Subject: November 10, 2006 -- A Special Report from the ABC Conference in Las Vegas

From: "Circulation Management" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2006 14:09:34 -0500

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Your Circulation News >> Friday, November 10, 2006

IN THIS ISSUE

NEWS:  A Special Report from the ABC Conference in Las Vegas
Accountability is Theme of Day 1: "Trust But Verify"
The Buyers Panel
The Sellers Panel
Joint Panel

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NEWS

Accountability is Theme of Day 1: "Trust But Verify"

By Kristina Joukhadar

The tagline of this year’s ABC Annual Conference is “Accountability: The Rules of Engagement.” Thursday’s sessions were focused on accountability, first from the advertiser and agency point of view; then from the publishers’. Finally, a third panel session of both buyers and sellers served to sum up the main ideas.

Conference chairman Robert Althaus, VP circulation, Gannett Co., Inc., prefaced the panels with reference to the ABC mission statement and the way the bureau was formed in 1914 to bring accountability to the “chaotic print marketplace.” He said that with all the industry has gone through over the past few years, “Trust me doesn’t quite cut it anymore.”

The Buyers Panel

The panel of buyers—which included Rob Britton, brand development and advertising, American Airlines; Alec Gerster, CEO, Initiative Worldwide; Darynda Jenkins, VP, group media director, TM Advertising; Craig Sinclair, VP, advertising, Walgreen Co.; and Judy Vogel, director, communication insights, OMD—opened with a nutshell version from each on what’s right and what’s wrong with the new digital media.

Considering the fact that print media has increasingly been forced to compete with digital media for ad dollars; and that digital media lends itself so readily to documentation and tracking of results, whereas the print world has been struggling with accountability, what the panelists had to say about accountability in digital media was both enlightening and more than a little ironic...

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The Sellers Panel

The second panel included Michael Clinton, executive VP, chief marketing officer and publishing director, Hearst Magazines; Michelle Ebanks, president, Essence Communications Inc.; Gary Pruitt, chairman of the board, president and CEO, The McClatchy Company; and Dennis Skulsky, president, CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.

The publishers’ panel focused primarily on ethical circulation practices and trust. Pruitt spoke of the incredibly high cost to a business if its circulation is called into question--in terms not only of dollars, but also of time and credibility in the marketplace...

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Joint Panel

The third panel, moderated by Brian Segal, president and CEO, Rogers Publishing, Rogers Media, consisted of Jack Griffin, president, Publishing Group, Meredith Corporation; John Griffin, president, Magazine Group, National Geographic Society; Jim Hopson, VP, Lee Enterprises; Robin Steinberg, senior VP, director, MediaVest Print Investment, MediaVest USA; and Dave Walker, president, business and strategic development, Newspaper Services of America, Inc.

One of the main questions posed by this panel was: how do you make sense of the new metrics when you are using the old metrics, because the new ones are not institutionalized? How do we get to a new institutionalized metric?

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Norwalk, CT 06855
Tel. (203) 854-6730
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Editors:
Kristina Joukhadar, Managing Editor
Chandra Johnson-Greene, Associate Editor

Advertising Inquiries:
Tony Silber, Publisher
Gina Gavish, Advertising Director
John Ellertson, Regional Sales Manager
Karen Putrimas, Sr. Sales Manager, Directory Group

Exhibit & Sponsorship Inquiries:
Kelly Koenig, Dir. Exhibit & Sponsorship

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