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ONLINE MARKETING AGENCY ACQUISITION - FROM MEDIAPOST |
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CGI to
Acquire Online Marketing Agency |
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CGI
Holding Corporation, which owns online marketing firm
WebSourced, announced Tuesday it will acquire Proceed
Interactive, an interactive marketing agency, in a
stock deal.
Proceed's 35 employees manage the likes of General
Motors, Omni Hotels, and Wells Fargo. Jonathan and
Stephen Schepke, Proceed's CEOs, will continue to lead
the company. Founder Bruce Findley will stay on as a
consultant. CGI's clients include RealNetworks, Alaska
Airlines, and Lowe's.
Proceed, known as Meandaur until Dec. 22, managed $5
million worth of paid search and other marketing
spending in 2004. It projects revenue for 2004 to
reach $3.6 million. CGI will acquire all of Prospect's
stock in exchange for approximately 1.3 million CGI
shares--of which half will be given now and half will
be placed into escrow and paid out according to
Proceed's performance over the next four years.
-- Gavin O'Malley |
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Hitwise: Shopping Sites Strong Through Christmas
Online shopping and classified sites accounted for 9.1
percent of all U.S. Internet visits between Nov. 1 and
Dec. 25, 2004, reflecting a jump of 25.6 percent
compared to the same time last year, according to a
report released Tuesday by research firm Hitwise.
For the week ending December 25, shopping and
classifieds was the third most popular category with
Web surfers--accounting for 8.72 percent of visits,
behind adult-oriented sites (17.44 percent) and search
engines and directories (14.25 percent).
Hitwise also found that visits to music sites spiked
on Christmas Day, with iTunes leaping to 37th place on
Dec. 25 from 85th on Dec. 24, and MusicMatch soaring
to 46th place from 79th. Hitwise attributed the leap
to gifts of MP3 players, iPods, and online gift
certificates.
The top three shopping and classified sites for the
week ending on Christmas Day were eBay, Amazon, and
Dell USA.
-- Wendy Davis
About.com Launches Video Spots
Consumer advice portal About.com recently launched
video content through its "ChannelGuides Initiative."
Within its 23 unique guides, About.com will now
feature expert commentary on specific content in video
format. As part of the initiative, marketers will be
able to have ads originally designed for TV run with
the streaming video.
For the initiative, Kim Johnson Gross, author of the
Chic Simple book series, will serve as the Style
Channel Guide. In addition, the home and garden
channel will also feature video content with interior
designer Anne-Marie Barton offering advice on home
decorating. Honda and Black & Decker will be the first
charter advertisers for the style and home and garden
channels, respectively. In 2005, About.com plans to
launch additional ChannelGuides on food and drink,
travel, and parenting.
-- Michael Shields
FCC to Wireless Companies: Register Domain Names
The Federal Communications Commission issued new
Can-Spam rules this week requiring mobile service
providers to register the domain names they use for
wireless messaging by Jan. 21. The registration
requirement is designed to implement FCC rules under
Can-Spam that prohibit any unsolicited commercial
messages to wireless phones, unless the recipient has
given advance permission.
--W.D. |
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