Meredith Names SIM Editorial Director

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/182863/blume-named-editorial-head-meredith-sim-group.html

Meredith Corp. named Jim Blume editorial director of its Special Interest Media group. Blume will oversee more than 120 Better Homes and Gardens-branded Special Interest Media magazines and digital properties. Previously, he was group editor/edit administration for the National Media Group, which focused on multiplatform content creation and delivery. He will continue with several responsibilities in that role, including oversight of the Meredith Consumer Insights Group.

USPS Introduces "Second Ounce Free"

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/169424786.html
In today's economy, companies are always searching for new ways to stretch their marketing dollars. This has created a receptive climate among many large businesses for the U.S. Postal Service's recently introduced 2nd Ounce Free pricing.

"Commercial mailers, knowing that they can now mail letters weighing up to 2 ounces at the 1-ounce postage rate, are leveraging 2nd Ounce Free pricing to make money and save money," said Gary Reblin, vice president, Domestic Products. "Some of our largest customers, who typically use First-Class Mail to send bills and statements to their customers, are using the extra free ounce for promotional inserts and other marketing materials."

NYT Union & Management at Odds

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/182957/nyt-philadelphia-inquirer-unions-clash-with-m.html

Several big newspaper unions are negotiating new contracts, and with publishers strapped for cash amid declining advertising revenues, conflict is never far behind.
This week, union members at The New York Times clashed verbally with management after negotiations went sour, while the new owners of the Philadelphia Media Network, which publishes The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, demanded major cost-cutting concessions from unions representing employees at those papers.

Miles Kimball to Settle Lawsuit

http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/news/local/fox_cities/miles-kimball-to-pay-95k-to-settle-lawsuit

An Oshkosh catalog company has been ordered to pay $95,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says Miles Kimball discriminated against a deaf worker.
The EEOC says Laura Nejedlo asked to be trained in sign language for a new software program in 2007, but was turned down.

Elsevier Acquires ExitCare

Elsevier acquires health education company ExitCare: Medical and scientific publisher Elsevier has acquired ExitCare, a provider of patient education and discharge instruction to clinicians for delivery to patients. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
ExitCare will bring to the company print, electronic and video patient-education content and tools, according to Elsevier.

Kodak Partners with On Demand Books and ReaderLink

Kodak, On Demand Books and ReaderLink Join Forces for In-Store Book Printing: Eastman Kodak, On Demand Books, and ReaderLink announced they have partnered to revolutionize the way all types of printed books will be marketed, sold and produced at point of sale. The venture brings On Demand Books’ Espresso Book Machine to national retailers integrated with Kodak Picture Kiosks, giving consumers a full-service, digital-to-print media center for all their custom print needs—from photo books, custom/local self-published titles, to educational supplements, and more.

Difficulties in Measuring Social Media

Companies Report Difficulties Measuring Social Media's Impact: While companies agree that social media is an important marketing tactic, nearly three-quarters say measuring its impact is very difficult and two-thirds report having no clear social media activity objectives.

Marubeni Signs Contract to Build Pulp Mill

http://www.marubeni.com/company/index.html

The Japanese firm Marubeni is gearing up to build a 1.2 million tonne/yr pulp mill in the Krasnoyarsk area of Russia, following negotiations between the Japanese trading firm and the greenfield plant's Russian owner, Angara Paper.

A contract for Marubeni to build the pulp facility was signed after a trade and economic relations meeting between Russian president Vladimir Putin and Japanese prime minister Yoshihiko Noda at the 2012 APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) conference in Vladivostok, Russia, on September 8.

Judge Refuses to Approve Pacific West Plan

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2012/09/10/ns-cra-newpage-mill-ruling.html

Pacific West Commercial Corp.’s order for the Nova Scotia Supreme Court to sanction its restructuring plan in order to buy the NewPage Port Hawkesbury mill in Point Tupper, Nova Scotia, was refused on Sept. 10, reported CBC News on Sept. 10.
Justice John Murphy declined to give his approval for the plan of compromise and arrangement, saying he disapproved of some of the broad releases for the creditor protection process, such as taking away the rights of “as-yet unidentified parties” to make claims.

