AF&PA Encourages EPA Cofirmation

http://www.afandpa.org/

American Forest & Paper Association President and CEO Donna Harman issued the following statement on expected action by the U.S. Senate to confirm Gina McCarthy as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) new administrator.

"On behalf of the paper and wood products industry, we are pleased to see progress toward the confirmation of Gina McCarthy as the new administrator for the EPA.

"We are encouraged that the Senate is expected to vote soon on her confirmation. If confirmed by the full Senate, we look forward to working with Ms. McCarthy, whom we've found to be an objective and deliberative decision maker with an appreciation for due process and engaging different perspectives.

Restoration Hardware Is Private-Equity Boon

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323664204578605761992293042.html

RH -3.83% Once teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and subject of a buyout bidding war during which offers shrank, Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. RH -3.83% is turning into a bonanza for its private-equity owners.

The firms that bought the luxury-home-furnishings retailer in 2008 are on track to make about eight times their initial investment, when including their remaining stock holdings in the company, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of securities filings. This is a huge return among deals struck in the years leading up to and during the financial crisis.

Restoration Hardware has a stock-market value of about $2.7 billion.

Five years ago, as the housing crash crimped the company's profits, a group led by Connecticut private-equity firms Catterton Partners and Tower Three Partners LLC and the retailer's chief executive took the company private for about $177 million.
Restoration still doesn't turn out consistent profits. But today the retailer, which returned to public ownership in a November initial public offering, has a stock-market value of about $2.7 billion.
At one point last week, shares traded at more than three times their IPO price of $24. The surge has prompted the company's owners to cash in. Late Thursday, the buyout group and executives sold some $560 million of stock.
The deal followed a similarly sized sale in late May that returned about $497 million.
The success shows that even as the buyout business matures and big gains are seen as more difficult to come by, some deals can prove runaway winners.

Forbes Names Howard CRO, Levien Leaves for NYT

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/204519/howard-to-cro-forbes-media.html?print#axzz2Z96zvO8T

Forbes Media today announced the promotion of Mark Howard to Chief Revenue Officer. Previously, he was senior vice president, digital advertising strategy. Forbes Media Chief Revenue Officer Meredith Levien has decided to leave Forbes to assume the role of executive vice president, advertising at The New York Times.

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/new-york-times-names-new-ad-chief-151168

Back in March, The New York Times Co. announced a new structure, recognizing a need to speed up its operations and boost its digital operations amid a slump for print newspapers. The company created three new groups, for digital products and services, print products and services, and advertising. Today, the Times continued that process, naming Meredith Levien from Forbes to head up the last one.

As evp of advertising, a newly created position, Levien will oversee advertising revenue coming from all the Times’ products and services. She’ll be on the executive committee and report directly to Times president and CEO Mark Thompson, starting Aug. 5.

http://www.foliomag.com/2013/levien-out-forbes-cro#.UeRP9VOYyKw

Forbes has found success in its digital sales lately, but its team is in the midst of a shakeup.

Programmatic and native sales advocate Meredith Levien has left her role as Forbes Media Chief Revenue Officer to become executive vice president of advertising at The New York Times. 
Mark Howard, previously the senior vice president of digital advertising strategy at the company, will assume Levien's CRO role, effective immediately. 
The move is the second major leadership change in as many weeks for Forbes. Mike Smith, formerly chief digital officer of Forbes Media, was recently named vice president of revenue platforms and operations for Hearst Magazines Digital Media.

Gap, Old Navy Lead Retail Sales Growth

http://www.retailonlineintegration.com/aggregatedcontent/clearance-racks-help-june-retail-sales

Retailers’ sales continued to heat up in June amid improving weather and discounting as chains looked to clear out spring merchandise and prepare for the back-to-school season. One standout was Gap, which continued to record strong sales. Its same-store sales growth of 7 percent handily topped expectations. Gap stores posted a 5 percent rise when 6.3 percent growth was expected, while Banana Republic's same-store sales declined 1 percent, compared with expectations for 0.7 percent growth. Old Navy recorded 13 percent growth, well ahead of expectations for 5.4 percent growth.

Hearst Mags Retains IMG Licensing

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/204508/hearst-mags-retains-img-licensing-for-global-brand.html#axzz2Z96zvO8T

Hearst Magazines International announced that IMG Licensing will be the exclusive product licensing representative for key Hearst Magazines brands, Cosmopolitan, Esquire and Harper’s Bazaar outside of the U.S. and Canada. Cosmopolitan reaches more than 100 million readers, through 62 international editions. Esquire is published in 14 languages and distributed in 45 countries. Harper’s Bazaar is published in 17 languages and has 34 international editions.

