Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Stora Enso: May Sell Corbehem LWC Mill, Closing Hylte News PM

Stora Enso will examine the possibility of selling Corbehem Paper Mill in France. The annual capacity of the mill is 330 000 tonnes of light-weight coated magazine paper. Employee organisations and other stakeholders will be fully involved in any process in compliance with the French regulations. 
Stora Enso plans restructuring of its operations through the permanent shutdown of paper machine 1 at Hylte Mill in Sweden and the permanent closure of the corrugated packaging plant at Ruovesi in Finland.

Global Pulp Deliveries Up 4.6%

Global pulp deliveries increased 4.6% to 3.838 million tonnes in September, up from 3.670 million tonnes the previous month, according to Pulp and Paper Products Council (PPPC) data.
Shipments were 0.4% lower than the year-earlier period, down from 3.855 million tonnes in September 2011.

AF&PA Releases July Containerboard Report

American Forest & Paper Association Releases July 2012 U.S. Containerboard Statistics Report: (USA) The American Forest & Paper Association released its July 2012 U.S. Containerboard Statistics Report today. Containerboard production rose 2.3% over June 2012 but fell 2.2% compared to same month last year. The month-over-month average daily production decreased 1%. The containerboard operating rate for July 2012 lost one point over June 2012 from 96.3% to 95.3%.

USW Ratifies Temple-Inland/IP Agreement

USW ratifies Temple-Inland integration agreement with IP
The United Steelworkers (USW), North America’s largest industrial union, recently announced that workers ratified an agreement this week to integrate about 1,400 workers at 18 former Temple Inland box plants into the union’s master economic agreement with International Paper (IP), with 90% of the ballots cast in favor of the contract.

WBCSD: Benefits of Forest Products

Sustainability benefits of using forest products
WBCSD hightlights the importance of sustainable forest management in new report
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) recently released a report highlighting the key role forests and forest products play in finding sustainable solutions in a resource constrained world. The report “Facts and Trends: Forests, forest products, carbon & energy” underlines their necessity for a future low-carbon and bio-based economy, as they can help to reduce society’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Reader's Digest Shutters Healthy Cooking

Reader's Digest Association doesn't plan any layoffs associated with the move and will begin running expanded healthy content in Taste of Home as part of the change, according to Frank Quigley, general manager of Reader's Digest Milwaukee, the unit that handles both brands. Taste of Home's section on healthy choices, for example, will double to eight pages.

Disney Redesigns Website

Trying to finally master the Internet the way it has theme parks or animated films, the Walt Disney Company has redesigned its Web site, Disney.com, for the third time in five years.
The new site, introduced this month and promoted as “cleaner, simpler, more elegant,” is one way Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, hopes to turn around the company’s gaming, mobile and Internet division after 15 consecutive quarters of losses — some $977 million in total.

Hearst Uses Magazine Content for New eBook

Hearst Pulls Content From Multiple Titles for Holiday eBook: Hearst Magazines has announced the release of a new ebook aimed at the holiday chef.
The 235-page digital-only publication, Let's Talk Turkey, is a compilation of recipes and cooking tips from Hearst titles including Country Living, Good Housekeeping, Redbook and Woman's Day. Starting Tuesday, it will be available for $3.99 on all Apple, Kindle and Nook platforms.

Direct Mail Giant Urges USPS Review Rates

U.S. Direct Mail Giant Urges Rethink on Standard Mail Pricing: Valpak, part of Atlanta-based Cox Target Media, told regulators yesterday that the 2.57 percent rate increase set to come into effect on Jan. 27, 2013, will not be high enough to cover the costs of the Standard Mail Flats service. The company said in failing to meet its costs, USPS was breaking U.S. postal law, and putting its own financial health at risk—as well as requiring direct mail customers to effectively pay higher rates to protect the ailing catalogue industry.

Magazines vs. Digital Startups

Magazines vs. Digital Startups: Simon Dumenco (of AdAge ) has a question: Would you rather own a magazine, or a digital startup? He notes that some magazines are making real money these days, including Marie Claire , even as most digital startups fail.

Mobile Use Grows; Ad Dollars Yet to Catch Up

Mobile Use Grows; Ad Dollars Slow to Catch Up: According to analysis by eMarketer, U.S. consumer time spent using mobile devices for activities other than talk has more than doubled in the past two years. While ad dollars have been slow to follow, that is changing. The share of ad dollars is 1.6% of U.S. ad spending this year though adults spend an average of 11.7% of their media time with their phones and tablets...With this said, challenges do face the mobile advertiser, such as small and ugly ads, slow connections, the lack of standardization for mobile ad formats and limited targeting abilities.

