September 6th, 2010

September 6th, 2010
US Postal News
Standard Mail Volume Up Again in July ...............................................................................................1
Book Industry News
New Industry Report Released on Consumer Book-Buying Behaviors .................................................2
E-Books: Larsson Three-peats, Keeps Knopf at No. 1 .........................................................................3
Catalog/Retail Industry News
L.L. Bean Has a Gift for Winning Catalogs...........................................................................................3
Meijer launches digital coupon service.................................................................................................4
Staples Announces Plans to Sell Amazon Kindle.................................................................................5
Target looks to expand clinic business.................................................................................................6
Amazon, Walmart, eBay Top List of Shoppers’ Favorite Online Retailers .............................................6
Direct Marketing Industry News
Customer loyalty gets most marketing dollars in social media: study....................................................6
Young consumers trust offline pitches more than online: Epsilon .........................................................7
AMA/Duke University study finds CMOs optimistic about revenue prospects........................................8
Magazine Industry News
Thinner Time magazine still manages to stand out...............................................................................8
Newsweek Taps Mobile Delivery Service for App Storefront ..............................................................10
French Vogue Celebrates 90 .............................................................................................................10
The State of the Printed Magazine Supply Chain in a “Digital World”..................................................11
Conde Nast to Resurrect Gourmet as Specials..................................................................................15
Lucky, Kellogg's Create On-Box Special K Video...............................................................................15
New CEO: Publishing Group of America Poised for ‘Explosive’ Digital Growth ...................................16
ECONOMIC UPDATE
GDP: 1.6% in Q2 2010 (down from 3.7% Q1 2010)
Unemployment Rate: 9.6% in August 2010 (up from 9.5% in July)
Consumer Confidence: 53.5 in August 2010 (up from 50.4 in July)
US POSTAL NEWS
Standard Mail Volume Up Again in July
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(Marketing Powers Activate – August 27 , 2010)
Original Link: http://marketingpowersactivate.com/2010/08/standard-mail-volume-up-again-in-july/
Standard Mail continues to show signs of rebounding, posting a 6.6% increase in volume in July, according
to recently released preliminary financial figures from the Postal Regulatory Commission.
After significant declines in Standard Mail volume in 2008 and 2009, there have been several months of
increases this year. However, the US Postal Service has said Standard Mail volume still remains
significantly below its 2008 level. In addition, the Postal Service said recently that increasing use of
targeted mailings by advertisers and the migration of advertising to other media with continue to adversely
impact Standard Mail volumes.
Despite the increase in Standard Mail volume, the US Postal Service reported a net loss of $764 million in
July as other mail categories continued to decline. First class mail was down 3.6% in July and periodicals
volume was down 7.6%. Total mail volume was up 0.9% for the month for a total of 13.8 billion pieces
BOOK INDUSTRY NEWS
New Industry Report Released on Consumer Book-Buying Behaviors
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(Book Business – August 27 , 2010)
Original Link: http://www.bookbusinessmag.com/article/new-industry-report-released-consumer-bookbuying-behaviors/1
Bibliographic information provider Bowker has released the "2009 U.S. Book Consumer Demographics and
Buying Behaviors Annual Report," which includes consumer-based research on who buys books and why.
The 2009 Annual Report is culled from more 44,000 total respondents, responsible for the purchase of
118,000 books in 2009.
According to Bowker, the report includes in-depth book data, demographics, psychographics and genrecategory breakdowns. "This year's report provides data not available in any other source, with a scope that
captures the changing nature of retail channels, including the growing presence of such mass
merchandisers as Wal-Mart," the company reported in a press release issued this week. "Further, the
report captures the explosion of new electronic formats."
"With the exponential growth of e-books, the continuously shifting channels and buying patterns of
consumers, and the need to effectively micro-market to readers through social networks, Bowker's
PubTrack Consumer is fast becoming an indispensable tool for today's publishing industry," says Kelly
Gallagher , vice president of publisher services for Bowker. "While traditional [Point of Sale] data is still
valuable, having a more complete view of today's book buyer is essential to thriving in an industry that's as
fast-paced as ours."
The 2009 Annual Report has been expanded from last year's report to include exploration into quarterly
trends, in-depth analysis on digital books and virtual "bookshelves" that facilitate understanding of
consumer buying behavior. The content also includes Bowker's 2009 book production statistics, which
reveal the growth of print-on-demand and provide a benchmark for the number of new titles—and their
genre breakdowns—produced in the United States.
Some highlights from the report are:
*More than 40 percent of Americans over the age of 13 purchased a book in 2009, and the average age of
the American book buyer is 42.
*Women lead men in overall purchases, contributing 64 percent of sales. Even among detective and thriller
genres, women top 60 percent of the sales. Fantasy titles are purchased evenly by men and women.
*Baby-boomers are the largest purchasing generation, making up 30 percent of sales. Their elders—
matures—contribute 16 percent.
*More income doesn't mean more book purchases. Thirty-two percent of the books purchased in 2009
were from households earning less than $35,000 annually, and 20 percent of those sales were for
children's books.
*The top-selling non-fiction genre is biography-autobiography.
