The Iceman Cometh?

July/August 2007 Issue: Page 120

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Speculation swirls that Commission Junction may be about to announce a new general manager.

I've been enjoying the "lifestyle" and resting my tired (and very fabulous) bones. But fear not, I may be on an extended holiday, but my spies are everywhere. These intrepid wannabe Woodwards are very dedicated and they've been reporting back to me at a fast and furious pace. My BlackBerry is working overtime. Good thing I'm also on IM and Twitter.

Buzz on the streets of Santa Barbara is that after more than a year of being without a real captain, the good ship Commission Junction may be considering promoting someone from within. Rumors are swirling that Dave Osman (known affectionately by colleagues as "The Iceman" – not for his Top Gun moves) is the leading candidate for the general manager position at the affiliate network.

CJ insiders say this doesn't thrill other vice presidents and senior vice presidents who also want the top spot.

Previously, word was that VP Kerri Pollard might be considering a highprofile position in another Value- Click division, such as WebClients (in Pittsburgh, Pa.) or Hi-Speed Media (in Los Angeles) but an email to co-workers from Pollard that she was relocating to Santa Barbara put the kibosh on that water cooler chatter. That has left some to speculate that Pollard, along with SVP Dave Dickwitz, might still be in the running for the top spot.

There have reportedly been a string of top CJ execs who wanted the coveted GM spot. But once they were passed over, they decided to leave the company. Lisa Riolo, as well as Jeff Hirsch, then senior vice president of business development at ValueClick, who left last August for Revenue Science, were among them.

In mid-June the announcement that Jamie Crouthamel, founder of Performics, had been elected to ValueClick's board of directors, fueled speculation the new CJ GM would come from outside the company, with Crouthamel bringing in a pal. But that seems not to be the case.

Regardless, any new GM would report directly to ValueClick honcho Tom Vadnais, who is headed to Affiliate Summit in Miami for his first industrywide affiliate event. I hope Tom knows about the initiation rites that take place at the show (just kidding, Tom). I hope he, at the very least, can avoid being taped for Affiliates Gone Wild (not kidding, Tom).

Other network execs are known for getting down and mixing it up with the peeps. Steve Denton, El Capitan of LinkShare, is certainly a man of the people. He proved that by crashing an informal cocktail gathering of ABestWeb.com folks in New York the night before LinkShare's big awards shindig. The small group of assembled ABWers welcomed Steve with open arms and a good time was had by all.

I was unable to attend the Link- Share schmoozefest, but I had many eager to give me the full rundown. Here's the bottom line – lots of ladies were looking fine (hellooo, Miss Flamingo), while many gents couldn't hold their liquor or their tongues (shorter speeches, please) even if they were wearing extra-fancy penguin suits. It also seems that hired host Kevin Meaney was not very funny. His dated '80s material and awkward timing left many attendees cringing. Good thing his Broadway gig in "Hairspray" is going well. Don't quit your day job, Kevin.

All the folks in the Michigan office of KowaBunga are worried about their day jobs. They were told recently the office was closing and in order to stay employed, they needed to move down to the sunshine state. My pals tell me that one male affiliate manager was crying over the news. I know Florida would not be my first choice, but man-up, dude.

And there's really nothing to ball about – especially if you nearly single-handedly invented affiliate marketing. Ask Jeff Molander. During one of his recent podcasts, he stated that he helped bring about the concept of affiliate marketing (during his one-year career at Performics?). I guess Mr. Molander is the new Al Gore.

Or maybe he's the new Patrick Byrne. Perhaps a healthy dose of delusion is a recipe for success … or not? OK, there is no news about Overstock.com this time around. But when it comes to Overstock and its CEO Byrne, I guess no news is good news.

If you've got some news to share or maybe some top-secret information or just a juicy helping of gossip, let me know now. I'll send you a Revenue T-shirt for your tidbit. Email me at TheSpider@RevenueToday.com or call the hotline directly at 415-732-7456.

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