Monday, February 09, 2009
Monday | Feb. 9 | Your News & Comments
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106 comments:
Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
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i would be anxious to hear about how other advertising departments are doing? How many sales reps are aming their goal? MO has many reps that are coming in at 36% ranging to 90%. January was especially horrible.
ReplyDeleteNew Jersey!
ReplyDeleteAccording to my spouse.
ReplyDeleteReno is doing at least as bad, or worse than that. Take a look at rgj.com.
Most web pages have been loaded up with anti-drug PSA's, rather than car dealers, or casino's. Advertisers are holding onto cash until there is a reasonable chance of ROI. I don't know for sure, but I'm hearing that no sales rep came close to goal.
On the Brighter side. Reno spent around 40 thousand dollars on a new break room. Pool table, ping-pong table, foosball table, Complete home theater system, carnival style basketball game, new paint, fireplace. Very cool!
Oh how I wish I still worked there!
For all of you poor misguided souls who thought the CareerBuilder ad during the Super Bowl was a winner:
ReplyDeletehttp://seekingalpha.com/article/119223-who-scored-with-super-bowl-ads?source=yahoo
January was worse than the previous three months at my place. No one made their goal. The market just dropped off the side of a cliff after customers looked at their Christmas returns, and it is not recovering.
ReplyDeleteIf ad reps aren't making goal, then they aren't bringing in the cash we need.
ReplyDeleteFor all the years of "we make the money around here" they sure aren't living up to much these days. 2 reps hitting 50% goal sounds like a one person job to me.
A drastic reduction in sales staff would be the best place to start, really.
2 reps making 50% does not equal one job
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately in an environment like this it takes twice the effort (sales calls) to make half the revenue.
That means sales staff are (or should be) working harder and making less. Dont get me wrong - ad sales is a live by the sword die by the sword kind of gig. So when times are good, ad reps do well, when times are tough, well - the good ones leave and the bad ones dig in. Makes it even tougher to recover after the reccesion
Check out Time..."How to Save Your Newspaper"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1877191,00.html
I just received my pension packet, including the Summary Plan Description that I requested a month ago.
ReplyDeleteFor the person who speculates layoffs may be tied to pension, I want to point out that the formula for determining benefits on "new plan" after Dec. 1997 gives a drastically more generous pension for the service after 10 years (70% of average salary) compared with first 10 (50%) and after 20 years (45%).
Those numbers seem to be based on a start of 1998, so even those in the company 20 years already at 1998 start at 0 in 1998, according to the formula, if I read it right.
Assuming I understand this correctly, I can see why Gannett would have the urgency to dump in 2008 as many of us who were already on board in 1998 as it could justify to EEOC auditors.
Still, I was in the pension all of 1998 and all of 2008 (laid off Dec. but continuation pay), yet the calculaton shows only 0.58 year at that higher rate. Did anyone else understand why we don't get the 70% for the whole year?
Did anyone else try to compare the company's calculations on their pension benefits against the Summary Plan Description? I specifically requested these calculations; did the rest of you even get that information?
LOL, verification word: fordeaf
Maybe the Pension Rights Center could help answer the pension questions.
ReplyDeleteDid you know when you go on "furlough" and apply to unemployment for your waiting week you will be paid for that week in new jersey in about 2 weeks after you return to work .Iam telling you this because everyone thinks they have no money to pay bills etc. but this should help some of you even though it is probably a lot less then your paycheck but at least its something !!
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, did the CN/HNT ME follow his custom of taking off to attend the Westminster dog show? Are you growling or grinning in the newsroom?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Time link.
ReplyDeleteGreat story.
MAKE SURE YOU APPLY FOR THAT FURLOUGH WEEK TO UNEMPLOYMENT OR YOU GET NO UNEMPLOYMENT CHECK .APPLY THE "FIRST DAY" OF YOUR FURLOUGH "ON LINE" {FASTEST WAY} IN NEW JERSEY IN ORDER TO GET PAID THAT WEEKS UNEMPLOYMENT CHECK.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know how (poorly) the sales were in January at the Courierpost in Cherry Hill? We see fewer ads in the paper but still see a great many of the "sales types" wasting time on their typical nonsense in the office like usual. There are too many manager types who sit in their offices or cubes all day long some on personal telephone calls, surfing the internet, selling girl scout cookies, planning parties and so forth. Of course ther is plenty time to plan for the lunch and taking orders for that. Maybe the next move will be to make the editorial people sell ads too to keep the place going.
