Oct 11

Response August: Financial, Fulfillment, Festivities

Hey all. Yes, it’s been a while. We got our October issue off to print late last week — and here I am blogging about our August issue?! Yep. September was a crazy month of personal and business travel, on top of working heavily on the rebrand of Response Expo as MTC Expo, and the brand refreshes of Response Magazine and the DRMA. Both the Response and DRMA sites should be brand new by early November. Finally, here’s a look back August, which is led by an intriguing cover interview with Jean Vernor, who leads MetLife‘s direct-to-consumer efforts. Other features in the issue include a look at how the wider financial services space is using direct methodologies and our annual look at the fulfillment and logistics space. How did these — and other — pieces come together? Let’s take a look.

Thanks again for reading and interacting with Response!

Nov 06

Response October: Autobytel Aspires, Columnists’ Desires, and Yogi Inspires

Response October 2015After a hectic October, a week full of prepping and planning for year’s end and — I can’t believe I’m saying this already — Response Expo, I finally have a chance on this Friday afternoon to take a look back at Response‘s October issue. For years, we’ve covered the automotive marketing space with a general feature in October, so we’re happy that our cover story on Autobytel, which had been in planning and prep for about 3-4 months, fell into this issue as well. Beyond those features, you’ll also catch our semi-annual media buying and planning guide, a DRMA Spotlight Update, and — as usual — our regular array of research and industry opinion. Let’s touch on some of the key pieces.

  • My first connection to the eventual Autobytel cover feature on Jeff Coats came during a May trip to Las Vegas covering another story for the magazine. There, I met Benjamin Hunting, a freelance writer with a presence in the automotive journalism space, who also does some editing work for Autobytel. A month or so later, Ben connected me with PR contact Jennifer Lange, to whom I pitched a feature on Autobytel’s multichannel, performance-driven campaigns — in both the B2B and B2C realms. It was a natural fit for us, geographically, as well — Autobytel’s offices are less than five miles from those of Response. From there, the interview and photo shoot pulled together fairly smoothly, and the piece is very intriguing from both a historical and current perspective. If you missed the link to the cover story above, here it is again: An Automotive Matchmaker
  • Tony BesasieOur latest DRMA Spotlight Update checked back in with Cannella Response Television and its president, Tony Besasie. The company is celebrating 30 years in business in 2015, but that’s far from the most noteworthy thing happening in its Burlington, Wis., and Los Angeles offices. Besasie and the company’s leadership are looking ahead, with a vision based on the current status of the TV and video advertising space — and its future. If you missed the link above, here’s your chance to hear from one of the DRMA’s leading member companies: 30 Years in, Cannella Response Television Keeps Looking Ahead
  • October was another heavy month for submitted opinion columns from industry experts in the mag, with a half-dozen takes on topics as widespread as doing business based on fear or love to the power (and folly) of self-assumed titles. However, two columns again stuck out as crucial conversation starters: Sean Fay of Seattle-based Envision Response wrote about how consumers’ mental triggers can be pulled in very similar ways by both digital and TV performance-based marketing campaigns. Even more provocatively, in a column that had its origins in a rollicking lunch conversation in New York in June, Tina Messina of Scripps Networks contends the term “direct response” simply isn’t carrying its weight anymore in the TV media sales space and asks readers, “What would you call it?” at the end of a well-written, and well-argued, piece.
  • Our monthly direct response TV and radio media billings recap returns to long-form DRTV for second-quarter 2015 results — and things are pretty much status quo. For the 11th consecutive quarter, long-form DRTV billings slipped — this time by 10.3 percent, marking the lowest 2Q spend since 2004. Though most of the news was predictably dour for the space, one slight positive did arise — cable pricing for a half-hour slot finally dropped after remaining stubbornly high throughout 2014. This helped the cable outlet gain market share, and likely helped the quarter’s total spend from falling even more precipitously. For a more in-depth look at 2Q 2015 long-form DRTV media billings, click here: 2Q 2015 Long-Form DRTV Billings Slide Again
  • Yogi Berra Finally, as a lifelong baseball fan, October is always a special time. When Hall of Famer Yogi Berra passed away on Sept. 22, he not only left behind a brilliant baseball career, but also some of the most memorable — and confusing — quotes uttered by a public figure during the past five decades. That confluence — the time of year and Berra’s “way” with malapropisms — provided all the inspiration I needed for my October Editor’s Note column. One quote, in particular, seemed perfectly fitting for the current state of the overcrowded digital marketing space — and gave me a chance to riff on the continuing opportunities in offline media for marketers of all stripes — even Yankee pinstripes. If you missed the link to the column above, here it is once again: Berra’s Wit and Wisdom Can Benefit Today’s Marketers

Thanks again for reading and interacting with Response!

Jan 22

The Truth and Joe Paterno

I woke up to the news of the death of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno this morning, after an apparently short bout with lung cancer. The announcement – predictably given the news of the past few months – touched off a firestorm of commentary in the media, sports and otherwise, via obituaries, columns and Twitter.

The lead of the New York Times official obit of Paterno got it just about right but caused an outcry from the record-setting coach’s staunchest defenders regarding the inclusion of the sexual abuse controversy that brought an abrupt end to his coaching career in November. Meanwhile, others decried simple mentions of “RIP” on Twitter and Facebook as too much of a wish for a man whose inaction likely resulted in the continuing molestation of young boys by his former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

Jerry Sandusky retired from Joe Paterno’s staff in 1999.

