Nielsen: Q3 Ad Spending Up 7%

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/189105/nielsen-ad-spend-up-7-in-q3.html#axzz2Es5NsnCB

Heavy Olympic and political advertising in the third quarter contributed to big growth. But overall, 2012 growth is still pegged at only slight improvement.
Nielsen says advertising spending in the U.S. for the third quarter 2012 was up 7% versus the third quarter 2011.

Ballard Designs Catalog Offers App

http://www.hometextilestoday.com/article/558185-Ballard_Designs_new_app_interacts_with_print_catalog.php

Home furnishings retailer Ballard Designs has launched Ballard+, an app that enables the user to browse and shop the retailer's print catalog using image recognition technology. The free app, which features "tap-to-buy" shopping, product details and reviews, multiple image viewer and social sharing, works with Ballard's December 2012 early winter issue.

Bonniers & Flingo: Print with Interactive TV Apps

http://mw.newsblaze.com/story/2012121108595900005.mwir/topstory.html

Flingo (www.flingo.tv), the largest publisher of Smart TV apps, today announced a partnership with Bonnier Corp., one of the largest consumer-publishing groups in the U.S., to enhance its print content with interactive TV applications. Flingo has developed Smart TV apps to bring content from Bonnier's collection of 45 leading publications and properties such as Popular Science, Parenting, Field & Stream, TransWorld, Warren Miller, and more, into viewers' homes. The apps are available on the over 15 million Smart TV devices that run on Flingo's platform including TiVo, LG, Samsung, Vizio, Sanyo, Insignia, and Western Digital.

Direct Mail Still Choice of Shoppers

http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2012/pr12_150.htm

Direct mail remains a medium of choice for holiday shoppers and marketers alike.  And enhanced with mobile and web technologies like QR codes, personalized URLs and augmented reality, it’s engaging consumers like never before.

“Long lauded for its ability to provide consumers with personalized and tangible information about products, promotions and sales, today’s direct mail, combined with Web technologies and smartphone apps, is offering holiday shoppers a media-rich experience that connects with them on a deeper, more personal level,” said Gary Reblin, vice president, Domestic Products, U.S. Postal Service.

Tribune Reviews Selling Papers

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/tribune-said-to-seek-sale-of-newspapers-as-it-exits-bankruptcy/2012/12/11/8622ada8-43bb-11e2-8c8f-fbebf7ccab4e_story.html

Tribune Co., the bankrupt owner of the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and six other daily newspapers, is interviewing bankers about selling its papers, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Tribune Co. is seeking an adviser for a possible sale after the company exits bankruptcy, which is slated to happen by Dec. 31, according to the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive officer of News Corp., plans to take a close look at Tribune Co.’s newspaper assets once they’re available, according to a person with direct knowledge of his thinking.

Printed Books Still Attractive Option

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/entertainment&id=8916750

Success of E. L. James' novels also captured the dual state of the book market -- the advance of e-books and the resilience of paper. In a year when print was labeled as endangered and established publishers referred to as "legacy" companies, defined and beholden to the past, the allure remained for buying and reading bound books.

Publishers from several major houses agreed that e-books comprise 25-30 percent of overall sales, exponentially higher than a few years ago, but not nearly enough to erase the power of paper. And the rate of growth is leveling off, inevitable as a new format matures. Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy said e-sales were up around 30 percent this year, less than half what she had expected.

Valassis Offers Social Savings App for Advertisers

Valassis' offers Social Savings and Sharing App for Advertisers:
Valassis, a leader in intelligent media delivery, and Oasis Brands Inc. announced today how they are working together to offer consumer savings in the social sphere. Valassis' savings application built on the Facebook Platform is now being utilized by advertisers like Oasis Brands to promote specific individual brand promotions. As Facebook evolves its platform.

Newspaper Q3 Ad Revenues Fall

U.S. Newspaper Ad Revenues Again Decline, Though Decreases Slow:
Per the latest figures from the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), overall U.S. newspaper advertising revenues continue the decline that started in earnest in 2006, and has continued for 25 consecutive quarters.

Gravure Assn. Awards RRD

RR Donnelley Honored with Nine Golden Cylinder Awards by Gravure Assn. of America: CHICAGO—Dec. 12, 2012—R. R. Donnelley & Sons announced that nine different catalogs, magazines, retail inserts and direct mailings that drew on its premedia and production platform have been recognized with 2012 Golden Cylinder.

InfoTrends: True Cost of Print Business Communications

InfoTrends Calculates the True Cost of Printed Business Communications:
Producing and distributing documents involves many processes and includes a combination of tangible, “hard” costs (printing, shipping, storing materials, etc.) and other less tangible, “soft” costs (composition, design, editing, project management, etc.). Companies of all sizes need to understand all these related costs to manage their businesses effectively. InfoTrends’ new study, titled “The True Cost of Business Communications,” compares and examines the costs associated with outsourcing and doing the work internally, along with providing key considerations for what the outsourced print should be.