Monday, October 22, 2012

PPPC Reports Coated & SC Paper Ships

The Pulp & Paper Products Council has reported year-to-date (through September) North American coated mechanical paper shipments declined by -3.6%. Demand fell -4.1% and imports were down -4.6%. The operating rate was 94% y-t-d and 103% for the month of September. Coated woodfree shipments decreased -4.3%, demand fell -6.2% and imports were down -12.8%. The operating rate was 88% y-t-d and 96% in September.
North American SC-A/SC-A+ year-to-date paper shipments declined -26.2%, demand decreased -26.5% and imports fell -21.9%. The operating rate for Supercalendered papers (SC-A and SC-B grades) was 95% y-t-d and 93% in September.

Resolute Announces Fort Frances Downtime

2 weeks downtime in Fort Frances:
Resolute Forest Products is taking 2 weeks of downtime at its Fort Frances, Ontario mill starting on October 28.
Both the kraft and paper (uncoated mechanical) operations will be affected.
A lack of orders is being blamed for the downtime.

MeadWestvaco to Buy Ruby Macons, India

MeadWestvaco Announces Acquisition of Ruby Macons in India:
MeadWestvaco Corporation, a global leader in packaging and packaging solutions today announced a definitive agreement with Mr. Alibhai Nathani and family to purchase Ruby Macons Limited ("Ruby Macons"), India's top producer of corrugated packaging materials and a leader in the country's growing industrial packaging industry. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Time.com Relaunches With Responsive Design

Time.com Relaunches With Responsive Design:  To provide a more consistent look and feel to its readers, Time magazine has re-launched its website using responsive design technology, which automatically reformats a website to fit all computer and device screens.
Time magazine says it isn’t going to follow Newsweek’s move to a digital-only publication [1]. But nor is it ignoring the shift towards mobile news reading. And so Oct. 21, Time moved its site to responsive design so that the content automatically “snaps” to the frame, regardless of screen size (no more pinching and zooming). At the same time, Time redesigned its site across all platforms so that the content and user experience are uniform across all devices.

Forbes, Martini Media in Ad Deal

Advertising Week has come and gone, and while we're arguably no closer to cracking the code on digital advertising, Forbes and Martini Media are tacitly voting in favor of content-branded digital ads.
In a deal that's unconventional even for the likes of Forbes, the business news brand reached a deal with digital ad company Martini Media to integrate the magazine's staff-written editorial content into ads for blue-chip advertisers. And while there are plenty of native ad units that combine branded editorial content with the advertiser's own material, what's notable about these units is that they're running outside of the Forbes ecosystem.

Variety Names Publisher

Variety has promoted associate publisher Michelle Sobrino-Stearns to publisher. She succeeds Brian Gott, who left the publication after three years at the helm.
The move comes less than two weeks after Penske Media Corp. acquired the Hollywood trade publication from Reed Business Information for a reported $25 million.

Newsweek Not Representative of Industry

Newsweek's decision to stop publishing a print edition after 80 years and bet its life entirely on a digital future may be more a commentary on its own problems than a definitive statement on the health of the magazine industry.
Magazine ad revenue in the U.S. is seen rising 2.6 percent this year to $18.3 billion, according to research firm eMarketer. That would be the third increase in three years, driven mainly by gains in digital ad sales, though print ads are expected to be flat.
Paid magazine subscriptions were up 1.1 percent in the first half of the year, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. And while single-copy sales at newsstands are down 9.6 percent, overall circulation - the bulk of which is in print - is steady compared to a year ago.

PIA; 2012 Print Growth Slowed

PIA Print Market Update Shows Growth Slowed in 2012: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, YTD 2012 shipments on a nominal unadjusted basis declined 2.2%. While the Census Bureau still reports a decline, it is an improvement from the first quarter's 3.9% decline.
For the past few quarters, the majority of industry growth was generated from larger firms. When calculating the percent change in industry sales, we give a higher weight to each firm with more than 100 employees because these firms generate more than 60% of industry sales. Since the fourth quarter 2011, we have noticed a trend-larger firms reporting sales growth declining each quarter from a high in the fourth quarter of 2011 of 5.1% to a low in the current quarter of 2.1%.

WhatTheyThink Webinar; Print & Social Media

Print and Social Media: Working Together: Free WhatTheyThink webinar, sponsored by Ricoh, discusses how print and social media work together for a more effective marketing strategyLexington, Kentucky USA -- WhatTheyThink today announced the opportunity for industry professionals to attend a free printing industry educational webinar. Social Media Meets Print: Part One. The this first in a two-session series will be led by WhatTheyThink Senior Editor Cary Sherburne. The session is scheduled for Wednesday, October 24th, from 2:00 to 3:00

Newsweek Move Will Little Affect Quad/Graphics

Quad/Graphics Losing Longtime Contract with Newsweek Ending Print Editions: Newsweek will print its final edition at the end of this year, ending its decades-long relationship with Wisconsin-based printing firm Quad/Graphics Inc. Quad, which has worked with Newsweek since 1977, will not be cutting any jobs as a result.