E-Books: Larsson Three-peats, Keeps Knopf at No. 1
(Book Publishing Report – September 1st, 2010)Original Link:
http://www.bookpublishingreport.com/content/e-books-larsson-three-peats-keeps-knopf-no-1
Easily outpacing all of his competition, including Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love that benefited from a
Julia Roberts-starring film-adaptation, the late Stieg Larsson once again landed his Millennium Trilogy atop
Simba’s consolidated list of bestselling titles—based on weekly studies of bestsellers from Amazon, Barnes
& Noble and Sony—in August, marking the third month in a row for the author. This is the first time an
author has dominated the top spots for such a long period since Stephenie Meyer’s extraordinary Twilight
run.
The first book in the series, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, managed to strengthen during the month,
topping out at No. 1 and earning a rating of 99.3, its highest score yet. Neither of the other two titles, The
Girl who Played with Fire and The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, managed to break No. 1, but did pull
off respectable 95.6 and 97.9 ratings, respectively. Only Eat, Pray, Love managed to even come close to
the trilogy’s numbers, boasting a 93.6.
In all, Larsson ended the month with a consolidated rating of 292.8, down from last month’s 293.4 but
above June’s 291.9. Though the rating is nowhere near the highs the aforementioned Meyer saw last year,
Larsson’s August rating was well ahead of all others: though none of her titles graced the top 20, Charlaine
Harris was the closest, at 173.3, with James Patterson, who had two books in the top 20, coming in at No.
3 with 152.3.
Knopf once again led August publishers, with Larsson’s titles helping it drive up to a consolidated rating of
373.8. The remainder came from the No. 6 title for the month, Carl Hiaasen’s Star Island, which brought the
publisher 81 additional points. The Public Domain imprint, composed entirely of free books found
predominantly on Amazon’s bestseller list, was at a somewhat distant No. 2, its rating a 271.8. Though no
Public Domain books have broke the top 20 as of yet, its proliferation on the Kindle list shows free
electronic books are definitely a force to be reckoned with.
CATALOG/RETAIL INDUSTRY NEWS
L.L. Bean Has a Gift for Winning Catalogs
(Multichannel Merchant – August 26th, 2010)
Original Link: http://multichannelmerchant.com/awards/0826-ll-bean-mcm-awards-2010/
Walmart will bring back thousands of items previously cut through Project Impact, scrap the deep
"Rollbacks" it tried in April and May and reduce ad spending to "historical levels" as new U.S. President
William Simon wastes no time reversing much of what his predecessor did.
Moves such as returning merchandise displays to the "Action Alley" aisles of Walmart stores have already
resulted in better customer traffic and sales in July than during the prior two months of the just-completed
fiscal second quarter, said Mr. Simon on a pre-recorded Aug. 17 earnings call. He assumed his current
post in July as his predecessor, Vice Chairman Eduardo Castro-Wright, moved to new duties overseeing
global e-commerce and sourcing.
"We plan to win in every category and let customers decide through their purchase decisions what to
include in our assortment," Mr. Simon said. The statement was an apparent nod to Project Impact's "Win,
Play, Show" strategy, in which the retailer ranked categories based on profitability and strategic
importance, as well as in response to complaints from some suppliers about assortment decisions based
on factors other than consumer appeal.
Mr. Simon said he's placing an emphasis on strengthening supplier relationships, and that store and
regional managers are getting greater leeway to merchandise and manage assortment.
Despite changes after he took over the unit in July, Walmart's same-store sales were down 1.8%, on top of
a 1.5% decline in the prior-year quarter. "It will take time to see significant changes in our comps," Mr.
Simon said, though he expects improvement by the fourth quarter.
Mr. Simon acknowledged, as many supplier executives have said in recent months, that many of the deep
"Rollbacks" on merchandise last quarter were funded out of Walmart's margin, not supplier funds. But he
said the company began putting "the emphasis back on our core [Everyday Low Price] model" in July.
Walmart beat profit expectations modestly, despite the Rollback investments and increased inventory costs
to restock Action Alley, Mr. Simon said. That result came through reductions in operating expenses,
including a reduction in ad spending to "historical levels," after a substantial hike earlier in the year, he said.
Walmart executives, including CEO Mike Duke, didn't fully repudiate the wide-ranging Project Impact
initiated by Mr. Castro-Wright and former Chief Merchandising Officer John Fleming, who left the retailer
earlier this month. The store-remodeling aspect of Project Impact is continuing as planned this quarter, with
thousands of items previously cut being brought back, rather than the hundreds previously indicated. But
for the first time in many quarters, executives didn't mention Project Impact by name.
Mr. Simon and his team are "moving rapidly to build on the initiatives that worked and adjusting those that
have not worked," Mr. Duke said.
Meijer launches digital coupon service
(Retailing Today – August 30th, 2010)
Original Link: http://www.retailingtoday.com/story.aspx?section=General&id=150361
Meijer has launched mPerks, its first digital coupon program. By signing up at mperks.meijer.com,
shoppers can preview and select coupons for their favorite national or Meijer own brand products that are
then stored in their personal mPerks account, the company reported. The applicable coupons are then
instantly redeemed when shoppers code in their mobile phone number at check-out.
"With the advent of our new mPerks program, we've developed a smart and convenient way to keep more
money in our customers' pockets," said Frank Guglielmi, director of public relations for Meijer. "No more
clipping or printing of coupons. This is a faster and easier way to save money right at the register. We
anticipate that this will be viewed quite favorably by a great many of our customers."
