BtoB articles from September 2003

BtoB archives from September 2003

Mobility moves b-to-b.(Opinion)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Neil Versen A survey of 90 technology marketers undertaken earlier this year by IDC found that while marketing budgets have stabilized, there have been dramatic shifts in the way the money is spent. Eighty percent of respondents...

Business titles show first gain in ad pages since 2000.(News)
September 15, 2003... Byline: SEAN CALLAHAN The increase was finally there-even if you had to squint to see it. Nonetheless, the miniscule 0.9% boost in b-to-b ad pages in June 2003 compared with a year earlier was seen as a milestone in some quarters. It...

Beyond the Biz; Bomb scare empties trade shows at Moscone.(Briefs)
September 15, 2003... A bomb scare at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco emptied out Oracle World and Seybold San Francisco 2003, one day before the two-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The threat, which could not be substantiated,...

Marketers keep close tabs on anti-spam bills; Industry fears `do-not-e-mail' list could do more harm than good.(News)
September 15, 2003... Byline: CAROL KROL Anti-spam legislation centered on a do-not-e-mail registry had been gaining momentum in recent months as e-mail marketing industry stakeholders squared off against public policymakers. That was before Federal Trade...

BtoB Q&A: Creative duo moves on to Y&R San Francisco; Berg, Larson see room for improvement in b-to-b.(News)
September 15, 2003... Byline: KATE MADDOX Young & Rubicam San Francisco, which handles b-to-b clients VeriSign, ChevronTexaco Corp. and Hitachi, last month hired creative duo Brad Berg and Scott Larson. Both were given the title executive VP-executive creative...

Relaunch Checklist.(Net Marketing)
September 15, 2003... Byline: KAREN J. BANNAN When Procter & Gamble Co. acquired the Clairol Pro brand this past spring, it meant a cash infusion and the chance to restyle the Clairol Pro Web site. The site caters to three market segments: large salon chains,...

SAS campaign adds new faces; Sterlina stays in picture, but now shares top Billing with CEOs Goodnight, Bezos.(News)(SAS Institute Inc.)
September 15, 2003... Byline: SEAN CALLAHAN Is the fat lady getting ready to sing for the thin blonde woman in the SAS Institute ads? In the business intelligence software company's latest print campaign, the woman, an SAS employee named Sterlina, plays a...

Cut to the Chase: Television.(Chasers)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Company: Adobe Systems, San Jose, Calif. Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco Market: Information technology Quick chase: Good things come in small packages, as in Adobe's PDF, a file format popular for distributing documents...

CEO should play key role in advertising.(Opinion)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Ned Clausen Famous corporate leaders like George Washington Hill of American Tobacco and Charles Revson of Revlon were known for direct participation in advertising. The b-to-b marketplace offers similar examples, too. William...

8 tips for a smooth liftoff.(Net Marketing)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... * Ask your customers about their needs, wants and impressions of your company-either by organized survey or by simple phone call. * State clearly and concisely on the home page what your company does and how it can help the visitor. *...

Quote Unquote.(Opinion)(Mark Zandi on marketing)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... "I'm concerned businesses aren't going to do what we expect them to do-that they're shellshocked.'' Mark Zandi, chief economist and co-founder, Economy.com, on the need for marketers to boost their advertising and travel spending for the...

Online tools drive new sales through old channels.(News)
September 15, 2003... Byline: DAVID JOACHIM Once tempted to bypass their channel partners and sell directly to customers online, manufacturers of many stripes are instead using the Internet to communicate better with their partners. The current emphasis on...

Top Advertisers; Leading Marketers Spent 8.4% more in 2002.(Special Report: Top 100 Advertisers)
September 15, 2003... Byline: KATE MADDOX Led by increased ad spending from leading telecommunications providers, financial services companies and computer hardware companies, the Top 100 b-to-b advertisers spent $5.4 billion in 2002, up 8.4% from 2001. ...

