BIGFOOT DELIVERS PERSONALIZED E-DIALOGUE

New York-based Bigfoot Interactive has just released version 3.0 of its Interactive Relationship Manager (IRM) program. The scalable program delivers personalized "e-dialogue" communications to online consumers. It has a capacity that exceeds 60 million e-mails per day.

As an enhancement to Bigfoot’s current system, the latest version is said by the company to deliver targeted messages more quickly and efficiently. IRM enables multimedia content, flexible database management, enhanced query and reporting functions, and response and survey management. It is built on a platform with a Web-based interface, meaning the format will be familiar to most users.

Visit www.bigfootinteractive.com for more product information.

FRONTMIND OFFERS ONLINE PERSONALIZATION

Manna Inc. of Wellesley, Mass., has released its latest online personalization software package.

Called FrontMind 2.0, it is designed to help marketers create and deploy highly targeted online initiatives. Enhancements from the previous version include a learning and inference engine, an up-front simulation module and improved return-on-investment measurement capabilities.

FrontMind’s inference capabilities can make accurate recommendations based on a customer’s action or inaction on a Web site, says the company. For example, it can gauge whether a customer clicks on an offer and buys, clicks on an offer and doesn’t buy or completely ignores the offer. The software allows users to make changes on the fly as they define, test and refine a program.

MARKETZONE OFFERS ONLINE DECISION SUPPORT

Donnelley Marketing of Omaha, Neb. has introduced MarketZone DS, which the company bills as an Internet-enabled relational marketing information system.

According to Donnelley, MarketZone DS offers campaign management, data segmentation, multi-dimensional list refinement, and decision support – the "DS" in the system name – functionality. The company says it’s designed to give marketers detailed reporting of transactional trends across all campaigns.

In addition, the system allows marketers to move from data analysis to query to action with secure Web access. Other components include a data select module that provides real-time point-and-click query creation; a data view module that enables users to conduct online data sampling and file downloads; and a cross-tab module with two-dimensional tabulation and cell-level data manipulation.

MarketZone DS is client-server based and features open architecture that the company says can accept third-party tools and adapt to any relational database.

TELEMATE DEBUTS SITE VISITOR ANALYSIS

Telemate.Net of Atlanta recently released its eSpective solution designed to provide businesses with detailed Web site visitor analysis.

ESpective collects activity data from Web servers and other customer touch points and translates the data into summary and detailed e-marketing, Web performance and management analysis reports.

Key features include a flexible visitor management tool; the ability to group visitors according to standard, user-defined classifications; detailed click-by-click activity analysis; a "WHOIS" database; and a multi-touch point-view capability.

ESpective has an embedded Microsoft SQL Server database that alleviates the need for customers to integrate the application with separate databases. Also included is the Seagate Crystal Reports 7.0 reporting engine that provides standard, browser-based delivery of reports to authorized recipients.

Also in this report:

- The next generation of Net tools: Permission-based e-mail, online behaviour profiling, customized content delivery on the rise p.D12

- Why the current opt-in e-mail model won’t work: Three major problems – and a bunch of minor ones – to consider p.D15

- System links agents, data warehouse: Pivotal combines technologies required to build successful e-relationships p.D17

The Garden promotes two creative directors

ACDs Lindsay Eady and Francheska Galloway-Davis have taken over responsibility for day-to-day creative leadership at The Garden after being promoted to creative director roles.

The pair will also help develop the agency’s creative talent, formalizing mentorship and leadership activities they have been doing since joining the agency four and three years ago, respectively. In addition to creating the agency’s internship program, the pair have worked on campaigns for Coinsquare, FitTrack and “The Coke Challenge” campaign for DanceSafe.

Eady and Galloway-Davis will continue to report to The Garden’s co-founder and chief creative officer Shane Ogilvie, who is stepping back from daily creative duties to a more high-level strategic role, allowing him to focus on client relationships and business growth.

Naked Creative Consultancy names new creative and strategy leadership

Toronto’s Naked Creative Consultancy has hired Yasmin Sahni as its new creative director. She is taking over creative leadership from David Kenyon, who has been in the role for 10 years and is moving into a new role as director of strategy, leading the discipline at the agency.

Sahni is coming off of three years as VP and ECD at GTB’s Toronto office, where she managed all the retail, social and service creative for Ford Canada. She previously managed both Vice Media and Vice’s in-house ad agency Virtue.

Peter Shier, president of Naked, says Sahni’s hiring adds to its creative bench and capabilities, as well as a track record of mentorship, a priority for the company. Meanwhile, Kenyon’s move to the strategy side, he says, makes sense because of his deep knowledge of its clients, which have included Ancestry and The Globe and Mail.

Digital Ethos opens a Toronto office

U.K. digital agency Digital Ethos is pursuing new growth opportunities in North America by opening a new office in Toronto.

Though it didn’t disclose them, the agency has begun serving a number of North American clients, and CEO/founder Luke Tobin says the “time was right to invest in a more formal and actual presence in the area.” whose services include design, SEO, pay-per-click, social media, influencer and PR,

This year, the agency’s growth has also allowed it to open an office in Hamburg, Germany, though it also has remote staff working in countries around the world.

Moray Hickes was the company’s first North American hire as VP of sales, tasked with business development in the region.