]

Online ad seller Interep Interactive made Joe Iuliano its senior Los Angeles ad sales account executive. The newly-created position focuses on the entertainment industry. Iuliano was VP of business development for MP3.com, later acquired by Vivendi Universal. He left that company when his unit stopped accepting ads last August. “Joe’s experience in the Southern California […]

New SMS-Guided Reality Show New FX Networks reality show, “Todd TV,” will incorporate two texting applications that give cellphone-wielding audience members control of the action. The features, courtesy of Enpocket, will be available only to T-Mobile subscribers, the show’s official wireless sponsor. The first audience interaction tool, Live Direction, allows the production crew to text […]

AOL has revised the financial terms of its existing marketing relationship with longtime partner Travelocity, and extended the agreement to March 2006. The deal was previously scheduled to expire in 2005’s second quarter. Few details were released, other than that Travelocity will experience significant savings under the arrangement, while AOL will benefit from a reduction […]