Headlines

LOVELAND, Colo. -- According to the 2007 Call Center Best Practices Benchmarking Reports from leading contact center research firm Centerserve(R), key findings show that customers are the number-one driver of contact center changes. Featuring 250 companies from 51 countries, the reports show that "improving the customer experience" was listed by call center managers as the top priority for their organizations in the coming 12 to 24 months.

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Elephant Ventures, a New York City based Digital Marketing and Strategic Services Company added a new member to its executive team in January - Senior Vice President of Business Development, Jannine Salo. Elephant Ventures is proud to welcome Ms. Salo, a dynamic professional who will help guide the Company's continued growth.

BOONTON, N.J. -- Spending on digital rights management (DRM) software and hardware to protect entertainment, commercial software, and other information will exceed $9 billion dollars over the next five years, says a new market research report from Insight Research Corp. By the close of 2007, total worldwide spending on DRM will reach just over $1 billion, and by 2012 business spending is forecasted to grow to nearly $1.9 billion, according to the new research study.

WAYNE, N.J. -- The Ballantine Corporation today announced the release of a free, email marketing course that provides people with direct mail marketing tips that can be applied to their direct mail campaigns. The company, which has been in business for over 40 years, wanted to give something back to the business community; they decided to gather together their resources and knowledge to create this free email course.

BOSTON, Mass. -- The Yankee Chapter of International Association of Business Communicators (Yankee IABC) today announced its spring line-up. These business events run the spectrum from overall communications strategy and planning to the more specific technical strategies around business communications.

GLENDALE, Calif. -- Intellikey Labs, a recognized leader in optical disc quality assurance content testing, announced today the launch of Intellikey DVD Testing Matrix 6.0. This latest matrix enables Intellikey to provide the most definitive AMP(SM) rating system available for DVD testing on domestic players. Matrix 6.0 is the most representative DVD testing matrix ever released.

COLUMN: While the subject of contextual branding against other company's trademarks will not be a new issue to some people, and I had been aware of the problem from the past couple of years of litigation between major companies and search portals like Google and Yahoo!, nevertheless I was a bit surprised when my brand was targeted by an upstart competitor.

COLUMN: Way too many companies still maintain an antiquated mentality still driven by sales, instead of changing their focus to one that is driven by marketing. Sales driven companies should drop their short-term ways of thinking like a bad habit, and start transitioning their organizations into ones that are "market driven."

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. -- U.S. advertisers now have access to a high quality business daily in Delhi and Mumbai due to the expanded portfolio of Riverside Media Sales / Global Media Network, Inc., a leading provider of global media services. Riverside Media, the U.S. Advertising Representative for HT Media Limited, New Delhi, is pleased to announce the addition of HT's newly launched business daily "MINT," published in association with the Wall Street Journal.

COLUMN: Too many ads in too many places appearing way too often. Product placement invading content. Messages triggered by RFID chips. Advertorials. Sponsorships. Hype. Spin. Noise. Scott G isn't the only person who thinks we've gone too far. Some consumers are fighting back.