E-News : July 1, 2008
News of the Week
ABM Revitalizes Information Flow
In an effort to better inform our membership, American Business Media has restructured and revitalized its current information flow. Organizing our correspondence to better reach you, our members, ABM’s new process of communication is now more efficient than ever!
Each Monday morning, our E-Calendar of Events will be delivered direct to your mailbox, featuring all of our upcoming event dates and information. E-news will be delivered to your mailbox each Tuesday morning, still jam-packed with Association news and industry information. The ABM Video Network, featuring host Mark Flythe, will post brand new footage every Wednesday morning. And finally, expect new “Outside the Cube” episodes on the final Wednesday of each month.
Changes officially begin today, the start of our new fiscal year. And don’t forget … ABM news is available 24/7 at www.AmericanBusinessMedia.com!
B-to-B Professionals Beat the Summer Heat at ABM's Media Mixer
Can you think of a better way to spend a summer Monday night than with other like-minded youngin’s during happy hour: a few drinks, a few new connections, and a few impromptu magic tricks preformed by one of our very own ABM members? I think not. So while the weather heated up and as vacation opportunities presented themselves left and right, ABM held its second Media Mixer last Monday, June 23, at Bar 12. Just because you couldn’t be on vacation doesn’t mean you couldn’t add a little excitement to your week!
The Media Mixer was met with great response from both recent graduates and industry experts. With representation from members and non-members alike, including Wolters Kluwer, Simon & Schuster, Berkery Noyes, Penton, Crain and others, it’s no wonder attendees from the inaugural Mixer returned for the second round, with friends in tow!
Keeping with our newfound tradition of giving away an iTunes gift card to one lucky participant, this time around we are pleased to announce the winner: Heather McNallie of Wolters Kluwer!
Don’t fret if you missed our June event … Another installment will be scheduled shortly. So stay tuned for information on your next opportunity to put your card in the champagne bucket and possibly pull out a prize, mingle with media industry experts, and of course, have a drink with some new fresh faces (and maybe even a few surprise industry executives)!
Check out ABM’s Facebook group, or e-mail Lauren Gabriele or Wally Koval to get your name on the list for updates on Media Mixers and BPEF internships. Also be sure to take a look at our events calendar at www.ABMevents.com to be the first to hear about upcoming programs.
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 & Crain, 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
CEBA Call for Entries Deadline Extended by Popular Demand
Submit your best business media creative by July 18 and you may take home the $25,000 grand prize!
The best and brightest in business media creative have been flowing through ABM’s office doors, so to meet the huge demand to enter, we’ve extended the deadline! Don’t miss the opportunity to acknowledge the outstanding work of your clients in your magazines, on your Web sites and at your events by entering them in American Business Media’s 2008 Creative Excellence in Business Advertising (CEBA) Awards, celebrating the best and brightest in business media advertising. Access the online Call for Entries here, and enter your most creative work by Friday, July 18, 2008.
Recognizing outstanding business advertising achievements in publications, digital media and face-to-face events, the CEBAs are business media’s most coveted creative award, offering a $25,000 grand prize, drawing thousands of entries and enhancing relationships among advertisers, agencies and publishers.
Advertisers are encouraged to celebrate the strength of their brand (past winners include GE, IBM and 3M Dental); agencies will be recognized for their excellence in creative business advertising (past winners include BBDO, Ogilvy One and Carmichael Lynch); and publishers will showcase their advertisers (past winners include Nielsen Business Media, Reed Business Information and Crain Communications).
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?
Government Affairs
The Latest Buzz on Net Neutrality
A flurry of activity regarding the issue of net neutrality (the idea that broadband service providers should not be permitted to discriminate against smaller media companies, or burden or interfere with content providers based on the content's source, ownership or destination) has occurred in recent weeks, on both the regulatory and legislative sides.
In its fight for freedom of the Internet, advocacy group Free Press is making another move to persuade the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take action against Comcast, which is continuing to put forth its argument that the FCC has no authority to enforce net neutrality principles. Free Press stated in a 112-page submission to the FCC late last week that Comcast's traffic-shaping violates a policy statement the FCC issued in 2005.
Additionally, the FCC, following up on its two recent field hearings on the issue, announced a possible mid-July hearing in Pittsburgh. Like past FCC hearings, the Pittsburgh event is expected to focus on network management practices, peer-to-peer file sharing, as well as voluntary agreements on network practices that would negate regulatory changes.