China Names Additional Mills on Closure List

The Chinese government has released a supplementary list of targets in a 1.15 million/tonne capacity closure drive, focusing on old pulp and paper capacity. This raises the country's closure goal for this year to more than 9.95 million tonnes/yr.

The document is a follow-up to the first list, which detailed the shutdown of 8.80 million tonnes/yr of old pulp and paper capacity. It was released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in July.

SFI Partners with Time, National Geographic & Others

http://www.sfiprogram.org/newsroom/?p=1490

Four leaders of the North American publishing industry announced today they will partner with the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) to help spur the growth of certification to preserve and protect forests.

Time Inc., the National Geographic Society, Macmillan, and Pearson will become Founding Partners of the SFI Forest Partners Program. The alliance was announced at the SFI annual conference in Milwaukee, attended by foresters, land owners, conservation groups, First Nations, industry and government agencies.

Holiday Retail Sales Forecast Positive

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-12/u-s-holiday-sales-expected-to-rise-on-more-store-visits.html

Holiday retail sales in the U.S. may rise 3.3 percent as more confident consumers increase their trips to the mall, according to researcher ShopperTrak.

Michael Grancis Joins Gap Inc.

http://adage.com/article/news/michael-francis-join-gap/237136/

Michael Francis is taking on a new retail challenge, advising the Gap Inc. stable of brands. The former Target CMO and JC Penney president will join Gap Inc. on Sept. 17 in an advisory role, Ad Age has learned. According to an executive close to the company, Gap Inc. CEO Glenn Murphy recently announced the news to a select group of executives.

Source Interlink Acquires CarDomain

http://www.pubexec.com/article/source-interlink-media-acquires-cardomain-network-inc/1

Source Interlink Media ("SIM") announced today the acquisition of CarDomain Network Inc. (“CarDomain”), a leading provider of online social sharing tools and content for automotive enthusiasts. CarDomain.com, StreetFire.net, and Autoholics.com join SIM’s industry leading media portfolio including notable automotive brands such as Motor Trend, Hot Rod, Four Wheeler, and Motorcyclist.

"Marie Claire" Features Video in Print Ad

http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2012/09/10/Marie-Claire-Dolce-Gabbana-Video-Ad-091012.aspx

The September issues of fashion magazines tend are closely watched because of September's annual fashion frenzy, but at least one October fashion magazine issue is garnering attention. And not for its take on hemlines and the new runway collections, but for one of its ads, which will play a video. In print.

"Harper's Bazaar" Launches New Platform

http://www.adweek.com/news/press/harpers-bazaar-lauches-e-commerce-platform-143647

This morning, Harper’s Bazaar editor in chief Glenda Bailey took a break from the madness of fashion week to unveil ShopBazaar, the magazine’s new e-commerce platform (and brainchild of publisher Carol Smith).

HarperCollins Reaches eBook Price Deal

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120912/ENT05/209120387/HarperCollins-reaches-deal-lower-e-book-prices?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s

A new and uncertain era of e-book prices has begun.
HarperCollins Publishers announced Tuesday that it has reached new price agreements with sellers that conform to a settlement with the Justice Department over allegations that five publishers and Apple colluded to set prices for e-books. Such new works as Michael Chabon's "Telegraph Avenue" now can be purchased on Amazon.com for $9.99, a price publishers and rival booksellers fear will give Amazon dominant control of the e-market.

Amazon Response to State Sales Tax; New Warehouses

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/12/technology/amazon-forced-to-collect-sales-tax-aims-to-keep-its-competitive-edge.html?ref=business

The building of new warehouses marks the relentless quest by the online mall Amazon.com to become all things to all shoppers.

A million-square-foot warehouse stocking razor blades and books, diapers and dog food will soon rise on this spot, less than a mile from the highway that will deliver these and just about every other product imaginable to customers 85 miles away in San Francisco.

A similar distribution center is being built on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Others are under way in Indiana, New Jersey, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

This multibillion-dollar building frenzy comes as Amazon is about to lose perhaps its biggest competitive edge — that the vast majority of its customers do not pay sales tax. After negotiations with lawmakers, the company is beginning to collect taxes in California, Texas, Pennsylvania and other states. But Amazon hopes that the warehouses will allow it to provide better service, giving it the ability to up-end the retailing industry in an entirely new way.

