FOLIO: Section Blogs by B2B

The Media Company of Tomorrow: One Executive’s Take

Jason Fell — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:37:43 -0500

One of our keynote presentations at the virtual FOLIO: Show Virtual last week included a panel of leading executives in the industry, including F+W Media CEO David Nussbaum.

Nussbaum gave one of the most provocative responses during the hour-long discussion, essentially saying that print advertising is an irrevocably declining source of revenue, and that companies that don’t recognize that do so at their own risk.

As it turns out, Nussbaum jotted down some notes to the questions I asked the panelists to consider in advance. Here are Nussbaum’s notes, with the questions that prompted his thoughts.

Q: When will the industry see some recovery?
A: This is totally unclear, but there is a sense that we have found the bottom of the market. However, with consumers still under siege (credit difficulties, high unemployment, no or low salary increases), it is hard to see what the impetus will be for growth.

Q: What will the recovery look like?
A: I don’t think it will be ad driven. But rather, we’ll see an expansion of marketing budgets looking for “non-traditional ways to reach buyers.” That will mean everything from custom content solutions, to one-to-one marketing, and expanding our portfolio around our core brands to create new, profitable products and subscription services, like Webinars, which are a growing part of our business.

Q: Will we see the robust industry health of 2005 to 2006 again?
A: I really don’t know.

Q: How will the business be different going forward?
A: In a few ways.

1. Print advertising will continue to be a no growth-to-declining business.
2. Events will rebound, but event producers will need to find a way to mitigate the high costs of exhibiting.
3. High quality and unique content, always at a premium, will be even more important as the Holy Grail of dollars for content will become even more intense.
4. Staff size will be kept lean, with those making it through the recession owning a wider variety of skill sets than those who came before. We need to be bringing new talent to the industry from outside our standard recruitment channels, and producing new ideas across e-commerce, retail, social media. There’s no limit to what we can learn.
5. Online advertising rates will continue to erode, but engagement will be at a premium.
6. Social networks, location-based marketing, custom content selection—these will all be critical for future media providers. And those who aren’t already building their communities may get left behind.

Q: Are media companies being disintermediated on the reader side through social media and blogs?
A: Yes and no. Yes in that there is much more competition for community building, for content presentation and for lead generation. No in that media companies are becoming strong participants in the blogosphere and in using social networks to both build community and drive traffic to sell stuff. F+W and other enthusiast media companies have a unique advantage in that our communities already exist, created around a common interest or goal. Being of and in the community, and respected and trusted though our own blogs, positions us well. Social media interactions are the key.

Q: What are the most important things media companies can do now? Adjust organizational structure? Change their approach to content creation? Layoffs? Debt reduction?
A: Media companies need to find a way to focus as vertically as possible, make community building the core of existence, ensure that staff is cross-trained, fleet of mind, and willing to adapt to radical change comfortably. Portfolio management is critical. Organize your resources around the core communities and properties with the most opportunity for success.

Q: What will the media company of 2012 look like?
A: Community focused, really good at demographic analysis, excellent at nurturing around verticals, diverse in terms of product offerings and delivery systems, Web centric, advertising will be considered gravy, customers pay for content and contribute to the creation of content.

Q: What is the most important lesson og the 2007-2009 recession?
A: The sheer desire of people to adapt and to participate in tomorrow. I have really been impressed with the willingness of people to learn and to change.

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At ABM Forum, Publishers Wonder If Marketers Have Lost Touch With Branding

Matt Kinsman — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:40:48 -0500

During the American Business Media Executive Forum in New York yesterday, BusinessWeek chief economist Michael Mandel gave long suffering publishers some hope by saying he believes there is a "media boom" coming in which marketers will reinvest in many of the traditional channels they've cut back.

The ABM Executive Forum was held in place of ABM's usual Chicago-based Top Management Meeting, and drew around 200 attendees.

Other speakers weren't so sure about Mandel's forecast. "I don't think print will ever come back, it will probably stay at the current level," said Anthea Stratigos, co-founder and CEO of Outsell Inc.

