Adweek : The Press

The Suite Smell of Success

Lucia Moses — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:01:45 +0000

The economic recovery seems to have passed magazines by, but there’s one area that’s still growing: the corporate suite.

At Condé Nast, Dawn Ostroff just hired three new evps as she builds out her new entertainment group team. The company has an internal goal of generating $500 million in revenue in the next three to five years—$300 million of that from nonadvertising sources. To that end, it hired former Lancôme executive Gillian Round as svp of brand development. Elsewhere, enthusiast publisher Bonnier Corp. has created a new corporate brand development position, hiring Julie Smartz from Source Interlink Media. And Hearst Corp. hired its first CTO earlier this year to broaden its digital footprint.

Publishers need to find new revenue streams, and fast. Print advertising was decimated in the recession, and it’s coming back slowly, if at all. But building a new business model on tablets by working with software giants like Apple and Amazon, striking licensing deals and getting subscribers to pay more are tasks best accomplished centrally. “Brands have to be good at doing two things: creating very good content and connecting the consumers to advertisers,” Bonnier CEO Terry Snow said. “We don’t want the brands to go out and negotiate a contract with Google or Yahoo. Then you’re all over the place with best practices, pricing.”

But the corporatization of publishing hasn’t always gone over easily. Jack Griffin found that out at Time Inc. when he tried to make top-down changes at a company where the brands are used to their autonomy. At Condé Nast, Bob Sauerberg faces a similar tension. He won the bake-off for president based on his plan to reduce the company’s dependence on advertising by getting more money from consumers, licensing, digital platforms and corporate services.

That’s caused some chaffing at the magazines, which are used to their brands being at the center of power. Corporate presentations dominated the last publishers’ meeting, traditionally a sales-focused summit; publishers got a Kindle instead of the usual luxury trinket in their goody bags. At the same time, they, like everyone else, are straining to create product for more platforms with fewer resources, since titles haven’t had their budgets restored since they were slashed three years ago in the recession.

Sauerberg emailed that the titles “remain at the center of everything we do” and that the goal of hiring people like Lancôme’s Round was to increase the brand leaders’ scope, “not shift autonomy or power.” Many aren’t buying it, though. “We’re bringing in 90 percent of the revenue, and we’re asked to do more with less,” one executive groused privately. “The message gets sent that our importance is diminished.” Perhaps the biggest fear for Condé Nast is the idea that now they’re just like everyone else.

'Men's Journal' Rolls Out Updated Website

Emma Bazilian — Emma Bazilian

Wenner Media is preparing to launch a new gear- and review-centric site for Men's Journal on May 21, a big step forward for the historically digital-adverse publisher.

While the old MensJournal.com had largely replicated the magazine in tone and content, Wenner chief digital officer David Kang said that the new one would have a distinct editorial voice and content. “Within the men’s space, a lot of the sites are just okay, and the publishing model is still wedded to the magazine,” said Kang. “I think that by thinking about the site from an editorial perspective, it will help us find a new audience and deepen our relationship with the existing audience.”

MensJournal.com will also be the first Wenner site to be tablet- and smartphone-optimized. Jann Wenner has been a vocal skeptic about dumping money into developing apps for the iPad, so rather than build an Apple app, the company decided to put its efforts into an HTML5 site that offers an app-like experience available on any platform, while avoiding the cut Apple takes from app developers.

“All devices have one thing in common: they all have browsers,” said Kang. “As wonderful as Apple devices are, we want to be forward-looking, and we think that as the tablet marketplace matures, there are going to be a lot of really cool tablets that are powered by Android and other manufacturers.”

The site will review and explore areas like gear, travel, health and fitness as well as niche interests not typically covered by the magazine. A search feature will help readers parse through gear reviews, while a new “badging” concept will let Men’s Journal editors select specific items as best in class. Kang believed that the reviews could also lead to e-commerce, in which the site would partner with “MJ-approved” manufacturers to offer deals on their products.