ReplyDeleteSeems this blog could be the perfect place for those who know, to exchange ideas on how to make things better instead of all the whining and complaining I read here. In my day if you heard things were getting bad you put your heads together and brainstormed a way to increase production/sales instead of wondering what might happen or when. Business will never get turned around if the prevailing attitude is "I'm gonna get fired anyway so why try". Really sad.
ReplyDeleteRecently announced layoffs by other corporations. Are we to assume that their management is inept as many of you think Gannett's is? Lets get real, these layoffs are being done in every segment of the economy.
ReplyDeleteRio Tinto- 14,000
NFL-10%
Sony- 8,000
Days Inn- 4,000
Budweiser- 1,400
Dow Chemical- 5,000
3M- 1,800
AT&T- 12,000
Credit Suiss- 5,300
Dupont- 2,500
Niacom 850
Washington Mutual- 9,200
EMC- 2,400
Alcoa- 13,500
Unisys- 1,300
Cessna- 2,200
Electronic Arts- 1,100
Omnicom Group- 3,000
Aetna- 1,000
Cooper Tire- 1,400
Western Digital- 2,500
BankofAmerica- 30,000-35,000
Stanley Works- 2,000
Bose- 1,000
GE- to be announced
AMD- 1,100
Hertz- 4,000
Wellpoint- 1,500
Saks- 1,100
Google- 100 recruiters
Delta- 1,000
Motorola- 7,000
Seagate- 10%
Walgreens- 1,000
Home Depot- 7,000
Sprint- 8,000
Pfizer- up to 20,000
Harley Davidson- 1,100
Microsoft- 5,000
United Air- 2,500
Intel- 6,000
BHP Billiton- 6,000
Ericsson- 5,000
Clear Channel- 1,850
Warner Bros- 800
Nissan- 20,000
Emerson Electric- 41,000
Estee Lauder- 2,000
Panasonic- 15,000
Time Warner- 1,250
PNC Bank- 5,800
Macy's- 7,000
Caterpiller- 20,000
Kodak- 3500-4500
Cessna- 2,000
Starbucks- additional 7,000
Boeing- 10,000
Target- 9%
Corning- 3,500
Texas Instruments- 3,400
Bank of New York- 1,800
Chase- 3,000
Citigroup- 53,000
Sun Microsystems- 18%
Applied Materials- 1,800
DAL- 9,500
Mattel- 1,000
Fidelity 4,000
Glaxo- 1,000 (Sales positions)
As you can see layoffs are everywhere. February is lining up to be just as bad. While you may not like working for Gannett, be very thankful if you still have a job.
Newspapers are a business first and a news source second. The way a paper makes money during hard times is by raising the ad reps goals so high that they don't have to pay out the commission to the reps. It's been done for years by all of the chains.
ReplyDeleteThe goals should realistically be adjusted to 50% of what was done last year, not raised.
does anyone know why -- other than its usual incompetence and chronic understaffing -- it takes gannett so damn long to do ANYTHING related to pensions?
ReplyDeletein indy, after gannett bought us, longtime employees had to choose between sticking with the cni pension and the gannett "lump." (as i understand it, the cni pension is paid through purchase of an annuity; the other plan involves transfer of a flat sum.)
either way, WHAT TAKES SO DAMN LONG?? are other big corporations so dilatory? do gm retirees or those who leave ibm or even other newspapers jerked around as badly as i read about people being treated here?
(surely some people who read this have friends/relatives/spouses who've worked for big corps and can offer comparisons. such input would be appreciated.)
10:39, thanks for wasting your time and making that huge list. Now can you make a list of companies that were laying off 3 years ago when times were good. I can start the list for you.
ReplyDelete1. GANNETT
Do not tell us we should be thankful, because our days are numbered as well. You need to wake up because there is no way GCI is making it out of this recession that will last 4-6 years.
Let's start cleaning house at Cherry Hill.
ReplyDelete"Do Not Trust Your Company When They Say Your Job Is Safe": http://ownthedollar.com/2009/02/trust-company-job-safe/
ReplyDeleteIt happened to me.
10:39 And how many of those companies were laying off employees when they were rolling up incredible profits, as GCI was doing. Look at the per-paper profits Jim posted a few weeks back, and look at the layoffs.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of New Jersey, a Jersey guy is on the pole for the Daytona 500. What do the C-N and HNT do? Bury the story (AP) away from the sports front and don't localize it. Also give it less space than the NFL's Pro Bowl.