USPS Urges Customers to Switch

USPS Urges Customers to Switch from POSTNET to IMb Barcodes: This week saw USPS writing to 800,000 business mailers who hold a POSTNET permit to encouraging them to start making the transition to IMb. If they don’t make the switch by Jan. 28, 2013, those mailers will no longer be eligible for those mailers will no longer be eligible for discounts for business mail prepared to standards for automated processing.

Friday, October 19, 2012

ABM Predicts 2.56% Postal Increase for Magazines

http://www.btobonline.com/article/20121019/MEDIABUSINESS10/310199994/abm-forecasts-postal-rates-for-periodicals-will-increase-2-56-in-2013
American Business Media is projecting that periodicals will face a 2.56% increase in postal rates next year.
The increase, pending approval by the Postal Regulatory Commission, will take effect Jan. 27.
Jack Widener, postal counsel for ABM, said in an email to members that the USPS also announced it has for the first time hit its borrowing limit of $15 billion. The agency said it will have to rely on revenue from stamps and other products to fund operations.

Silence on Catalyst Elk Falls Sale

With just hours to go before the third Catalyst Paper Elk Falls Mill site sale deadline, both the seller, Catalyst Paper, and the buyer, Alberta developer Harold Jahn, are observing a stony silence.
This is nothing new for Catalyst Paper which has not answered a Mirror phone call since mid-September. On Oct. 4 Jahn said his $8.6 million deal to buy the abandoned Catalyst Mill site would close today, Oct. 19, and he would be on site next week doing business.
Two earlier sale closure dates, Sept. 5 and 19, were missed since the deal was announced in August.

Woodlot Owners: Port Hawkesbury Paper’s Prices Too Low

Private woodlot owners say Port Hawkesbury Paper’s prices are too low to survive:
The private woodlot owners supplying the Port Hawkesbury Paper mill in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia are saying the prices the mill is paying for wood is too low for their businesses to survive.
Bill McCarthy, President of North Inverness Forest Management Limited, feels like the victim of school yard bullying after seeing the mill’s buying policy.
When wood buyers from the mill met with the organization’s manager, Clifton Sangster, last week, they discovered Port Hawkesbury Paper is offering just $43/tonne delivered roadside for 8 foot wood and $40/tonne for random length wood.  McCarthy said that “when NewPage shut down the mill in August 2011, they were paying us $50 to $55 per tonne roadside for our wood.”

IP & Vermont Gas Announce Pact

Vermont Gas Systems and International Paper Co. on Wednesday announced a $70 million pact through which the South Burlington-based utility would supply natural gas to the paper company's Ticonderoga, N.Y., mill as soon as 2015.

Q3 Magazine Ad Pages Down 8%

2012 is shaping up to be another lousy year for consumer magazines, at least as far as print advertising is concerned. According to the latest quarterly tally from the Publishers Information Bureau, total ad pages fell 8% to 36,059 in the third quarter of this year. That follows similar declines in the first and second quarters of the year; in the first nine months of 2012, ad pages are down 8.6% to 110,843.

Q2 Global Advertising Up 2.7%

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/185474/global-ad-dollars-up-tv-leads-internet-rises.html 
Internet, outdoor, and TV continued to be the top media categories making gains globally in advertising dollars.
For the second quarter, Nielsen’s Global AdView Pulse says Internet advertising rose 7.2%; radio gained 6.6%; outdoor was up 4.7%; and TV added on 3.1%. TV holds the biggest share of advertising dollars globally at 61%. Overall, global advertising growth is up 2.7% for the second quarter.

Terry McDonell Leaves Time's SI

Terry McDonell’s reign as editor of Sports Illustrated and the Time Inc. Sports Group has finally come to an end [1]. According to Time Inc. editor in chief John Huey, who announced the news in a company-wide email earlier today, McDonell started searching for his replacement over the summer and will now become a senior adviser for the company, “concentrating on digital projects he has in incubation.”

Time Out New York & CourseHorse with New Offer

Time Out New York Partners With Start-Up for Online Course Offering:
City and regional publication Time Out New York is giving readers access to more information, and not just through its editorial content. Parent company Time Out Group has entered into the local class discovery market—its New York edition has struck a strategic partnership with Internet startup CourseHorse to deliver local educational listings and discounts.