Stratigos also threw cold water on paid content. "Paid content could be more challenged in 2010 than 2009," she added. "Spending by the end-user is decreasing and there is no automatic leverage from ad-based assets to paid content. Media companies come in at the lowest price point."

However, one speaker wondered about the marketer backlash against branding. ‘I'm concerned that marketers have lost touch with branding," said Jeff DeBalko, president and CIO of Reed Business Information. "We can show them research where at least 30 percent of the audience wants to read print in favor of any other medium and marketers don't get it. Direct response used to be the gutter of marketing, now it's the nirvana."

That's not to say Reed is ignoring it. In recent years, lead generation has gone from zero to one-third of Reed's overall online revenue and is a component of 80 percent to 90 percent of Reed's online products, DeBalko added.

Still, DeBalko is worried about advertiser mindset. "We spoke with one agency guy who just talked about how he could cut the budget by 30 percent. A couple years ago advertisers would pay us $1 million for something with a lot of neat features. Now they'll pay one-third of that and everything has to be measured and provide leads. If we as an industry continue to offer the same thing but for 30 percent less, we're out of business."
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How One Publisher is Tweaking its Event Strategy and Predicting 10% Growth For 2010

Matt Kinsman — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:55:50 -0400

If there is one area suffering almost as much as print, it's events. While trade show revenue dropped 3.5 percent in 2008, it fell a whopping 20.1 percent through the first quarter of 2009, according to American Business Media. Reed Exhibitions (which operates independently of Reed Business Information), saw revenue and adjusted operating profits plunge 22 percent and 26 percent, respectively, in the first half of the year.
Nielsen Business Media vp of business development Eric Biener says events haven't fallen as much as print but when they do, it hurts more. "Even small declines have a huge impact on our infrastructure," he adds.

Hanley Wood enjoyed a record year for its events in 2008 but is experiencing significant declines in 2009 (two long-time executives, exhibitions group president Galen Poss and executive vice president Michael Green, left the company in June). However, it's 2010 that really concerns CEO Frank Anton.
"The real bad news is that the business in 2010 will take further hits in both exhibit space and attendance, and we're budgeting accordingly-almost all of the big shows will suffer double digit declines in revenue and earnings," he adds. "This will be the first time our shows have declined in a meaningful and painful way."
Everything Channel's Five Steps To Growth
Still, one b-to-b publisher saw growth from events in 2009 and is predicting 10 percent growth from events in 2010. "Based on the way people got squeezed this year, marketers are going into 2010 with compromised budgets," says Nancy Hammervik, senior vice president and managing director of Everything Channel Events. "One of the positive outcomes of a challenging market is that it causes you to think smarter. You get as tight as you can while evaluating everything you do."

