Newton Falls Restart Fails

http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20120815/NEWS09/708159759

A deal to restart the Newton Falls Fine Paper mill is dead and the plant is on the market.

"They're going to try to find a buyer or liquidate it," said Fine Supervisor Mark C. Hall, a member of the St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency. "There are people out there who still think they're going to find a buyer. I've got my fingers crossed that they find a buyer and the mill will operate again. Time will tell." Newton Falls had 73,000 metric tonnes of coated woodfree capacity on one PM.

Hokuetsu Buys Stake in Daio

http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=ind&k=2012081500792

Japanese paper and board manufacturer Hokuetsu Kishu Paper has purchased a 22.29% stake in the operations of Daio Paper.

 Hokuetsu Kishu, previously the fifth-biggest paper manufacturer in Japan, raised its stake in fourth-ranking Daio to 22.29 pct from 2.86 pct in terms of voting rights by purchasing all of the Daio shares held by the partner's founding family. 

FPAC; Strengthen Trade Ties with China

http://www.paperage.com/2012news/08_16_2012canada_china_trade_fpac.html

The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) is urging the government to follow through on the conclusion of the Canada-China Economic Complementarities Study which states that Canada and China should continue to strengthen their bilateral trade and investment ties. Canadian forest companies are already working hard to deepen relations with the lucrative consumer market in China. 

In Brazil, Newspaper Circulation & Ads Up

Brazil newspapers: Circulation and advertising in growth: Circulation of Brazilian newspapers grew by +2.3% in the first half of 2012, led by mid-priced titles. Newspaper advertising, meanwhile, grew by +5.6% in the first five months of the year.

Restoration Hardware; New Lines, New Leadership Team

http://www.retailingtoday.com/article/restoration-hardware-furnishes-strategy-new-leadership-team

Home furnishings retailer Restoration Hardware is reorganizing its leadership team to better align with the company's new strategy to develop new lines of business including apparel, accessories, footwear and jewelry while maintaining existing home business.

In order to execute this plan, Gary Friedman, the current chairman and co-CEO of Restoration Hardware, will become the founder, chairman, and CEO of Hierarchy, the newly created company...Friedman will continue to be involved with Restoration Hardware in an exclusive advisory role...Carlos Alberini, co-CEO of Restoration Hardware, will become Restoration Hardware’s sole CEO and will lead all major functions of the business.

Newspaper Industry Calls USPS/Valassis Deal Unfair

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/15/v-print/2952828/cheaper-junk-mail-newspapers-decry.html

The U.S. Postal Service is proposing to cut its rates for one of the nation's top direct marketing companies, a move that threatens the newspaper industry's biggest money-maker: the Sunday advertising bundle.

The post office expects to generate $15 million in profits over three years by cutting what it charges Valassis Communications Inc. for new mass mailings.

The newspaper industry says the deal is unfair and could wipe away $1 billion in annual revenue it gets from Sunday newspaper inserts and the advertising fliers it sends to non-subscribers during the week.

Vibe Extends Platform

Vibe Expands Its Brand Platform into New Music Genre:  There have been lots of strategic moves among the music magazines lately in an effort to remain vital to their audiences while also making sure their brand platforms keep up with a changing industry and the evolving tastes of music fans. Vibe has been the most recent example of this with its announcement that its hip-hop content focus will be expanded to include electronic dance music.

Condé Nast Launches iOS Game

Condé Nast's iPG Group Launches iOS Fashion Game:  Fashion is certainly in Condé Nast's wheelhouse, but standalone game apps might not be one of the first products to come to mind for the company. But its in-house skunkworks team, the Interactive Product Group, has launched an iOS game for the iPhone and iPad called Fashion Hazard. The 99-cent, 3-D modeled, arcade-style game is not tied to any magazine brands and is targeted toward teen girls.

Study: Magazine Ad Spending Decline

http://www.btobonline.com/article/20120816/MEDIABUSINESS10/308169992/report-magazine-share-of-ad-spending-on-downward-spiral

Ad spending on print magazines will decline by another 5.1% this year, to $13 billion, according to a report released by Pivotal Research Group.

The overall share of ad spending in print publications will fall to 20.2% this year, down from 21.7% last year, according to the report.

Golf Digest Creates Personalized E-Mags

http://www.adweek.com/print/142811

Magazines are always trying to find ways to target their content to readers’ interests and needs. Golf Digest is taking that concept a step further with the launch of Golf Digest Live, a digital magazine that creates personalized issues based on the reader’s most recent round of golf.

Univision Names President Ad Sales & Marketing

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/180979/univision-taps-turner-as-ad-sales-head.html?print

Keith Turner, a former longtime colleague of Univision CEO Randy Falco at NBCUniversal, will take over the top ad sales role at the Spanish-language media company. Turner, a senior vice president of media and sponsorship at the NFL, replaces David Lawenda.
Turner joins Univision as president of ad sales and marketing next month, based in News York. Lawenda steps down.

