I said hi to the Blue Phoenix Media crew, jawed a bit with the AdKnowledge folks, got into a discussion with the MediaWhiz kids, had a good back-and-forth with the Optizmo team and generally hobknobbed with the brightest bulbs of the performance marketing space. The AdConion guys grabbed a lot of attention (including mine) by offering free beer to passerby while the ClickBooth peeps were likely gushing about how awesome this year’s party was going to be. (In terms of schwag, I also picked up some much-needed sunglasses bearing a MediaTrust logo — stylin’!).

I happily ran into affiliate marketing blogger Murray Newlands, who should really be classified as an “author” considering his first book, “Online Marketing: A User’s Guide,” just arrived on bookstore shelves (and e-bookstore inventory directories). Looking stunningly fit (gotta ask him about his workout routine), he updated me on the happenings of the San Francisco Blog Club and The Affiliate Marketing Awards, and afterward I begged him to send me more contributed bylines.

And I would have been quite remiss not to say hello to Affiliate Summit cofounder Missy Ward herself — especially after that surprisingly intimate email Q&A we recently had. Ward was manning the booth for Affiliate Marketers Give Back and selling the few remaining bottles of her signature Signorina wine, proceeds of which go to the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. The wine lover/hard rock fan could barely contain her excitement that an Australian friend had secured her a bottle of AC/DC’s new signature cabernet sauvignon (called “Highway to Hell”), which is not yet available Stateside.

Come 6 p.m. when the various companies were rolling up the remaining schwag on their tables, it felt a lot less like closing down than time to head to the next party — after all, the first night of Affiliate Summit had just arrived.

(Sorry some of the pics appear upside down — I blame WordPress!)

Contextual and mobile ad shop Ads-Click, which just raised $3 million in a funding round led by BayTech Venture Capital, has appointed Christopher Wagner to be its CEO. Wagner replaces Pascal Rossini, Ads-Click’s founder. Rossini will stay on board as chief strategy officer.

A gaggle of former Firebrand execs (former staffers at its shuttered New York HQ) have formed a new venture called Firemedia Partners. The new company will focus on search engine marketing, social media networking and interactive advertising. Firemedia will be run by chief marketing officer Shari Leventhal, creative director Stacy Van Wickler and brand designer Patrick McDonough.

MediaWhiz, an online advertising company that focuses on lead generation, e-mail marketing and affiliate marketing, has snapped up Sal Guido as the head of IT infrastructure – Guido will implement strategies to grow the company’s platforms and will oversee app development. Previously, he has senior vice president of technology at Miva.

“The LeadROI technology acquisition provides MediaWhiz with a powerful new platform that makes aggregating, distributing, and converting leads from multiple sources more efficient and profitable. This is a huge value add to our clients who are looking for ways to truly understand and improve their lead conversion processes going forward,” Ed Kats, executive vice president of MediaWhiz, said in a release.

LeadROI provides end-to-end visibility into the campaign process, from lead generation to sales conversion. Its features include interactive dashboards, automated lead distribution and campaign management.

“MediaWhiz is one of the most successful results-driven marketing companies online today, and we are excited to take our business to the next level,” said Raj Parekh, Founder of LeadROI. “Our initial focus with LeadROI was the financial services vertical, but by joining MediaWhiz, our lead management system will realize its true potential — to drive better ROI for companies across additional verticals such as automotive and insurance.”

With LeadROI in its pocket, MediaWhiz says it will help ensure that its client base – which received more than 40 million leads last year – will continue to their lead campaigns’ performance improve.

MediaWhiz, founded in 2001, focuses on lead generation, e-mail marketing, affiliate marketing, display advertising and search marketing.

Background

Jonathan Shapiro is Chief Executive Officer of MediaWhiz Holdings, Inc. (MediaWhiz), a leading online marketing firm. MediaWhiz delivers a fully integrated solution for brand advertisers, direct marketers and publishers by leveraging its suite of marketing services to achieve measurable results. Services include affiliate marketing, lead generation, email marketing, list management, display advertising, text link advertising and search marketing. Mr. Shapiro is overseeing the integration of MediaWhiz’s suite of marketing services, as well as leading the development and launch of new and unique services that take advantage of MediaWhiz’s broad service offerings capabilities.
Previously, Mr. Shapiro was Chief Strategy Officer for DoubleClick, where he was in charge of setting strategy and overseeing M&A. As Senior Vice President of DoubleClick’s Abacus online division, he created DoubleClick’s data strategy and oversaw development of new online targeting products and services. Originally, Mr. Shapiro joined DoubleClick as a Vice President for the company’s Internet Advertising Network. Most recently, Mr. Shapiro was President of Lillian Vernon Corp., responsible for the management of the company and its subsidiaries. Prior to that, he worked with ZelnickMedia and Ripplewood Holdings on their acquisition of Lillian Vernon Corp.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Shapiro was a Specialist in McKinsey and Company’s Interactive Multimedia Practice, where he developed the Firm’s expertise in Internet businesses. He also worked for McKinsey and Company as an associate, focusing on media and entertainment, and as an analyst specializing in data systems and corporate finance. Prior to rejoining McKinsey as a Specialist, Shapiro ran United Media’s Internet business featuring The Dilbert Zone; the site, a top news, information and entertainment destination, was launched in 1996 and was one of the Internet’s first profitable businesses.

What fuels your efforts in your current position?

I’m having the most fun I’ve had at any job. I think three factors are contributing to my happiness here. First, I work with a great team. It always makes working more fun to enjoy the people you spend your creative energy with. Second, we are inventing something new. Third, we are having success. It’s more rewarding if you are succeeding and I think we are doing just that.

What is unique about MediaWhiz?

