Not enough space on the Internet

It might seem a contradiction but the Internet doesn't offer enough quality sites to advertise! Despite the millions of sites and billions of pages advertisers will not be able to buy space on their favourite sites. In the USA the contextual inventory on car sites was already sold out before the year started. Web pages can't take a lot more ads as they are already cluttered. McKinsey last year reported that 96% of banner ad spendings is concentrated at sites that represent only 30% of traffic. This also applies to video ads and paid search. Lack of space is a phenomenon unknown to the print industry. The Spanish Vogue of last year with over 1000 pages is a great demonstration of the print industry capabilities.

No chance of passing on a cold at the office

As long as you use the innovation of the US company Domtar chances will be reduced. They developed an office paper that is antimicrobial. This paper is protected by a silver compound against the growth of bacteria, odours, fungus, mold and mildew. The silver compound immediately kills the bacteria after contact with the paper. The company sees a new market opening in the healthcare, laboratory, hospitality, education and governemental sectors.

Magazines doing well in USA

The 2006 figures from the Publishers Information Bureau (PIB) in the USA show that total magazine rate card revenues are up 3,8% compared to 2005. Total ad pages were flat at -0,1% compared to the preceeding year. Drugs and remedies is the largest category representing 10% of total magazine ad dollars, Automotive -that is spending a lot online- still buy most ad pages. The strongest growth comes from Retail showing an increase of 20,5% in dollars and 10% in ad pages. This growth figure is surprising given the interest this category has for online media.

Al Gore's impact on paper

Last week I posted the news about e-paper from the British Plastic Logic company. This week I read about two other developments that are of interest to the paper and media industry. Toshiba has developed a printer and a new substrate that allow a same sheet to be printed up to 500 times. The printer uses thermal technology, a form of plastic sheet and no ink. Toshiba claims that at the production of the printer and using it produces less carbon dioxide. Xerox in the meantime developed an erasable paper. This sounds like a technology developed by Q in the James Bond films. Once printed the paper self-erases in 16-24 hours. "People like paper" says Eric Shrader of PARC (Xerox research center), that explains why an average office worker prints about 1,200 pages a month and trows away 21% the day that they were printed. They print to read not to store. Xerox is also working on electronic reusable paper. This Gyricon sheet is a thin layer of transparent plastic which is "loaded" electronically to display text and images.

Production of e-paper takes off

Plastic Logic (UK) announced yesterday that it will build its first plant to produce displays for e-paper. These flexible active-matrix displays that are thin, light and robust will be at the heart of new readers. The production at the plant in Dresden (Germany) is starting in 2008. People do not want the bulk and weight of paper, they have become more environment conscious and because the reading experience on laptops and PDA's is not optimal Plastic Logic is expecting a great future for e-paper. The market for this new product category is expected to count 41,6 million units in 2010.

Lean Wall Street Journal launced

Yesterday was the launch of the revised -what is called the most trusted newspaper- The Wall Street Journal print and online version. About half a million copies were handed out for free and access to the news site was also free. Most apparent change is the smaller size -almost one column- and the way the articles are displayed. Less articles on the cover page and less articles are continuing on following pages to facilitate reading. Today's front page features only four articles that are continuing on two following pages. I mentioned in other posts that newspapers are working hard to get the hybrid model right. WSJ positions the print edition as providing "what the news means" and the online version as "what's happening right now". With almost 800,000 paid subscribers to the online version it is already one of the biggest news sites.
A recent study from Pew Research in the USA shows that 34% of newspaper readers only read a print version and only 4% both print and online. WSJ now offers both in one package -for subscriptions and advertisers- bridging the two reader groups with a complementary product. I'm curious to see how this will evolve commercially and will keep you posted.

Busy program for cross-media thinkers

February and March promise to be busy period for cross-media researchers and planners of cross-media plans. FIPP organises its second Research Forum in Amsterdam on February 15/16. Topics relate to measurement of readership, evidence of magazines and internet integration, multi-channel measurement and other.
The Online Publishers Association organises in March its Forum for the Future and will cover subjects that have to do with competitiveness, innovation, cross-media and advertising industry.
At CeBit in March FIPP will organise the first digital conference for magazine publishers. The Conference is dedicated to questions related to the online and off-line integration of magazine brands.

100 years of popular culture in print

With 440 pages, at almost 2,5 kilo, with hundreds of covers, showing work of some of the most respected artists, describing the history of style magazine Vogue this book is the perfect gift. It is a beautiful mirror of the changes in society and popular culture and also of media enterpreneurship.

Germans prefer Print

Over thousand Internet users in Germany have been asked about their reading and media preferences. two-fifth of them read a printed edition of a newspaper and one-fifth calls up a website of a newspaper regulary. Two-thirds of the Internet users say they prefer the paper version over the digital, only 20% say that the print version will not play an important role within ten years.

Thinking about skiing

I just saw these nicely designed ads for a US ski resort. As the time for wintersports is approaching I'm already thinking of these red and black coloured slopes. The ads show me the perfect line. Enjoy the glühwein!

Forecasts and good news about direct mail

As the year is ending more consultancies are already concluding the year. The Winterberry Group in the USA states that 2006 was a year of robust growth of 7,5% compared to 2005 estimates. For 2007 the Group projects that growth will continue to outpace the growth of the traditional "above-the-line" investments. Some of the trends they identify are: complex, high-volume multichannel campaigns become the industry standard, delivery costs will drive need for data hygiene, agencies will integrate analytics and consumer targeting services, media-mix reallocation will threaten direct mail share, digital print applications will grow and catalogue marketers will reduce the number of pages but not the circulation.