Time Inc. Names SI.com Editor

Time Inc. Nabs Matt Bean From Rodale:  Starting in September, Matt Bean will leave his vice president of product development role at Rodale to become managing editor of Time Inc.’s SI.com. Bean spent eight years at Rodale.

Men's Health Upgrades Mobil Edition

Men's Health Upgrades to More Interactive iPhone Edition:  Rodale's Men's Health, which launched a PDF replica for the iPhone in June, has significantly stepped up the mobile edition to be, in a sense, a mini-iPad version of the magazine with greater interactivity and navigation. But rather than squeezing the tablet edition into the iPhone format, the mobile version has been reimagined specifically for the small screen.

NewPage Port Hawkesbury’s Creditors Meet

Voting results – NewPage Port Hawkesbury’s creditors meeting:
The creditors of NewPage Port Hawkesbury met today to vote on the plan of arrangement for the mill.
At 1pm, the general creditors of NewPage Port Hawkesbury met and voted 99.42%  in favour of the plan.
The guaranteed US noteholders will meet at 3pm this afternoon.
Pacific West Commerical Corp. has offered to buy the mill for $33 million.
The sale of the mill requires 51% approval from both the American bondholders and the unsecured creditors. If the deal is approved, about $31 million will go to the US bondholders who are owed close to $3 billion.

Catalyst and Port Alberni Reach Agreement

The City of Port Alberni and Catalyst Paper are moving forward with key strategic initiatives after reaching an agreement-in-principle for the purchase of the company's wastewater treatment facility and additional lands.

The agreement, valued at $5.75 million consists of two parts: acquisition of the 13.4 hectare wastewater treatment facility located across the Alberni Inlet and secondly, 3.9 hectares of land combined with a road dedication (part of the Redford Street extension arrangement) to facilitate the development of an industrial truck route along the waterfront.

More Back-to-College Shoppers Turning to Catalogs

Back-to-College Shoppers Turning to Catalogs More: A recent survey finds catalog use on the rise for back to college shopping having tripled in the last 3 years.
The NRF survey found 15.1% of shoppers said they plan to use catalogs to buy their college items, up from 11.4% last year and 8.3% the year prior.

Google Buys Frommer’s Travel

Google Buys Frommer’s Travel Guidebook: Adding to its food and tourism portfolio, Google purchased John Wiley & Sons Inc.’s travel assets, including Frommer’s, one of the best-selling guidebook series in the world, for an undisclosed price Monday.

Direct Mail Best Way to Add Donors

Direct Mail Still the Best Method to Acquire New Donors: ATLANTA—August 14, 2012—A study carried out by research company Campbell River on behalf of the non-profit advisory body, Dunham+Company, found that people were more than three times as likely to donate after being contacted by direct mail than by email.

New York Times Names CEO

http://www.btobonline.com/article/20120815/MEDIABUSINESS06/120819994/&template=printart

The New York Times Co. has named Mark Thompson, outgoing director general of the British Broadcasting Corp., as its next president-CEO. Thompson is expected to take charge in November, succeeding Janet Robinson, who resigned from the Times Co. last December.

New York Magazine; Future in Responsive Design

http://www.digiday.com/publishers/why-new-york-magazine-sees-responsive-design-as-the-future/

New York Magazine launched a fashion site this week called The Cut. What’s interesting is that the publication is using the site as a pilot of sorts to join the now-trendy responsive design movement.

Responsive design is when content layout is formatted on the fly across multiple devices — desktop, tablet, phone. The advantage of a responsive design approach, which isn’t the same as adaptive design (different story), is a publisher can design once rather than go platform by platform. Publishers like the Boston Globe and Say Media have gone whole hog into responsive design. New York isn’t ready to commit that much, but it’s the direction it expects to go.

Seventeen Launches Shopping Insider

http://www.pubexec.com/article/seventeen-launches-largest-ever-mobile-magazine-shopping-experience/?params=print#

Seventeen, the best-selling teen beauty and fashion magazine, has launched Seventeen Shopping Insider, a mobile shopping companion app for iPhone, iPad and iTouch that unlocks scores of exclusive deals, freebies and style ideas for readers. Built by mobile marketing and technology services company, Nellymoser, Inc., the new magazine companion app debuts with Seventeen’s September Back-to-School issue and gives teens access to the biggest magazine mobile-activated shopping experience ever. Seventeen Shopping Insider is free and available now on the App Store.

ABM Adds Ten Members

http://www.foliomag.com/2012/abm-adds-board-and-membership-rosters

ABM had a productive board of directors meeting last Wednesday. The trade media association added ten new members to its roster, including three media companies, six associate members and a sister association, the PPA, which ABM has also formed a strategic alliance with. The organization also voted in three new board members.

