Execs and Accounts for June 10, 2002

Ask Jeeves Web properties has relaunched Ask.com, online home of the natural language player’s search services. New features of the site include a news search, redesign and a weekly report featuring Ask Jeeves top searches.

The added news search functionality, undertaken in response to a 75 percent increase in news-related searches since Fall 2001, allows users to search for breaking news and related information from Ask Jeeves’ homepage. For Internet users interested in an overview of current events, headline news is available through a “Breaking News” button on the homepage. Additionally, searchable news will be integrated into Ask Jeeves’ regular search results in the third quarter of 2002.

Penelope Finnie, co-founder and vice president of channel management for Ask Jeeves, said, “With these new features and design, we further enhance the user experience that we began to improve with the integration of advanced search technology from Teoma earlier this year.”

Visage Mobile has appointed David Stevens its new president. Stevens was most recently a former regional president with Sprint PCS, where he managed markets in 19 Western states. As area vice president before that, he launched the San Francisco Bay Area market and created the “Anywhere/Anytime” rate package.

Stevens also spent seven years with Los Angeles Cellular Telephone Company, as executive VP of operations. Prior to his work in the telecommunications industry, Stevens spent almost two decades with IBM , handling multiple aspects of sales, distribution and marketing.

Web hosting firm and e-business provider FatCow.com has launched the first phase of a national advertising campaign. Created by McKee Wallwork Henderson, the campaign kicked off with print placements in 13 national publications including Inc Magazine, Wired, PC Magazine, Mac Addict and PC World. The advertisements feature the company’s illustrated “fat cow” character in several humorous conversational scenarios.

“Since the launch of this campaign we’ve seen gains of 7 percent monthly,” said Anna Brown, FatCow’s marketing director. “We’re very excited about the marketing possibilities this campaign opens up for us.”

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