Here are some of the steps Hammervik is taking:
1. Hosted Buyer/Seller Events: Much of the reason Everything Channel Events is up in 2009 is its hosted model, in which the publisher qualifies a very specific audience and guarantees deliverability by flying out buyers to meet with vendors. "The conferences are smaller but they deliver higher ROI for clients," says Hammervik.
2. Re-evaluating the Life Span of Legacy Events (including the Hosted Model) and Emphasizing Scale: Everything Channel is assessing which legacy events have run their course. "That's something we've never really had to do before," says Hammervik.
That includes scaling back the hosted model in favor of events that can produce larger margins. "The thing about hosted models is they don't scale," she adds. "The bigger they get, the more they cost. The way you grow is to do more-we went from six events to 24. The margin for hosted events is typically half your revenue. At first that sounds great: if you do a $2 million event, you make $1 million. But if you have a $500,000 event, it's $250,000 to just recruit and host."
Everything Channel has had a standalone channel for the Latin American community and did hosted events that put buyers and sellers together in Miami. "It's been five years, it matches the budgets vendors will spend on second or third tier emerging markets, but it requires a lot of energy and resources without offering a lot of return on margin," says Hammervik
Folding four events-two retail XChanges, the Latin America XChange and Project Portfolio & Management-into other events will save Everything Channel almost $4 million in expenses next year, according to Hammervik
3. Launching New Events
Still, Hammervik recognizes that saving on expenses doesn't equal generating revenue. "We all realize that with co-locating events, one plus one plus one will never equal three," Hammervik adds. "Vendors won't spend what they did at an individual event. If we combine XChange Latin America with the U.S. event, it may equal one and a half out of two. We'll lose 50 percent on revenue, but we're saving significantly on expenses."
Everything Channel is rolling out a series of regional events around the emerging category of "cloud computing." "We did something similar five years ago with managed services-people didn't really understand what it was about and we responded with road shows," Hammervik says. "We're rolling out at least six one-day regional events. We're being more cautious about not doing three-day events. That makes it easier for attendees and vendors to manage."
The publisher will also launch a series of events recognizing women executives in high tech, including a "Top 100 Women" channel. The program will include three events for women executives including a three-day conference and two one-day awards shows on the East and West Coasts. Everything Channel will also take a similar approach recognizing the Top 100 CIOs.
4. Custom Events Will Drive Half the Growth Next Year
Hammervik is making an aggressive push into custom event services. "We have been doing that on the side but we're making a significant investment next year in staff and marketing to try to make it a big business," she says. "We think half our growth next year will come from custom event services."
While marketers have increasingly taken on publishing duties for themselves-including events, Webinars, even magazines-Hammervik sees an opportunity for publishers to win that business back. "Vendors themselves have lost headcount and resources. Their core competency is making and selling technology, not doing events."
5. Complementing Live Events With Virtual Events
Many publishers have experimented with virtual events in place of their traditional live event this year (including FOLIO:). Everything Channel sees an opportunity in offering Web services around live events as both a preview and community-builder. "A month before the live event, the virtual event will be active," Hammervik says. "Sponsors can pre-qualify attendees and schedule live meetings with prospects."
Hammervik is looking at charging an additional $5,000-$10,000 to add virtual components to live event sponsorships. "If we have 100 vendors, that will be a significant revenue stream," she says.
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Want to Innovate? Look to the Little Guys

Matt Kinsman — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:41:26 -0400

Recently, FOLIOmag.com did a story on Waukesha, Wisconsin-based enthusiast publisher Kalmbach Publishing Co. buying Cabin Life. It was a small deal, the type that pops up several times a week (or used to before M&A crashed along with everything else), yet it generated a volume of reads usually associated with stories about much larger transactions. Or lay-offs. Or Cygnus Business Media.
Why? Because Kalmbach, which publishes 15 special interest magazines with total circulation of 1 million plus, knows what they are and what they need to be, even amidst the changes of the media industry. In 2008, they generated more than $50 million in sales for the sixth year in a row (in April 2009, president Gerald "Butch" Boettcher made our FOLIO: 40 list honoring notables in the magazine industry). As one reader commented on the story, "I'd venture a guess that's why these guys have been around 75 years and are able to make an acquisition while other publishers struggle to deal with the Internet and the economy."
At a time when many larger publishers that traditionally defined this market are stuck between a rock and a covenant, it's the smaller players who are coming through, reinventing themselves when it makes sense (such as Churm Media aggressively investing in digital and seeing triple-digit growth after enduring a 20 percent revenue plunge) or having faith in a model that works (like Kalmbach), and not just chasing the latest fad for its own sake.
At FOLIO:, we take pride in the fact that we've covered these smaller publishers all along. But after receiving two e-mail promotions from two different industry associations in the recent weeks announcing that-news flash-our "mindset has to change," I think it's time to recognize that the market leaders aren't who they used to be.
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Bloomberg and BusinessWeek: The Future of Magazines?