ReplyDeleteAt least the Star-Ledger localized its Daytona story (from the Milwaukee paper).
The CN is barely a newspaper. It's a very brittle shell of its former self. I wish they'd just put it out of its misery and close it already.
ReplyDeleteI was never a fan of the HNT anyway, but it looks like that's the one of the two that's gonna survive.
9:26 a.m. - working twice as hard for half the results sounds like we can let 4 people go for every one ad rep that's getting things done.
ReplyDeleteCareful how you defend. The math isn't on your side.
Bottom line, if your job is to bring in money and you aren't bringing in money you aren't doing your job.
Ad Staffs are bloated and in "these times" we should cut that bloat.
10:39
ReplyDeleteEver heard of cut and paste? Your comment took longer to write than my posted list.
There were no company wide layoffs 3 years ago. Check your fabricated facts.
When the old pension plan ended and the new one started in the latter 1990s, several senior employees I worked with left rather than take the hit. As I understood it, the big change was from computing the payout on the highest five years of service to an average of all years and that really hurt some senior workers. No one I spoke to thought the new plan was better than the plan it replaced.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know why USA Today has to micromanage? Here in Florida we have the Daytona 500 coming this Sunday. The twin 150's are Thursday setting the starting grid, along with other year beginning stories. Why in the world would USA CUT draws? Do they really NOT want to sell papers?
ReplyDeleteKind of an interesting NY Times synopsis here.. a lot of relevance as to what's going on with the recent downgrades in GCI.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fool.com/investing/general/2009/02/09/1-star-stocks-poised-to-plunge-new-york-times.aspx
12:04p
ReplyDeleteIts not about one ad rep getting it done and the others not - its about needing to make more pitches for the same number of closes.
Pitches (sales proposals) take time - so in a down economy sales reps invest more time in chasing fewer closes.
I cant speak to your site, maybe your ad department is overstaffed - but be careful casting dispersions.
If you have ad reps not making calls, not increasing their active accounts and not actively seeking new business - they need to be cut whether they're hitting goal or not.
To 10:38 who said
ReplyDeleteIn my day if you heard things were getting bad you put your heads together and brainstormed a way to increase production/sales instead of wondering what might happen or when. Business will never get turned around if the prevailing attitude is "I'm gonna get fired anyway so why try". Really sad.
I would say: It gets really tiring to work your butt off, put in that *extra commitment* and then watch senior management fritter away your hard-earned savings on stupid superbowl ads and golf junkets. THAT'S what's "really sad."
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteany word on GNS layoffs - weren't the supposed to do layoffs AFTER the buyouts that took place last week ?
ReplyDeleteMaybe some of the great ones out here could enlighten me. How could ad sales go up when ad reps are selling cheaper packages! Goals are not lowered, businesses are hit and many are tightening their belts. There are more businesses closing then opening! It is easy to make negative comments and point fingers unless one is in their shoes.
ReplyDeleteNo one is safe. No one. Even publishers who couldn't fathom that they could be next... get ready. Drastic times call for drastic measures.
ReplyDelete""Persons who have been RAPED can only get AIDS (Additional Income for Dependants & Spouse) or HERPES (Half Earnings for Retired Personnel Ea rly Severance). Obviously persons who ..."" and so on.
ReplyDeleteWhat infantile, offensive, Internet crap. Catalog under Why the Web Sucks. Spare us.
Ad counts are up, but average size and rate are down. We're going after the second and third tier advertisers and cutting deals off the ratecard.
ReplyDeleteWhich means more work for the graphic artists, but less revenue in the door..... so while the reps get rewarded for more ads, the artists get laid off because we can't pay them.... and it costs more money on every ad we send to 2AdPro vs. doing it in-house.
January was extraordinarily awful for ads, and February doesn't look like it will be better.
ReplyDelete1:39 PM
ReplyDeleteThat was great I am still LMAO.
Happy in MI
Hey 10:38 in your day we all worked together. It's not like that today!
ReplyDeleteCherry Hill has no hope. We don't have selling material unless we are forced to elaborate on lies. Take it to the client and your laughed right back to the pavement. We chase our tails daily. It's disgusting working here. Watching the favorites do nothing. How can GCI answer this. I don't understand. Can someone please shed some light. Why?
ReplyDeleteCherry Hill you are not alone. Watching the favorites do nothing is what goes on in Westchester as well.
ReplyDeleteCan we take a vote on Walt Lafferty's continued employment?
ReplyDeleteCherry Hill don't forget water boy.