BtoB Q&A - Goldenberg: CRM industry in recovery; More successful implementations, higher stock prices, new technologies indicate rebound, industry vet says.(CRM Strategies)(Barton Goldenberg)(customer relationship management )(Interview)
September 15, 2003... Byline: CAROL KROL Barton Goldenberg says customer relationship management is on the mend. He should know. As president of ISM Inc., a CRM consultancy and research firm in Bethesda, Md., and as author of "CRM Automation,'' he has a...

Quick Hits; ABM launches $3M advertising campaign.(Briefs)
September 15, 2003... American Business Media this week is launching a $3 million print and online advertising campaign. Ads will appear in Advertising Age, Adweek, Brandweek, BtoB, Chief Executive, Mediaweek and The Wall Street Journal. Each of the three ads in the...

Media spending in 2003, beyond.(Opinion)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Ellis Booker Veronis Suhler Stevenson's latest "Communications Industry Forecast & Report'' arrived a few days ago on my desk-actually landed with a thud, all 497 pages of it. Although the section on b-to-b media spending will not...

Call for Nominations: 'BtoB' Best Awards.(Chasers)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... BtoB magazine's December issue will feature the BtoB Best Awards (formerly known as the Sawyer Awards). These awards recognize the year's best b-to-b advertising in four categories: best integrated campaign, best single TV spot, best single...

MeritDirect looks to score with enhancements; New services use buyer data to identify most active and profitable customers.(Direct & Database)
September 15, 2003... Byline: CAROL KROL List company MeritDirect has added two database enhancement services to its MeritBase cooperative marketing database to provide scores to help clients determine which customers are most active and most profitable. ...

E-MAIL MARKETER INSIGHT.(Net Marketing)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Andy Sernovitz Question: How do I get readers to forward my e-mail? Answer: Nothing beats free viral advertising. Why pay for an ad when you can get your happy customers to spread the word for you? It's easier than you think....

Ziff succeeds by scaling back Web strategy.(Business Media)
September 15, 2003... Byline: SEAN CALLAHAN When Ziff Davis Media said earlier this month that it was folding its stand-alone Supersites covering security, storage and wireless into a redesigned eweek.com, it was only its latest zig in a zig-zagging Internet...

New Campaigns.(Advertising)(Dow Corning Corp.)(Visa International)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Visa helps small businesses online Visa International last month launched a TV and print campaign aimed at small-business owners. The campaign was developed by Visa's ad agency, BBDO West, San Francisco, and is designed to show how Visa...

WebEx customers help create new ads; Company uses online focus groups to choose ads for campaign featuring Lily Tomlin's `Ernestine'.(Advertising)
September 15, 2003... Byline: KATE MADDOX WebEx Communications Inc., a San Jose, Calif., developer of Web conferencing software, asked its customers to help call the shots while creating a new TV campaign that broke last week. The new effort is a continuation...

Attention advertisers, it's a jungle out there.(Chasers)
September 15, 2003... B-to-b advertisers hunting for an apt metaphor to describe their product, service or brand sometimes venture into the animal kingdom, home to 800-pound gorillas, menacing sharks, adorable kittens and other borrowed-interest images. ...

Cut to the Chase: Print.(Chasers)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Company: Micron Technology, Boise, Idaho Agency: In-house Market: Government procurement officers Quick chase: The product is the hero in this simple but effective ad for Micron's MPC TransPort T2100 notebook. The notebook commands a center...

Case Study: Plastics firm learns CRM makes it more flexible.(CRM Strategies)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Karen J. Bannan CHALLENGE: United States Plastic Corp. (USPC) sends out 3.5 million catalogs each year, each with the company's customer service and sales e-mail addresses printed on it. In addition, USPC, which sells industrial...

Third-party audits OK'd for Comdex; Show producer MediaLive spearheads coalition to create industry standards.(News)
September 15, 2003... Byline: KATE MADDOX Comdex producer MediaLive International will announce in the next few weeks that it will conduct third-party audits of all of its trade shows, beginning with its Comdex 2003 show in Las Vegas, slated for mid-November....

