i-News: April 21, 2008
Data-Driven Marketing Automation for the Newsmedia
Also in this issue:
* Canwest Publishing Joins MAAX Community
* Keeping in Touch with CRM
* CCMA Conference in Niagara Falls
“All of us in the online space should be brand stewards assuring that what we produce and sell adds value to the messaging that major brands work so hard to build. It is fair to ask, can we always offer our advertising partners a well-lit, brand-safe environment; insights about their consumer; and scalable solutions in an increasingly fragmented media world?
“The answer is an unequivocal yes. The smart marketers demand it. Those that do not are destined to waste dollars on inefficient buys and a lack of control that could put their brands at risk.”
Wenda Harris Millard
President/Media, Martha Stewart Living Onmimedia
Monetizing Portable Media
Consumer demand for content portability is driving an explosion in multimedia devices such as iPods, MP3 players, media-enabled mobile phones and more. This enormous growth has the attention of content owners who see opportunity – and money – in downloadable media.
According to Cory Treffiletti, president of Catalyst SF, five key factors are contributing to a huge upswing in such content and advertising within it.
1. Explosive growth in portable media players and platforms.
2. Increasing recognition that downloadable media is high-involvement and (relatively) clutter-free.
3. Growing interest in the downloadable channel from major content owners such as Fox, MGM, Sony, etc.
4. Burgeoning advertiser interest the channel. Several respected analysts forecast that downloadable media will yield the highest rates of growth of any digital platform over the next several years.
5. The introduction of new technologies that maximize revenue while minimizing ad-operations complexity. These technologies serve ads using advanced targeting and dynamic insertion across multiple platforms.
In summary, Treffiletti offers this advice: “To truly realize the potential of this space, a publisher needs a purpose-built solution for downloadable media ad management and insertion. There are a number of companies that offer solutions, but you need to fully evaluate their platform to ensure that they offer a holistic solution for process work flow and ad servicing tailored specifically to downloadable media.”
Canwest Publishing Joins MAAX Community
Canwest Publishing has contracted with ASTECH InterMedia for the MAAX™ Solution Suite, the groundbreaking data-driven marketing automation system currently employed by more than 70 newsmedia companies worldwide.
Canwest Publishing Inc. is Canada's largest publisher of paid English-language daily newspapers with an estimated weekly readership of 4.8 million people. Publications include the National Post, ten major-market dailies and several community newspapers. MAAX is seen as the ideal instrument to facilitate audience growth across multiple platforms because of its incomparable functionality in data integration, analysis and campaign management.
A key component of the MAAX suite is Email Reaction, ASTECH’s online marketing solution that will be leveraged by Canwest to drive data-driven communications across digital platforms to improve customer development and engagement.
Craig Barnard, Senior Vice President, Reader Sales & Service with Canwest Publishing said, “Our organization is very excited about this new partnership with ASTECH. MAAX is a tremendous marketing tool which will greatly improve our ability to manage both acquisition and retention programs for our newspapers.”
To read the full release, please click HERE.
Keeping in Touch with CRM
The April 2008 edition of Presstime Magazine features an article on customer relationship management. The Sacramento Bee’s Darrell Kunken is highlighted. To access the article, click HERE.
CCMA Conference Set for June 9-12 in Niagara Falls
John Allen, director/corporate reader sales & service for Canwest Publishing and president of the Canadian Circulation Management Association, extends an invitation to all i-News readers to attend the annual CCMA Conference in spectacular Niagara Falls, Ontario.
“We have asked API (American Press Institute) to join us to conduct a full day training session (details can be found HERE) as well as a few folks from INMA that will present cutting edge best practices that are being discussed and implemented across the globe in effort to help stabilize declining print circulation and aggregate audiences across the web and back through print. We have also reformatted our awards to better suit how our business has and will continue to evolve today and in the future. For Americans, this is a great chance to see what your friends from the north are doing to tackle the same challenges that you also currently face.”
To register or request additional information, please go to the CCMA Conference site.
ASTECH News & Events
INMA World Congress, May 7-9, Beverly Hills, CA. “Translating Change Into Opportunity – NOW” is the theme of the 78th Annual INMA World Congress in glamorous Beverly Hills. For more details, please click HERE.
MAAX Workshop & Training, May 20-21, McLean, VA. USA TODAY will host “Mini-MUG” on May 20-21 at Gannett's magnificent facilities in McLean, VA. All MAAX community members are welcome, but the idea is to provide quick access by East Coast clients to a day and a half of MAAX-related content and training. There is no registration fee. For more information, visit the MAAX Workshop page on our redesigned web site.
i-News is brought to you by ASTECH InterMedia, the leading provider of data-driven, revenue-focused marketing automation solutions for the newsmedia. For more, please go to www.astech-intermedia.com