ReplyDeleteTake him with you know WHO.
Someone named Anonomyous said a Jersey Guy is in the Pole Position of the Daytona 500----If he worked at Gannett he'll probably start the race turn into the crowd and massacre alot of people---similar to the gannett corporate who has been killing their customers and advertisers for years.
ReplyDeleteMarks coming back to gannett 4/1/09.
ReplyDeleteYou too Westchester???
ReplyDeleteLafferty allows it. I thought this guy use to make sense. He doesn't
ReplyDeleteI worked in Cherry Hill for a couple years. I called my supervisor one day after leaving on an appointment after 4:30. I asked if I could go home. I was told to drive back the 14 miles. Does that make "dollars and sense" to you??
ReplyDeleteMy supervisor would leave all the time. He was in that "select" group.
Who is the water boy???? We might know him him APP
ReplyDeleteJust got a very interesting letter from the Operations Director at Cherry Hill regarding home delivery sent to all its subscribers. (They canned the circ director a while back, so I guess Ops is running the circ operation.)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the gist of the letter is that the home delivery subscribers are being told that they no longer will receive coveted doorstep delivery. We should be prepared to fetch the paper from the driveway or gutter or wherever the carrier tosses the paper as they fly by on their motor route.
The nonsense in the letter talks of allowing the C-P to give up the special service so they can add more papers to the routes, do the routes faster, hire fewer people, etc. Clearly, they are telling their loyal readers that customer service no longer is important.
Forgive me, but I recall that the porch delivery with a guaranteed delivery time was held up throughout all of Gannett as a model that drove subscribers and also helped the CP score high on those dumb customer service metrics. It was an edge that the Inky didn't have, and that was exploited.
Perhaps I could see doing this in the dead of summer when some subscribers are away for vacation or don't mind walking down the driveway to search for their paper. But in the thick of winter, this just appears to be another dumb tactic to save a few bucks that probably won't amount to anything over time. In the long run, the older customers will rebel and either be coddled to or they will quit. Of course, it's probably only a matter of time before PCF comes into the market and takes over the HD operation.
Yet another vote of no confidence for these bozos running the place.
To 1:14 and 2:30. Bosses have done that forever. Does that mean you must be a lesser person? No self respect? It's not right and most don't like it, but you signed on to work for him/them instead of working for yourself. What did you expect? If you do a job, do the best you can. If not, you reap the consequences.
ReplyDeleteAnd no most don't work together anymore...in any industry. And again we see the result. I work with others every day, giving and taking. I do what I can to be as successful as I can each day. I see the paper I work with being happy with good enough is good enough. Well it ain't.
3:47? Where do they expect the added papers (circulation)to come from? What a riot!!!
ReplyDeleteWhere in Cherry Hill? What a bad move! Who' runs that paper??
ReplyDeleteOn a brighter note, this from my accountant's income tax prep list:
ReplyDeleteCapital losses on stocks deemed worthless -- generally, those that are no longer traded -- are deductible.
Sounds like Cherry Hill wants to go out of business
ReplyDeleteWhat are you saying no doorstep? What?
ReplyDeleteThey tried that delivery crap here. I don't think the advertisers liked it. Our place tried to change it after 6 months and it was to late. We closed
ReplyDelete1:41 pm: Why the hard on for GNS? Isn't a staff reduction of more than 40 percent enough for you? Miserable creep.
ReplyDeletePoor naive 3:57 - porch delivery by a guaranteed time certainly has NOT been a Gannett-wide standard for a long, long time. While individual papers may have it, many long ago switched to driveway tosses by adult carriers.
ReplyDeleteThis is not to say readers don't deserve porch delivery, or that porch delivery certainly would be near ideal, it's just that many gave it up as a standard long ago.
Alas.
Also way back when, it gave those youthful independent newspaper carrier merchants a nice connection to the news business that they could carry into adulthood. But it wasn't efficient, apparently.
