E-News : July 15, 2008
News of the Week
ABM's New 'Vision Team' Tackles Digital Transformation
American Business Media has established a “vision team” to help the Association’s members better understand key aspects of the digital transformation, including pain points and opportunities. The team’s first meeting was held July 7 at the Union League Club in New York City.
Some of the key takeaways from the meeting were:
- When developing new products/services, always start with the buyer’s needs, then develop solutions.
- When introducing new products, never introduce mediocre products that do not have significant competitive advantages; they will fail.
- When you realize you have made a poor decision in introducing the wrong product, move quickly to close down the product.
- View your digital competition in the broadest sense. When comparing your site with competitors’, key measurements include: who views the site, the number of page views, time spent on the site (engagement) and promoters versus detractors (also applicable to magazines).
- Social networking is an important communications tool, but is not currently being well executed – the key issue being monetization.
Click here to join American Business Media on Facebook!
ABM Resources
ABM/SISO 2007 Compensation Survey
American Business Media (ABM) and the Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO) have once again joined forces to conduct a compensation study for the events industry. The survey was prepared by Bay Sherman & Craig, LLP/Media Consulting Group, a firm that provides financial and operational consulting and accounting services to the publishing and trade show industries. It includes data from 25 organizations with 554 shows that have combined revenues of $1.348 billion and more than 4,100 full-time employees.
Utilize this study in planning and evaluating your compensation and benefit structure. Contact Tanisha Dudley at 212.661.6360 or t.dudley@abmmail.com to purchase a copy.
CEBA Central
DDB Worldwide Inducted into CEBA Creative Hall of Fame
Agency to be honored at 13th Annual CEBA Awards ceremony
American Business Media is pleased to announce that marketing communications network DDB Worldwide will be inducted into the CEBA Creative Hall of Fame. DDB will be honored at the 13th Annual Creative Excellence in Business Advertising (CEBA) Awards ceremony on Wednesday, October 1, 2008, at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Bob Scarpelli, chairman and chief creative officer, will be accepting the Hall of Fame award on the agency’s behalf.
With more than 200 offices in over 90 countries, DDB provides clients with creative business solutions using “Co-Creativity,” a unique approach developed to engage clients to better serve their business objectives and meet the challenges of today’s dynamic marketing.
DDB’s clients include local and global companies such as Anheuser-Busch, Clorox, Exxon Mobil, Dell, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, McDonald’s, Royal Philips Electronics, Volkswagen and Unilever.
Within its own portfolio of companies and the wider Omnicom network, DDB provides multi-disciplinary marketing services, guided by the principles of Co-Creativity to deliver the most creative brand experiences serving client business needs:
- Marketing Sciences – DDB Matrix
- Branded Entertainment – Fire, DDB Entertainment
- Brand Strategy and Design – Interbrand
- Direct Marketing – Rapp Collins
- Healthcare – DDB Healthcare
- Corporate Responsibility – DDB BIG
- Hispanic Marketing – Alma DDB
- Interactive – TribalDDB
- Media Service – OMD
- Urban Marketing – Spike DDB
- Retail Activation – TracyLocke
- Entertainment Advertising – The Ant Farm
Via Omnicom, DDB also provides services from the world’s leading public relation firms, including Porter Novelli, Ketchum and Fleishman-Hillard.
In April 1986, Doyle Dane Bernbach merged with Needham Harper Steers to form DDB Worldwide, simultaneously creating parent company Omnicom Group. The agency’s heritage of creativity and humanity is celebrated in its numerous achievements.
The CEBA Hall of Fame gives acknowledgement and due recognition to those agencies or individuals who have left an indelible mark on business media advertising and creative communities with their unforgettable campaigns.
Recognizing outstanding business advertising achievements in publications, digital media and face-to-face events, the CEBAs are business media’s most coveted creative award, drawing thousands of entries and enhancing relationships among advertisers, agencies and publishers. The CEBAs have become a gold standard of creative excellence recognized by advertising peers and clients alike, and highlight the breadth, reach and innovation of some of the world's top agencies.
Submit your best business media creative by this Friday, July 18, and you may take home the $25,000 grand prize! Access the online Call for Entries here.
Winners will be announced during the 2008 CEBA Award ceremony on Wednesday, October 1, at the Allen Room in Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th Street in New York City. And as the CEBAs would not be possible without the member companies who nominate outstanding examples of business advertising, ABM will present its special Publisher’s Award to those member publishers whose nominations garner CEBA Awards for ads that ran in publications, at in-person events or on Web sites.
Find out more about the grand history of the CEBA Awards and the 2008 judges at www.CEBA-Awards.com, and be sure to download a copy of the 2008 CEBA Call for Entries while you're there. The $25,000 grand prize is going to someone … Why shouldn't it be you?
The 2008 CEBA Awards are sponsored by Nielsen Business Media and United Business Media.
