Jun 21

Response May: ‘Modern’ Business Partnerships

Response May 2016When we finished posting the June issue of Response online yesterday, it was a rude awakening to realize I’d yet to recap our May issue here on the blog. With a cover story about e-commerce start-up Touch of Modern, the issue also includes a look at the business solutions space, the spring edition of our semi-annual media buying & planning guide, and our annual Cable Network Directory. Here’s some more on these and a few other items which you should note:

  • The cover story on Touch of Modern has its roots in a meeting during the eTail West trade show in Palm Desert, Calif., in late February. There, I connected with the company’s PR lead, Ashley Cummings, and one of its four founders, Jonathan Wu. Immediately intrigued by the 4-year old company’s focus on the online male shopping market and the back story of its four co-founders, I worked with Cummings to bring the company’s VP of marketing, Matt Gehring, to April’s Response Expo as a speaker. At the same time, Cummings was quick to jump on the opportunity when my original May cover story fell through, getting me on the phone quickly with not only Gehring, but two of the other co-founders, Jerry Hum and Dennis Liu. The resulting story touches on some of the most cutting-edge performance-based marketing tactics — and powerful results — that we’ve discussed in Response. If you missed it above, here’s the link: A Modern Flash
  • During the past 18 months, our coverage of the business solutions space has mirrored its ascent as a key group utilizing performance-based marketing — recall our cover features on such leaders as Vistaprint, Wix, Boingo Wireless, and Square. This month, freelancer Doug McPherson takes a look at the wider space and how it is reaching and servicing small businesses and consumers alike. Using online and offline media — and relying heavily on the data those interactions drive — business solutions marketers like Weebly and Pagemodo are carving out big time success. If you missed the link above but want to check out the story, click here: A Wiz at Biz
  • The spring edition of our ongoing media buying & planning guide feature usually includes thoughts from leaders on the network and MVPD side of the business. And it also includes our annual Cable Network Directory, which shares demographic and contact information from major national TV media outlets with our readers. This issue’s edition is no different. The feature story focuses heavily on changing how changing TV technology, as well as the ongoing presidential campaign, is affecting the media landscape. Meanwhile, this year’s Directory is our biggest ever — nearly 140 outlets are included. If you missed them above, here are links to the feature and to the directory:
  • This month’s Field Reports section is notable for its look back at April’s Response Expo. From the opening keynote by famed World Trade Center wire walker Philippe Petit to the closing night soiree at SeaWorld San Diego, we were thrilled to host more than 3,000 performance-based marketers once again for networking, education, and a lot of fun. (Also, don’t miss a chance to look back in the Expo in photos: a 2-page spread on the event makes up this month’s “But Wait, There’s More” seHaire Moderates at Response Expoction). While I do love holding that printed issue of Response in my hand at the end of each month, when it comes to job satisfaction, there’s nothing like the rush of receiving the personal thanks and congratulations we’ve been lucky to earn through these first 10 Expos. We look forward to returning to San Diego with everyone next April. If you missed the link to the news wrap above, here it is once again: Field Reports May 2016
  • Our monthly direct response TV and radio media billings return to the short-form DRTV space for fourth-quarter 2015 results. And — like many of you, I presume, when it comes to this market — I’m ready to kiss 2015 goodbye. Kantar Media‘s shift in measuring the Hispanic media space — and the major reduction in estimated Hispanic media spending it engendered — was the overwhelming reason that the year’s results for the short-form space showed a 26.3-percent decrease. In fact, more than $3 of every $4 lost in 2015 was attributed to a major rollback in Hispanic media spending. For a full look at 4Q 2015 short-form DRTV media billings, click here: Kantar Measurement Shifts Push 2015 Short-Form DR Billings Off a Cliff
  • Finally, when I wrote my Editor’s Note piece for this issue, I was in a rather bad mood. Fortunately, aside from a single line referring cryptically to the reason for that mood in the story’s next-to-last paragraph, I was able to turn that negative feeling into a positive look at how partnerships can be a wonderful driving force in both our business and personal lives. If you’ve read this piece before reading this post, let me know if you had any idea that I actually was incredibly angry right before writing this column. I’d love to hear about it. If you missed the link above, click here to check it out: The Power of Partnership

Thanks again for reading and interacting with Response!