Where is Cherry Hill? It is located in Southwestern New Jersey just east of Philadelphia by a few miles. The operations director, (the waterboy) is Tom Hearon who came to Cherry Hill along with Walt Lafferty the current publisher. They were like the Clintons, elect one and get one free. Hearon is a classless and crude person who has been known to spew vile language during meetings and other times. He even threw a tamper tantrum one time in the retail ad department when he jumped up on a desk and began screaming at everyone. Since they got rid of the last circulation director, John Schaller (a friend of previous CD Jim Gregory who went to the Philadelphia Inquirer with his buddy Mark Frisby)waterboy has been running circulation. If they do eliminate the CP's doorstep delivery they will see circulation drop more than 15% almost immediately. Home delivery subscribers that remain ahve been kept around with this for well over a dozen years. One blogger described the nightmare in the advertising department. there are favorites working (what a joke) there! The AD keeps her favorites around to support her incompetence. There are some "favorites" that have been kept around and no one can understand why and how this can be justified!!!??? there is one lady who has been there for over 25 years who is clueless, useless, lazy and also very clever. What ad sales she does get could be obtained by just maintaininig a mailbox address managed by children. For what they are paying this lady there is no way that she is pulling her weight. It is as clear as day that there is something fishy that has been going on her for many years...back to the Bob Collins days. Yes, it is way past time to clean house starting with the AD, several of her "managers" and the favorites that just hang on and on and on and on. Go figure this all out? How about it Lafferty? You're the laughing stock because of stuff like this. Maybe the waterboy is really running the place and he's got something going with someone.
ReplyDeleteI think it has gotten to the point that companies are starting to use the economy as an excuse to continue ridding them selves of employees and there financial obligations to them. Mark my words that when the recovery starts to happen you will see record profits all around, and you will say to yourself I remember reading that on Jim's blog
ReplyDeleteThings in Cherry Hill really started going downhill when they put "Spot News" the dog mascot out to pasture ...
ReplyDeleteAnd, before the other non-NJ folks chime in ... true, there might be a lot of NJ stuff on this blog that others find laughable, but it's real ... you just can't make this stuff up. The Collins' legacy lives on and no one is doing anything about it at any level. They're too content to let these once very profitable papers with some of the best demographics in the country slip out of their hands ... from Cherry Hill in the south to Asbury (a great diverse market acquired in the late 90's)to Lafferty's old stomping ground in Morristown, this is a damned shame what they are letting happen ...
THis is not a promotion and I don't own one, but Amazon today released version 2 of the Kindle, which is capable of receiving daily editions of the New York Times. I frankly don't think this is such a revolutionary move because there are not that many Kindles out there. I have yet to see anyone with a Kindle, but maybe they are keeping them at home.
ReplyDeleteThe thing with a Kindle is that the screen is book sized. That's smaller than my home PC screen. It doesn't have a browse capability, I don't believe. So how do you get from one story to another. It would take a long time to read the Sunday New York Times or any other newspaper on a Kindle, too much time paging through the copy. Not a convenient option, IMHO
ReplyDeleteIf we use all of our flexible spending money before we pay it back (getting procedure in March), will the Big G recoup that money out of the last checks if I get bought out, canned or layed off?
ReplyDeleteAny more on the USAToday Editor?
ReplyDeleteHow about David Ledford. He would make things interesting.
Happy Birthday Jim,
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work on here. It's much appreciated.
All the best
If I were to leave gannett before retirement age, can I still claim my pension out?
ReplyDelete4:35
ReplyDeleteI don't think they mean NEW subscribers, just extra on a carrier because they'll consolidate routes. That's the only way to do it when your numbers are decreasing.
SPEAKING OF --don't have access to corp-wide circ numbers--anyone have positive numbers?
The St Cloud MN paper currently has
ReplyDeleteFour managers over the sales department
Two major's sales and one assistant
Two Special magazine section sales members and one designer.
Five assistants to the retail sales staff
One advertising director assistant. Currently this location doesn't have a sales director.
Five outside sales those on the street.
Two classified car sales outside and one assistant.
Two real estate outside sales one assistant and three designers.
Two online designers.
One paper layout person
One special projects sales person
One designer for specs.
Eight classified phones sales of various areas
This location in December terminated six outside sales. It appears to me they should have kept the sales and overhauled the rest .
Some of our sales teams are making 100% of goal. In meetings I have even seen some making goal by 150%.
There is a simple solution for sales reps...straight commission. I left gannett a year and a half ago, went to a true community newspaper. I was promised lower pay, hardly any bonus, no micromanaging and what ever work schedule I wanted to work. Our paper runs around 58 pages a week (broad sheet) and I sell about 13-15 pages of ads. Oh, Yeah, and I'm happy. There ARE ads out there you just need to have a relationship with your client, and we all know Gannett frowns on that. My job mostly is just visiting with people, and by the way did you want to go in the paper this week. Sometimes in tough times you have to take a step back and do things the old fashioned way.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteGannetts point of view is forget the old fashioned way. Put together a contract they won't meet and push it. Piss the client off and beg for business once you lose your credibility.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone tell me, I was part of the December layoff and on severance pay, if I rejoin Gannett do I lose my severance pay or does it continue until the original end date
ReplyDelete12:12PM is so frighteningly on the mark about the CN. Bridgewater--sorry, it's now Somerville-- is the sorriest excuse for a newspaper in the Gannett Empire, followed very closely by the HNT.