Quick Hits; Business, tech titles post mixed results.(Briefs)
September 15, 2003... Results were mixed in August for business and technology magazines tracked by the Magazine Publishers of America's Publishers Information Bureau. The big three business books all posted ad page declines last month, compared with August 2002....

September 1958: College grads need not apply; Hindsight: A b-to-b time capsule.(Opinion)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Forty-five years ago, Paul J. Bringe, advertising manager of Milwaukee Dustless Brush Co., contended a college degree could be detrimental to writing good direct mail copy: "Too many potentially good writers are ruined by the universities....

Methodology.(Special Report: Top B-to-B Advertisers)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... In building the Top 100 B-to-B Advertisers 2002 rankings, BtoB used data from New York-based TNS Media Intelligence/CMR, a research company that tracks ad spending across a wide range of media. TNSMI tracks advertising expenditure numbers from...

AGENDA.(News)
September 15, 2003... Oct.11-15 The DMA 86th Annual Conference & Exhibition The Direct Marketing Association Orlando, Fla., The Orange County Convention Center (212) 790-1500 www.the-dma.org Oct. 15-16 Making the Business Case for...

Hitting them where they live; Marketers adopt new, more sophisticated ways To reach decision-makers.(News)
September 15, 2003... Byline: KATE MADDOX While careful targeting has always been integral to b-to-b marketing, advertisers are becoming increasingly sophisticated about the methods they use to identify and market to key decision-makers and influencers. In...

Quote of the Week.(Quotes)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... When you pay that much (for a luxury seat), you ought to have different entrances, and you ought to have hotter food. Benjamin Wood, partner in the firm that redesigned Soldier Field, on the amenities that will be available to fans in...

Quote.(News)(Aviation Week's Kenneth E. Gazzola)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... "We've got a big solution in mind here, not just a Band-Aid." Kenneth E. Gazzola of 'Aviation Week' on McGraw-Hill's new power backup plans Page 6

ABC, BPA near deal with USPS over auditing rules; Proposal would ease signature restrictions.(News)(Audit Bureau of Circulations, BPA International, U.S. Postal Service)
September 15, 2003... Byline: CAROL KROL B-to-b publication circulation executives said relief appears imminent on the continuing issue over U.S. Postal Service auditing regulations. If proposed rules go through, they will change the postal auditing process by...

From the Publisher: Key to survival? Segmentation.(News)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Bob Felsenthal Fellow publishing executives, we are all under pressure to increase profits. And, at the same time, we face competition from many quarters. How do we survive this and increase revenues? Look closely at the reader...

Media Business Index.(News)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Our Media Business Index (MBI) tracks the media business sector's economic health. Each month we trace the performance of 17 companies in business media and compare their composite performance with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Standard &...

Blackout teaches publishers how to prepare for next time.(News)
September 15, 2003... Byline: SEAN CALLAHAN The blackout that struck the Midwest and Northeast on Aug. 14 hit New York-based Aviation Week & Space Technology at the worst possible time: just before press time. "It did affect us going to press on Thursday...

Agenda.(Calendar/Datebook)(Calendar)
September 15, 2003... Sept. 18 6th Annual Publishers' Roundtable American Business Media Chicago Westin Chicago River North (212) 661-6360 www.americanbusinessmedia.com Oct. 19-22 2003 American Magazine Conference Magazine...

Keep in touch.(News)
September 15, 2003... BtoB's Media Business welcomes responses from readers. Mail letters to BtoB's Media Business, c/o Letters to the Editor, 360 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60601, or e-mail Karen Egolf at kegolf@crain.com. Include your address and daytime...