Matt Kinsman — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:35:31 -0400

Many years ago when I had the good fortune to work for Ziff-Davis, I read a quote from Bill Ziff about how publishing had changed. I've lost the quote but it went something like this:
"It used to be that our business was run by enthusiastic eccentrics—people who worked and lived day in and day out in their markets and hardly even realized that they were running a 'business,' in the classical sense, at all."
I brought this idea up speaking to a roomful of publishers at the Niche Magazine Conference in April—that the future may be linked to the past and that the magazines of tomorrow need to be published by independent entrepreneurs and smaller, dedicated companies.
Like Inc. magazine, which was purchased a few years ago by Morningstar founder Joe Mansueto, BusinessWeek under Michael Bloomberg can hopefully enjoy a life beyond the super strict demands of a publically-held company like McGraw-Hill.
Essentially, Michael Bloomberg and Joe Mansueto can afford to ride the economic ups and downs over time and frankly, can also afford to publish at a loss. Even though someone buys a professional sports team telling themselves that they can make it profitable, we all know the real reason is that they are a fan.
If the long-term future of magazines, the short-term will still be wrenching. All the private equity-held companies are reviewing terms with their lenders realizing that these much smaller businesses cannot support the debt. And the industry sea change toward an online world continues to claim many casualties. Yesterday's shuttering of the former Commercial Property News by Nielsen brought another shudder: at Miller Freeman this David Nussbaum-created title was one of the biggest revenue producers and year-after-year the #1 most profitable title in a field of 60 in the 1990s.
It looks like time to bring on the enthusiastic eccentrics.

EDITOR'S NOTE: There was a lot of buzz about the BusinessWeek acquisition yesterday at the MPA's Innovation Summit. As one attendee pointed out to me, "Isn't it crazy that a magazine like BusinessWeek could sell today for a tenth of what Mediabistro sold for only a couple of years ago?" Crazy? Sure. But while Bloomberg's rumored $2 million to $5 million winning bid seems low, the magazine was said to have lost more than $43 million last year and to carry more than $30 million in debt. That had to be factored into the bottom line.
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When Are Layoffs Not Really Layoffs?

Matt Kinsman — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:32:04 -0400

There's a disturbing trend that seems to be growing with publishing companies cutting staff. Not just the cutting (although that's certainly disturbing enough) but attempts to portray cuts as something other than what they really are.
It happened earlier this year with Johnson Publishing, which denied making layoffs but required employees to reapply for new positions within the company.

Most recently, FOLIO: senior online editor Jason Fell asked Advanstar CEO Joe Loggia about reports of 80 lay-offs and was told, "You can't really categorize things as layoffs when they're more of shift in strategy. [While there were layoffs] you have to remember that it's in context that we've had some geographic shifts in strategy and a shift in strategy in regard to our product portfolio."

While Advanstar has also added some new positions, that specific response sparked some truly vitriolic remarks in our comments section. Nobody is happy with lay-offs and I understand trying to emphasize the positive but a publisher downplaying people losing their jobs is going to alienate the remaining work bees engaged in the daily grind of trying to help that publisher crawl out of the hole.
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Job Fears, Not Just Slashed Budgets, Take Toll on Events

Matt Kinsman — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:53:46 -0400

The downturn in event revenue has been brutal for publishers who counted on their tradeshows and conferences to pick up the slide in print in 2009. Tradeshow revenue fell 18.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 and is down about 10 percent through the first four months of 2009, according to American Business Media’s 2009 Media Financial Survey, conducted by ABM and the Jordan, Edmiston Group.

Publishers are betting the downturn is temporary and attendance will bounce back once travel and training budgets are restored. But some event managers are finding that the biggest obstacle to drawing attendees isn’t budgetary at all. It's the fear that the brass will start to think employees are expendable if they spend any time out of the office at a show.

“We’ve got telemarketers pounding the phone and we’re offering deep discounts but people still aren’t coming,” one event manager told FOLIO:. “And it’s not about the money—they’re saying they worry that they’ll be considered for the next round of layoffs if they aren’t seen in the office every day.”

Others are seeing former attendees grounded due to other fears. “We had one group tell us no one in their office is allowed to travel for fear of swine flu,” says another event manager.

Much of the downturn in print may be blamed on false perceptions and hysteria over “old media,” rather than reality. Now the event side is learning just how costly this hysteria can be.
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Law Journal Launches Sotomayor Web Portal

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:20:35 -0400

There have been plenty of bad (even egregious) examples of magazines looking to capitalize on big media stories for their own benefit (see “The Ethics of Covering Heath Ledger,” "People Looks to Capitalize on Newman Death" et al).