Switching to Digital Magazines a Challenge

Russ Grandinetti, vice president for Kindle content for Amazon, spoke to magazine publishers and editors Monday in San Francisco, where he talked about the particular challenges facing their industry as they slowly move toward digital platforms for publishing and editing.

eBooks, Music & Films Thrive; Not Magazines

Circulation of digital magazines in the US doubled in the first half of 2012 compared with the same period in 2011, according to ABC figures. Forgive me if I'm not jumping for joy or loudly proclaiming the death of print: digital titles still account for just 1.7% of total magazine circulation.
One by one, the content industries have undergone their own digital revolutions, starting with the music industry and moving on to books and film. In each case, the catalyst was a business from outside the industry throwing a grenade into what was quite frankly a stagnating pond.

Google Blaming RRD for Early Release

RR Donnelley blamed as premature Google filing wipes $20bn off shares:
The incomplete results statement revealed a 20% slide in Google's quarterly profits to $2.2bn (£1.4bn), missing analysts' estimates and sparking a flurry of trading that wiped nearly $20bn off the company's market value before trading was suspended.
Google placed the blame firmly on RR Donnelley in a statement released shortly after the blunder. It said: "Earlier this morning RR Donnelley, the financial printer, informed us that they had filed our draft 8K earnings statement without authorization.
Tom Quinlan, chief executive of RR Donnelley told the Wall Street Journal that "human error" was responsible for the early SEC filing, which he added was "not common in our world".
RR Donnelley, which files more than 100,000 documents each year, said in a statement that it would be investigating the situation.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

UPM Kymi Producing Coated Sheets

The expansion of UPM Kymi mill's converting department has now been concluded, and the production of coated fine paper sheets has started. The new sheeting line was taken into use 25 September and the first sheets have already been delivered to customers.
The aim of the new sheeting line is to serve UPM's customers in close-by markets faster, better and more flexibly than before, and to support the production efficiency of the integrated mill site.

AF&PA Reports Containerboard Numbers

American Forest & Paper Association Releases September 2012 Containerboard Statistics Report: The American Forest & Paper Association released its September 2012 U. S. Containerboard Statistics Report today.
Containerboard production fell 4.8 percent over August 2012 and 2.2 percent compared to same month last year. The month-over-month average daily production decreased 1.6 percent. The containerboard operating rate for September 2012 lost 1.5 points over August 2012, decreasing from 97.5 percent to 96 percent.

AF&PA Releases Kraft Paper Ships

American Forest & Paper Association Releases September 2012 Kraft Paper Sector Report: The American Forest & Paper Association has released its September 2012 Kraft Paper Sector Report.
Total Kraft paper shipments were approximately 130,100 tons, a decrease of 2.2 percent compared to the prior month. Total inventory was approximately 77,900 tons in September. Unbleached Kraft shipments decreased, but bleached Kraft shipments increased year over year for the eighth month in 2012.

RR Donnelley Gets Parke-Bell Contract

RR Donnelley Awarded $25 Million Agreement by Parke-Bell to Produce Catalog: R. R. Donnelley & Sons has been awarded a $25-million, multiyear agreement by Parke-Bell to provide prepress, printing, binding and logistics services for the company’s Touch of Class catalogs. Touch of Class is a leading multichannel merchant of home décor and furnishings products. The agreement renews and expands the companies' relationship.

Newsweek To Cease Print in 2013

Newsweek To Cease Print Publication in 2013:
Earlier this week at the American Magazine Conference, industry watchers speculated that most magazines will begin going digital-only by the end of the decade—that prediction seems to be coming to fruition sooner than expected, starting with today’s announcement that Newsweek magazine will cease its print publication by the end of 2012.

Forbes; Digital Revenue Up

While the tipping point was predicted a few years ago, 2012 is the year. For the first time, half of Forbes, Inc.’s revenues will come from its digital businesses, according to Meredith Levien, the business media company’s chief revenue officer.
In a conversation at the American Magazine Conference, Levien was quick to point out that this proportional increase isn’t a result of shrinkage on the print side. Forbes' print revenues are also up, thanks to a 12.5% increase in ad pages in the first nine months of the year, per the Publishers Information Bureau.

Gap Launches e-Commerce in Japan

Gap Inc. (GPS) announced today that customers in Japan can now shop Gap and Banana Republic products online through its new Japanese e-commerce sites (gap.co.jp and bananarepublic.co.jp). The sites offer Gap, GapKids, babyGap and Banana Republic products.

