Friday, February 22, 2013

Wausau Paper Closing Brainerd Mill

Wausau Paper Announces Closure of Brainerd, MN, Mill: Wausau Paper (WPP) today announced the closure of the Company’s technical specialty paper mill in Brainerd, Minnesota, to occur early in the second quarter of 2013. The closure will affect approximately 130 employees.

Newton Falls Equipment Auctioned

Paper making machines and other equipment inside the idled Newton Falls Fine Paper mill are going on the auction block.
The century old paper mill hasn't been operating since 2010, when close to 100 workers lost their jobs.
Efforts to restart the mill fell through last August and the mill's owners, Scotia Investments, put the mill on the market.

Global January Pulp Ships Fall

Global pulp deliveries tumbled by 13.7% to 3.414 million tonnes in January, down from 3.955 million tonnes the previous month, according to Pulp and Paper Products Council (PPPC) data.
Shipments were 3.5% lower than the year-earlier period, down from 3.536 million tonnes in January 2012.

Oji to Build Biomass Plant

Japan's Oji Holdings has announced its intention to build a biomass plant on the grounds of its Nichinan paper mill, the output of which will be sold directly on to the national grid.
The 20 MW facility will go up at a cost of about ¥8.5 billion ($91 million), and is slated to start in March 2015.

BC's New Laws on Timber Supply, Spurs Privatization Debate

Forest Act amendments introduced today will help improve forest stewardship and support community resiliency in mountain pine beetle impacted areas.  
The legislation proposes a new section 34.1 be added to the Forest Act that will create the ability to convert volume-based forest licences to area-based tree farm licences at the minister’s invitation.
Invitations will be publicly advertised, and applicants must make their application for an area-based licence available for public review and comment for at least 60 days and indicate how they have incorporated public feedback before submitting to the minister. 
http://www.bclocalnews.com/business/192154231.html  
The B.C. government has introduced amendments to allow the conversion of volume-based forest cutting permits to area-based tenures, a move that some have described as a move toward privatization of Crown forests.
Forests Minister Steve Thomson said the government intends to proceed carefully with converting existing cutting permits, which set a maximum amount of timber that can be removed from a licence area each year. Consultation with communities and First Nations in the forest areas would be extensively consulted first, Thomson said Wednesday.

Domtar's Jim Blight Named Manager of the Year

Jim Blight of Dryden, ON named Mill Manager of the Year:
Jim Blight, General Manager of the Domtar mill in Dryden, Ontario, has been named Mill Manager of the Year at the annual PaperWeek Canada industry conference in Montreal.
The award is given out by the Pulp and Paper Technical Association of Canada, or PAPTAC, to recognize outstanding leadership and performance results in the Canadian pulp and paper industry.
Jim has worked at the Dryden Mill since 1998, and has been in the General Manager role since 2007.

10 Consumer Trends for 2013

10 crucial consumer trends 2013
According to the  institute "trendwatching.com“10 trends will influence the year 2013 which include interesting approaches for the design of packaging: sustainability will be an essential for the supply chain, while transparency, authenticity and globalisation will present packaging design with new challenges.

3 Tips on Reader Engagement

3 Tips to Measuring & Maximizing Reader Engagement:
Condé Nast’s Glamour magazine uses online insights from its digital audience to maximize not just the Web experience, but print as well. During a FOLIO: webinar on reader engagement this week—which is now available here on demand—Mike Hofman, executive digital director for the brand, shared best practices on measuring and maximizing the reader engagement from the title’s 5.6 million monthly unique visitors and 6 million social media fans and followers.
Here, FOLIO: delivers Hofman’s three best tips for capitalizing on your audience.

Cynus to Sell Agriculture Group

Cygnus Business Media is putting its agriculture group up for sale, Folio: has learned. The group includes five tradeshows and two publications.

AdWeek's Ad of the Day: Cabela's

It doesn't take a lot of talking to appreciate the outdoors.
That's the charming subtext of this spot from hunting gear retailer Cabela's. Created by Surdell & Partners, the ad eschews dialogue or a voiceover in favor of natural sound and screen copy. Those lines capture the little blips of solipsistic pseudo-insight that might flit through your brain as you sit at a campsite, sipping coffee and staring at a stunning landscape of rolling mountains. Some of the observations are more trite than others, but they do a great job of projecting a feeling of comfort—repackaging a self-satisfied, if simplistic, monologue as down-home marketing wisdom.

Details Magazine Launches Blogger Network

Over the past few years, the action at Fashion Week has shifted from the runways to the sidewalks, where hordes of street style bloggers and photographers congregate to snap pictures of one another.
And it's not just female fashionistas drawing attention: From The Sartorialist to Tommy Ton, some of the blogosphere’s biggest stars are men.
It was the explosion of interest in men's style blogs that led Details, Condé Nast’s male fashion bible, to launch The Details Style Network. It features curated posts from more than 60 fashion and lifestyle bloggers, including boldface names like Bryanboy and The Grungy Gentleman as well as more under-the-radar blogs. (Think of it as a testosterone-fueled version of the Lucky Style Collective.)

MediaPost Weekly Mag Bag

The newly created Esquire Network, formed by a partnership between Hearst and the cable network previously known as G4, has added two industry veterans to its executive team. Deena Stern will serve as head of marketing, with responsibility for marketing and strategic planning for on-air, off-air, digital and ad sales solutions. She previously served as vice president of brand marketing at Comedy Central, a role she held since 2007. Katherine Nelson will serve as head of communications, with responsibility for corporate communications and program publicity. The Esquire Network will debut on April 22, 2013
Bonnier Promotes Murphy to CMO, Men’s Group
Bonnier Corp. has promoted Elizabeth Burnham Murphy to the role of chief marketing officer for its Men’s Group, which includes titles like Popular Science, Field & Stream, Outdoor Life and Cycle World. This is a new position for the company. Burnham Murphy previously served as associate publisher of marketing and online services for Bonnier’s Outdoor Group
And more...

The Rise of the Artisanal Magazine

Anybody who has had a hand in putting together a magazine, be it a homemade music zine or a big glossy mass-market production, knows that it isn’t cheap. You might not be dealing with the same numbers as Newsweek, but the paper, ink, and staples add up. So by that logic, it isn’t impossible to imagine a supermarket checkout line without copies of Bon Appetit, or your local newsstand selling digital subscriptions to Rolling Stone. The magazine might not be dying, but big business would probably say the magazine is obsolete.

Valassis Reports 2012 Results

Valassis Profit Flat in Q4: Valassis today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended Dec. 31, 2012. Fourth-quarter 2012 revenues were $579.4 million, a decrease of 2.7% from $595.3 million in the prior year quarter. Full-year 2012 revenues were $2,162.1 million, a decrease of 3.3% from $2,236.0 million in full-year 2011.

Conference Board Leading Economic Index Up

Conference Board Leading Economic Index for the U.S. Increases: The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) for the U.S. rose 0.2 percent in January to 94.1 (2004 = 100), following a 0.5 percent increase in December, and no change in November.

Quad/Graphics Proceed with Press Plans

Press plans proceed at Quad/Graphics:
One of the Capital Region's largest printing plants is exploring plans to install three new presses to replace existing presses, according to records from the state Department of Environmental Conservation.