This one, however, is a good example of a niche magazine trying to capitalize on a general-interest story that legitimately crossed over to its market.

Incisive Media’s National Law Journal has launched something called “The Choice,” an online “news center tracking breaking news, background, and commentary” related to the nomination and confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the nation’s next Supreme Court justice. The site will pull in original and related coverage from Incisive’s NLJ, American Lawyer and New York Law Journal.
Without a dedicated URL, and a limited shelf life, this may be a short-lived experiment.
But who knows? Maybe it’ll work, maybe it won't, but, at the very least, it’s opportunistic.
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B-to-B One of the Most Active Groups in Social Media

Thu, 28 May 2009 11:54:19 -0400

According to a recently released Forrester Research report—dubbed “The Social Technographics of Business Buyers”—buyers and decision makers in the business-to-business sector are one of the most active groups of people when it comes to social media participation. This can be evidenced by the dramatic growth of LinkedIn.

Forrester surveyed 1200 buyers throughout America and Europe. Because this was a b-to-b survey, buyers were not only asked how they participate in social networks but whether they used them for buying decisions. Some highlights from the study:

• 91 percent of these decision makers were “spectators.” This means you can count on the fact that b-to-b executives are reading blogs, watching user-generated video and participating in other social media.
• Only 5 percent of survey participants were “inactives.”
• 55 percent were “joiners.” These are not college students. These are mature business decision makers. The percentage, according to Forrester, was surprisingly high.
• 43 percent are creating media (blogs, uploading videos, etc.) while 58 percent are “critics” reacting to content viewed in social formats. Again, Forrester says these percentages were quite high when compared to the norm.

If b-to-b publishers are not already taking advantage of social technologies, they may be late to the game. Forrester’s research cautions that social network participants do not feel that information gleaned from such networks is a factor in purchasing decisions—yet. This is bound to change as users get increasingly comfortable with relying on social networks for content, and applications improve. Product recommendations from peers in b-to-b environments should never be underestimated. The go-forward implications for suppliers of goods and services to industry (advertisers) are quite compelling.

As self-proclaimed providers of mission-critical information, b-to-b media organizations need to build out their respective social media components by more aggressively tapping into the intellectual property of their extensive user bases. IP and editorial content is no longer the sole province of employees working within the confines of today’s b-to-b media companies. IP is held by “many.” In the case of the typical b-to-b audience, “many” consist of the executives and employees running their respective industries. Industry executives and their associates offer solutions that media companies could not possibly offer. These decision makers are in the trenches.

My experience dealing with constituencies as diverse as healthcare executives, entertainment industry executives and entrepreneurs has been nothing but positive whenever they are asked to share their expertise with peers. The potential that the proper exploitation of the social-graph holds for b-to-b media companies is enormous. Facilitating industry leader information-share will enable business media to strengthen and secure its position as the prime source of crucial business information.

The challenges monetizing social media have been well-documented in both the consumer and trade press. Though general consumer social media sites have struggled to discover a working revenue model, b-to-b social media sites should not be viewed in the same light. The role of the b-to-b publisher is to serve highly specialized audiences with very specific needs. In the universe of b-to-b media, decision makers have self-identified through long-standing qualification efforts. Once media companies demonstrate buyer engagement with this medium, vendor dollars will follow.

Savvy b-to-b media organizations will use social media to meet their customers in a genre where that customer’s general information consumption habits are taking them—Facebook, MySpace and Twitter to name a few. Given the behaviors of executives worldwide—as documented by Forrester—business media organizations that pursue a comprehensive social media strategy should find themselves well-positioned for a profitable future.
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Is Publishing Becoming a Minimum Wage Trade?

Matt Kinsman — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:54:32 -0400

The memo received by BNP Media staffers this week alerting them to 25 percent salary cuts for the foreseeable future includes a line that jumps off the page almost as much as that "25 percent" figure: "Minimum wage will be the floor for this reduction."

It's a line that assures employees the company won't be cutting below minimum wage (which of course, would be illegal), and only applies to those support positions that may be hovering around minimum wage after the 25 percent cuts.