Once a digital coupon is selected on the mPerks microsite, it will be active in the shopper's personal
account until redeemed or expired. At check-out, the mPerks member enters a mobile phone number,
which will serve as his or her account number. Once the number is keyed in, it instantly triggers the
coupon savings.
Meijer said it is considering additional features to be introduced in the coming months to offer increased
convenience, selections and savings for mPerks members. To help spur enrollment in the new program,
the retailer is offering customers who sign up for the service a $2 electronic coupon good towards their first
purchase through Sept. 18.
Staples Announces Plans to Sell Amazon Kindle
(Printing Impression – August 31st, 2010)
Original Link:http://www.piworld.com/article/staples-announces-plans-sell-amazon-kindle-ereaders-books/1
Staples, Inc. announced today plans to offer customers Amazon Kindles in all of its stores nationwide
beginning this fall. Interactive displays will allow customers to experience the product before they buy and
to learn more about the new generation Kindle.
"Staples is not just bringing this incredible product to our 1,550+ U.S. stores, but we are offering customers
a chance to discover first-hand Amazon's revolutionary reading device," said Jevin Eagle, executive vice
president of merchandising and marketing at Staples. "As part of our efforts to offer customers a wide
range of top technology products and services at amazing values, the new Kindle is a natural fit."
Kindle offers the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read. The Kindle Store now
has more than 670,000 books, including New Releases and 107 of 111 New York Times Best Sellers. Over
550,000 of these books are $9.99 or less, including 73 New York Times Best Sellers. Kindle lets you Buy
Once, Read Everywhere—on Kindle, Kindle 3G, Kindle DX, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, Mac, PC, BlackBerry
and Android-based devices. Amazon's Whispersync technology syncs your place across devices, so you
can pick up where you left off.
Staples will carry the following new Kindle devices:
Kindle ($139.00) — 6" diagonal
Kindle 3G ($189.00) — 6" diagonal
Kindle DX ($379.00) — 9.7" diagonal (available at Staples late fall 2010)
"We are excited that such a great company and brand as Staples will be offering the new generation Kindle
to its customers," said Steve Kessel, Senior Vice President, Amazon Kindle. "Staples will be offering its
customers a great experience with Kindle—the ability to think of a book and be reading it in less than 60
seconds, read on a screen that is easy on the eyes even in bright sunlight, carry thousands of books with
them wherever they go in just 8.5 ounces—all for only $139."
Staples will also carry a full assortment of Kindle accessories. Kindle is part of several new exciting
technology products available from Staples in time for the 2010 holiday season. Staples will announce their
full line-up of top tech products and other great savings for the season later this fall.
Customers can take advantage of Staples' extensive technology offerings year-round as well. Staples
makes buying technology easy as one of the leading retailers of computers, printers, software, ink and
toner. In addition, at every U.S. store, Staples EasyTechs provide customers with a wide range of
technology services such as new computer set-up, hardware and software installations, data transfer and
security, and repair and troubleshooting. Visit www.staples.com/techservices to learn more.
Target looks to expand clinic business
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(Drugstorenews.com – September 1 , 2010)
Original Link: http://www.drugstorenews.com/story.aspx?id=150619&menuid=333
Target is looking to open eight new Target Clinic locations in Chicago and Palm Beach, Fla., in September,
according to the retailer's website.
Target currently has 28 clinics in Minnesota and Maryland, according to the website. The healthcare
services in Minnesota and Maryland are provided by Target Clinic Medical Associates, an unaffiliated
corporation not owned or operated by Target Corp. Fees for most services range from $59 to $69.
Amazon, Walmart, eBay Top List of Shoppers’ Favorite Online Retailers
(The New York Times – August 30th, 2010)
Original Link: http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/newsstands-will-carry-gourmet-again-aftera-fashion/
Rumors that Condé Nast is bringing back Gourmet are true, up to a point.
The publisher said this morning that it will produce three “special edition” magazines built around recipes
that were published in Gourmet before its demise last year. The first, called Gourmet Quick Kitchen, is
made up of 81 fast recipes, freshened up with new photography, kitchen hints and menus that suggest
wine pairings. Edited by one old Gourmet hand, Kemp Minifie, along with Catherine Kelley, the 128-page
magazine goes on sale at some newsstands and at the Condé Nast store on Sept. 7 for $10.99.
“We think Gourmet readers will be thrilled once they see this on the newsstand,” said Frederika Brookfield,
a spokesperson for the publisher.
Gourmet Quick Kitchen has no paid advertisements, although Ms. Brookfield said that future editions might.
DIRECT MARKETING INDUSTRY NEWS
Customer loyalty gets most marketing dollars in social media: study
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(DM News – August 27 , 2010)
Original Link: http://www.dmnews.com/customer-loyalty-gets-most-marketing-dollars-in-social-mediastudy/article/177686/
Marketers are spending nearly twice as much to deepen customer loyalty as they do on other core social
media marketing programs, according to a report by the Direct Marketing Association and Colloquy, a
loyalty marketing organization.
The study, released August 27, says the average social media spend for marketers whose primary goal is
to obtain customer loyalty is $88,000, compared to $53,000 for brand awareness and $30,000 for customer
acquisition.
The research indicated that social media budgets for loyalty programs have experienced the highest growth
over the last three years.
