As Yahoo sees a drop in revenue, the online giant is refocusing to build out its ad offering and the user experience on its site. In yesterday's sales call, Yahoo reported revenues of $1,573 million for the second quarter of 2009, a decrease of 13% from the second quarter of 2008. The decrease was driven by a 15% decline in search advertising revenue and a 14% decline in display advertising revenue.

The US Postal Service has announced a public forum on August 11 at 1pm to discuss work share discount methodologies in First-Class Mail and Standard Mail. On July 7, the USPS filed a request with the PRC to change the analytical methods used for periodic reporting for revenue, piece and weight estimates for bulk mail categories. Also under discussion at the forum will be public comments made in March regarding the underlying reasoning for discounts on First-Class and Standard Mail.

Barnes & Noble Inc. has launched an online portal for selling electronic books that currently has over 700,000 titles and is expected to grow to 1 million titles within the next year. This is the latest in a series of developments this summer in the increasingly competitive e-book and e-reader categories. Google recently announced plans to launch a program by the end of the year that will allow consumers to purchase access to digital versions of books via any Web-enabled computer, e-reader or mobile phone. And Amazon.com recently launched the Kindle DX, which is bigger than previous versions.

RMD Advertising, a Columbus, OH-based ad agency, announced Tuesday it has become agency of record for three new clients: Anomatic Corp., Orlando Baking Co. and Sandridge Foods. In each case, RMD was tapped in order to help these companies promote their brands, launch new products and increase sales and awareness. RMD said it will do so using an integrated approach that includes advertising, public relations and Web marketing.

Sundance Catalog will launch a new Web site in the fall, leveraging MarketLive's Intelligent Commerce Platform v5 for enhanced features and functionality. Integration with back end systems and administrative processes will also be improved. Sundance will also be able to take advantage of MarketLive's partnership with Akamai to enhance overall Web application response time and performance.

Interactive group Havas Digital has partnered with online advertising network Traffiq. Under the terms of the partnership, Traffiq will be the main platform of choice for Havas Digital planners in Boston, New York and Chicago.

Baldwin Mutual Insurance Co., a property and casualty insurer based in Alabama, has started using data analytics software from Lyzasoft in an effort to remain competitive. The insurer is using Lyza, Lyzasoft's desktop analytics tool, to help with its reinsurance modeling and rate analysis. Lyza's ease of use and the broad array of data sources it supports made it a good fit for Baldwin Mutual, which is using the system to integrate and analyze historical data from multiple sources, including spreadsheets and MySQL databases.

First, candidates should understand business challenges facing direct marketers. They must demonstrate knowledge of client pain points and illustrate ways they can help remedy these issues. A dual perspective is a valued commodity; managers preferred candidates who have worked on both the client and agency sides.

There's a saying in the business world: Customer acquisition is an investment, but profitability is built on customer retention. Now, it's more important than ever to keep the customers you have.

Omniture is a data company that works with hundreds of technology vendors, including ExactTarget and Silverpop to help combine data with digital channels. It recently partnered with ComScore to help media planners have better audience measurement tools. DMNews chats with Matt Langie, senior director of product marketing at Omniture, about data integration, behavioral targeting legislation and the new partnership

New list — Airplane Owners — Dunhill International List Co. — This file contains individuals and corporations that own fixed-wing single- or multiengine airplanes, gliders, rotocrafts and balloons.

New e-mail list — J. Marco Catalog Opt-In Email Addresses — RMI Direct Marketing — Half of these buyers are professionals age 35 to 55 with an average income of $125,000.

New e-mail list — Local Government Personnel - Email — MCH — This file contains e-mail addresses for city and county government personnel in the United States.