Ad Biz Takes Aim at Rogue Sites

Katy Bachman — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:28:01 +0000

Opening up a new front in the war against rogue sites, advertisers and agencies are working with the government to develop a self-regulation program designed to choke off the flow of ad dollars to sites that steal a brand’s content or identity.

The effort picked up steam recently when the Association of National Advertisers and the 4As urged members to exclude pirates and counterfeiters from insertion orders.

Going after rogue sites is not easy, given the technical complexities and legal pitfalls. Recent legislation like the Stop Online Privacy Act would have given more teeth to enforcers, but the Internet community successfully staged an online blackout, effectively killing the bills.

In the absence of legislation, the White House has embraced self-regulation as a way to combat digital piracy. Officials from the Intellectual Property Enforcement office recently met with ad industry execs from GroupM, Omnicom Media Group and its client Hewlett-Packard on different approaches the industry could take.

“We want to work with ad brokers to develop a set of best practices that are as effective as they possibly can be,” Victoria Espinel, the IP enforcement coordinator, told the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. “If they work with us, we can make some real headway.”

Ad industry execs confirmed they are talking about setting up an independent body that would manage a blacklist of sites advertisers could use when placing campaigns.

There are many details to be worked out, from how the list is developed and maintained to giving due process to sites that believe they should not be blacklisted. GroupM has successfully used a blacklist it developed with its clients, halting an estimated $5 million from going to rogue sites. H-P and Omnicom’s approach is to use technology that searches the Internet for rogue sites. Verification companies are also looking to build more robust anti-piracy offerings.

“Instead of coming in with a sledgehammer like SOPA did, we’re trying to come in slowly and build something that works,” said Mike Zaneis, svp and general counsel for the Interactive Advertising Bureau. “It’s possible that we can come up with a model that can be expanded beyond the ad industry to payment processors and domain registrars.”

Fast Chat: Larry Kramer

Lucia Moses — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:38:04 +0000

Larry Kramer, the founder of MarketWatch, was named president and publisher of USA Today. The appointment comes as the Gannett flagship, like most newspapers, faces declining print advertising and circulation revenue while struggling to monetize its digital audience. Kramer, who is a veteran journalist as well as media executive, spoke with Adweek about his plans for a new news distribution model, content verticals and his unconventional new office location.

Adweek: You’ve spent a good part of your career focused on remaking journalism for digital platforms. How are you going to apply that experience to USA Today?
Kramer: It’s going to be fun. What I like about this is, there are the resources hidden in this company to do something amazing. We’re going to translate the brand to [Gannett’s other properties] to use content fluidly among them because it’s ridiculous to think they compete with each other. Plus, there’s a lot of talent here on the TV side and the digital side. We’re already building a vertical out of sports. There are probably multiple verticals we could build that way.

Such as?
There are several areas where we have an edge. Our business coverage is much more consumer-oriented than other national media. And they’re trusted. I may want to build out a couple of verticals like entrepreneurship. We have a platform for the arts that I think would be very interesting. We can be an online clearing house for video.

You talk about organizing the newsroom around the content rather than the platform. Given the many cuts that have hit the edit side lately, do you foresee further cutbacks?
I don’t think so. We need to get multiple revenue streams going. More people read us on digital than on print now, and that means by definition we should be getting more revenue from digital. I just got here, but I believe based on what I’ve been told, the company’s committed to making this work. I’m also a pragmatic businessman as well as a journalist, and I want to make sure we’re spending money in the most efficient way.

You’re heading up the search for the next top editor. What’s a candidate have to do to impress you?
I’m interested in people with multiplatform experience. There are good people here, and I’ve got to spend some time meeting them to see if the next editor is here. It’s always a delicate balancing act. You’ve got to have an experienced journalist but someone who knows how to lead. Meanwhile, I’m putting an office in the newsroom and spending some time here.

You don't think that'll unnerve people?
I don’t think so. I asked people, and they seemed happy about it. This is the first time in a long time they’ve had an editorial person in the publisher’s seat.

