Following years of declining sales, Sharper Image Corporation has filed for bankruptcy protection under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The company said it will continue to conduct business as usual while it devotes renewed efforts to resolve operational and liquidity problems and develop a reorganization plan.

Meredith Corporation has signed licensing agreements with publishers in India and Greece to distribute parenting magazines in those countries. Media Transasia India Ltd., which signed a licensing agreement for Meredith's Better Homes and Gardens in 2007, will begin monthly production of Child India in summer 2008.

Amid all the bad news coming out of the retail sector over the past month and a half, specialty retailer Brookstone released its fourth quarter and year-end financial results today and the numbers look good, including a 33.3% increase in direct marketing sales during the fourth quarter.

ProQuo, a direct mail preference service, has launched a free service enabling consumers to choose the catalogs they want to receive. "Our goal is to make marketing better for consumers and marketers," said Steven Gal, chairman and CEO of ProQuo, which is based in La Jolla, CA.

Doggy Tug, a start-up dog toy business, is getting the word out about its launch via a mobile billboard. The company has teamed up with Bulldog Mobile Billboards for the new advertising campaign, which combines guerrilla marketing with experiential marketing techniques to help promote both the line of pet toys to consumers while seeking b-to-b contacts in veterinarian offices and pet stores to distribute product.

Infocore has introduced Avatar's Direct Response Hispanic E-mail Database. Each address for this fastest growing demographic in America has been added as a result of a double opt-in Spanish language direct response campaign.

Web-to-print technology helps marketers manage brands consistently across corporate outposts.

Chairman and chief experience officer at Slack Barshinger Gary Slack discusses b-to-b marketing with DMNews' Cara Wood.

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