May 17

Response April: Gnomes, Phones, and the Rather Well Known

Response April 2016It seems so long ago that we sent Response‘s April issue out the door. But with that happening just prior to the final countdown to Response Expo, followed by hosting the Expo, and then followed by the annual deep breath after the Expo, it’s finally time to share some of the inside information on how the issue came together. Led by a cover story on long-time online travel leader Travelocity, the issue also includes our annual story on the beauty and personal care products space, a key feature on the evolution of mobile as both a marketing and response mechanism, and an exclusive roundtable with the 2016 inductees to the DR Hall of Fame. Here’s a little more on just some of the items you should consider reading:

  • The cover story with Travelocity and its VP of marketing/general manager Brad Wilson was borne of discussions with Atrium PR leader Adrienne Scordato in late 2015. Atrium represents New York media agency Assembly, which won Travelocity’s business last year. With the help of Travelocity’s on PR insider Keith Nowak, we were able to pull together a very strong story about the marketer that’s celebrating 20 years in business, making it the longest-tenured of all the leading online travel sites. Wilson — a personable and thoughtful interviewee — is a veteran of direct-to-consumer marketing, having served at Match.com and Nutrisystem prior to joining Travelocity. In all, Travelocity’s story of combining online and offline marketing strengths (behind it’s well-known brand presence, the Roaming Gnome) may be the most powerful of our recent features focusing on such multichannel success. If you missed it above, here’s the link: Where the Gnome Roams
  • The rapid ascent of mobile as a marketing outlet and — perhaps more importantly — a consumer’s preferred viewing and response mechanism has changed the game for both sides of the marketing divide. With consumers spending more time on mobile devices than PCs or laptops — and with mobile commerce growing by leaps and bounds every month — marketers are seeking new ways to reach those consumers how and when they want. Freelancer Pat Cauley tracked down a number of marketers trying to make inroads in the mobile game — and going about it in vastly different ways. If you missed the link above but want to check out the story, click here: The Mobile Monarchy
  • On April 28, I was privileged to welcome all eight of our 2016 inductees to the DR Hall of Fame in our ceremonies at Response Expo. With six of those inductees on hand, it was an honor to introduce them and share with our attendees the joy and gratitude each of those inductees displayed in their acceptance speeches. As part of the April issue (which was available around the Expo in San Diego), we were able to conduct a roundtable with the seven living inductees. From fond remembrances to insight for the future, the resulting story is definitely worth a look: Worthy Winners
  • Our monthly direct response TV and radio media billings return to the long-form DRTV space for fourth-quarter 2015 results. For a second consecutive quarter, the long-form market grew — inspiring some hope for 2016 after a long three-year downturn that finally subsided in the middle of last year. The quarter’s 7.7-percent increase (and a 6.6-percent jump for the final six months of the year) helped annual results in the long-form space nearly break even for 2015 as a whole. For a full look at 4Q 2015 long-form DRTV media billings, click here: Long-Form DRTV Billings Build Momentum for 2016
  • An exceedingly strong group of guest columnists joined us in April (just take a look at these linked pieces: Media Zone; Support Services; En Español; Net Gains; and Guest Opinion). When that happens, I feel a bit more pressure on my Editor’s Note piece. Add in the Response Expo factor, and it was as good a time as any to restate Response‘s focus in the ever-changing and growing world we now refer to as “performance-based marketing.” And, as I note near the end of the piece, I do love feedback — in person, via phone, via email, and, yes, via the blog. If you missed the link above, click here to read (and respond to) my latest: Performance-Based Marketers Capitalize on the Present — and Drive the Future

Thanks again for reading and interacting with Response!

