Time Inc. In Hot Water Over Sponsored Sales Programs

With all the recent examination of circulation's underbelly, one wonders whether circulation rules and loopholes are becoming more rampant that tax law. Time Inc. has been subpoenaed to turn over information about its sponsored sales programs under which the publisher can sell subscriptions to sponsors for as little as one cent an issue. Those paid subscriptions, which end up distributed in public spaces, are noted by Time as paid subscriptions which help up the publisher's rate base. Time has decided to re-qualify these as "qualified" on its ABC Publisher Statements which will move about five percent of the publisher's circulation out of the paid category.

by Steve Hall    Sep-23-05    
Topic: Publishing



Gossip Blog Launches Queer Blog

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Celebrity blog Jossip publisher David Hauslaib has launched Queerty, a blog about all things queer. It's written by blog superstar Bradford Shellhammer of pre-blogging blog fame and published by Hauslaib.

Hauslaib, who, writing in the launch announcement says he'd "feel luckier than Michael Phelps' Speedo if he could snag a mention in your magazine, newspaper, blog, dinner conversation or mental dialogue," promises the blog will focus on fashion and style, entertainment and celebrity, news and politics, relationships and sex -- and "any other really, really gay topic we (or you, our readers) can come up with." Lest Adrants be accused of changing teams, there's an advertising angle here as well. Hauslaib says, "Queerty puts advertisers in touch with this affluent demographic, which has long been abandoned by mainstream blog publishers."

With the launch of Queerty, Hauslaib can now officially hang with the big boys of blog publishing, Denton and Calacanis.

by Steve Hall    Sep- 6-05    
Topic: Publishing, Weblogs



Time Inc. Tightens T&E Expenses

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The clearing house for internal media conglomerate memos, otherwise known as Gawker, reports Time Inc is tightening the old Travel & Entertainment budget across all properties. This intercepted memo to Sports Illustrated employees urges them to "adopt a heightened awareness with regard to spending and be as frugal with the company's money as you would with your own." Staffers are urged to take Yellow cabs versus, we assume, limos; to fly only in cattle-class; to limit submitted entertainment expenses to story subjects and source - as opposed to, oh, friends, aunts, girlfriends; and staff meeting may not be catered. Oh, the horror of it all!

by Steve Hall    Aug-26-05    
Topic: Magazine, Policy, Publishing



Playboy to Go Digital

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Placing jokes about digits aside for a moment, lad-mag granddaddy Playboy will launch a digital addition of the magazine with its October issue on September 13th. The digital addition will be powered by Zinio Systems. As with the print edition, the digital version will be available for subscription and single copy sale. While Playboy does have a website with some of the magazine's content, Zinio systems will reproduce the magazine online exactly as it appears in print. Playboy's Lingerie is already produced digitally by Zinio.

Hoping for further worldwide reach, the move is more likely in reaction to the publication's declining numbers. Year-to-date ad pages are down 15 percent, the magazine missed its 3.15 million rate base by 35,002 and newsstand sales are down 23.2 percent. Zino says circulation of digital editions, on average, amount to five percent of print circulation. All other variable being equal, that brings an additional 157,500 readers though, likely, a considerable percentage of digital subscribers will come from canceled print subscriptions lessening the increase.

by Steve Hall    Aug-26-05    
Topic: Magazine, Online, Publishing



Advertising Veteran Slams Industry in New Book

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Thirteen year advertising industry veteran Hadji Williams has published a book, Knock the Hustle: How to Save Your Job And Your Life From Corporate America, which takes a look inside corporate America, focusing on the ad industry, and calls the whole thing a scam with calling diversity a joke and, by design, keeping the ad industry as lily-white as ever; claiming Madison Avenue a place with no morals; calling he agency/client relationship a pimp and ho relationship; citing focus groups and time sheets useless because of continuous cover your ass antics; ridiculing corporate hierarchies with too many bosses and not enough leaders and naming marketers as pied pipers who need to look in the mirror before criticizing pop culture.

While we haven't read the book, our own experience in the industry, while perhaps not as negative as Williams' seems to have been, certainly leads us to believe Williams may not be too far off the mark.

by Steve Hall    Aug- 9-05    
Topic: Publishing



Technology Could Kill the Media Buy/Sell Relationship

With the increasing automation of the media buy/sell relationship, there has been a shift towards forcing a square peg in a round whole when it comes to a buyer gleaning information from a media seller for consideration as part of a media program. It's only natural to try to streamline the process but when it eliminates viable media properties, simply because the media property can't fit its (very worthy) square peg sell into the buyer's myopic, square buy hole, that's a very bad thing. And, seemingly, it's all done, not without merit, just to get all potential media vehicles on the same proverbial playing field so the buyer can then compare them using the same set of metrics. Well, an apple isn't an orange and it never will be but apples and oranges are both, still, food worthy of consumption.

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by Steve Hall    Jul-22-05    
Topic: Agencies, Opinion, Publishing



Book Promoted With 'TwattyGirl' Apparel

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Having gone to trademark court to prove the word "TwattyGirl" is "not immoral or scandalous," let alone referential to a particular female body part, New York-based hedge fund executive Precious Marlowe (again, who names their kids like this?) has launched an apparel brand called TwattyGirl. According to the press release, the line is "designed for independent, sexy, bold, outspoken women from 18-45 and is inspired by the main character, TwattyGirl, in Marlowe's forthcoming novel – 'Bulletproof –Things Twattygirl Told You, But You Didn't Want to Hear.'" Of course, this whole thing is just a stunt to promote the book.

The line will include t-shirts with inspirational slogans or "twattyisms" along with lingerie, jewelry, baseball caps and greeting cards.

by Steve Hall    Jul-21-05    
Topic: Publishing, Specialty, Strange



McGraw-Hill to Sell Textbook Ads

Likely to be viewed with as much acceptance as Catholic nuns running around in thongs, textbook publisher McGraw-Hill Ryerson plans to sell ads in textbooks used by Canadian college students. So in the middle of college physics when Brad Pitt stares up and asks, "Honey, Want A Heineken," the professor shouldn't be all that surprised when all the females in class suddenly start squirming in their seats completely forgetting that E=MC2.

by Steve Hall    Jun- 9-05    
Topic: Publishing



Harlequin Uses 'Mr. Romance' Winners to Promote Books

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Because navel gazing isn't just for men, we thought we'd let you know trashy novel publisher Harlequin has tapped Oxygen Network Mr. Romance winner Randy Ritchwood and Viewer's Choice winner Andrew Larson to grace the covers of the company's new novel covers. All this to promote books.

by Steve Hall    Jun- 2-05    
Topic: Publishing



New York Times Reporter Joins Ad Age

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Advertising Age announced three editorial additions "designed to strengthen its global leadership position in coverage of the advertising, marketing and media industries."

Effective June 15, Nat Ives will join Advertising Age as a media reporter covering the publishing industry and corporate media strategies. Ives has been at The New York Times since 2001, where he wrote hundreds of stories on advertising and media, many of them focused on the exploration of new forms of marketing.

I wonder what Stuart Elliott thinks of this.

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by Steve Hall    Jun- 1-05    
Topic: Publishing