Where’s Direct Mail in This Survey List?

http://thedigitalnirvana.com/2013/07/hey-wheres-print-in-this-media-list/

I was browsing email subject lines and one about Millennials using print caught my eye. Every now and then, you see data showing that direct mail and other print media carry weight — and influence — among this coveted and digital-media-heavy demographic. 

I clicked through, and the data from was Experian (Digital Marketing Report 2013).  It did show Millennials using print, but it was newspapers and magazines. In a seven-day span (“seven-day platform reach”), the chart indicated, approximately 70% of 18-24-year olds were reading newspapers and magazines.  Nice to know, but . . . 
Television, mobile phone, radio, newspaper, home computer, magazine, work computer, game console, MP3 player, tablet, e-Reader. Those were the categories included, leaving magazines and newspapers the print representatives. 
Where was direct mail? Despite the power that print continues to show in influencing consumer decisions and as part of consumers’ preferences, somehow it was not included in the media mix being studied.  How did direct mail get overlooked?

Retailers, Tracking and Big Data

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/15/business/attention-shopper-stores-are-tracking-your-cell.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&ref=business&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1373890996-pc43mkypsX80n8DZ/Rzhvw&

Like dozens of other brick-and-mortar retailers, Nordstrom wanted to learn more about its customers — how many came through the doors, how many were repeat visitors — the kind of information that e-commerce sites like Amazon have in spades. So last fall the company started testing new technology that allowed it to track customers’ movements by following the Wi-Fi signals from their smartphones. 

But when Nordstrom posted a sign telling customers it was tracking them, shoppers were unnerved.
“We did hear some complaints,” said Tara Darrow, a spokeswoman for the store. Nordstrom ended the experiment in May, she said, in part because of the comments.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/paularosenblum/2013/07/08/retailers-and-big-data-the-creepy-continuum/

We’ve certainly read and heard a lot about data gathering lately, and the term “Big Data” is making its way into the public lexicon.  One issue that’s come up often is “Given what we’ve found out about what is being done by government agencies with available data, will we see a consumer backlash against giving retailers information?  Will consumers batten down their privacy hatches?” 
I’m a firm believer that an educated consumer will make better decisions, and so I thought I’d spend a few hundred words giving you some correct definitions, followed by some realistic retail scenarios.

RRD, Workman Publishing Sign Agreement

http://whattheythink.com/news/64469-rr-donnelley-named-preferred-provider-workman-publishing-co/

R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company today announced that it has been awarded a multi-year multi-million dollar agreement by Workman Publishing Co. to serve as its lead domestic and international printer as well as its exclusive provider of fulfillment and distribution services. Workman Publishing is an independent publisher and the creator of award-winning calendars, cookbooks, parenting/pregnancy guides and fun educational children's titles, as well as gardening, humor, self-help and business books.

Meredith Launches Allrecipies.com in Print

http://www.foliomag.com/2013/meredith-s-allrecipes-launches-print-magazine#.UeRQeFOYyKw

The Meredith Corporation is set to launch a print version of its popular Allrecipies.com brand. The magazine is being rolled out as a bi-monthly publication and is slated to debut in August. 

Meredith is looking to buck the trend of print magazines moving into digital-only publishing by going the opposite direction. "We believe in multi-platform publishing and delivery," says Tom Witschi, executive vice president of Meredith's Women's Lifestyle Group. "We are very good at print and have had a lot of success with it, and it was clear from our testing that this was going to be very well received," he adds. 
In addition to print, Allrecipes is also entering the television space with a branded segment tied into Meredith's The Better Show, which airs on the Hallmark Channel.

Regional Mag Maryland Life Closes Down

http://www.foliomag.com/2013/regional-mag-maryland-life-closes-down#.UeRQolOYyKw

Regionals were among the most-launched magazines in the first half of 2013, but there's still churn in the segment.

Great State Publishing and its chief editorial product, regional magazine Maryland Life, have shut down after nine years, the company announced in a statement. The already-released June issue will be its last. 
Dan Patrell, publisher and editor-in-chief of Maryland Life, blamed the closing on a lack of sales.
"We were actually doing well in advertising sales individually with our account executives, but the bottom line was that I didn't have enough of them and had a bear of a time finding additional salespeople or ways to increase the [existing] revenue streams," he tells FOLIO:. "The model that we had, as fantastic as the editorial was, wasn't sustainable."

NYT Adds Low Priced Product

http://www.adweek.com/news/press/new-york-times-moves-forward-low-priced-product-151152

The New York Times is starting to make good on its promise to develop a low-priced news product. Six months after having completed staff cuts, Times executive editor Jill Abramson announced new products and leadership shuffles to boost the paper's digital footprint.

Abramson had already shaken things up back in January, elevating Larry Ingrassia and Ian Fisher to assistant managing editors to focus on digital, among other changes. With mobile traffic now accounting for nearly half the Times' Web traffic, she said today's moves would position the paper to capitalize on that trend.