EmailLabs' new version 4.0 software is designed to help companies better understand and act on customer behavior, improve targeting and personalization, and increase e-mail deliverability. The company's partnership with WebSideStory means that clients of both firms are now able to see in one combined report whether customers who received an e-mail message also went to the Web site on their own. At the same time, they're able to use e-mail to target customers based on their Web-browsing behavior. New dynamic content creation and personalization capabilities allow marketers to customize those e-mails in real time with a more user-friendly interface. …

Each week since March, subscribers to FoodNetwork.com's "Just A Bite" wireless alerts have received text messages on their cell phones touting programs on the Food Network's Web sites. "People are opting in for these alerts, and we're seeing growth," says Marie Fazzari, director, FoodNetwork.com, who estimates that 15,000 people have signed up for the wireless alerts. In addition to reminders of episode premieres, "Just A Bite" has been used to promote ticket lotteries for "Emeril Live" and the FoodNetwork.com editorial feature "Top Summer Cocktails." Fazzari says, "The direction we want to move in is in providing exclusive content." For …

Digital Envoy helps businesses improve online targeting. Now it's trying to improve its own targeting capabilities. The firm, which provides Web-based intelligence to online marketers for use in advertising, local search optimization, and Web analytics, has launched two new business units, Digital Element and Digital Resolve, to handle those core competencies independently. Rob Friedman, co-founder of the Norcross, Ga.-based company, serves as Digital Element's executive vice president of corporate development. Through the firm's patented NetAcuity technology, Digital Element enables clients including America Online, DoubleClick, Aquantive, and Advertising.com to geotarget online ads at the city level, as well …

Ever since Burger King had people telling a chicken what to do, marketers have been looking for ways to get people talking about their brands on the Web. Unlike rich media, display ads, or search ads, however, there aren't many simple, ready-made tools for advertisers looking to create viral-ready campaigns. Digital media firm Tickle, however, recently released a suite of products, dubbed "Tickle Grapevine," designed to do just that: put together an interactive online ad unit that users will ideally send along to their friends, creating online buzz that modern advertisers so covet. The four tools, released in September, …

A unique interactive exhibit at The New York Public Library celebrates the history and future of advertising. "Opt In: To Advertising's New Age" features examples from some of the best print, radio, TV, and online advertising campaigns. The show, sponsored by The Online Publishers Association and The One Club, offers 3D interactive sculptures that visitors can engage with to view advertising highlights. The online part of the exhibit enables visitors to view campaigns from such brands as Absolut, the Army, Coke, GE, and IBM. The campaigns showcase the capabilities of a variety of technologies including Shockwave, Flash, and streaming video. …

Ever catch "Antiques Roadshow" on PBS? Parker Reilly wants potential clients to think of his new agency as the creator of customized "new stuff roadshows." Reilly, who created the concept of listening parties back in the 1990s while at Polygram Records, facilitates brand parties for a variety of consumer products categories via House Party, his Irvington, New York-based firm. The buzz marketing agency recently threw a round of parties for NBC to kick off the season premiere of "The Biggest Loser." The strategy, essentially, is to get huge fans or brand fanatics to host in-home gatherings. Lured …

Hoping to build upon the continued popularity of televised reality competitions, a New Jersey-based firm has introduced a software platform to manage similar content for consumption on the Web. The Dream-Change-Profit Studio product line from Gold Group hopes to lure marketers with the promise of easy-to-configure online reality competitions. Bob Gold, founder and managing partner of Gold Group, claims that companies hoping to launch a Web-centric competition can be up and running within 60 days, though he adds that marketing and media outreach often adds another month or more to the launch time. The DCP software package includes tools …

When veteran Internet marketer Robert Tas co-founded the Triathlon Association of New York City nearly two years ago, it marked the culmination of his transformation from stressed-out worker bee to leader in the fitness community. After learning more about fitness junkies, he decided to unite his professional and personal passions. The result: Tas Interactive's Active Athlete Advertising Network, an aggregation of fitness-focused sites designed for marketers that want to reach triathletes, marathoners, and other hard-core jocks. Tas, who worked at 24/7 Real Media and Tacoda Systems, says that sites like TriathleteMag.com and MarathonGuide.com have had a hard time attracting …

For the back-to-school season, JCPenney prepped kids with the latest styles and dance moves at jcpallaccess.com, created by DDB Chicago and Tribal DDB Chicago. Site visitors can spin the long-play vinyl album at the bottom of the screen, which brings up windows to teach them dance moves, to choreograph steps for Nico the Bobblehead, to battle JCP dancers in a contest, and to personalize their own computers with downloadabe desktop icons and images. There are also links to other JCPenney subsites, such as two companion TV spots and an online clothing catalog. "Knowing that kids don't shop for back-to-school …

Eyeblaster's new ad unit synchronization product takes the heavy lifting off the page and puts it in the back office where it belongs. The technology enables advertisers to craft multiple ad units that interact with one another seamlessly on the same page. Want your company logo to move from one skyscraper to another? No problem, says Nir Shimoni, Eyeblaster's vice president of product. The fancy footwork doesn't require advertisers to purchase a full-page overlay. "The motion you see between the two different units is calculated on the fly and can match the media buy the advertiser bought …