INTERACTIVE;BULLETIN BOARD;O&M CUTS STAFF AT INTERACTIVE UNIT; YAHOO!, VISA TEAM FOR MEGA ONLINE MALL;PHILIPS PLOTS ENTRY TO WEB TV MARKET;BIGBOOK TAKES VIRTUAL TOUR OF SAN FRANCISCO; PATENT OFFICE OFFERS ONLINE TRADEMARK SEARCH; OTHER NEWS

As expected, Ogilvy & Mather has begun eliminating O&M Interactive posts and transferring employees into other areas of the agency (AA, July 22). As of last week, four interactive employees had left and four were transferred. O&M Interactive Creative Director Susan Vitucci is among those leaving. "What this is all about is giving clients a central, total picture," said O&M Direct CEO Wendy Riches. Visa International and Yahoo! Corp. are developing a co-branded Web shopping site. Expected to launch by yearend, the site will feature information on online commerce, secure transactions and a cybermall with products ranging from package goods to software. Philips Consumer Electronics on Aug. 7 unveils a TV add-on to surf the Internet using technology licensed from startup WebTV Networks. Late this month, Philips will launch an alternative device, Web-i, as a $200 add-on to its slow-selling $500 CD-i player with a direct campaign from Johnson Direct, Redwood City, Calif. BigBook, San Francisco, today launches a virtual model of San Francisco linked to its online Yellow Pages (http://www.bigbook.com). Users can "fly" through the city's streets and search for businesses. Netscape Communications Corp., Silicon Graphics and Informix Software are charter sponsors. The next cities planned for virtual build-out are Boston, Seattle and Washington. The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office's entire trademark library is online through a new subscription service (http://www. micropat.com). MicroPatent's Trademark Checker offers a searchable database of all registered and pending trademarks since 1884. Thomas A. Jermoluk was named chairman, CEO and president of At Home Corp., from president-chief operating officer of Silicon Graphics.... Microsoft Corp. and American Express Co. are developing travel reservation services for leisure and business markets. Microsoft's Expedia service will launch on Microsoft Network (http://www.msn.com) this fall....Juno, a free Internet e-mail service, will bundle its software with Creative Media's "Billboard Music Guide" CD-ROM....Prodigy President-CEO Ed Bennett was named president-CEO of Prodigy's investment division, Prodigy Ventures, as expected (AA, July 29). Prodigy also shifted its $10 million account to Weiss, Whitten, Stagliano, New York, from Cliff Freeman & Partners.

INTERACTIVE;BULLETIN BOARD;O&M CUTS STAFF AT INTERACTIVE UNIT; YAHOO!, VISA TEAM FOR MEGA ONLINE MALL;PHILIPS PLOTS ENTRY TO WEB TV MARKET;BIGBOOK TAKES VIRTUAL TOUR OF SAN FRANCISCO; PATENT OFFICE OFFERS ONLINE TRADEMARK SEARCH; OTHER NEWS

Featured Stories