“It's still important to use all of the [traditional] loyalty principles, but with new techniques,” said Yoram
Wurmser, DMA research manager.
However, the report indicated that marketers are spending a low amount of money on social media in
general. The organizations found that 17% of respondents allocated 1% of their annual budget to social
media, while 16% said they allocated 4% to 5%.
Wurmser said he was surprised to learn that two-thirds of survey respondents do not know what methods
have been most effective in their social media programs. He also pointed out that 65% of companies don't
use a listening tool to track online conversations.
“I would think that more companies would want to monitor what is being said about them online,” he said.
“Seeing the impact of your campaigns to justify the expenditure for marketing is critical.”
Wurmser said that the biggest challenge he sees for marketers is making themselves a part of consumers'
conversations, as much as they need to dictate them.
“Marketers must integrate themselves into the conversations,” he said.
The survey was conducted between late June and early July to both DMA's membership and Colloquy's
subscribers. Results were based on 369 respondents who handle social media spending.
Young consumers trust offline pitches more than online: Epsilon
(DM News – August 27th, 2010)
Original Link: http://www.dmnews.com/young-consumers-trust-offline-pitches-more-than-onlineepsilon/article/177666/
Young consumers may live their lives online, but they trust offline marketing pitches more than web-based
ones, according to a survey.
Eighteen-to-34-year-old consumers say offline sources are more trustworthy for a variety of product
information, according to a poll by marketing services firm Epsilon. The ratio of consumers in that age
group who prefer offline information to online was 3-to-1 for categories such as personal care (62% to
22%), food (66% to 23%) and cleaning products (66% to 20%). The only category where young consumers
preferred online sources was travel, where 42% preferred web-based sources to 35% who preferred online
information.
“A key takeaway from this research is that marketers targeting coveted 18-to-34-year-olds who are tempted
to invest solely in social media could be missing a significant portion of their audience," said Warren Storey,
EVP of ICOM, the data and analytics division of Epsilon that conducted the survey.
The survey of 2,569 households in the US and 2,209 in Canada found respondents of all ages rated friends
and family as the most trustworthy source of product information, followed by newspapers and company
websites.
The poll also found privacy is a concern for all age groups. Thirty-six percent of US households and 38% of
Canadians said mail information is more private than e-mail, compared to 29% of US respondents and 35%
of Canadians in 2008.
However, the study noted that only 25% of respondents are getting more postal mail now than a year ago,
while 72% of US households and 66% of Canadians say they're getting more e-mail.
AMA/Duke University study finds CMOs optimistic about revenue prospects
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(B to B Online – August 31 , 2010)
Original Link: http://www.btobonline.com/article/20100831/FREE/100839982/ama-duke-university-studyfinds-cmos-optimistic-about-revenue
Senior marketers are sanguine about their current revenue prospects, although they are not as confident
about the U.S. economy, according to a new study from the American Marketing Association and Duke
University's Fugua School of Business.
The “August 2010 CMO Survey” was based on an online survey of 574 U.S. CMOs conducted in the third
quarter.
It found that only 35% of CMOs feel more optimistic about the U.S. economy now than they did in the
second quarter, although 64% said they are more optimistic about their own companies' current revenue
prospects.
The survey also found that marketers will devote an average 18% of their total marketing budget to social
media within five years, up from 6% today.
However, less than one-third of companies use conversion tracking or customer-level revenue-related
analytics to evaluate the effectiveness of their social media efforts.
MAGAZINE INDUSTRY NEWS
Thinner Time magazine still manages to stand out
(The Washington Post – August 30th, 2010)
Original Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/29/AR2010082902749.html
Rick Stengel may have his shoulder in a sling, but when it comes to the newsmagazine wars, he's the last
man standing.The reason, says Time's managing editor, is that "we saw what was coming. We wanted to
fix the roof when the sun was shining."
With the roof having fallen in on Newsweek (which is being sold to a 92-year-old business mogul) and U.S.
News & World Report (which has mostly moved online), Stengel isn't just boasting when he says, "We've
become a category of one." Time is a smaller magazine than when he took over four years ago, but its
survival is no mean feat in such a toxic environment for print publications.
What's more, the constant drumbeat about the imminent death of newsmagazines -- building "since we
were in short pants," Stengel says -- made the challenge especially tricky. And Time has done it mainly
with serious journalism, moving away from the celebrity covers that were once a staple of the genre.
A cover story still has an impact: Time's recent "Is America Islamophobic?" helped broaden the "mosque"
debate, and last week's "The Case Against Homeownership" was both contrarian and well-timed, given
plummeting housing sales. (It "hit the zeitgeist," Stengel proclaims -- a bull's-eye in magazine-speak.)
The impact of such covers may not be as great as when Time asked "Is God Dead?" in 1966, but then
again, media audiences everywhere are shrinking. And Time's Web site -- which no longer posts the
magazine's stories until two weeks later -- has boosted its audience by 47 percent in the last two years, to 7
million monthly visitors, according to Nielsen.
Gains and losses
Sidney Harman, the audio equipment magnate who is buying Newsweek from The Washington Post Co.,
told the Wall Street Journal last week that he'd be happy to break even in three years. Time, company
sources say, is on track to earn a profit of more than $50 million this year.