But still, are things so bad that we have to be assured now that salaries won't be cut to minimum wage? Salary cuts usually start at the top and the Henderson family (who owns BNP) have taken theirs as well. However, an associate editor making $40,000 who is hit with a 25 percent salary cut is suddenly making $30,000. Forget trying to live on that in publishing capitals like New York City-that's a tough hit anywhere (BNP is based near Detroit).

As publishers continue to make cuts to keep their businesses alive, they need to be mindful of labor rules and regulations in their state, particularly with employees below a certain salary level. As Southern Breeze editor Mark Newman noted in FOLIO:'s March issue, many high level employees (particularly editors) need to "stop being figureheads and do some work." But for those entry and associate level employees, for whom the historic trade-off has always been "low pay but great experience," the returns are getting harder to justify.

The company leaders who impose these cuts will need to balance their contribution margins against the eventual pushback: The unwillingness of their teams to tolerate major pay cuts even as they're being asked to do significantly more work. It's a dangerously narrow line to walk.
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Penton CEO: ‘We Are Not Showing Growth’

Jason Fell — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:46:52 -0400

RELATED: Penton Cuts Workweek, Reduces Pay
Penton Media CEO Sharon Rowlands announced a workweek reduction from five days to four days this summer and a corresponding reduction in salary pay.

In a memo to staffers, Rowlands said a number of the company’s properties during the first quarter reported financial results that were “significantly below” the same period last year and “well below budget.”

Here’s is Rowland’s entire memo:
Hello Everyone,

I wanted to provide a brief update on how we did in quarter one and share with you some important steps we are taking to further control our expenses going forward.

The first quarter was the toughest in my business career. Not only did many of our properties report results that were significantly below a year ago and well below budget, but while we were reorganizing along the lines of markets, we were forced to eliminate a number of positions across the company. This isn’t uncommon in the world today especially for companies in the media industry and ones that have a heavy debt burden. We squeaked through the first quarter thanks to all of your efforts - but the next couple of quarters aren’t looking easy.

So we have to balance short and long term decisions in times like these. Some of these are really the right decisions for the businesses - like resizing audiences and identifying more efficient ways of doing things. Others may seem counter to what we want to accomplish long-term - like dramatically reducing the sizes of magazines or the amount of content. After all, if our content is so valuable, wouldn’t our readers need MORE of it right now? Sure, but remember that one of our Achilles heels is that we are mostly supported by advertising which has collapsed.

Speaking of advertising, it has not only collapsed in print, but as a company, we haven’t shown the growth we should on the web. Penton is really tracking a long way behind the industry in terms of percent of revenue that is digital, and we are not showing growth. The good news is we have great focus on changing this picture and longer term I am bullish on what we can do here, but it won’t change overnight.

We have some tremendous exhibition franchises that on the whole pulled us through 2008 and contributed a lot of our growth last year. There will be pressure on these businesses as customers are forced to cut back all their marketing spends. Even some of our strongest shows will show negative growth this year.

Despite incredible pressure on our businesses, we achieved a great deal throughout the first few months of the year - we reorganized our business into a market-facing structure; we delivered our audit significantly ahead of prior year; a number of our businesses delivered great financial results given the economy; and in response to my request, Penton employees provided over 150 ideas to help reduce our expense base.

While we are proud of these achievements in quarter one, the stark reality is that our overall revenue picture continues to rapidly decline. This is not a reflection of our efforts but the result of the widespread financial erosion impacting almost every business and importantly the industries we serve. I wish I could wave a magic wand and change the momentum to a positive one quicker, but it’s not possible, and whilst I continue to believe we have tremendous opportunities ahead and we will see this business flourishing in the future, today we still have a tough road ahead for a few quarters.

As you well know, over the past several months, we have attempted to offset our revenue challenges with proactive cost saving measures – as I listed above. These actions, coupled with your contributions in scrutinizing every expense, have lessened the impact. However, with no clear indication that the economy will turn in the short-term and with our revenues continuing to decline, further action is required to ensure Penton remains fundamentally sound.