ABM Event Report
Tee Time for Charity
Register now for the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Invitational
Finally, a guilt-free day out of the office! The Harold W. McGraw Jr. Invitational, ABM’s annual golf and tennis tournament bringing media executives together to support the Business Press Educational Foundation (BPEF), is now accepting reservations. Join us this August 11, at the Scarsdale Golf Club in Hartsdale, NY, for an afternoon on the golf greens and tennis courts … all in the name of a good cause.
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to network with some of business media's most respected leaders, taking place just 30 minutes away from New York City! Golfers, each foursome will be assigned its own caddy. And tennis players, please remember that tennis whites are required.
Don’t be left out of the fun: Click here to reserve your spot at the 2008 McGraw Invitational now.
The Harold W. McGraw Jr. Invitational is sponsored by Alvin J. Bart & Sons, Inc., Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority, Berkery Noyes, DeSilva & Phillips, InXpo, and John Buttine Inc.
B-to-B Meets Advertising in an Economic Downturn
Are you a business media professional charged with driving sales for your brand? If so, you can’t afford to miss ABM’s “B-to-B Meets Advertising in an Economic Downturn” breakfast event on August 6 in New York City, where you’ll learn straight from industry leaders how to clarify your sales strategy in the face of today's challenging economic climate.
Hear from a panel of top marketing and advertising executives, including John Favalo, managing partner of Group B2B at Eric Mower & Associates (EMA), as they discuss the crucial elements to building mutually-beneficial relationships, driving sales and revenue for both sides despite a period of economic uncertainty.
At EMA, John guides the business direction and development of the practice, while simultaneously working with clients to build brand value, establish competitive positioning strategies, create integrated marketing communication plans and launch new products and services. He has created several of EMA’s proprietary planning tools, and is a frequent speaker on the topics of communications, business-to-business branding and marketplace change. John’s clients include Carrier Corporation, Cooper Crouse-Hinds, Greenlee, A Textron Company, GE Plastics, Kodak, LENOX Division of Newell Rubbermaid, Scientific-Atlanta, Siemens, and Pass & Seymour/Legrand.
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn why recent research shows that despite concerns about a recession, over 70% of marketers indicate they will either hold or increase their marketing budgets during 2008.* Click here to register.
* BtoB online survey of b-to-b marketers
Government Affairs
Comments on Universal Service Submitted to the PRC
After careful review by American Business Media’s Government Affairs and Postal Committees, David Straus submitted comments by the June 30 deadline to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) on behalf of the Association.
The comments will be considered in a proceeding that will lead to a report by the PRC to Congress on universal service and the postal monopoly. Straus’ 10-page submittal deals with these topics in general and addresses more specifically six-day versus less frequent delivery, the role of "cost allocation" in this study, privatization of the Postal Service and the postal monopoly over letter mail and the mail box.
As ABM reported last month, most ABM members continue to believe in the importance of six-day per week delivery, however if it is decided there must be reduced-delivery frequency in some or all areas, the Postal Service must solicit the views of its customers (those that pay the bills) before reaching any decision. For example, for many ABM members, especially those who produce weekly publications, Monday delivery is crucial, whereas, for other mailers, it may be that Saturday delivery is key. The Postal Service must strive to do the least amount of damage if it finds it necessary to implement service cutbacks of any kind.
In addition, ABM supports continuation of the postal monopoly on “letter mail” and on the mailbox because diminution in either will exacerbate the volume reductions and cost increases that threaten the viability of the postal system.
ABM will have the opportunity to submit reply comments, so for those members that have comments or disagreements, please forward them to David Straus at dstraus@thompsoncoburn.com.
The Latest on Net Neutrality
In recent news on net neutrality and the pending case against Internet provider Comcast, Federal regulators are prepared to take action against sellers of Internet access that want to restrict what their customers can do online, reports The New York Times.
The Times reports, “Kevin J. Martin, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said Friday that Comcast, the nation’s largest cable company, should be sanctioned because it had interfered with the Internet connections of users who were exchanging files with other people.
“Mr. Martin’s recommendation is a strong push for network neutrality; the idea that Internet access providers like Comcast should not be allowed to favor some uses of their networks over others. Internet companies like Google and free speech advocates have backed this approach.”
The cable and phone companies that provide most of the nation’s Internet service have argued that such rules were not needed. They have said that they should be free to run their networks as they see fit, and that there had been no cases of problems with such discrimination.
Comcast’s practice of slowing the use of BitTorrent, a method of trading video, music and software files, provides such a case. The practice was intended to prevent frequent file-swappers from clogging up the company’s network.
eMedia Update
2008 Media Kit Awards Judge Visits the ABM Video Network
Professional awards are about much more than just putting a plaque up on the wall. Being honored by one’s industry peers is an opportunity to receive recognition for work that stands out and a reward for dedication and commitment to quality and excellence. This Wednesday morning’s broadcast honors those award winners from the b-to-b media space.