When the Sandusky-Penn State story broke in November, I got wrapped up in it more than any “media firestorm” in recent memory. Perhaps it was the explosion of such an apparently huge and deplorable series of crimes committed (both legal and moral) by individuals who had previously built a nearly impeccable record of leadership and accomplishment. To say that Penn State was seen as a beacon of all that was “right” with the world of collegiate athletics prior to this scandal would be a massive understatement.

Watching what happened to the legacy of a man like Paterno in the passing weeks – as he essentially slipped away – was stunning and sad to someone who values the positives that sports can bring to a life. But to say anyone brought this end upon Paterno other than himself would be far from true.

There’s that word – true. Isn’t truth what this story is really all about? What was really true? How can two things at such distant ends of a spectrum of right and wrong about one person essentially both be true? It’s really appropriate, then, that I am reading a fantastic book called “The Night of the Gun” by New York Times columnist David Carr. In the book, Carr – a former drug and alcohol addict who nearly saw his life slip away – uses his vast investigative journalism skills to basically tell the story of his own life, via interviews with those close to him during different parts of it, as well as documents and other tidbits that help him put together a story that will be closest to the “truth” about his life.

Carr often opens chapters with quotes from famous writers that have some sort of relevance to the upcoming information. One of those quotes couldn’t be more fitting to the story of Paterno and how different people are reacting to the news of his death:

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” – Oscar Wilde

An Irishman who pondered truth.

Indeed.

Truth: Paterno won 409 games, more than any other NCAA Division I football coach.

Truth: Paterno’s success on the field and his commitment to improving the educational capabilities of Penn State are the two biggest reasons the school has become what it is today – a rare highly-regarded state school in a part of the country (the Northeast) where state schools are usually given short shrift.

Truth: Paterno turned out a series of exceptional graduates in his 46 seasons as head coach, both on and off the field.

Truth: Paterno was a family man, loyal to his wife Sue, his five children and numerous grandchildren. Sue and all five of his kids attended Penn State.

Truth: Paterno maintained an everyman image in secluded Happy Valley, making him both a larger-than-life hero as well as just a friendly “average Joe” (pardon the pun) to those closest to him – both in the community and in the local media.

However …

Truth: Grand jury testimony given in the investigation of a 2002 incident involving Sandusky and a boy in the Penn State locker room showed Paterno’s efforts to seek out the truth and protect those most innocent among us (children) woefully and shockingly lacking from a moral, if not necessarily a legal, standpoint.

Truth: Paterno held so much power in State College that it’s essentially accepted that he laughed off the president of the university and athletic director when they tried to force him to retire in 2004, following a series of poor seasons.

Truth: That overwhelming power vacuum in remote, sheltered Happy Valley and his lack of action in the 2002 Sandusky incident must call into question Paterno’s knowledge and action during the Penn State police’s prior investigation of Sandusky in 1998 and Sandusky’s then supposed “retirement” following the 1999 season. How could a man with the power Paterno wielded in State College NOT have known about the Penn State police investigation of a man who’d been a key part of his staff for more than two decades? And just why did Sandusky “retire” in 1999, when all indications had been that he was the heir apparent to Paterno?

Truth: Paterno was hounded by rumors of improper intervention when Penn State players found themselves either in legal or scholastic trouble in recent seasons since the Sandusky investigation came to light. In the past, most would have written those rumors off as the bitter recriminations of those who may have felt “wronged” by Paterno or Penn State. Now?

So what is the ultimate truth of the story of Joe Paterno? His many great qualities, his incredible commitment to education, his loyalty to Penn State, his concept of what he called “the Grand Experiment” – success with honor – and how he and generations of Penn State players lived up to it … are those things enough to overcome the indubitably horrific choices he made in the Sandusky matter? Where is the balance? What truth wins out?

Of all the things I read about Paterno’s death today, this piece by Gregg Doyel of CBSSports.com – one of Paterno and Penn State’s most outspoken critics since November – really hit home. Joe Paterno was a man. He was not the god many Penn State fans – many football fans – seemed to idolize him as. Nor is he the personification of evil that many people – people who are understandably angered by his lack of moral action and leadership in perhaps the greatest test of his life – would believe.

David Carr investigated his life’s own truths.

He was as fallible as you or me. He was as fallible as a writer like Carr, whose self-investigation hits home with me. Trust me, after the past couple years of my own life, I know what it’s like to feel fallible, to wish you’d done more, to suffer from guilt – but also to understand that those things aren’t the complete truth of your own life. Carr finds in his book that he is, in fact, a drug dealer, a drug addict, a general fuck-up. But he also finds that he is a committed father, a spectacular investigator, an excellent writer. All of those truths are a part of Carr the man.

And … all of the truths you have read about Paterno are part of him. You can laud Paterno for the massive achievements for the bulk of his life, while also maintaining high levels of anger, shocked disbelief and a complete loss of respect for this one massive mistake that will (and should) color his legacy forever. Mostly, today, you can mourn for his family and friends at their loss, while also mourning for the children whose lives were likely irreparably harmed by his inaction.

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” And there are few things truer than that.