Levinsohn to Replace Thompson as Yahoo CEO

Tim Peterson — Sun, 13 May 2012 21:05:37 +0000

For most people, a resume helps land them a job. For Scott Thompson, it's what seems to have cost him his as CEO of Yahoo. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said on Sunday that Thompson has stepped down and named Ross Levinsohn his interim replacement. AllThingsD first reported the news earlier that day.

In addition to Thompson’s departure, Yahoo said it has settled the proxy fight with its largest outside shareholder, Third Point. The activist hedge fund had recently been clamoring for Yahoo to shake up its board—offering its own nominees as replacements. Per the agreement announced on Sunday, three of Third Point’s nominees—its CEO Daniel Loeb, Maeva Group chairman and CEO Harry Wilson, and former MTV Network president and COO Michael Wolf—join Yahoo’s board as of May 16.

Also on Sunday Yahoo named Fred Amoroso chairman of the board, replacing Roy Bostock who said in February that he would not seek re-election.

Thompson marks the third non-interim CEO to leave the company since Yahoo turned down Microsoft’s offer to buy the company in 2008. Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang served as CEO at the time and was replaced by Carol Bartz months after the Microsoft deal collapsed. Then last year Yahoo fired Bartz amid a declining advertising business and after the search partnership she inked with Microsoft failed to produce as expected. CFO Tim Morse had served as interim CEO until Thompson signed on as CEO in January.

Levinsohn, who joined Yahoo as evp of Americas in late 2010, was appointed evp and head of global media last month when Thompson announced a company reorganization. Levinsohn is a well-connected media veteran, having previously logged stints as CBS Sportsline, HBO and his own VC firm Velocity Interactive Group. And of course, in the mid-2000s Levinsohn served as president of the now defunct Fox Interactive Media, overseeing the company's infamous acquisition of MySpace.

Thompson’s time at Yahoo has been tumultuous from the get-go. First the former PayPal president faced criticism for not having a media or advertising background. Then he courted backlash by filing a lawsuit against Facebook over patent violations, and the bad press continued when Thompson announced in April that Yahoo would lay off 2,000 employees amid the reorganization.

All the while Thompson contended with a proxy fight lobbed by Third Point and its combative CEO. That battle came to a head a couple of weeks ago when Loeb called out Thompson for lying on his resume, claiming that he had a degree in computer science. Yahoo was slow to react to that report, and the controversy snowballed into questions over whether Thompson was fit to continue as the company’s leader. It seems those questions have been answered definitively. No.

Moms Respond to 'Time' Breastfeeding Cover

Emma Bazilian — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:54:27 +0000

By this point, it's safe to assume that you've probably seen the controversial cover of the latest Time magazine. The picture of 26-year-old Jamie Lynn Grumet (who happens to be a model) breastfeeding her 3-year-old son alongside the baiting headline “Are You Mom Enough?” was certainly meant to grab America’s attention—and judging by the buzz created over the past 24 hours, it's succeeded—but as the initial shock wears down, the conversation is far from over. What do actual moms—the group being not-so-subtly challenged by Time—think about this cover?

After trolling a number of popular mommy message boards, one thing is very apparent: Despite their views on the picture and the topics it relates to—extended breastfeeding and the larger issue of “attached parenting”—women aren’t rallying around the cover. On UrbanBaby.com, words like “gratuitous,” and “sickening” were thrown around, with many commenters making it clear that while they supported breastfeeding, they didn’t think it should be made into a provocative act to sell magazines. The cover is “totally contrived and unnecessary, but I wouldn't say ‘gross,’” wrote one poster. “I also don't think it helps their cause to be so blatantly in-your-face.”

Some moms were especially upset with Grumet for letting her son appear in the photo because of the effect it might have on him. “[The mother] is wrong for subjecting her son to this kind of exposure, not for continuing to breastfeed,” wrote an UrbanBaby commenter. Granted, Urban Baby is something of an online snake pit, but similar sentiments were expressed on online communities elsewhere. Said one Babble blogger, “I can’t tell you how much I hate this cover…The poor child looks so helpless, yet he trusts his mom to do the right thing. And there she is, exploiting him to get her message across.”