Google, a vocal supporter of net neutrality, also announced last week it is looking to develop software that will help users identify whether their service providers are using discriminatory network management practices. It is still unknown when such software will be available or how it will work. On the same note, Canada may hold a public consultation to study what Internet providers can do to manage subscriber services, due to recent actions by a Canadian telephone company. Similar events are also being debated in Europe.
Net neutrality is heating up on the Hill as well. After recent net neutrality hearings by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) introduced in May the Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act of 2008. This legislation, similar to a bill introduced in 2006 by then Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) which passed the committee that year by a vote of 20-13, would prohibit Internet and content discrimination by service providers.
The Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act would revise antitrust law to prohibit network operators like Comcast from blocking or discriminating against legal content, applications and services or charging extra fees for enhanced service. It would also make it unlawful for any broadband provider to restrict the sending or receiving of content, to charge premiums for content access, and to fail to disclose any terms, conditions or limitations on the service it provides.
Stay tuned to E-news for the latest information on this important topic.
Concerned About Next Year's Postal Rates?
We know that the 2008 postal rate increase of about 2.8% has been in effect for just one month, but it's not too early to begin thinking about what's in store for 2009. Under the postal reform law passed in 2006, the Postal Service is entitled to increase its average rates by class annually by a percentage equal to the prior year's CPI increase. Given its precarious financial situation, the Postal Service will have no choice but to exercise that option, so we can expect the maximum permitted Periodicals increase every May for the foreseeable future. Therefore, each year's May increase will almost certainly be equal to the increase in the CPI for the 12 months ending in February of that year (when the increase is announced).
The wild card is whether individual rate elements, and therefore rates for individual publications, will increase by the average amount, as happened with the 2008 increase, or whether there will be significant variations from the average, as happened with the 2007 increase, the last under the old law. ABM's educated guess is that we will begin to see some variation beginning in 2009, with palletized, drop-shipped publications seeing below-average increases and others seeing above-average increases. With gasoline prices doing what they're doing, we understand that drop shipping (that is, the use of private transportation to transport the mail closer to its destination) has been of little value recently, because unlike the Postal Service, which is stuck with fixed rates, private truckers have been passing through fuel cost increases with surcharges. However, next year the Postal Service's rates will catch up with its transportation costs, and there ought to be large savings associated with drop shipping.
If you want to keep up-to-date on what size average increase will be filed, you can go to the Postal Regulatory Commission Web site, www.prc.gov. Scroll down the homepage to the lower right, where you will see a box captioned "Information for the Mailing Community." Inside the box is a hyperlink that reads "Recent trend data …” which will take you to a chart that updates the 12-month rolling average CPI increase each month.
As of now, it stands at 3.5%, compared with the 2.9% just a few months ago that produced the May increase. If the 12-month average CPI continues to increase at its current pace, we are probably looking at somewhere around 4.7% for next May, but that is merely arithmetic, not a prediction. If inflation heats up even more, the increase will be larger, and vice versa.
ABM On the Road
ABM Visits Canadian Business Press for 2008 MagsUniversity Conference
American Business Media’s executive VP Nicholas Ferrari and president/CEO Gordon T. Hughes II recently attended the 2008 MagsUniversity conference, held in Toronto and co-hosted by associate member (and international media company) the Canadian Business Press, which represents the interests of Canadian business and professional magazines.
The Magazine & Internet Publishing conference featured dozens of seminars, workshops and general business sessions – 30 professional development sessions in all – held by world-class experts, including a session presented by our very own Ferrari. He taught a seminar, “Research: Tips on Making It Your Secret Weapon,” where he shared results from the recently-conducted Forrester Research study, commissioned by ABM, and discussed “the state of the state.”
ABM and CBP commissioned Forrester Research to complete an independent analysis, in both Canada and the United States, of the trends and impact of business-to-business media on both end-users/decision makers and marketers in light of digital media growth, and b-to-b media’s potential for supporting the sales process.
“ABM’s alliance with the CBP as a member company is part of the ongoing process of building ABM to be the premier global b-to-b media association,” Ferrari says.