"I've never taken any satisfaction in their downward spiral, but obviously it does create opportunities for us,"
Stengel says, adding that he hopes Newsweek makes it. Harman has yet to name an editor to succeed Jon
Meacham.
Stengel, a natural salesman who recently had shoulder surgery after aggravating an old high school injury
playing basketball, hasn't grown complacent. While he had to trim the roughly 200-person staff by a quarter
over four years, relying more on freelancers, he has assembled a team of high-profile writers. These
include a spate of journalists from The Post, including Michael Grunwald, David Von Drehle and
Pulitzer Prize winner Barton Gellman. Stengel also brought in Mark Halperin from ABC, Michael Crowley
from the New Republic and, most recently, Fareed Zakaria from Newsweek. "He's a great global brand,"
Stengel says, adding that Zakaria can promote his stories on his show at CNN, a unit of Time Warner.
Time has lost a few big-name contributors as well, including Michael Kinsley, Andrew Sullivan and Bill
Kristol. And Stengel, a speechwriter for Bill Bradley's presidential campaign, has no prominent conservative
to balance liberal columnist Joe Klein.
After being locked for decades in a Coke-Pepsi race, Time and Newsweek both decided to downsize. Time
has shrunk its circulation from 4 million to 3.25 million, shedding giveaway or discounted circulation.
Both abandoned weekly news summaries, which in the digital age felt like an irrelevant throwback to the
days of Henry Luce. Time adopted what Stengel calls "reported analysis," stories with a clear point of view - often left of center -- that were rooted in shoe-leather work. Newsweek, which moved more sharply left,
bet the ranch last year on more opinionated essays and columns -- and lost.
Having cultivated a long relationship with Steve Jobs, Time landed an exclusive interview for a cover on the
launch of the iPad -- and becoming the first news publication to have its app on the hot new tablet.
Of course, it's not possible to be original all the time. After the recent cover story titled "What Animals
Think," Slate's Jack Shafer pointed out that Time ran a 1993 story ("Can Animals Think?") and a 1999
cover (also headlined "Can Animals Think?") on the subject. Stengel laughs off the history, saying: "It
actually sold really well."
Backed by the resources of Time Warner, Stengel has also pursued such moneymaking ventures as a twoday conference in South Africa during the World Cup, staged with Fortune and CNN. The keynote speakers
were Bill Clinton and Bishop Desmond Tutu.
One lasting change may have been the simplest. Stengel believes that switching publication from Monday
to Friday -- he unveils the cover every Thursday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" -- was important because the
magazine became weekend reading.
Time.com now offers a news feed, a collection of links aimed at stopping such sites as the Huffington Post
from cannibalizing its traffic. The company plans to offer tiered pricing for access to the Web site, the
magazine or something in between.
Another upgrade is the Swampland blog, with reporters such as Klein contributing. "I thought it was
important for us to have an interactive relationship with our readers," Klein says. But he still has
reservations: "I'm sometimes too quick. I've made mistakes as a blogger that I would never make as a
columnist." He says the feedback is valuable but that the posted comments tend to be dominated by
extremists.
Buoyed by Time's recent success, Stengel uses a word not generally associated with plain old journalism:
"We have the nirvana that people are looking for. We have a product that people actually like and are
willing to pay for."
Newsweek Taps Mobile Delivery Service for App Storefront
(Folio – August 30th, 2010)
Original Link: http://www.foliomag.com/2010/newsweek-taps-mobile-delivery-service-app-storefront
As publishers become more comfortable with the iPad apps and other mobile apps, managing distribution
and back-end metrics are the next critical steps. While Apple brokers the transaction with native iPad apps,
the developer still has to build the infrastructure, which includes managing IT and server infrastructure,
negotiating for bandwidth and updating content.
For its iPad app, Newsweek has tapped Urban Airship, which offers a storefront for “in-app” purchases and
gives the developers the ability to deliver content from directly within an application without sending the
user back to the App store. In-app purchases and in-app content downloads are available with each issue
of Newsweek.
Currently, Newsweek is offering a one-time fee, yet hopes to be adding a subscription pricing model soon,
where Urban Airship will be managing subscription start and stop dates for each user as well as “the
business rules behind access to magazine issues and content delivery,” according Hila Dar, product
director of Newsweek Digital.
With storefronts delivering content of less than 25MB, Urban Airship charges $0.05 per download. For
downloads between 25MB and 150MB, the price increases to $0.10 per download. (For transactions
greater than 150MB, the publisher needs to contact Urban Airship.
“We may explore using this model for other app features,” says Dar. “We’re really looking forward to
implementing the subscription models. Hopefully, we can pursue an auto-renew feature in the future.
Currently users will have to manually renew, due to Apple limitations and tying in push notifications would
be a great usage driver as well.”
French Vogue Celebrates 90
(WWD.com – August 31st, 2010)
Original Link: http://www.wwd.com/media-news?module=tn#/articlehttp://www.wwd.com/medianews/fashion-memopad/french-vogue-celebrates-90-a-bigger-niche-cindy-sherman-wears-chanel3232215?page=1
BIG EASY: French Vogue’s October issue, marking its 90th anniversary, will be a vrai whopper, and très
collectible, too. Weighing in at 622 pages and with model Lara Stone on the cover, it is slated to hit
newsstands around Sept. 20, in time for Milan Fashion Week and a costume ball in Paris on Sept. 30 to
celebrate it. Since the French title’s 75th anniversary issue had an historical slant, editor in chief Carine
Roitfeld decided to take another tack, seamlessly mixing the past and the present to showcase the
magazine’s enduring threads of daring and modernity. “Vogue Paris has always played the card of
audacity,” Roitfeld said, showing a 1976 Guy Bourdin image juxtaposed with a 2004 Patrick Demarchelier
one, each oozing a hard-edged erotic glamour. Roitfeld didn’t show all her cards, but hinted at some
surprises inside. “We couldn’t do a lukewarm issue,” she teased.