TheStreet Acquires The Deal

Financial Media Company The Deal Acquired by TheStreet, Inc.:
Financial media enterprise The Deal LLC has been acquired by TheStreet, Inc.
Terms of the acquisition were not announced in the release, but multiple reports say the sale was worth $5.8 million.
The Deal, publishers of TheDeal.com, The Deal magazine and industry news and analysis service The Deal Pipeline, had been in discussions with multiple strategic buyers over the past five months, according to Reed Phillips of DeSilva+Phillips who brokered the sale.

Port Hawkesbury; Employees on Site Monday to Prepare Restart

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2012/09/07/ns-newpage-ramping-up-to-open.html In a statement released Friday afternoon, Pacific West Commercial Corporation said 140 former employees of the former NewPage paper mill in Port Hawkesbury will be on the site Monday, preparing the mill for an eventual restart.

There is still one more hurdle to clear before the deal is complete. Pacific West is awaiting a ruling from Revenue Canada later this month on an advanced tax ruling sought by Pacific West and Nova Scotia Power.
In Friday's statement, Pacific West said after the mill purchase is finalized later this month, all 330 employees will be recalled to work.

SP Fiber Technologies Buys SP Newsprint

SP Fiber Technologies LLC (SPFT) has announced today that it has successfully acquired substantially all of the assets and certain liabilities of SP Newsprint and its subsidiaries in a court-approved sale.

SPFT will relocate its corporate headquarters to its facility in Dublin, Georgia. The company will operate its mills in Newberg, Oregon and Dublin, Georgia as well as its wholly-owned subsidiaries SP Recycling Southeast LLC (SPRS) and SP Recycling Northwest LLC (SPRN). Based in Atlanta, Georgia, SPRS and SPRN are leading recyclers of recovered paper and other recovered commodities in the Southeast and the Pacific Northwest. The two recycling companies collect, process, and ship high quality material from 21 processing facilities in 9 states.

IP Schedules Downtime Maintenance

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/International-Paper-Schedules-October-Maintenance-Downtime-Four-US-Mills-Industrial-1699078.htm

International Paper Company, a world leader in pulp, paper and paperboard production, has scheduled the fourth quarter of this year to perform major maintenance activities at four of its U.S. mills. IP plans call for preventative maintenance, major repairs and overhaul, and equipment replacements at mills located in Eastover, South Carolina; Augusta, Georgia; Pine Hill, Alabama; and Cantonment, Florida. The combined expenditure of maintenance-related activities at the four mills is estimated to cost more than $20 million, and includes repairs to paper machines, pulp and stock processing equipment and boilers.

SF Chronicle Launches New Title

SF Chronicle Launches 49ers Digital Magazine: The San Francisco Chronicle launched its 49ers Insider digital magazine last week in advance of the team’s season-opener against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.

Log Exports to China Down 25% in H1

http://earthfix.opb.org/land/article/chinas-economic-slowdown-means-work-in-northwest-f/

China’s economic slowdown is cutting down the number of logs exported from Pacific Northwest forests.
A new report from the U.S. Forest Service says 25 percent fewer logs were exported from Oregon, Washington, Northern California and Alaska during the first half of this year. That’s compared with the same period of 2011.

Under Armour's New Ad Focus; Women

http://www.adweek.com/print/143522

Under Armour, a sporting goods company that has traditionally been more successful selling to men, has launched a multifaceted fall campaign in what the brand is calling its biggest female-focused initiative yet. It’s running static and rich-media ads on Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, MTV.com and women’s lifestyle site Fitsugar.com. The video portion of the ad buys will utilize 15- and 30-second spots that depict females in sometimes grueling training activities.

Thrillist Names General Manager

With New GM Hire, Thrillist Looks to Expand Beyond Newsletters:
Thrillist, a men's lifestyle publisher, has hired former Maxim digital editorial director Gene Newman as general manager. The newly created position will execute on a strategy to expand the Thrillist brand as a destination site beyond its email subscription roots.