Please know that the senior management team and I have carefully weighed the need for the measures I am about to announce. We consider our employees our company’s greatest asset. We are committed to doing everything possible to keep our company on track and to provide you with stable and rewarding employment. With that said, in light of the current circumstances, I have made the very difficult decision to implement temporary measures that will impact each employee’s pay.

We are instituting a reduced work schedule during the summer months. From the week before Memorial Day through the week before Labor Day, the Company will reduce its operations from a 5-day work week to a 4-day work week. For many of our businesses this will involve closing our offices on Friday. Other businesses may need to take the reduction in blocks of days. The end result will be the same for every employee at every level however - it will equate to a four day work week and a corresponding reduction in pay to reflect this reduced work schedule.

Whilst the reduction in work week will be contained only to the summer months outlined above, we will spread the pay reduction in smaller increments throughout the end of the year to reduce the immediate financial stress on you and your families. Special rules may apply to employees in California and to non-exempt employees, and we will be reaching out to these employees and their managers with information and specific instructions.

This revised work schedule will not impact your benefits. In some states, you may be eligible for unemployment for the unpaid leave. If you are interested, please contact your local unemployment office. We have prepared a set of Frequently Asked Questions regarding this revised work schedule, which you can find posted on the Pulse. In the next few days, your local leadership will organize group meetings, and there will be follow-up communications from your HR reps giving you more detail.

I understand this is difficult news. Thank you for your understanding and continued dedication. I am confident that if we continue to keep our focus on our customers and commit fully to delivering solutions that drive results, we will not only overcome these short term challenges, we will be better positioned to achieve new levels of success in the years to come. I urge you to try and find some upside in this temporary change and use the extra time for yourself, your family, and your friends – time can be a gift. I don’t say this to belittle the financial impact – I know that this is a big deal. I also want to reinforce that I am determined we will come out of this recession strongly and will go on to do great things. We have some tremendous initiatives across the company that this note isn’t the right vehicle to discuss and plan to share my thoughts with you through a video communication that you will see in the next 10 days. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your manager, any member of our Human Resources Team, or me directly. And thank you again.

Regards,
Sharon
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Penton ‘Will Never Again’ Be Dependent on Print Advertising

Jason Fell — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:15:26 -0400

The outlook for b-to-b advertising revenue for 2009 hasn’t been looking great. Earlier this month, American Business Media said the economic recession could force advertising revenue in the b-to-b space down 19 to 22 percent in 2009. That’s after revenues plunged 13.1 percent during the fourth quarter of 2008, leading to an overall slide of 7.3 percent.

So, the need for integrated packages is greater now than ever, right? A no-brainer, even.

Today, at the SISO CEO Conference in San Diego, recently-appointed Penton Media CEO Sharon Rowlands [pictured] told attendees that print advertising in trade magazines will not recover to previous levels when the economy rebounds.

“Penton will never again be overwhelmingly dependent on print advertising as it is unlikely to return to historical highs,” Rowlands said. “Advertisers have so many more choices for their marketing campaigns today—ranging from live to on-line events, a variety of electronic products, sophisticated direct marketing, etc. Offering the full array of such media will be what will distinguish the b-to-b winners from the losers in the future.”
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Producing a Magazine Industry Event in a Maelstrom

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:53:41 -0400

I just returned from the FOLIO: Growth Summit in Chicago. We conducted the event in a media-industry maelstrom—events all around us are being cancelled, downsized and postponed. You can’t overstate how hard hit the media industry is right now.

As I walked through the sessions and receptions, both old friends and new ones told me—one after the next—how they’ve had to lay off staff, how they’ve frozen salaries, how they’ve implemented unpaid time off, how they’ve got 2009 issues tracking at 50 percent of last year.

But the publishing executives at FGS weren’t only there to talk about those cost-containment measures. They were there because they want to attack this economic calamity and make something of it. They want to be pro-active, not reactive. They want to be on the offensive and not just hunker down and close their eyes and hope the storm blows over. (The companies and executives who do that are far less likely to survive the next 12 months.)