Other members of ABM featured as MagsUniversity conference speakers include Aaron Kahlow, managing partner of BusinessOnLine; Dave Newcorn, VP of eMedia for Summit Publishing Company; Stephen Pia, founder of and media sales trainer at COACH MEdia; Diane Burley, an online publishing specialist; Michael Lavitt, senior content producer for Aviation Week; Tony Silber, publisher/editor of FOLIO, Heidi Spangler, director of audience development at Questex Media; and Barry J. Green, VP/director of circulation and audience development at Hearst Business Media (and winner of ABM’s 2007 Circulation Award and member of the Postal Task force).
Look for more of ABM On the Road in coming weeks, as we bring b-to-b to a neighborhood near you!
ABM Event Report
Take Advantage of the Power of Custom Media
Business marketers are spending approximately 30% of their total marketing budgets for 2008 on the creation and execution of custom content, according to recent research*, while additional research** says 90% of all business purchasing decisions begin on the Web.
All this confirms that content marketing is big business! So how should b-to-b publishers meet marketers’ goals to raise their brand profile? And how are marketers leveraging innovative new platforms as part of their custom media strategies? Find out on July 16 at the Custom Media Breakfast: B-to-B Leaders in Content in New York City, hosted by American Business Media and Junta42, where you’ll hear from top business marketers like Martha Peterson, managing director of global solutions for Mediaedge:CIA.
As overseer of the client business and communication planning groups at Mediaedge:CIA's Global Solutions hub in New York, Martha works directly with one of the industry’s leading financial brands on how to use original and syndicated content to drive a social community for high-level decision makers.
Don’t miss out on this limited-attendance breakfast event, where you’ll hear how Peterson and some of the best-known brand leaders in b-to-b are creating, executing and measuring their own content strategies and how you can use them in your own markets. Click here to register or for more event information.
* Business-to-Business Custom Publishing Research conducted by Junta42 and BtoB magazine
** 2007 Forrester Study commissioned by American Business Media
The Custom Media Breakfast is sponsored by FAST and Fry Communications.
New ABM Event: B-to-B Meets Advertising in an Economic Downturn
Did you know that despite concerns about a recession, over 70% of marketers indicate they will either hold or increase their marketing budgets during 2008*. While these marketers will continue to invest in their businesses, they will be placing increasing scrutiny on such expenditures.
Are you a business media professional charged with driving sales for your brand? If so, don’t miss ABM’s important and educational breakfast event, B-to-B Meets Advertising in an Economic Downturn, on August 6 in New York City, where you’ll learn about clarifying your sales strategies in the face of today’s changing economic climate.
Hear from a panel of top marketing and advertising executives, including Tom Stein, president and CEO of Stein Rogan & Partners, as they share the importance of advertising during times of economic uncertainty and keys for building stronger, mutually-beneficial relationships with your clients.
Over the past 22 years, Tom has established Stein Rogan as one of the leading branding and integrated marketing agencies serving financial services, education, media/publishing/content, technology, e-business and related brands. In doing so, he has built the agency into a multi-faceted practitioner of synchronized, multi-channel marketing for b-to-b brand leaders and challengers.
Click here for more event information and to register. Sponsorship opportunities are still available … Contact Jane O’Connor for details.
* BtoB magazine online survey of b-to-b marketers
Education Spotlight
Annual Luncheon Inspires BPEF Interns to Pursue Careers in Business Media
It was an afternoon filled with meeting and mingling (and incredible views) as the Business Press Educational Foundation (BPEF) summer interns gathered on the 50th floor of The McGraw-Hill Companies building for the annual BPEF/McGraw-Hill intern luncheon last Monday.
More than 15 BPEF interns working in the New York area this summer attended the luncheon, where they had the opportunity to network and share internship experiences thus far. In addition, several business media leaders offered candid career advice, explained the importance of the business information industry and discussed their own experiences in b-to-b over the years.
This year’s guest speakers included: Jay McGraw, group publisher at The McGraw-Hill Companies; Roger Friedman, president of Lebhar-Friedman; Gordon T. Hughes II, president and CEO of American Business Media; Bob Ivy, VP & editorial director of McGraw-Hill Construction; and Jim Ellis, managing editor of BusinessWeek.
In addition, former BPEF intern at McGraw-Hill’s Architectural Record, Jenna McKnight, now news editor for the magazine, discussed her rise from intern to full-time editor and the fulfillment of finding a career you truly love.
Ultimately, the interns left the luncheon with a deeper understanding of business media and the inspiration to pursue careers in the industry and beyond (as well as some new friends), while the business media veterans felt confident about this next generation of talent becoming the future of the industry.