Primedia taps Maleska as B2B Group CEO.(News)(Martin E. Maleska to head Primedia Business Magazines & Media)
September 15, 2003... Byline: SEAN CALLAHAN For those who believe that Primedia Inc. is planning to sell its b-to-b publishing unit, Primedia Business Magazines & Media, the appointment last month of Martin E. Maleska as CEO of its B2B Group did nothing to...

Tinicum Capital buys Hallmark Data Systems.(News)(and Bellevue Data Communications from SourceLink Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Lee Hall Tinicum Capital Partners LP, a New York-based private equity investment partnership, has purchased Hallmark Data Systems and its subsidiary, Bellevue Data Communications, from SourceLink Inc. Hallmark, based in Skokie,...

B-to-b publishers prepare as FCC reconsiders new fax requirements.(News)(Telephone Consumer Protection Act)
September 15, 2003... Byline: CAROL KROL The Federal Communications Commission in August delayed implementing parts of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act restricting commercial fax transmissions, but b-to-b publishers are not relaxing just yet. Under...

The Big Questions; Tim Andrews, President, Advertising Specialty Institute.(News)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Q. Do you see signs that the b-to-b media recession is ending? A. Advertising is going to be about flat this year despite the fact that some people might claim it's up. ABM [American Business Media] has promised a rebound in the second half...

SURPRISE MOVE; Oliver moves to Billboard Group.(News)(VNU Business Media appoints Larry Oliver)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Sean Callahan Larry Oliver, VP-group publisher of Reed Business Information's Multichannel News and Broadcasting & Cable, resigned late last month to become VP-integrated sales and brand marketing of VNU Business Media's Billboard...

Marr to oversee OAG unit.(News)(OAG Worldwide appoints Kathy Marr)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Byline: SEAN CALLAHAN OAG Worldwide, which publishes databases of airline flight schedules, last month named Kathy Marr as senior publisher for its OAG Publishing Americas unit. She will oversee the "OAG Executive Flight Guide," "OAG...

HEY! LISTEN UP! WE'RE YOUR ADVERTISERS! Stop doing the same old things! We want new programs built just for us. And the data that answer our questions. And we want it NOW! And while we're at it, here's what we really think of you!
September 15, 2003... Byline: Kate Maddox and Alan Horowitz B-to-b marketers and media buyers are demanding more data, creativity, services and accountability from trade magazines. Faced with tight budgets and intense pressure to quantify the impact of their...

Back in black: Growth projected for ad spending in 2004.
September 15, 2003... Byline: Kate Maddox B-to-b print ad spending, which saw two rough years as a result of the recession, is finally beginning to turn around this year, and spending is projected to increase slightly in 2004. Total b-to-b print ad spending...

Strong Meds; Health care media see bright prognosis as Advanstar closes Thomson deal.(Feature)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Sean Callahan With its $135 million deal to buy Thomson Corp.'s health care properties, Advanstar Inc. has propelled itself into a leading role in b-to-b health care-an arena that may be poised for explosive growth in coming years,...

Prognosis: Medical journals' ad sales flatline.(Feature)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Sean Callahan Pharmaceutical companies, it seems, are increasing their marketing expenditures on everything-detailing (sales calls on doctors), direct-to-consumer advertising and meeting/conference sponsorships. Everything but...

Raising ad rates; B-to-b publishers plan to seek modest increases in 2004, but will they be forced to negotiate?(Ad Sales)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Sean Callahan Although advertising pages continue their long slide, b-to-b media companies say they will be boosting the cost of pages to advertisers-at least on the rate card. "Our rate increases will be nominal," said Bruce...

MOTIVATION: How to challenge your sales force.(Ad Sales)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Christine Bunish Creating a self-motivated sales force begins with simple self-questioning, according to Joy Baldridge, author of "The Fast Forward MBA in Selling." "Who would be at a disadvantage not being in our [publication]...

Breaking the link; Publishers debate, courts take action over common practice of linking online content.(Online)(copyright)
September 15, 2003... Byline: LINDSAY MORRIS Arecent incident involving tech news portal TechTarget underscored the issue of so-called deep linking, whereby commercial portals bypass a magazine's homepage and link directly to articles deep inside its Web site....