Changes for NYT Style Magazine

T: The New York Times Style Magazine will revamp its magazine franchise in 2013. Under the direction of editor Deborah Needleman, the revitalized magazine will have a more expansive approach to covering the luxury lifestyle, as well as a new look and publication schedule. The changes will be unveiled in Needleman's first issue as editor on February 17, 2013.
Well, that didn’t take long. Deborah Needleman is only in her third week as editor of T: The New York Times Style Magazine [1]. And while new editors often stay under the radar for a few months as they figure out their strategy, she not only has a plan but is talking about it publicly.
And why not? After all, Needleman negotiated to get certain changes made weeks before her start date, and the Times, in order to woo her away from rival The Wall Street Journal’s WSJ., obliged. One is the frequency change: Starting with her first issue out Feb. 17, 2013, the magazine will publish 13 times a year, down from 15.

AMA Names Publisher

http://www.minonline.com/news/21327.html
The two most prestigious clinical medical magazine publications are the Journal of the American Medical Association and the New England Journal of Medicine. Both are weeklies with articles that impact health care around the world, and "raiding the competition" in this context is rare. But that is what happened yesterday (Oct. 17) when AMA CEO Dr. James Madara announced the hire of NEJM publisher/managing director Thomas Easley as senior VP/periodic publications and publisher of JAMA, JAMA Network and American Medical News. 

DMA Introduces Data-Driven Marketing Institute

http://chiefmarketer.com/direct-marketing/dma-debuts-data-driven-marketing-institute 
The Direct Marketing Association introduced the Data-Driven Marketing Institute yesterday, an initiative it hopes will help the industry educate consumers about the way data-driven marketing helps consumers and boosts the economy.
The DMA hopes to spend at least $1 million on the initiative. While the specifics of the institute are still being finalized, she told reporters it will incorporate research on consumer attitudes and economic impact, as well as lobbying efforts and consumer outreach, which could potentially take the form of advertising or public meetings.

Ad Engagement Up on Digital Magazines

More tablet owners are reading newspapers and magazines on their devices, according to the latest data from comScore’s TabLens research service, which is based on a three-month rolling sample of 6,000 tablet owners; these findings, along with new data from GfK MRI, hold out the promise of growing advertising and circulation revenues from this burgeoning new channel.
Overall, 11.5% of tablet owners -- a definition that includes iPad, Android tablets, Kindle Fire, and Nook -- said they read newspapers on their tablets “almost every day” or “at least once a week.” Some 14.6% said they read newspapers on their tablets one to three times a month, and 37.1% said they read newspapers on their tablets once a month.

Hemispheres Partners with Golf Media


Hemispheres magazine, the in-flight publication of United Airlines, has partnered with Golf Media Network, various Web sites, to publish feature stories about top golf destinations written by GMN. The first feature, on Scottsdale, AZ, will run in the March 2013 issue of Hemispheres. GMN’s "Golf Road Warriors" sends four writers and a videographer to cover the most distinctive golf destinations, posting stories and video about courses, hotels, restaurants and other local attractions at golfroadwarriors.com. Hemispheres will publish articles about four such adventures next year.

comScore; Tablet Readership Study

comScore Releases Tablet Newspaper and Magazine Readership Study: Nearly 2 in 5 Tablet Owners Read Newspapers and Magazines on Their Device in AugustKindle Fire Owners Most Likely to Consume News According to comScore TabLensRESTON, Va., comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study of tablet newspaper and magazine readership based on data from its comScore TabLens service.

Future of Marketing; Relationships Driven by Data

The future of marketing will rely on relationships driven by data:
Personalized consumer experiences created from relationship building will drive the future of marketing, said executives at the ExactTarget Connections conference in Indianapolis.
ExactTarget CEO Scott Dorsey kicked off the event, speaking to a room of thousands of marketers and challenging them to participate in “inspired marketing.” According to Dorsey, “inspired marketing” is a fusing of the right brain and left brain in a way that pulls creative and metrics together to make the result more powerful.

Fairchild Fashion Names Group Publisher

People On The Move | 10.18.12:
Paul Jowdy has been promoted to vice president and group publisher for Fairchild Fashion Media’s (FFM) WWD group and M. Jowdy has been with FFM, a division of Condé Nast, since 2011, and with Condé Nast since 2006. Also, Lucy Kriz has been named vice president and publisher of W. Kriz was most recently a senior executive director at Condé Nast Media Group. 

USPS Cannot Borrow More

Postal Service Barred from Borrowing More: The cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service has reached its $15 billion debt limit as capped by Congress and is barred from borrowing more. The Postal Service hit the cap on Sept. 28, a spokesman confirmed, reinforcing the fact that its cash reserves are running dangerously low.