Gary Kagawa is executive VP and director of media relations for RTC Relationship Marketing and was also one of the judges for ABM’s 2008 Media Kit Awards. Tune in as he sits down for a one-on one conversation about the quality of this year’s work; why it’s important to recognize media kits and how they have evolved with the advent of different media platforms.
As a business-to-business marketer, Gary also shares his thoughts on the importance of recognizing the relationship between the agency and marketer as well as the impact of the sluggish economy on advertising in the coming year. Wednesday will also mark one month since the ABM Achievement Awards breakfast was held in New York City, so be sure to catch a quick spotlight of the winners from each of the award categories.
Visit www.AmericanBusinessMedia.com anytime, or just click on “Gary Kagawa” in the list of videos beneath the Dragonfly player on ABM’s homepage, to watch our content when and how YOU want!
Remember: Watching the ABM Video Network requires you to update to version 9 of Adobe’s Flash Player. And it’s easy to download: Just click here to access the update and download it to your computer!
Marketing & Media Buying
The Importance of Advertising During Times of Economic Uncertainty... It's a Fact
The greater the proactive marketing of a firm during a recession, the better it’s a) market performance and b) business performance.*
That’s just one of many significant findings from American Business Media’s recently-produced PowerPoint presentation, “The Importance and Value of B2B Advertising During Times of Economic Uncertainty.”
ABM recognizes that some marketers are concerned about investing in advertising during this current period of economic uncertainty. To address these concerns, this presentation summarizes the wealth of data that has been accumulated over time, clearly demonstrating that companies who either steadily continued or aggressively increased their advertising experienced overall growth as well as continual growth past the period of economic uncertainty.
Want to learn more about clarifying your sales strategy in the face of today’s challenging economic climate? Hear from a panel of leading industry marketing and advertising executives during ABM’s “B-to-B Meets Advertising in an Economic Downturn” event on August 6. Click here for more information and to register.
* Pennsylvania State University: ISBM Report, Raji Sriniva, Gary Lilien, and Arvind Rangaswamy, 2002
What Do These Six Companies Have in Common?
BBDO. PennWell. Pfizer. Penton. Unilever. Ziff Davis.
These companies, and more than 5,000 others, are learning more about the power and value of business media through the recently-conducted Forrester consulting study, commissioned by American Business Media.
The study simultaneously examined more than 800 marketers who operate in the business media space and 800 end-users to provide an incredibly accurate and insightful assessment of the current state and value of b-to-b media. It’s one of the most comprehensive studies ever done in the business media space, and industry professionals are finding it an invaluable tool for analyzing the trends and impact of b-to-b media on both end users/decision-makers and marketers.
Take advantage of our webinar tutorial and learn how to best utilize the study’s findings, especially valuable during this time of economic uncertainty. Also be sure to check out the six different versions of the study already available on our Research & Marketing page to best fit your specific needs. Act now and access this important industry research, or contact Richard Bertin at r.bertin@abmmail.com for more information.
Top Media Moves
magnify360 has been tapped to build OneGreatPartner.com, a Citrix community site for premier partner Microsoft.
R.R. Donnelley has finalized a multi-year agreement with F+W Publications worth more than $80 million. The new contract includes several of F+W’s magazine and book products, including those produced at subsidiaries Adams Media and Krause Publications.
PHD North America CEO Matt Seiler is moving to Interpublic Group of Cos.' Universal McCann as its global CEO, while Interpublic has raised current Universal McCann chief Nick Brien to run Mediabrands, a new umbrella organization for its media assets.
Event Calendar
The ABM/FIPP B-to-B World Conference
September 7-9, 2008, New York City
For the first time ever, the world of B-to-B hits the Big Apple! Join American Business Media (ABM) and the International Federation of the Periodical Press (FIPP) from September 7-9, 2008 when a melting pot of industry leaders gather in New York City to learn and discuss the latest b-to-b media applications. Exchange ideas with global business media executives to significantly increase your revenue and profits when the ABM/FIPP B-to-B World Conference comes to The Roosevelt Hotel this fall.
Attendees will include approximately 500 worldwide business media leaders, of which a large number will be from (but not limited to) Europe, Asia, the Pacific Rim, South America and Africa. Interactive sessions will address rich data, custom publishing, licensing and partnering, integrated selling success, the face-to-face experience and much more!
Click here for more information …
Need visa information? Click here.
Member Event of the Week
Online Marketing Summit Summer Tour
Begins July 16, 2008, 11 Cities
Click here to find out more.
To see your event featured here, please contact us at info@abmmail.com.
Blog of the Week
Meet the Millennials: We Come in (Digital) Peace
Committee Watch
The following is a list of upcoming ABM Committee and Council meetings. All meetings are at ABM's New York offices, and time listed is EST, unless otherwise noted.
Production and Manufacturing Technology Committee
August 6, 2008, 2PM EST
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