FMA Day Sessions Explore Advertiser Expectations, Pricing, Anti-Fraud Strategies

Sponsored circ still a prickly subject with marketers.

By Karlene Lukovitz
Friday, September 18, 2009

NEW YORK—Session topics at this year’s FMA Day, held Wednesday at the Yale Club, ran the gamut from analyzing how media buyers view circulation, to sharing pricing and other marketing ideas, to understanding how the industry can put a stop to fraudulent subscription marketing.

On the media buying front, media consultant and former ad agency and client-side executive Jack Hanrahan told consumer marketers that, while some agencies have capped the percentage of verified circulation deemed acceptable (at 5 percent, for instance), he believes that verified is much better understood by buyers than it was when the category was created several years ago.  

On the not-so-upbeat side, he said that buyers are leery of sponsored circulation because “we just don’t know enough about it.” A verified copy that is in a hair salon is likely to be read, but “if someone is getting a free, sponsored subscription for two months or two years, is that magazine going to be opened?,” he asked. Co-panelist Rick Jones, president and CEO of DJG Marketing, said the only relevant issue is whether the circulation is delivering what advertisers pay for: getting their products in front of qualified people. “If it’s qualified, sponsored is terrific,” he said.

Hanrahan and Jones agreed that effective ad sales takes excellent listening skills and tailoring a strategic approach for each individual marketer’s needs, rather than a cookie-cutter approach. Hanrahan said he believes it can be wise for a salesperson to tell an advertiser that he or she will take specific circulation questions back to the publishing team and get back to the advertiser with specifics. Jones disagreed. “If your salesperson can’t respond to circulation questions, you should get a new salesperson,” he said.

In a pricing-focused session moderated by marketing consultant David Lee, consultant Nicole Bowman, Greg Wolfe of Circulation Specialists, Greg Deily of DRG Marketing and Helen Hoart of StayWell Consumer Health Publishing agreed that long-term renewals represent by far the greatest area of leverage within subscriptions. Hoart pointed out that maintaining circulation while raising price—never mind shooting to increase circulation—is quite challenging enough in the current climate.

Consumer marketing executives on a panel of “Great Circulation Tips” led by Hearst Magazines’ Susan Allyn, including American Express Publishing’s Mark Walter, Wenner Media’s Mike Sheehy and Bonnier’s Bob Cohn, offered an extensive roster of sub and newsstand ideas worth testing now. A few samples: Lowering the sub price but raising the postage/distribution fee by the same amount; reduced or non-annual terms (14 or 9 issues, for example) for the same price; and renewals at birth for sources that renew poorly.  Direct mail segmentation, partnership and online strategies all got special focus.

In a session on stopping subscription fraud led by Bridget Wells of Periodical Watchguard LLC, Wells, an FBI special agent, a former U.S. Postal Service inspector and a former U.S. assistant attorney now in private practice all stressed that publishers need to work together to consolidate evidence of fraud across many magazines in order to present enough scale to investigators and authorities. While the problem represents many millions in losses for the industry as a whole, authorities aren’t likely to act on behalf of one or two magazines at a time because they have to prioritize cases by size, panelists explained.

In “Surviving the Online Arena,” led by Jean Christenson of CDS Global, Working Mother director of digital media Helen Jonson explored paid versus free content issues, Publishers Clearing House’s Sal Tripi outlined the benefits of a comprehensive email compliance program, and CDS's Collette Noble discussed opportunities in social media.

Attendees got the inside scoop on how to get maximum “bang for the buck” when working with consultants from consultants themselves—Steve Aster, Charles Mast and Marlene Tuchman—as well as from Forbes consumer marketing VP Nina La France.

FMA Day Awards

During the annual FMA Day awards luncheon, Joseph Furgiuele, founder and president of the marketing data systems and consulting firm Furgiuele & Company, Inc., was inducted into the FMA Hall of Fame, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the fulfillment field over the course of a career. Jim Borth, currently consulting for Palm Coast Data, was presented with the Lee C. Williams Award, recognizing outstanding contributions to the periodicals publishing industry; and Steven Jacobs, fulfillment director at American Media Inc., was named Fulfillment Manager of the Year, recognizing excellence in customer service through the fulfillment process.