The magazine will carry 276 traditional advertising pages, plus 104 pages of congratulations from a wide
swath of international designers. That compares with a total of 166 ad pages last October.
Roitfeld and her team pulled together a well that spans more than 150 pages, corralling its regular
photographers to contribute new shoots: Mario Sorrenti, David Sims, Terry Richardson, Steven Klein, Hedi
Slimane and the duos Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott and Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.
Slimane’s feature focuses on a classic — the little black dress — but on a surprising model: the 11-year-old
daughter of Inès de la Fressange. Showing how timeless some Vogue features were, Roitfeld opted to
republish an arresting black-and-white portrait and interview with actress Romy Schneider exactly as it was
in 1962, including the miniscule photo credit for Helmut Newton. “The archives of Vogue are extraordinary,”
she enthused.
As a gift to readers — in France, at least — the issue will come polybagged with a portfolio of oversize
photographs from the nine decades, all unbound on thick paper and ready to frame. The cover price has
been bumped up to 5.90 euros, or about $7.50 at current exchange, to cover the exorbitant printing costs,
and Vogue increased the global print run by 40 percent, to 280,000 copies, in anticipation of strong
demand. Roitfeld noted the October issue also will introduce new typography and an “easier-to-read,
clearer” design that will be fully evident in the November issue.
The State of the Printed Magazine Supply Chain in a “Digital World”
(Folio – September 1st, 2010)
Original Link: http://www.foliomag.com/2010/state-printed-magazine-supply-chain-digital-world
The prediction of the demise of the printed magazine is extremely premature. Why? Because the printed
magazine supply chain has evolved through innovations and collaboration throughout the supply chain.
However, there remain a couple huge issues that can make all of the progress achieved a moot point.
The Magazine Publisher
The magazine map can form the hub of in-house planning and execution for each magazine issue,
exchanging data in real-time with other in-house systems as well as with the printer.
Helping also is the ability to track materials status while developing the map, even optimizing
manufacturing and distribution costs (including geo/demo) as you map the magazine to provide “what if”
options, like the cost of adding four pages.
The map thereby forms the most complete database of information about the magazine issue. This has
become increasingly relevant to all sectors of the magazine supply chain, particularly with your printer, as
you will see below.
How Three Very Different Publishers Approach Production
Wholesale technological improvement by publishers in this digital age has favored creativity while reducing
publisher and printer turnaround time and expenses.
For String Letter Publishing, an enthusiast publisher targeting aficionados of stringed instruments, a report
is generated from its ad management system and imported into JournalDesigner (the magazine map from
dataplan GmbH) to create specific ad spaces and editorial layouts. Efficient signature sizes and bind-in
insert card placement is determined entirely in JournalDesigner. The map is created by dragging and
dropping the editorial sections and ad blocks onto the main JournalDesigner workspace, and a PDF of the
map is sent to the printer, Fry Communications.
Most of String’s photography is done in house and the publisher uses Adobe InDesign and InCopy for page
layout. Two rounds of laser proofs are circulated within the office, PDFs (in PDF/X-1a standard format) are
exported from InDesign using a printer-supplied Prinergy setting and uploaded to the printer’s InSite.
Once the pages are uploaded all staffers are able to log-on to the printer’s ASP-Hosted InSite and use the
Smart Review component for a final look at editorial content, ads, live area, trim, bleed, trapping, make any
annotations and approve or reject pages. Corrections are made and pages are resent until all are satisfied.
The final OK is given for the printer to print, and within a few days copies arrive at the publisher’s office.
On average it takes three weeks for String to have an issue ready for the printer and another week for the
printer to produce the magazine for shipping or mailing, according to production manager Hugh O’Connor.
Affinity Group, a publisher for the recreational vehicle market, has relied on automated workflows for years,
from the use of Managing Editor’s ALS for paginating to QPS and a PDF workflow that is status-based and
scripted to create and flight check PDF files from the Quark XPress layouts. “Those software efficiencies
have allowed for perhaps a 40 percent reduction in pre-press labor costs over the past few years,” says
vice president of production Bob Dawson.
Hearst Magazines has an entirely different situation due to the size of its page volume. “We produce all of
our pre-press and imaging production in-house in a centralized location enabling us to maximize the best
talent and take full advantage of our existing technology,” says director of pre-media imaging Ken Pecca.
Hearst handles all of its own imaging work and page production through the Kodak InSite system, which it
uses to collaborate on things like strategically sourcing simple imaging work (silos, simple background
extensions and masking), design collaboration with off-site creative directors, request correction, and
requesting reviews and approvals.
“All this kicks off our automation with our partners at any location including delivery of final print-ready
pages to our print partners,” says Pecca. “InSite really has empowered us to communicate globally and
collaborate on things from initial virtual proofing and image mark-up to creative design and out-the-door
with final page production.”
