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ABM“Year of the Editor”

Northwestern UniversityMedill School of Journalism

Sept. 17, 2003

Panel Session:

Brand Extensions: Creating New Revenue Streams--panelist Brian Ward

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Why Extend The Brand?• You need the money.

– New competition keeps fragmenting your clients’ budgets– Extension can give you greater account penetration and even

attract new categories of customers.

• You’re not in the magazine business and never were. You’re in the info business. Competition is anyone who moves information to your audience in any way.

• You’ve worked hard to build credibility, brand equity, etc. Why NOT leverage value you’ve already built?

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Prerequisites To Strong Brand Extension

• Know what a brand is• Have one• Extend in a way that complements your brand• Know where the money’s coming from• Plan for the resources needed• Do the math

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FER Brand Development• October 1996

– FER launches, based on content, circulation, financial backing and personal brand equities. Advertisers take a chance they wouldn’t take with complete strangers.

• January 2000– Launch Web site

• September 2002– Launch high-end, two-day seminar for readers

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Brand Extension: The FER Web Site

• Not Just An Electronic Home For The Print Product– Serves a related but independent research

function• Worldwide Buyers Guide• North American Services Guide• Archives for product comparison features only• Links, links, links—quick connex for spec comparison, etc.

• Profitable Since Second Year– Ad revenue now. What next?

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Brand Extension: The MUFES Symposium

• We attract readers because:– Builds on magazine’s specialized credibility/brand– Nuts-and-boltsy, most tech-intensive spec/purchase

symposium in our field– Stringently educational agenda—no product suppliers

among presenters unless balanced in a panel– Great networking opp for rivals/peers in spec,

purchasing & design functions

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Brand Extension: The MUFES Symposium

• We attract advertiser/sponsors because:– Attendance is invitation-only, all big-volume “key account”

customers and prospects– Meeting size is held down to promote comfortable interaction

without “stadium effect” anonymity– Advertiser/sponsors thus get to connect with hard-to-reach “big

fish” prospects– Ratio of suppliers to reader/customers is held to 1:1

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Brand Extension: The MUFES Symposium

• MUFES works for us because:– Content reinforces/complements magazine brand, and vice versa– Invitation-only creates a prestige effect to attendance– Invitees pay an affordable registration fee; suppliers pay a higher

one – Sponsorships are popular and generate big revenue– Supplier attendees, including sponsors, must meet advertising

requirements to drive magazine business and avoid cannibalization

– Profitability per labor hour is significant

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Thank You.