AF&PA Reports Oct. P&W Paper Ships

http://www.afandpa.org/

The American Forest & Paper Association released its October 2012 Printing-Writing Paper Report on Nov. 21.

According to the report, total printing-writing paper shipments decreased 2 percent in October compared to October 2011, primarily driven by declines in uncoated mechanical shipments.

Additional key findings include: 

October shipments of coated free sheet papers increased year-over-year for the fifth time in the past twelve months, reaching the highest level since September 2010. 

Shipments of uncoated free sheet paper in October increased 2 percent over the same period in 2011, with mill inventories at the lowest level since July 1995.

October uncoated mechanical paper shipments decreased 23 percent compared to October 2011, with YTD shipments down 16 percent relative to the previous year.

AF&PA Reports Recovered Fiber Consumption

http://www.afandpa.org/

The American Forest & Paper Association released its October 2012 U.S. Recovered Fiber Monthly Report on Nov. 20, 2012.

According to the report, total U.S. industry consumption of recovered paper in October was 2.49 million tons, 6 percent higher than in September 2012. Consumption was up across all grades except for Newspapers, which remained at its September low and was 25 percent lower than in October 2011. Year-to-date total consumption in 2012 is 4 percent lower than during the same period last year.

China's Paper & Board Exports Up 2.5% YTD

http://en.chinapaperonline.com/news/2012/20121121173000185.html

Reported by Customs Info.comData from China Customs Agency showed that in first 3 quarters, China exported a total of 3.531 million mts of paper paperboard ( not cut to length), up 2.5% year on year. Export value was US$ 4.23 billion, jumping 12.8%. Among which, export of newsprint and Kraft paper.

More Details from Catalog Survey; Essential Consumer Tool

Print Catalogs Remain Essential to Many Consumers: U.S. consumers continue to rely heavily on the print catalogs, as reported by the American Catalog Mailers Association in its latest study.
Key findings:
92% of those who examine the catalogs they receive have made a purchase
Nearly six out of 10 (58%) respondents look at catalogs as soon as they
Two-thirds (66%) of consumers surveyed say they examine the print catalogs they receive in the mailbox.

Departures Hikes Rate Base

Departures Sees Jump In Ad Revenue, Hikes Rate Base:
Departures, American Express Publishing’s luxury travel title, is seeing gains in print and online advertising, and will be increasing its rate base in the new year.
Ad revenue for the print magazine grew by 12 percent and paging grew by a total of two percent in 2012. The news marks the title’s second consecutive year of growth—in 2011, the magazine saw a 46 percent increase in ad revenue and a 43 percent increase in paging. Revenue from the digital side also increased by 144 percent for the full year of 2012. In all, 78 new advertisers joined Departures this year.

All You Debuts "Real Talk"

http://www.foliomag.com/2012/all-you-brings-social-commentary-print-product-0

All You has even more "you" now after incorporating reader comments and questions into nearly a third of the pages of its most recent edition.
The December issue of All You debuted "Real Talk," an editorial feature that opens each of the magazine's sections with a question from readers. The franchise is threaded throughout the book as well, with flagged reader comments appearing as sidebars within several stories.

Tesco: Retailer's Success in Publishing

http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/11139-tesco-proves-that-retailers-should-be-publishers-and-vice-versa

Tesco’s magazine has overtaken The Sun as the most read print title in the UK, proving that retail brands can become publishers in their own right.
The bi-monthly publication has grown its readership to 7.2m, according to the NRS. By contrast The Sun has a readership of 7.1m.
The retailer’s investment in content is a smart move, and it isn’t alone. Asda’s magazine has 6m readers. The M&S magazine has 3.7m readers. Sainsbury’s has 3.4m readers.

Pros & Cons of Holiday Subscription Discounts

http://www.adweek.com/news/press/holiday-mag-discounts-good-subscribers-bad-business-145445

‘Tis the season for huge savings. Whether they’re buying a car, TV or the latest Barbie, customers expect big price drops during the holiday season. The same goes in the magazine industry where publishers have made a habit of offering seasonal discounts on top of already deeply discounted subscription prices. But while slashing prices on magazines can attract hordes of new readers, there’s also the risk of having those readers undervalue the product itself.

Top Toy Catalog Ignores Typical Gender Roles

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57554389-1/girls-with-nerf-guns-toy-retailer-creates-gender-swapped-catalog/

This secret is out. Sometimes, girls like to play with He-Man action figures and boys like to nurture dolls. A Swedish toy catalog is getting a lot of attention for swapping out traditional gender roles by depicting a boy playing with a dollhouse and a girl blasting an imaginary foe with a Nerf gun.
Top Toy created the holiday catalog for toy chains BR and Toys"R"Us. The catalog was released in both Denmark and Sweden, but the Swedish version features some Photoshopped changes. Perhaps most notably, a boy wielding a toy gun in the Danish catalog was replaced by a girl, while a boy appears on another page playing with a very pink dollhouse.