While the image was the main focus for many moms, it was the “Are You Mom Enough?” headline that got others riled up. “Why does this cover bother me? It’s not the exposed breast, it’s not the extended toddler nursing; it’s the bold declaration that in order to be ‘Mom Enough’ one has to extended breastfeed,” wrote Parents.com commenter Karen Bond. “It’s the shock value they went for that annoys me and the title…Honestly, how horrible for mothers who tried and did not succeed at breastfeeding at all,” added another commenter, Emily Totaro.

Of course, there was the occasional cry of support, both for the cover and Time’s decision to run it (one Babble blogger proclaimed, “I’m HAPPY that someone is taking the extreme views to task. We are all pot stirrers. How can we fault a magazine for discussing it?”), but at the end of the day, the sentiment seemed to be that this was a shameless ploy for newsstand sales. In the words of one UrbanBaby user, “It was meant to get attention, and it has done that.”

Other Recent Controversial Covers

Lucia Moses — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:21:15 +0000

'Time' Editor on Breastfeeding Image Controversy

Lucia Moses — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:58:05 +0000

Last week Time was Magazine of the Year; this week it’s getting buzz for a very different reason: a cover showing a young mom breastfeeding her 3-year-old boy.

Critics have been tweeting away, and a few advertisers and retailers might object to the photo that accompanies a story about attachment parenting. (Time said it doesn’t share its cover with advertisers and retailers ahead of time.)

But Time managing editor Richard Stengel defended the cover against criticism that it was a cheap shot and didn’t represent the story. “The image has its own whimsical side,” he said. “The little boy is looking at the camera, the woman is slightly bemused. I bet he’s proud to be on the cover." Separately, he said, "I’m hoping this will sell well.”

He could have gone further: One of the less tame photos under consideration was that of a woman breastfeeding both of her twins at once.

Major retailers like Hudson News and Kroger have covered up magazines like Cosmopolitan and FHM that they consider unusually provocative, but Gil Brechtel, president of Magazine Information Network, which tracks retail sales of magazines, said he didn’t expect Time to get much negative reaction because bookstores and terminals are its predominant sellers and their operators are less likely to object.

Click here to view more controversial magazine covers.

Twitter Erupts Over Obama Gay Marriage Interview

Charlie Warzel — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:57:29 +0000

Those who follow the social conversation on Twitter know that the site can go wild over the most mundane pieces of news; they also know that any true breaking news causes the social network to absolutely erupt.

Yesterday was one of those days.

Adweek first noticed the news a little before 9 a.m. EST, when New York Times media reporter Brian Stelter released one of his typical breaking news teases to his Twitter followers:

Some interesting political TV news bubbling up this morning...
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) May 9, 2012

However, the real scoop appears to have come from Times reporter Michael Barbaro, whose tweet came at 8:43 a.m.:

I am told that Robin Roberts is likely to discuss same-sex marriage with President Obama today, who may clarify his position on the issue.
— Michael Barbaro (@mikiebarb) May 9, 2012

From there the floodgates opened, as the ABC News interview with Robin Roberts and President Obama was confirmed for 1:30 p.m. Politicians weighed in from both sides of the aisle, which naturally helped add to the din and jumpstart futher discussion. If you're looking for that commentary, the Washington Post did a great job aggregating reactions from politicians here.

In fewer than seven hours, President Obama's official gay marriage endorsement tweet was retweeted almost a mind-numbing 50,000 times, according to RetweetingObama.

Twitter reports that there were more than 7,347 tweets per minute related to the Obama news after Reuters' Matthew Keys scooped an ABC URL leak. Twitter has provided a graph below.

Yesterday capped off what has been a growing trend of gay marriage-related tweets as the conversation picked up around 2010 and has since been slowly intensifying. Twitter has also provided a chart to show how the cultural shifts have led to more gay marriage conversation on the social network.

This is just more proof that we've moved into a social existence on the internet, where news is increasingly shared and discussed from multiple platforms anywhere, anytime. As a political issue, Obama's endorsement of same-sex marriage fit seamlessly into the conversation on Twitter as the social network spread the historic news.