ReplyDeleteUntil rather recently, there was a Newspapers in Education initiative. Now, many teachers can use the CN to teach the kids how to spot grammatical errors. Sunday's rather imposing ad for Ciao Bello had enough of these errors to cause many readers to chuckle. They fired a very good, albeit anal-retentive proofreader last year and it shows!
The rest of the ads might have errors but they are so small they cannot be read.
With circulation and advertising so drastically down, it might make sense to cut the losses by raising the daily price to 75 cents, but the content is so horrible that even the most loyal readers are giving up on it.
I've been there long enough to know that the CN is useless. People who have been goofing off for years are suddenly running scared because they suspect that the jig is up. When they take their furloughs it will become very obvious how little they do.
What goes around comes around-- and the Bobsey Twins in Ad Services, as well as Boy Wonder Spolarich are on very thin ice-- followed by the two untalented top editors, the cold-blooded advertising director and the finance manager with the solitaire games on her computer screen.
All of the above have made the lives of their staffs miserable. Let's exclude Spolarich from that category. He never had a staff but does have a lengthy opinion on everything-- as everyone yawns.
When I am laid off in the next round, most of these people will be going with me. It's just sad that I will be expecting it while they still don't have a clue.
6:30 PM take this scenario-let's say you are going to have $120 for the year in your flex spending account and then get laid off in March after putting in $30. If you have medical expenses through March of $120 you can recoup all of it. They do not take the $90 out of your last check. The key is that the expenses have to occur while you are still on payroll, either active employee or severance.
ReplyDeleteI work at Asbury and can tell you Bob Collins had a fish in every port.
ReplyDeletelafferty accepts it
ReplyDeletedonovan accepts it (collins before him)
riddle accepts it
dickey accepts it ...
we have no choice to accept the atrocity that Cherry Hill has become ... what a shame to do this to your customers and to your employees ... there's no accountibility ... no pride ... soon, no business ...
JIM:
ReplyDeleteLibel alert re: 8:40. Isn't characterizing someone by name, who also can be easily identified, a libel problem?
Jim - the memo below came out late today. You may need a separate thread for it. First, a bit of history: When Gannett switched from OAS to Helios, the plan was to centralize all ad scheduling. Several larger markets raised hell (Cincy, Indy, Lou) and Gannett caved in and set up training for all markets - and it apparently has not gone well.
ReplyDelete"However, absent immediate improvement and the complete accuracy of all data entered into the ADTECH/Helios system, we will move quickly to centralize this function."
All you local ad schedulers beware - your job could be next.
****************
TO: Publishers of Gannett Newspapers, Finance Executives, Advertising Executives, and Online Executives
FROM: Bob Dickey, President/U.S. Community Publishing
CC: Craig Dubow, Gracia Martore, Chris Saridakis, Craig Moon, Kurt Wimmer, Jack Williams, Roxanne Horning, Paul Davidson, Tara Connell, Jeff Webber, Lorraine Ross, Josh Resnik, Kevin LeFew, Peter Lundquist, Jennifer Carroll, Larry St. Cyr, Anthony Diaz, Paul Trelstad, Wayne Freedman, Michelle Krans, Jeff Bergin, Evan Ray, Julie Heskett, Jim Lenahan, Gannett Digital, U.S. Community Publishing Corporate Staff
DATE: February 9, 2009
RE: Final Notice Regarding Entry of Data into ADTECH/Helios Online Ad Serving System
Executive Summary:
As you know, in 2008 Gannett invested heavily in revamping its digital infrastructure, in order to be able to compete for advertising revenue in both national and local markets. This is core to Gannett’s strategy for growing its digital media assets, and it includes all sites across US Community Publishing, Gannett Broadcasting, and other properties.
We support this strategy completely, and our divisions are already seeing the benefits. For example, since launching the ADTECH/Helios ad serving system and implementing a centrally-managed program for selling our remnant online inventory, we have now grown our remnant revenues ten-fold, from approximately $60,000 per month to over $700,000 in December. This equates to more than $8 million annual run rate from this program alone. This incremental revenue is critical in light of the significant challenges that we are facing.
