Execs & Accounts for December 10, 2003

Commission Junction President and CEO Jeff Pullen has been named general manager of ValueClick’s combined Be Free/Commission Junction affiliate marketing subsidiary. Pullen is a former partner in the financial advisory services practice of Coopers & Lybrand.

“I look forward to working closely with Jeff to realize the synergies between Be Free and Commission Junction, and to continuing the integration of these services with our other offerings,” said James Zarley, chairman and CEO of ValueClick .

ValueClick completed its acquisition of Commission Junction on December 9.

J. Crew has tapped DoubleClick’s SiteAdvance for Web analytics. The retailer already uses the advertising technology company’s DARTMail and ChannelView products, and will benefit from SiteAdvance’s integration with those tools.

“DoubleClick worked with us upfront to intimately understand our business objectives and recommend a strategic course of action, rather than simply providing a template solution,” said David Towers, J. Crew’s VP of e-commerce operations.

i-Frontier has launched two health-related Web sites for separate clients.

HCVadvocate.org is the Web presence for the Hepatitis C Support Project, a new i-Frontier client. It’s a resource for people searching for information on the hepatitis C virus.

Pulmicortrespules.com was built to promote AstraZeneca’s asthma medication, Pulmicort Respules, and is geared toward the parents and caregivers of children with asthma. It’s i-Frontier’s second deployment for the pharmaceutical company.

E-mail services firm Quris named Scott Heimbrodt to succeed John Funk as chief executive officer. Funk continues to serve on the board of directors and will also serve as chief knowledge architect, a new post focusing on the generation of email intellectual capital. Heimbrodt’s general management background includes senior roles at Arnold Worldwide, J Walter Thompson, DDB and Grey.

Heimbrodt’s appointment followed Quris’ annoucement that it had achieved a second quarter of profitability.

Consulting firm Westin Rinehart and teen marketer BuzzMG have teamed to form a new youth marketing consultancy called Blue Fusion, which will provide marketing solutions targeted at the increasingly savvy youth consumer.

Blue Fusion will deliver branding, Web site development, youth market research, buzz-building campaigns, event marketing and product placement for its clients, which it said will come from the media, entertainment, consumer products, financial services and retail sectors.

“The formation of Blue Fusion will finally give corporations a much needed resource to fulfill their youth marketing objectives,” said Morris Reid, managing director of Westin Rinehart and new managing partner of Blue Fusion.