How Printer and Paper Suppliers Are Impacting the Supply Chain
Printer and paper suppliers are hugely impacting the supply chain—for better (value-added programs) or
worse (escalating paper pricing).
“Printers are no longer just concerned about ink-on-paper, but also offer a number of new value-added
programs to their customers,” according to Alan Snyder, general manager of Trifecta Interactive
Productions.
Such programs can be intended for helping the publisher with the printed magazine or supporting other
platforms. For example, there are a number of emerging technologies to leverage the printed piece to
bridge over to mobile, and online. Some quick examples include 2-D barcodes, texting and augmented
reality. By bringing bonus content (videos, Web sites, coupons, messages and so on) to print readers, it
enhances their experience, generates leads and allows for a much broader upsell to the printed ad.
Press manufacturing technology has progressed significantly, including a big effort by all manufacturers in
the past five years to reduce make-ready waste. Full autoplate, electronic line shafts, CIP3 software, CLCC
with gray balance and inking and de-inking software based on coverage have all helped to get the press up
to color and in register more quickly.
Binders run faster today, with the strongest trend towards co-mailing while binding in order to enable
several postal work-sharing program savings. Unfortunately, the escalating price of paper continues
unabated, due to consolidation of paper companies and the shutdown of paper mills.
Besides reducing basis weight, the publisher can positively influence the cost of paper by targeting the
lowest paper spoilage factors amongst all printing bids during print negotiations. They even can incorporate
provisions in which consistently lower annual consumption becomes the new contract allowances for the
next annual review.
At the same time, have the printer offer follow-on (or “repeat”) make-ready pricing (and paper contract
allowances) to certainly no more than what you pay in regional plate changes. In job planning, you can then
accomplish both forms of savings by planning the same press form setup (including imposition and press
unit color requirements) on as many forms as possible so that only plates are changed between like press
forms.
Printer Consolidation Driving Pricing Up
The consolidation of printers also poses the same risk of increasing manufacturing prices for the magazine
industry. “With the lion’s share of print contracts now in the hands of only two suppliers and with print plant
closures just announced, I would expect upward pressure in the market for print buyers over the next few
years,” says Dawson.
The solution to this is to shop around for printers. In addition to the two behemoths—Quad/Graphics and
R.R. Donnelley—there are several great full-service printers like Fry Communications, Ovid Bell Press,
Cummings, Brown Printing, Publishers Press, Cenveo and the Sheridan Group, that offer many of the
same value-added services and perhaps more competitive pricing.
And, you need to accurately monetize benefits and expenses (including value-added programs) into your
pricing comparison to ensure your entire company financially benefits—whether in cost savings or new
revenue opportunities (such as geo/demo target marketing).
Newsstand Magazine Distribution Is a “Mix Bag”
Yes, you want a cover that grabs the consumer’s attention at the newsstand. Spot UV, foil, embossing,
specialty folds and 3-D covers can all maximize newsstand sell-through and thereby provide leads for
additional subscription sales.
Unfortunately, much of the same 21-day cycle process (shipping from the printer to on-sale at the
newsstand) that has endured since the 1950s has NOT improved in spite of the prevailing concern that
print magazines need to be more current when reaching magazine racks.
The hold-up is that the contraction in the number of wholesalers has meant having to cover more retailers
over a wider area for those remaining wholesalers.
In helping to better automate the process, production association IDEAlliance (proponent of the PDF/X-1a
standard), is also developing advanced shipping notice for creating efficiencies in shipping for the
wholesaler-distributor-logistics supply chain.
“The IDEAlliance Shipping and Logistics Working Group has just completed the first draft of its Advance
Shipment Notice Functional Specification,” says David Steinhardt, president and CEO of IDEAlliance. ”The
ASN provides individual trailer inventory of inbound shipments to improve efficiency in the shipping and
delivery processes, by providing information to the destination’s receiving operations in advance of delivery
so that the delivery can be processed efficiently. Trailer and magazine data will be provided within the ASN,
with pallet data optional.”
Subscriptions and the USPS
Unfortunately, the United States Postal Service has a full monopoly and is operated as a quasigovernmental agency hobbled with a mandate forced on the USPS by Congress: the USPS has to (at the
least) break even.
Normally, making a profit is accomplished by one or a combination of two options: reduce expenses and/or
raise revenues. Unfortunately for the USPS—outside of work-sharing programs—it can only raise
revenues, and exorbitantly so, as in the recent USPS exigent request to raise rates for magazines by 8
percent! This—if continued unabated—could easily close the doors for many printed magazines where a
digital alternative is not as effective.
Why can’t the USPS reduce its expenses sufficiently to avoid raising rates so much? Union obligations and
particularly their retirement benefits. In my opinion, the solution is three-fold: Publishers have aligned
themselves with other mailers (overall about 1,000 mailers and associations including the Magazine
Publishers Association of America) to form the Affordable Mail Alliance to fight the latest proposed postal
rates.
The second, as far as I know, is NOT being addressed by mailers: Side-step the USPS to influence
Congress to bring USPS’ charter more in line with what for-profit businesses have to live with. Most
importantly, union labor contracts have to be more in line with the marketplace. As customers of the USPS,
publishers and other mailers need a larger voice speaking to Congress for eliminating the underlying
causes.