Best practices.(Online)(Packaging World magazine online success)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Sean Callahan When it comes to strategies for generating revenue on the Internet, Joseph Ange, publisher of privately held Summit Publishing Inc.'s Packaging World magazine, knows what he's talking about. The magazine saw its...

Cygnus bucks trend; Company keeps up aggressive buying pace while most competitors remain on sidelines.(M&A)(Cygnus Business Media )
September 15, 2003... Byline: MARY ELLEN PODMOLIK Paul Mackler considers himself a patient president-CEO, but one with a big appetite. The head of Cygnus Business Media has satisfied it by sticking to the strategy he adopted three years ago when he and equity...

Analyst insight: Savvy publishers use Web to cut costs.(M&A)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Sean Callahan For b-to-b publishers, the Internet has quickly moved in stages from curiosity to threat to bust. Through it all, however, many clear-eyed b-to-b publishers have understood the Internet's value despite the hype, fear...

Industry seeks audits; Trade show producers, exhibitors, associations hope third-party audits will prove shows' worth.(Events)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Carol Krol In an effort to bolster the besieged trade show industry, a handful of show producers, including IDG World Expo and the National Association of Broadcasters, recently announced plans to have their events audited by third...

Show spotlight: The Marketing Forum.(Events)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Kathryn Lucero Producer: Richmond Events Inc., London What: A three-day, invitation-only cruise for senior marketing professionals, who can network, attend conference sessions and meet with new marketing supplier companies....

Q&A: Making lists work; DMA's 'List Leader' sees growth for industry as managers grapple with performance issues.(Circulation)(Interview)
September 15, 2003... Byline: CAROL KROL If your list professional is telling you to boost your mailings to shore up your list performance, the problem might not be the list. The current economy is driving changes in the list industry, forcing savvy executives...

BPA launches data analysis tool online.(Circulation)(BPA International)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Carol Krol BPA International, a Shelton, Conn.-based nonprofit print media auditor, last month introduced a free online data analysis tool called Business TRAC that gives users-mainly publishers and media buyers-the ability to...

On the Move.(People)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... Uphoff chosen to head Advanstar tech group Advanstar Communications Inc. has named Tony Uphoff as VP-group publishing director of the company's technology group. He was most recently the CEO of BeliefNet, a multifaith media company. Uphoff...

Profile: 'Journal' exec fights ad slump; Schulman plans aggressive sales, marketing initiatives.(People)(Scott Schulman moves to Wall Street Journal)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Sean Callahan Last December, when he was president of Dow Jones & Co.'s consumer electronic publishing unit, Scott Schulman spearheaded The Wall Street Journal Online's acerbic Biz-o-Rama.com ad campaign, which disparaged free...

Obit.(People)(Obituary)
September 15, 2003... Bill Saunders, retired associate publisher of IEEE Spectrum, a magazine published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, died on Aug. 21. He was 73. Saunders became IEEE Spectrum's first advertising director in 1968. He was...

Notable numbers: B-to-b media spending forecast.(Benchmarks)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2003... "We expect the gradual pickup in growth of the overall economy, corporate profits and advertising spending will spur the expansion of this market in 2004 and through the rest of the forecast period. Total spending on business-to-business media...

Three things to worry about after the economy improves.(Endnote)
September 15, 2003... Byline: Alan M. Douglas Forecasting is a risky business. It wasn't that my predictions seven years ago on the future of the publishing business weren't accurate. The responses were surprising. They ranged from guffaws to death threats. It...

Cut to the Chase: Print.(Chasers)(Correction Notice)
September 15, 2003... ***** Correction: The Chasers mistakenly identified an ad reviewed last month as being for Micron Technology (Cut to the Chase-Print, Page 34). The ad was for MPC Computers. ***** Company: Micron Technology, Boise, Idaho Agency:...