Yet despite the importance of this strategy, we have yet to see full compliance by all of our units when it comes to entering correct data in the ADTECH/Helios system. This is even after multiple communications regarding the importance of accurate scheduling of online inventory, including a September memo from us (a copy of which is attached), as well as multiple training sessions designed to give everyone a full opportunity to learn the system.
We have made every effort to preserve local autonomy in online ad trafficking. However, absent immediate improvement and the complete accuracy of all data entered into the ADTECH/Helios system, we will move quickly to centralize this function.
We have attached a copy of the September memo outlining the reasons why this is so important, and containing instructions for inventory cleanup that was required at the time. Today’s memo will go into more detail regarding some new issues that have since arisen. Some are related to process, and some relate to MomsLikeMe.com. Given the importance of the MomsLikeMe product to our digital strategy as well the high demand from both local and national advertisers, proper trafficking and management of that inventory is especially crucial.
Please read the information carefully below for a detailed outline of the action items required for proper local ad scheduling. Though change can be difficult, adoption is important to ensure overall digital advertising growth in 2009 and beyond.
Required Action Items:
1. Adherence to MomsLikeMe Rate Card; Introduction of General Rate Card: In order to ensure that the MomsLikeMe brand remains a premium destination and allows for national and local sales channels to sell at the highest rates, in July 2008 a rate card was introduced (it was effective August 1, 2008). We are updating that rate card so that it now allows for tiered discounts based upon total spend, as well as incorporating a 15% standard agency discount structure. The digital strategy team will send out the standard Moms rate card next week. Compliance by both national and local sales teams must begin immediately for all new contracts.
In the next few weeks, we will also distribute a standard rate card to guide local and national efforts for selling inventory across our news sites. As with the MomsLikeMe rate card, the standard rate card will allow for tiered discounts based upon total spend, as well as incorporating a 15% standard agency discount structure.
2. Submission of MomsLikeMe Local Contracts Adhering to Rate Card: As national sales efforts increase, advertiser interest in purchasing advertising across our MomsLikeMe network of sites at premium CPM’s is growing. Unfortunately, upon review of contract details in Helios, it is clear that some markets are not adhering to rate card guidelines established last July. In addition, we have found instances of markets not entering the correct data into the ADTECH/Helios system, meaning that the price and/or quantity sold as entered into ADTECH/Helios did not actually match the actual contracted sale. As a result, to ensure compliance with the rate card and proper entry of data into the ad serving system, we will now require that all markets submit contracts/insertion orders for all new advertising campaigns that include inventory to run on the Moms channel. The Advertising Operations team will send out instructions on the submission process later this week. As with all items in this memo, compliance is mandatory for all sites.
3. Reservations Required for Guaranteed Placement: To keep all teams aware of inventory availability all campaign commitments need to be captured in HeliosIQ. Committed sales for future periods must be reserved in HeliosIQ so all groups are aware of accurate availability. Deals entered in HeliosIQ are accounted for immediately for everyone to get the most current avails. Deals booked first (subject to availability) will receive the inventory, incremental deals can be taken if / as availability allows. This changes the focus from tracking deals / progress on paper to the centralized adserving platform – which can provide an accurate, realtime view of inventory and deals. The Digital Ad Operations team will review the reservations process in further detail.
4. Training/QA Sessions Scheduled: The Gannett Digital Ad Operations team will send out a schedule of training sessions that will take place over the next 30 days to ensure local market ad trafficking teams understand, implement and maintain accurate scheduling practices.
5. Individual Site Audits: We will begin immediate efforts to QA data and randomly select newspaper and broadcast markets to review all insertions within Helios. An audit of all campaigns, including a review of contract terms for each will be completed. This will allow us to work more closely with markets to ensure that a process is in place to ensure that correct data is entered for all campaigns in Helios.
6. Ad Tag Standardization: A core component of leveraging the network is consistent ad tagging. We will be ensuring that all pages call HeliosIQ using same method, across all sites and Content Management Systems, allowing for consistency in how Helios counts inventory and reports impressions. Additional details will follow on changes to existing ad tags to enhance performance.
7. SSTS Review and Clean Up: Adherence to the network SSTS is critical for us being able to monetize, analyze, and behaviorally target online inventory. We are reviewing existing SSTS structure, cleaning up existing values and requiring new pages added to Helios to be SSTS compliant. Additional details on SSTS values will follow from Gannett Digital Ad Operations.
