Emerging Entrepreneurs

By Bill Mickey
Monday, May 3, 2010

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Reed Business Information U.S. announced last month they were shutting down a staggering 23 titles. These were brands they were unable to sell—or chose not to sell—during their 9-month-long divestment process. It’s an apparent knock-out punch to big b-to-b media, as companies of that size have been reeling under the combined body blows of a weak ad economy and choking debt loads.

In another business context, not all of those titles would be considered lost causes. Indeed, titles that are otherwise profitable can still be cast aside in a big company environment for not contributing their “fair share” to the bottom line. On their own or in a smaller, more entrepreneurial environment, however, the brands can do just fine.

We’ve already seen some of the cast-aways (not just from RBI) picked up by companies with varying degrees of media provenance. Often, media executives who formerly worked for the brands have cobbled together enough funding to purchase a title or two and then go on to tout an intimate connection to the audience that a bigger company, with its divergent verticals, could not.

Much of that entrepreneurial spirit can be found in the pages of this issue, highlighted in our fourth annual All-Stars feature. Once again, we’ve assembled team of pros from big companies and small, b-to-b and consumer, who are either taking their traditional roles into uncharted territory or have moved into contemporary positions at the crux of multiplatform audience development.

And speaking of traditional and contemporary roles, the 2010 Audience Development Conference and Expo will be held in New York next month, June 7-9 at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers. We’re presenting the show alongside the Folio: Show and featuring a unique program that breaks consumer and b-to-b aud dev into their own tracks. Visit www.audiencedevshow.com for a full program breakdown. See you at the show!