Resolute Announces Sale of Mersey Assets

Resolute Announces Sale of Mersey Assets:
Resolute Forest Products Inc. (NYSE: RFP) (TSX: RFP) today announced that the province of Nova Scotia, represented by the minister of the Department of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism, has completed the purchase of all the shares of Bowater Mersey Paper Company Limited for nominal consideration.
Bowater Mersey is the former joint venture between Resolute (51%) and The Washington Post Company (49%), formed to hold the Mersey newsprint mill, located in Brooklyn, Nova Scotia, and other associated assets, including private timberlands, the Oakhill sawmill and Brooklyn Power Corporation. Resolute operated the Mersey newsprint mill until it was indefinitely idled in June of 2012. 
Dave Coles, National President of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP), said the announcement of the agreement with Resolute Forest Products and the Washington Post Company made by the Nova Scotia government is “great news for the forest industry”.
“This is extremely beneficial to retirees as it will have a very positive impact on the health of the pension plan for workers at the former Bowater mill,” said Coles.

Domtar Raises Pulp Prices

Domtar has begun informing North American customers that its northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) and southern bleached softwood kraft (SBSK) market pulp prices will increase $30/tonne, effective January 1, 2013 until further notice.

Montreal-headquartered Domtar told domestic customers its NBSK list price would increase to $900/tonne, industry contacts said today.

FPAC Pleased with Immigration Changes

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/12/10/5044519/forest-industry-welcomes-immigration.html

The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) is pleased about today's announcement by the Minister of Citizen, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason Kenney, concerning a new Federal Skilled Trades Program to help address labour shortages in skilled trades.

The forest products sector in Canada has been struggling to find skilled workers including millwrights, engineers, pipe fitters, truck drivers, heavy equipment operators, technologists and more.

NewPage Releases Sustainablity Report

NewPage Releases 2011-12 Sustainable Development Report: NewPage Corporation, the leading producer of printing and specialty papers in North America, announced today the release of its 2011-12 Sustainable Development Report, Making a Difference.

Mike Nizza To Lead Esquire Digital

Former ‘The Daily’ Editor Mike Nizza To Lead Esquire Digital: Not all of the staff from News Corp's about-to-fold "The Daily" app-a-zine ended up going over the sister pub New York Post in the end. Its managing editor for news Mike Nizza has landed at Esquire as the new editor-in-chief of Esquire Digital.

USPS Plans to Sell Magazine Subscriptions

Postal Service Plans to Sell Magazine Subscriptions:
The U.S. Postal Service, at the urging of publishers, is planning to sell magazine subscriptions on its website and to promote them at post offices. “The USPS is moving forward on a plan to offer magazine subscriptions for sale on usps.com,” says Idealliance’s summary of the recent Mailers’ Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC) meeting, a joint USPS-mailers group.

NYT Introduces Compendium

http://www.btobonline.com/article/20121210/MEDIABUSINESS1205/312109992/nyt-rolls-out-compendium

The New York Times has introduced Compendium, a Pinterest-like tool for newspaper content.

Compendium enables readers to “curate” content from the Times—including articles, imagery, videos and quotations—to tell and share their own stories.

Apple, Google Offer $500 Million for Kodak Patents

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-12-07/apple-joins-google-in-500-million-plus-bid-for-kodak-patents

Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Google Inc. have joined forces to offer more than $500 million to buy Eastman Kodak Co. (EKDKQ)’s patents out of bankruptcy, said people familiar with the situation.

The two companies, competing for dominance of the smartphone market, have partnered after leading two separate groups this summer to buy some of Kodak’s 1,100 imaging patents, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the process is private.

New Dynamics of Ad Campaigns

The New Dynamics of Ad Campaigns:
When your brand is everywhere, your ad campaigns need to be everywhere, plain and simple. As magazines evolve from a single printed entity produced monthly or weekly to a 24/7 media experience, advertisers expect to go along for that multi-channel ride. Engaging cross-platform ad buys are quickly becoming the new normal—even as content publishers still figure these new models out.

Sappi/Union Reach Agreement

Sappi Fine Paper North America and the United Steelworkers reach...:
Sappi Fine Paper North America and its Cloquet Mill (Minnesota) employees represented by the United Steelworkers (USW) yesterday announced the ratification of a new labor agreement.
In a statement, Sappi said, "With contract negotiation now complete, the Cloquet mill can continue to concentrate on producing world-class paper and completing the $170 million capital project to convert the pulp mill to specialized cellulose."