FGS was for innovators. It was attended by people pushing new forms of paid content, new forms of marketing on behalf of their clients. They’re working with lead generation, lead nurturing and social media.

They want to stay one step ahead, not behind.

And that applies to the suppliers too. The companies that exhibited at FGS are no doubt feeling the same pressure that publishers are. Their customers aren’t buying as much and their revenues are down.

But they, too, want to stay ahead of the crisis. And so they attended. And because they did, they got access to forward-looking companies that are really engaged in seeking solutions—often the solutions that our exhibitors offered.

Yes, the attendance was down, but this FGS felt like a home run. The faculty was tremendous—the presentations were rich and on target, with plenty of valuable takeaways. The keynoters—Jim Malkin, Bob Carrigan and Brad Fayfield—offered great wisdom and insight. I could write blog posts for the next few weeks just on their presentations.

FGS 2009 was invigorating. It felt like our best publishing summit so far.
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'We Need You to Do Something That’s Never Been Done Before'

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:23:06 -0400

The three-day FOLIO: Summit wrapped up in Chicago yesterday. Here are some leftover quotes in our notebooks from keynotes, sessions and chatter in the exhibit hall.
“This is, without a doubt, the worst.”
—Tony Silber, GM, FOLIO:, on how this recession compares to others
"We try to lead with technology, not bleed with technology."
—Scott McCafferty, co-founder, WTWH Media
“People actually read Discover; people who get Sci Am put it on their coffee tables to impress their neighbors.”
—Henry Donahue, president, Discover Media
"If you think you're in control of the content your users or readers are accessing, you're fighting a losing battle."
—Scott McCafferty, co-founder, WTWH Media
"We don't have any money. We don't even have a line item in our budget for digital. We use interns."
—Joan Henderson, publisher, Oklahoma Today
"This perhaps seems like old hat, but can we do these things better? Probably, yes."
—Molly Meloy, VP of marketing and business development, CFO Group, on getting back to sales fundamentals
“CNBC has been the PR Newswire of the New York Stock Exchange for years.”
—Jim Malkin, CEO, Source Media
“The Governor’s Suite takes on a whole new meaning in Chicago.”
—Dylan Stableford, senior editor, digital, FOLIO:
“Our businesses in media have a social, moral and ethical obligation to host that conversation.”
—Malkin on the backlash over AIG bonuses
"When they find you through organic search—that’s the Holy Grail."
—Bob Carrigan, CEO, IDG
“We shouldn’t be talking about church-state anymore. We should be talking about quality content that fills a niche.”
—Malkin
“There are turf wars—still.”
—Howard Roth, eVP, Bonnier, on the sales commission structure governing integrated ad packages
“We're not interested in kids playing Chinese strats learning their first tabs.”
—Peter Sprague, Premier Guitar, on maintaining quality circ
“Advertisers say to us, ‘We need you to do something that’s never been done before, create advertising that’s never been invented, something that’ll get us in the paper.’”
—Jay Lauf, publisher, The Atlantic
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A Publisher Who 'Scrutinized Everything' Still Has to Make Cuts

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 09:53:29 -0500

Here’s the internal announcement regarding the folding of three Vance Publishing décor titles. The market might be unique, but the words should sound familiar to publishers struggling to navigate the economic crisis.
Everyone:

As you all know, we are currently in a worldwide economic recession that is not expected to turn around until some time next year. Advertising has been particularly hard hit. While we have made great strides to develop digital and event business, our primary source of revenue is still print advertising. For the past several months, your management team has painstakingly reviewed each and every one of our expenses. On the production front, we have reduced circulation, folio size and trim size. We have reduced travel for non-sales personnel. We have evaluated our contracts with outside vendors looking for better deals. We have scrutinized everything. These efforts will help the bottom line, but alone, will not be enough to ensure our long-term viability. With the vast majority of our expenses being people, it was with great difficulty that we made the decision to downsize our workforce and cease publication of our Décor brands.

The moves we announced today will allow us to continue to profitably serve the agriculture, beauty and wood industries. We remain optimistic about our future and committed to our mutual success. We appreciate your understanding and professionalism.

Bill Vance
Peggy Walker
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