Online expenditures drive forecast 2006/07

Carat - the media services group - announced last week that global ad expenditure will grow 6 percent this year, which comes from 5,7% forecasted in June this year. Online media are increasing in all regions, in the USA with 20 percent. Some markets demonstrate interesting developments. In Spain new formats in radio, TV, new digital entrants and the free newspaper titles boost growth. The UK shows a very different change, TV ad revenue will decline with 7% in 2006, Internet expenditures will grow with 40% and will represent a larger share than magazines this year. Internet share represents 5,2% of global ad expenditures in 2006, up from 4,3% in 2005.

Business media advertising revenue steady

The American Business Media recent figures on ad pages and revenues over the period September 2005-2006 shows a slight increase of 1,11% and 0,9% respectively. Business media are often seen as vulnerable to online magazines. The stable performance over 2005-2006 indicates the strength of the printed channel for readers and advertisers.

Will print media create blue oceans?

Last week during the International Marketing Congress in Belgium I listened to the presentation of Professor Chan Kim on the concept of Blue Ocean. For those who are not familiar with this concept, it is based upon the idea that instead of competing head-to-head with rivals companies make them irrelevant by defining a new market space. And this new market space is like a Blue Ocean, in comparison to the Red Ocean that is coloured red through the bloodshed of heavy competition.
It would be interesting to see how this strategy applies to the media world. Consumers have become more selective and advertisers even more focussed on accountability, which makes it for players in the media market even more diffcult to survive. The entire media industry is in great flux and it will take time and quite some courage to make the necessary changes and strategic moves. Technology is defining the pace and the direction of change today; the web 2.0 defines where we go today, not Mr. Murdoch. The billboard industry in the USA is flourishing because of the integration of the traditional and new media; publishers are trying out different models of integration and so do TV channels. Will content in the future be a branded product and delivered via different channels owned by independent media companies or will consumers get and organise the news? News covered in print, on the web, on TV, on your PSP, on your mobile. Will the consumer survive this "always on" society without a media-free space? Will the medium still be the message or will the branded message take over the role of the medium? It is time for business and communication visionaires, sociologists, marketeers and psychologists to give their input and develop strategies that will create this blue ocean.

Posters selling people

Posters are probably the oldest media used to sell people. Because of their public character it was and still is the ideal way to express views and ideas to a broad group of people. The Dutch have recently opened a website that presents an overview of 2500 political posters. Overviews by type of election or by party offer an interesting perspective on messaging, style and "zeitgeist" through the last 40 years. I have noticed some very nice nostalgic posters for De Boerenpartij and PSP. The site will without doubt become a popular source of research for professional communicators and students.

A CEO blog is part of PR

Earlier this week I was invited to a presentation by Debbie Weil, author of The Corporate Blogging Book. It struck me that she and the panel were of the opinion that corporate blogging should not be part of corporate PR. CEO's and workers should comply with guidelines set forward by the company, but are free in their choice of subjects. As blogs are personal and representing the company company bloggers should not be limited by company strategies is the argument. Blogs are conversations with customers, interested people and other stake-holders. Personal blogs of CEO's can paint a personal view of the company and might give the company a more human face. The blogs can also touch on subjects that are on the corporate agenda, or could lead to a corporate agenda . For these reasons I think blogs should be part of a corporate approach even when the point-of-view is personal and coming from the CEO. This is not to say that the PR department should write the blog, the CEO should continue doing this, but with direction of the PR department. (A friend of mine told me the other day they have eight people working at his internationally operating company that work on software and systems to eavesdrop everything that is being published on the company on certain subjects and people. Nothing remains hidden for those who search for it. A huge task for PR and CEO's to remain on top). By the way, Ben this was a great party and nice people.

Toyota wins Sappi Print Media Efficiency Award at Euro Effies

At the Euro Effies 2006 competition Toyota was awarded with the Sappi Print Media Efficiency Award. This Award honours Effie Winners that have spent at least 40% of their budget on print media. This is a great way to support and also to demonstrate the advertising value of print. The Toyota case is on strengthening the "environmentally friendly" character of the brand. Eighty percent of the total budget was allocated to print media that reached the opinion leaders in Europe. The campaign generated a return of € 2.58 for every € 1 spent and increased the awareness of Toyota as an environmental leader to 61% (of people having seen the ad).

Run or die?

Kyoo Kim, vice president sales at U.S.-based msnbc.com at the Beyond the Printed Word Conference: "Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up knowing it must run faster than the fastest lion or be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up knowing it must outrun the slowest gazelle, or starve. So it doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a gazelle; when the sun comes up you'd better be running." But when you can not beat your competitor you join them! This years Conference organised by Ifra dealt with the integration of the digital world in the newspaper publishing world. It put special emphasis on Web 2.0 applications that make services, interactivity and user content standard.

Dual business model for newspapers - 2

Ifra, one of the world's leading organisations for newspaper and media publishing announced the winners of the XMA Cross Media Awards. These Awards are honouring new and successful trends and practices in multiple-media sports coverage. Nine prizes were awarded in three categories, depending on the circulation. Winners include The Guardian, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, New York Times and titles from Germany, Argentina, Spain, Croatia and Belgium.

Consumers spend more time online and in front of TV

For the first time consumers in Europe are spending more time online than reading magazines and newspapers. Research shows that consumers in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain are devoting more time online (4 hours/week) and watching TV ( 12 hours/week). Time spend on reading print remains at 3 hours/week. These data will force marketers to rethink communication strategies.