2008—The Year of the Big “Push-Back”

Welcome to 2008—a year of predominantly flat promotion budgets, falling response rates, the new telemarketing recording rule, intense postal changes and increased scrutiny by advertisers and the audit bureaus!

By Kristina Joukhadar
Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Welcome to 2008—a year of predominantly flat promotion budgets, falling response rates, the new telemarketing recording rule, intense postal changes and increased scrutiny by advertisers and the audit bureaus!

When we began our interviewing for the Outlook 2008 story in this issue of CM, we were prepared for the tales of doom and gloom. But circulation marketers/audience developers are not known for nay-saying. As a matter of fact, quite the opposite.
So in addition to the mention of the negative forces at play in the media business now, you will also find the push-back: the positive plans and actions your colleagues are taking to move their titles and the industry forward.

January also marks the time of our annual Fulfillment Service Bureau Survey and this year it’s more dynamic than ever. So many of the changes in the industry—in terms of print circulations, number of titles, proliferation of email newsletters, service bureau mergers and staffing—are reflected in the charts.

But the numbers themselves are just a compass. We’d love to hear your feedback on what the numbers are really saying about your business.

And speaking of what people are saying about the business, we’ve taken the opportunity to ask our fulfillment bureaus for information and suggestions on how they can help support publishers in their quest to meet the new postal requirements on co-palletization, co-mingling and co-mailing.

The other feature story in this issue is about the whole concept of “Audience Development” and what it means to our readers—whether it is just a new title for an existing function; a new catch-all category for doing more work; or an opportunity to grow and expand the boundaries of circulation. (We think it’s probably all of the above.)

On that note, we wish you a very happy and profitable new year!