Retail, Online & Small Business Holiday Sales Strong

http://adage.com/article/news/things-holiday-shopping-kickoff-economy-consumer-habits/238466/

A record 247 million shoppers visited stores and websites over Black Friday weekend, up from 226 million last year, according to the National Retail Federation. The average shopper spent $423 this weekend, up from $398 last year, helping total spending reach an estimated $59.1 billion.   

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/11/26/small-business-saturday-spending-exceeded-expectat/

Small businesses across the country got their holiday season off to a strong start as millions of U.S. consumers "shopped small" on Small Business Saturday and made a big impact on local communities.

http://www.smartmoney.com/news/pr/?story=PR-20121127-001308&cid=951

Holiday shoppers turned Cyber Monday into the biggest spending day ever with online sales growing 30.3 percent over the same period last year, according to cloud-based analytics findings by IBM (NYSE: IBM).

Marketing Email Often Flagged as Spam

http://www.btobonline.com/article/20121127/EMAIL13/311279994/study-marketing-email-often-flagged-as-spam
Marketing email accounts for the preponderance of spam reports, according to a study by email deliverability company Return Path. Perhaps as result, inbox delivery rates continue to fall, the company said.

Return Path's “Email Intelligence Report” found legitimate email sent by marketers accounted for 70% of “this is spam” complaints as well as 60% of all hits on spam traps, email addresses used to catch and flag spam. These spam-report results, higher than those for any email source, may be one cause of declining email deliverability rates, according to the report.

Q3 Newpaper Ads Down -5.1%

http://www.btobonline.com/article/20121127/MEDIABUSINESS10/311279997/naa-newspaper-ad-revenue-down-5-1-in-q3

Overall newspaper advertising revenue declined to $5.27 billion in the third quarter, a drop of 5.1% from the year-earlier period, according to the Newspaper Association of America.
This is the 25th straight quarter of ad revenue declines for newspapers, the NAA said. From 2006-11, total newspaper ad revenue plunged 51.5%, from $49.30 billion to $23.90 billion.

Print Still Growing in India

http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/industry-insights/media/where-print-still-reigns-supreme

The death knell may have sounded for a number of newspaper and magazine titles around the world, but India's print media sector is still enjoying growth.

It is not the country's busy and thriving cities that are largely fuelling this growth. Instead, media companies and advertisers have turned to smaller cities and towns where local publications are thriving amid improving literacy rates and burgeoning spending power.

HarperCollins Launches HarperTeen

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/11/prweb10170774.htm

HarperCollins Publishers announced today the launch of HarperTeen Impulse, a digital imprint focusing on Young Adult short stories and novellas. The new imprint will publish short-form works from new and established authors, providing original and exciting new teen ebooks across a wide variety of genres.

Interview with NAPL VP, Chief Economist

NAPL State of the Industry:
For most of us at NAPL, the Graph Expo show is where we conclude our research about this year and start thinking about next year. It is also where Andy Paparrozi, NAPLs VP and Chief Economist, announces the results of our State of the Industry research. During our latest NewsTalk Live webinar, I had the chance to interview Andy and here is a small segment of that interview.

Future PLC's Digital Focus

Future PLC's Digital Play:
Future plc, the UK-based enthusiast publisher that once relied heavily on print newsstand sales and subscriptions, has been in deep turnaround mode making digital a primary focus. And that challenge has been best illustrated in its struggling U.S.-based operations, where after a year of cost contraction through title sell-offs and closures and staff reductions, digital has become a strategic imperative.

Direct Marketers Face Change

Direct marketers embrace change, but worry: As the year comes to a close and 2013 approaches, marketers find themselves facing a radically different direct marketing scenario than in the past—along with several other concerns about the future.

It’s Time for Print Ads to be More Social

It’s About Time for Your Print Advertising to be More Social:
Despite this, my experience has shown that there are some media channels, such as print, ..that marketers don’t think about how social media and technology can be influenced by the medium, or vice-versa.
Following are a number of ways that your print advertising can be more social and be better integrated with technology:
PROMOTE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS
Print advertising can drive a huge amount of traffic to your social media promotions.
GET CREATIVE AND INSPIRE SOCIAL AMPLIFICATION
Dazzle your consumers with print ads that are so incredibly creative that they feel compelled to share their experience with your ad with their social networks.
PROMOTE FOURSQUARE CHECK-IN SPECIALS
GRANT ACCESS TO EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
DRIVE TO A COMPLIMENTARY MOBILE WEBSITE
INCLUDE A COMPELLING CTA

Postmaster General Compares USPS to...Twinkies

Ailing U.S. Postal Service Strives to Avoid Twinkie Fate: While the Hostess Twinkie may not be as central to the U.S. economy as the mail, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe sees uncomfortable parallels of iconic products within unworkable organizational structures. Like Hostess Brands Inc., where a labor impasse prompted the snack-food maker’s liquidation, the Postal Service, with 28 times Hostess’s workforce of 18,000, has been squeezed by labor costs and changing consumer tastes to the brink of extinction.