We build custom marketing tools that perform for both advertisers and publishers. I am excited about our Adnet and Text Link Advertising products. TLA is a “supercharged” static text link display ad that goes far beyond traditional text link ads because of the technology that invigorates it.

Can you comment a bit more about what makes the TLA technology so exciting to you?

TLA is the leader in the text link advertisement and related services space, providing an automated, comprehensive marketplace for advertisers and publishers. TLA is recognized for having the broadest and fastest growing network of advertisers and publishers, a user-friendly platform, and a high degree of flexibility in ad type and placement. TLA will continue to operate under the Text Link Ads name, with continued leadership from its existing management team.
“We are thrilled to be working to bring this new service offering to our thousands of publisher and advertiser relationships, while also being able to cross-sell MediaWhiz’s existing services to TLA’s growing client base,” said Jason Cohen, co-president of MediaWhiz. “Adding TLA’s recognized expertise in text link advertising is a perfect fit with our strategy of creating one of the broadest platforms of online marketing solutions to meet the diverse needs of our advertisers,” noted MediaWhiz co-president Yannick Tessier.

When did the TLA acqusition take place?

Back in November of 2006.

What direction are you trying to take MediaWhiz as a company right now?

MediaWhiz is an online marketing company delivering an integrated solution for brand advertisers, direct marketers and publishers by leveraging its suite of marketing services to achieve results. We want our services to include affiliate marketing, lead generation, email marketing, list management, display advertising, text link advertising and search marketing. MediaWhiz are deliver 3 million monthly leads to over 3,000 advertisers through our database of about 100 million consumer email addresses and relationships with around 10,000 publishers.

Where did you get the initial money to run MediaWhiz?

Private equity firm Lake Capital (www.lakecapital.com) first invested in MediaWhiz in August 2005. Through acquisitions and organic growth, we have established our position as a provider of integrated marketing.

Can you describe some of your other initiatives like Monetizeit?

Monetizeit is a leader in online performance-based marketing services with a specialization in lead generation for the financial, consumer and healthcare market verticals. Monetizeit offers its advertiser clients a fully-integrated solution that provides all of the necessary services to execute their marketing campaigns online. Monetizeit plays an integral role in working with both advertisers and publishers to balance advertiser cost, maximize publisher payouts, and ensure advertiser application quality.

ReviewMe, launched by text link advertising company TextLinkAds earlier this month, requires bloggers to disclose whether or not they’re being paid to post about something, and doesn’t allow advertisers to influence a blogger’s opinions. TextLinkAds is a division of the MediaWhiz performance marketing company.

“Our writers choose what they find interesting, so chances are a product or service review is going to be well in tune with what readers of a particular channel like, which benefits both the advertiser and blog readers,” said TextLinkAds president Patrick Gavin in a statement.

The ReviewMe service requires bloggers to write at least 200 words about a product or service, and reviews don’t have to be positive. The service charges anywhere from $20 to $250 per paid post.

In court, Judge Neal Cabrinha ruled against Infinite Monkey, the plaintiff that allegedly purchased domain names, redirected email sent to those domain names to Infinite Monkey, and subsequently filed lawsuits for the alleged receipt of unsolicited emails. Cabrinha found that the plaintiff is not a “recipient” under California law on unsolicited commercial email, because the emails “were not intended for plaintiff.” The judge also ruled on October 30 that Infinite Monkey’s business was not impeded, because its servers were set up for the sole purpose of capturing allegedly unsolicited email.

Additonally, the judge rejected Infinite Monkey’s claims for unlawful business practices and unlawful advertising practices, due to the fact that no tangible damage was incurred.

“As a leading email marketing company that is committed to following industry best practices and maintaining stringent compliance measures, we are very pleased that the court’s decision found in favor of our business model,” stated Yannick Tessier, Co-President, MediaWhiz and founder of WhiteDelivery, in a statement.

Founded in 2003, TLA providing an automated, full-service text link marketplace for advertisers and publishers. The newly acquired firm will continue to operate under the Text Link Ads name, with its existing management team staying onboard to lead the charge.

“We are thrilled to be working with Patrick and his team to bring this new service offering to our thousands of publisher and advertiser relationships, while also being able to cross-sell MediaWhiz’s existing services to TLA’s growing client base,” said Jason Cohen, co-president of MediaWhiz, in a statement.

Patrick Gavin, president of Text Link Ads, added, “This is an exciting time for our team and our clients. We have found a great partner that will be able to help our publishers and advertisers profitably drive more traffic to their web sites. We are looking forward to delivering more great products and even better service in the months ahead as a result of this partnership.”

RBC Capital Markets was the exclusive financial advisor to Text Link Ads on the transaction, the financial terms of which are still under wraps.

The merger brings together MediaWhiz, widely known for its affiliate marketing, co-registration, and lead generation services, and GRS, whose expertise lies in list management and email marketing, while also bringing additional capabilities in affiliate and search engine marketing. Both business units will continue to be led by their respective founders, Jason Cohen of MediaWhiz and Yannick Tessier of GRS.

GRS will continue to operate under its established brand and will be led by Tessier, who will also serve as the holding company’s co-president with MediaWhiz founder, Jason Cohen. “GRS and MediaWhiz have worked together extensively for several years by providing each other list management and lead acquisition services, respectively. Leveraging our organizations’ individual strengths and unique value propositions, we will be able to continue to enhance our combined position as one of the industry’s leading companies,” said Yannick Tessier in a statement.

Mediawhiz’s Cohen adds, “Our merger creates one of the broadest platforms of online performance marketing solutions available to advertisers today. Together, the capabilities of our two firms will allow us to generate an ever increasing number of qualified customers for our advertisers by capitalizing on our ability to reach consumers through a diversity of online marketing channels.”

Global Capital Markets served as the exclusive financial advisor to GRS on the transaction, but as of press time, no transaction terms have been disclosed.