'The Economist'; First Global 'Consolidated Media Report'

'The Economist' releases first global 'Consolidated Media Report': The Economist has released its first global “Consolidated Media Report,” which shows audited data for The Economist's global print and digital products across seven regions.
The report, produced with the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) North America and ABC U.K., provides media buyers with the brand's print circulation and metrics from multiple digital channels.

"Esquire" Launches Spin-Off

http://www.adweek.com/print/143475

At first glance, there seems to be no lack of work-related publications for the modern man. But take away the lists of enormous companies (or their enormously wealthy CEOs) and entrepreneurial fairy tales, and there’s not a lot of pragmatic content. So says Esquire, which is hoping to fill the gap with a new supplement, Esquire, Working.

"Glamour's" New Campaign Targets Millennials

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/business/media/glamour-magazine-campaign-tries-to-reach-millennials.html?pagewanted=print

The new campaign, now under way, celebrates the Glamour readership not as Glamour Girls but as “Generation Glamour,” referring to the so-called millennials, or Generation Y, roughly defined as Americans born in or after 1980. The campaign, with a budget estimated at $250,000, comes six months after Glamour’s editor in chief, Cynthia Leive, known as Cindi, introduced a makeover of its editorial look and content, which was meant to increase the appeal of the magazine to its primary audience of women ages 18 to 34.

"Texas Monthly" Redesigned

http://adage.com/article/media/finally-a-redesign-resilient-texas-monthly-magazine/237059/?utm_source=mediaworks&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage

Three years after Evan Smith stepped down as editor-in-chief, Texas Monthly is introducing a redesign that calls attention to its resilience since then -- a product of some careful stepping and carefully stewarded advantages.
The redesign comes as the magazine seems to be performing better than many others. Texas Monthly's newsstand sales edged up 1.5% in the first half, a period when industrywide newsstand sales fell 9.6%, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Ad pages through the September issue increased 4.9% over the period a year earlier, while monthlies on the whole saw ad pages decline 4.9%, according to the Media Industry Newsletter.

Q2 Ad Spending Flat

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/182653/kantar-q2-us-ad-spend-flat-at-34-bil.html

U.S. ad spending growth nearly stalled in the second quarter of 2012, climbing less than 1% to $34 billion, according to a report issued today by Kantar Media. For the first half, spending was up 1.9% to $67.1 billion.

RR Donnelley Buys Express Postal Options

RR Donnelley Acquires Express Postal Options to Expand Logistics Offering: R. R. Donnelley & Sons announced that it has further expanded its fast growing logistics services offering with the acquisition of Express Postal Options International (XPO), a privately held company based in Torrance, CA. XPO provides international outbound mailing services to pharmaceutical, e-commerce, financial services, information technology, catalog, direct mail and other businesses.

DMA Names Winners in Innovation

DMA names marketing technology innovators: The Direct Marketing Association has named seven companies as winners of its 2012 Innovation Awards for excellence in direct and digital marketing technology.

Out-of-Home Advertising Up 4.3%

Out-of-home advertising up 4.3% in Q2: Out-of-home advertising revenue rose 4.3% in the second quarter of 2012 compared with the same period a year earlier, accounting for more than $2 billion in expenditures, according to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America.

Consolidation Could Save USPS $1 Billion

USPS Could Save $1 Billion by Combining Delivery Operations, Study Says: The U.S. Postal Service could save about $1 billion annually by closing nearly 10,000 postal facilities that house both retail and carrier functions, according to a study released today. A plan presented by the USPS’s Office of Inspector General would mean fewer clerks and postmasters, but increased labor costs for letter carriers.

Congress is Back; Postal Reform on the List

Congress Faces Continuing Resolution, Sequestration and Postal Reform: Lawmakers returned to Washington, DC, this week with a packed agenda. Topping the list of priorities is hammering out final details of a stopgap spending measure to keep the government running. Amid the election-year politicking, the list of unfinished business also includes legislation to restructure the financially ailing U.S. Postal Service.
The Senate approved a postal reform bill in the spring. However, the House version, which takes a very different tack to returning the USPS to solvency, has languished.