Madison Ave Veteran to Head Up SF Interactive's New Unit

SF Interactive, a San Francisco-based interactive marketing services company, has just announced the hiring of Bill Firing as senior vice president of its new business unit, SF Insight. SF Insight will focus on improving the company's level of expertise in data analytics and relationship marketing services.

Firing, 37, was most recently vice president of consulting services in San Francisco for the New York-based ANALYTICi, the CRM and data analytics division of Foote, Cone & Belding. With more than 14 years of experience in marketing and consulting, Firing is a former senior partner with OgilvyOne WorldWide.

When asked why he joined SF Interactive's new venture, Firing explained how impressed he was with the company's focus on both accountability and profitability in serving their costumers. Firing also expressed his confidence in the new venture's ability to bring a wide range of information together to best serve customers and avoid the common marketing pitfall of being "data-rich yet information poor" by marrying both the qualitative and quantitative forms for data in the analysis process.

"CRM is has been one of the most overhyped and maligned acronyms in recent years," Firing says, "but its refreshing to be involved with a online marketing organization that has a firm grasp on the principals of direct marketing."

According to SF Interactive, SF Insight will work to integrated news tools and resources into SF Interactive's existing service and solutions offerings. The new unit plans to offer tools for data analysis, mining and modeling, relationship marketing strategy, and business process consultation. In addition, as part of the company's reorganization, SF Interactive's email marketing group and analytics team will be moved into the new unit and will be directed by Firing.