Kalmbach Relocates Offices

http://www.foliomag.com/2012/kalmbach-moving-discover-edit-operation-wisconsin-closing-new-york-office

Kalmbach Publishing Company, the parent company of Discover, is closing the magazine's New York editorial offices and relocating staff to its Waukesha, Wisconsin headquarters. The offices will be closed by January 2013. 

ASAE Relaunches Associations Now

http://www.foliomag.com/2012/asae-s-association-now-magazine-set-relaunch-october  ASAE, The Center for Association Leadership, has announced plans to relaunch its publication, Associations Now, which will also coincide with the launch of a mobile app, a dedicated online news site, and a daily email newsletter. The relaunch is slated for October, and ASAE has aligned with TMG Custom Media to assist in development and strategy.

Glamour Redesign Seeks Individuality

With Redesign, Glamour Ditches Fashion Title Sameness:  In the summer of 2011, Glamour’s editor-in-chief Cindi Leive was having trouble at a newsstand in downtown New York City.
“I could not find Glamour to save my life,” she says..That shows the homogeneity out there. It was time to mix it up.”
Magazine covers are constantly analyzed by publishers, and Condé Nast’s Glamour seems to have created a winning formula, just in the nick of time. While overall retail sales for the magazine were down about 7 percent for the first half, it was actually up 5 percent starting with the redesign's March-issue debut.

People StyleWatch Leverages Social Media

People StyleWatch Leverages Its Social Media Loyalists:  In the context of commerce, buying stuff often hinges on recommendations of others. The more influential or respected the opinions of those people, often the more likely a sale will be made. This rings especially true in ecommerce, and recommendation engines have been built into websites hawking anything from content to computers.

Email Open Rates Still Falling

Email Open Rates Continue Their Decline: Marketers' average email open rates continued their decline during 2011 and the first quarter of 2012 though click-through rates increased slightly during the same period.

4 Million Became QR Code Scanners

4 Million Consumers Became First Time QR Code Scanners in Q2: According to the latest quarterly report from ScanLife, over 4 million consumers became first time scanners in 2012 Q2. The single largest QR Code campaign saw 2+ million scans. At this time last year, the largest campaign saw 30,000 scans.

RRD Completes EDGAR Acquisition

RR Donnelley Completes Purchase of EDGAR Online:
R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company today announced that it has completed its previously announced purchase of EDGAR Online, a leading provider of disclosure management services, financial data and enterprise risk analytics software and solutions for both corporate and investment professionals.

2012 Global Ad Spend to Decline

2012 Global Ad Spend Growth Projection Scaled Back: Industry predictions for 2012 global ad spend growth have fallen by almost a full percentage point since April, according to the latest forecast from Warc. Global magazine and newspaper ad spending will decline by 2.1% and 2.5% this year, respectively.

Printing Insights Report; Carbon Footprint Low Priority

Energy consumption of low priority to printers, research suggests:
The Printing Insights Report, carried out in July for global print firm Trelleborg Printing Solutions (in the US and the UK), revealed 44% of respondents felt CSR to be the most important aspect of sustainability for their business while 38% said waste reduction was a priority.
However carbon footprint and energy consumption were considered important by just 6% and 8% respectively.

National Envelope Names COO

National Envelope Announces Jim Pinto as COO: National Envelope, an affiliate of The Gores Group, is pleased to announce the addition of Jim Pinto as Chief Operating Officer. 

NewPage Files Reorganization Plan

http://www.paperage.com/2012news/08_14_2012newpage_chapter_11.html

NewPage Corporation announced today that it has filed a Joint Chapter 11 Plan (the "Plan") with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The Company also requested an extension of time to file the disclosure statement related to the Plan.

"The filing of our plan of reorganization is an important and positive step forward to a successful completion of our financial reorganization," said George F. Martin, president and chief executive officer. "Discussions with and among our major creditor groups regarding the plan are ongoing. We are hopeful that these discussions will lead to broad support for our plan."

Verso Sartell; Still Operating Dam, Cause of Fire Reported

http://www.sctimes.com/article/20120812/NEWS01/308120039/Verso-makes-plans-security-dam-mill

Just because Verso Paper Corp. won't be cranking out any more product at its Sartell mill doesn't mean activity there ends.

There is the possibility of a federal agency operating the Mississippi River hydroelectric dam at the site. But at least for now, Verso will continue to operate it under a 40-year contract with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

St. Cloud Times - Overheated compressor led to Verso explosion, fire marshal says 

The Memorial Day explosion and fire at Verso paper mill that killed one employee and injured four others was caused by an overheated air compressor that ignited oil vapors in an air receiving tank, according to a report released today by the state fire marshal's office. Damage was $50M.