***
Interested in supporting BPEF? Then get ready to hit the links (or put your tennis shoes on) at the annual Harold W. McGraw Invitational on August 11 at the Scarsdale Golf Club in Hartsdale, NY.
The golf and tennis tournament benefits BPEF’s internship and scholarship programs and helps to raise the awareness of the business media industry among college students nationwide.
So round up your foursomes and register today!
eMedia Update
'Outside the Cube' Looks at Generational Shifts in the Workplace
In light of the holiday travel schedules of many b-to-b professionals during this shortened work week, Wednesday morning’s ABM Video Network broadcast will replay the latest edition of “Outside the Cube,” our monthly video series exploring hot topics from the vantage point of the next generation of business media leaders.
In recent weeks, ABM has broadcast a selection of highlights from some of the 2008 Spring Meeting panel presentations; valuable content that’s largely geared toward business media executives. But not all b-to-b professionals sit in a corner office, so we’re shifting the focus once again to the millennium generation as we repeat this episode.
In it, ABM’s Wally Koval returns to share his unique slant (from his cubicle) on some of the peculiar realities resulting from generational shifts in the workplace and how they will impact the organizational structure of the business media industry in the coming years. From casual dress codes to pets in the workplace to assigning your own hours, what constitutes workplace benefits will certainly be much different in the coming years.
Next Wednesday we’ll be back with a brand-new broadcast but for now, 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!
Visit www.AmericanBusinessMedia.com anytime, or just click on ‘Outside the Cube’ in the list of videos beneath the Dragonfly player on ABM’s homepage, to watch our content when and how you want! Catch new editions of ‘Outside the Cube’ on the final Wednesday of each month.
Member Feature
Find Your Custom Media Match and Monetize It ... Now That's a Match Made in Heaven!
Recent research* found that 87% of marketers are looking for out-of-house providers to create their branded content. From custom magazines to Web sites, e-newsletters to events, brands are expanding their custom publishing and content portfolios in order to directly reach their target audiences, and marketers are scrambling to find talented publishers and agencies that can meet their branding needs.
Romantics have eHarmony. Advertisers have AgencyFinder.com. Isn’t it time brand marketers had their very own matchmaker? After all, finding a reliable pool of custom content providers is usually time-consuming and often unsuccessful.
New technologies have allowed groundbreaking services – like Junta42 Match, which launched last week – to play Cupid for North America's very best branded-content providers and the marketers who want their talent. Connect with your ideal custom content provider or choose from several carefully-selected options … at no cost! Click here to find out more or join today.
* April 2008 study conducted by Junta42
Marketing & Media Buying
What Do These Six Companies Have in Common?
Advanstar. AT&T. Canon. ConAgra. McGraw-Hill. JPMorgan.
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.
The Importance of Advertising During Times of Economic Uncertainty ... It's a Fact
86% of marketers agree that when you see a company advertising in a down economy, it keeps them top-of-mind during your purchase decisions and you feel more positive about that company’s commitment to its products and services.*
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.
* 2001 Yankelovich Harris Study
Top Media Moves
Looking to tap into the so-called “green” movement, Nielsen Business Media will launch a digital “eco” spin-off of one of its titles. The quarterly EcoImpressions will be “devoted to information and education on eco-friendly products and sustainable practices in the decorated apparel and promotional products industries.”
Business matchmaking site “Junta42 Match” has opened its doors to brand marketers everywhere.
The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) has signed a multi-year contract with Freeman to act as its official services contractor.
Event Calendar
Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Invitational
August 11, 2008, Hartsdale, NY
This annual golf and tennis tournament fundraiser benefits the Business Press Educational Foundation (BPEF), which actively promotes the business media industry among college students nationwide. The invitational draws more than 100 media executives who compete for fun and to support the BPEF’s scholarship and internship programs. Sponsorship opportunities are still available; Contact Jane O’Connor for details.
Click here for more information …
Member Event of the Week
Aspermont Limited's Investor Series Melbourne
July 30, 2008, Sofitel Melbourne
Click here to find out more.
To see your event featured here, please contact us at info@abmmail.com.
Job of the Week
Sales Representative, Putman Media
Blog of the Week
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.
Digital Media Council
Thursday, July 10, 2008, 11:00 AM EST
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