Apr 18

Response March: Joy, Household Toys, and 15 Years, Oh Boy!

Response March 2016After a visit to the Housewares show in Chicago (while also hosting our annual DRMA cocktail party there), a 10-day Ireland vacation, and the twin deadlines of our April issue and finalizing the speaker roster for Response Expo, I finally have a little breathing room to look back at Response‘s March issue. With a rather timely cover feature on DR Hall of Famer and award-winning biopic subject Joy Mangano, our annual look at the housewares and hardware markets, and our first Response Advisory Board roundtable of 2016 tackling the media challenges presented by election and Olympic ad spend, the magazine packed a lot of punch in its 60 pages. Here are some of the key pieces you should consider taking a look at:

  • The cover story on industry legend and 2015 DR Hall of Famer Joy Mangano was a long time coming, honestly. We had hoped to bring a feature to our readers about Mangano since the first announcement that director David O. Russell and Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence were teaming to bring her story to the big screen. Mangano’s involvement in “Joy,” which netted Lawrence a Golden Globe in January, plus her creation of the retail launch discussed in the feature, took her off the board in 2015. The idea to bring readers a story about Mangano was resuscitated during a January conversation with Hawthorne Direct‘s Karla Crawford Kerr about an educational session that’s taking place at next week’s Response Expo. I mused that I was still looking for a cover for our March issue, which is always featured at the International Home+Housewares Show, and Karla immediately mentioned Joy as a perfect fit — now more than ever — if we could make it happen. She was absolutely right, and Mangano’s PR team jumped on the opportunity immediately once I reached out. The phone interview with Mangano really was an absolute joy (pardon the pun). Here’s the link to catch up with Mangano, if you missed it above: What a Joy!
  • For the first time, we combined our looks at the housewares and hardware markets into a single feature story (a combination necessitated by the addition of features on two burgeoning markets — digital goods and business solutions — to our annual editorial calendar). Our freelancer Doug McPherson did a great job with both markets, diving into the vast expansion of digital marketing and sales for both verticals. If you missed the link above but want to check it out, click here: Housewares Finds a Home
  • Our first Response Advisors Forum of 2016 tackled the year’s big TV media topics: how 11 months’ worth of political advertising and two weeks worth of Olympics advertising tying up the NBCUniversal networks will affect availability, pricing, and more. With as much as $12.5 billion expected to be spent in conjunction with the U.S. election cycle and Rio Olympics, the squeeze is on for marketers across the board. But our Advisory Board says that solid planning and a little ingenuity can help advertisers not only overcome the challenges, but thrive through them. One more thing: the online story is a web-exclusive expanded version of the story that ran in print. To see the unabridged answers from our experts, and missed the link above, just click here: A Long Run … and a Short Sprint
  • Our monthly direct response TV and radio media billings return to the DR radio space for third-quarter 2015 results. While the radio market enjoyed its second-best 3Q results in the past six years, a pullback in spending by a single marketer doomed the space to a 10.2-percent dip from 2014’s stellar third quarter. That marketer’s reduced spending was also a big factor in losses in both the network radio outlet and the “Drug and Toiletry” category. For a full look at 3Q 2015 DR radio media billings — and to find out the culprit in those decreases — click here: 3Q 2015 Short-Form DR Billings Continue Reset After Kantar Shift
  • Fifteen years. 15. My Editor’s Note marks a decade-and-a-half since I joined the Response team as the magazine’s lead editor. What a difference time can make … I mean, look at the damn headshot. What’s that shirt-tie combo about? And I don’t remember having all that hair! Anyway, it’s been one hell of a good time putting this magazine together for our readers — and co-creating Response Expo … and the DRMA … with our esteemed publisher (and, more importantly, my friend) John Yarrington. As usual, looking back also gives one a chance to look ahead, so if you missed the link above, click here to catch some of my thoughts on our past, present, and future: Looking Back on 15 Years Crystallizes a View of the Future

Thanks again for reading and interacting with Response!