Scott Lorenz, director of logistics at Hearst Magazines, relates the progress of three work-sharing
programs recently instituted by the USPS:
• Efficiencies in the supply chain as a result of IMB – Intelligent Mail Barcode.
“Many publishers adopted IMB because most co-mail pools require the new workflow that includes IMB
technology,” says Lorenz. “Next year, the plan is to eliminate the postnet barcode, so if that happens, IMB
will become the primary technology in this arena.”
• Flats Sequence System (FSS) and efficiencies/cost reduction for mail sortation for carriers.
FSS is a giant flats sorting machine that will allow, within the FSS sort zones, flats to be put in delivery
order for mail carriers, similar to how letters are sequenced. The idea is to save time by not sorting flats
manually in the delivery unit, and spend more time delivering the mail. Routes can be made larger. “The
challenge to publishers becomes managing both FSS and non-FSS zones in the same mailing,” says
Lorenz. “Two presorts and preparations are needed, and so it is a challenge to maintain the lowest
combined cost. It also may cause two different critical entry times for the same reason, and this can have
an impact on service.”
• Efficiencies built through dataflow by PostalOne and the underlying specifications developed by
IDEAlliance—Mail.dat and Mail.XML. “These are the tools of the trade, and I cannot imagine a world
without them,” says Lorenz.
In closing, the tremendous progress of the printed magazine supply chain in competing in a “Digital World”
can cement the printed magazine’s future in many cases, IF magazine delivery and paper stock issues as
covered herein are satisfactorily resolved.
In contrast, there is now even talk of charging for Internet use! One ISP is talking about a surcharge for
high volume traffic users.
If this is not stopped, it can open the gates to other Internet usage surcharges, compromising the savings
that publishers otherwise would lay out for a digital magazine in lieu of the printed magazine.
Conde Nast to Resurrect Gourmet as Specials
(The New York Times – August 30th, 2010)
Original Link: http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/newsstands-will-carry-gourmet-again-aftera-fashion/
Rumors that Condé Nast is bringing back Gourmet are true, up to a point.
The publisher said this morning that it will produce three “special edition” magazines built around recipes
that were published in Gourmet before its demise last year. The first, called Gourmet Quick Kitchen, is
made up of 81 fast recipes, freshened up with new photography, kitchen hints and menus that suggest
wine pairings. Edited by one old Gourmet hand, Kemp Minifie, along with Catherine Kelley, the 128-page
magazine goes on sale at some newsstands and at the Condé Nast store on Sept. 7 for $10.99.
“We think Gourmet readers will be thrilled once they see this on the newsstand,” said Frederika Brookfield,
a spokesperson for the publisher.
Gourmet Quick Kitchen has no paid advertisements, although Ms. Brookfield said that future editions might.
Lucky, Kellogg's Create On-Box Special K Video
(Mediaweek – September 1st, 2010)
Original Link: http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/magazinesnewspapers/e3if8bce819609628b5f44c200fea0bf518
From the pages of its monthly magazine to its iPhone app, Lucky has found various ways to disseminate its
pro-shopping message to consumers. Now, it has a new one: cereal boxes.
The Condé Nast title has teamed up with Kellogg’s to put a link to a Lucky-produced video on boxes of
Special K. It’s part of the cereal maker’s weight-loss initiative, The Special K Challenge.
By swiping their smartphones across Microsoft Tag 2D barcodes on the cereal box, consumers can launch
a video that shows Lucky editor at large Elise Loehnen talking about finding figure-flattering jeans. The
barcodes will appear on 20 million boxes of cereal and other Special K-branded products starting Sept. 1.
Lucky’s online director, Mary Gail Pezzimenti, said Kellogg’s approached Lucky after seeing the
magazine’s own use of barcodes that link to styling videos.
“We started doing barcodes in February and Special K took notice of it,” she said. “They wanted to do
something for their Special K Challenge and were interested in using Microsoft barcodes, and they wanted
to use our videos.”
No money is changing hands in the deal, but Lucky hopes it will raise awareness of its brand and
potentially drive subscriptions, which are promoted in the video.
“It’s incredible brand awareness,” Pezzimenti said.
New CEO: Publishing Group of America Poised for ‘Explosive’ Digital Growth
(Folio – September 1st, 2010)
Original Link: http://www.foliomag.com/2010/new-ceo-publishing-group-america-poised-explosive-digitalgrowth
Dick Porter is stepping down as CEO of newspaper magazine Publishing Group of America in order to
“pursue other opportunities,” the company announced Wednesday. Succeeding him is John Cobb, a former
senior vice president of digital at Source Interlink Media, where he oversaw more than 100 Web properties.
In a statement announcing the leadership change, Cobb says the Publishing Group of America is
“committed to providing value to our newspaper partners and a high-quality medium for national advertisers
to reach valuable local markets,” and says the company is poised for “explosive growth in the digital
space.” When contacted by FOLIO:, a spokesperson said more details about the company's digital strategy
will come "at a future time."
Through the first half, the Publishing Group of America says its magazines are up 37 percent in advertising
pages over 2009, according to Publishers Information Bureau figures. The biggest ad page growth came
from American Profile which reported a 32.5 percent increase during the six-month period. The company
also publishes Relish (+26 percent in first-half ad pages) and Spry (+3.1 percent).