8. Data Integrity: Sites must be responsible for ensuring all campaign level data is entered in HeliosIQ for accurate delivery monitoring, revenue analytics, and yield management. Examples of critical values include: total billable impressions (guaranteed impressions), pay type, pricing info (CPM or flat fee).
Questions:
If you have any questions, please contact:
Lisa Beck, Director of Local Strategy/Gannett Digital (lbeck@gannett.com, 703-854-6750) – overall initiative, impact on business operations, sales/inventory usage
Tim Wolfe, Director of Business Analytics/Gannett Digital (twolfe1@gannett.com, 703-854-7168) – overall initiative, revenue optimization
Ameet Shah, Director of Ad Operations/Gannett Digital (ashah@gannett.com, 703-854-5310) – operations and implementation
8:47, your severance would end when your employment restarts.
ReplyDelete8:47, I don't think you can rejoin Gannett until your severance runs out. Do you have some sort of opportunity in front of you?
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of people they should have canned in St. Cloud MN instead of those they did.
ReplyDelete8:47, Your salary continuation stops the day you rejoin the company. It says so in the letter you received when you left.
ReplyDeleteGreat to here you are coming back. Beats unemployment right???
7:57 p.m.
ReplyDeletedo you have a defined benefit - monthly payment? you can get that at 55 and 20 years service.
if you have the lump sum, you get that no matter when you leave, as far as I know. ask HR
You 11:58 I hope your wife doesn't work in the Information Center because the dollars are way off.It was much less than that. JM worked her tail off with a very small budget. I agree it is gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteChanging sales reps to straight commission, no draw is a great idea. This should be tied to payment by the clients for their ads as well. Any sales management should be on straight commission too. There are far too many non productive types in retail and classified ad sales. During these tough times staffing should be dramatically reduced just like it has been in the news rooms.
ReplyDeleteand that 9:59 is why you need an HR rep around. Your idea violates wage and hour law. I would tell you why but I don't feel like it.
ReplyDeleteHi! Pensacola here... We are tired of all the low performing, underachieving properties in Gannett, and we're also tired of carrying these sorry losers. Please unload the bottom dwellers in this company and leave those of us that are doing a good job in these trying times a chance to survive and possibly prosper... why should we be the ones that have to foot the bill for the second and third stringers when they are just dragging the whole team down?
ReplyDelete9:07 Don't take the Bar you won't pass. Get your facts straight
ReplyDeleteThat 6:53 suggestion that the new USAT editor might be David Ledford must have been written by Ledford himself. No one else would suggest such a thing, certainly no one who ever worked for him.
ReplyDeleteRE: 9:07 To answer your post No.
ReplyDeleteWalt Lafferty has a lot to answer for.
ReplyDeleteAny word, predictions, etc., regarding the Jackson, MS, paper? It's awfully quite here ... and that's usually a bad sign.
ReplyDelete10:48,
ReplyDeleteI agree. Ledford comes across as a fairly nice guy, and may be, but he can't keep a thought in his head for longer than five minutes.
Oooh, new flashy, sparkly things... hanging flatscreen TVs, looky... let's do this trend story, that moronic localization, this gimmick trick...
I assume you're also in Wilmington? My favorite part during the post-layoff meeting was when he said he didn't have a clue about the future of the business. This is the guy who just got done leading APME. Uh, OK...
9:59
ReplyDeleteAnd let's be sure to change all the reporter salaries to relfect on how many people read their stories and whether the communities response to their stories is taken into effect on their wages also. Let's also make all reporter exempt from overtime, too. Believe me the commission checks are not that great even if the rep goes over goal.
In regard to:
ReplyDeleteany word on GNS layoffs - weren't the supposed to do layoffs AFTER the buyouts that took place last week ?
According to Kate Marymount, enough GNS folks took the buyouts, so layoffs will not be needed. After all, SOMEBODY has to take care of the work those 22 people did (in addition to the duties those folks who are staying already have on their plate)
Des Moines Register ad production employees were sent an email today warning to take vacations accordingly due to limited vacations being allowed July-December. They were told to schedule up through June, but could send in requests through December.
ReplyDeleteWhat could be coming during the later part of the year? Does this spell more layoffs, more furloughs?
I hate to be the one to break it, but I have had nothing but outstanding service from the pension folks. Requested data, got answers, all was taken care of in a couple months. I don't have a clue why some complain, the people were were professional and helpful.
ReplyDeleteRE: 12:23 PM
ReplyDeleteThat was my experience as well. They were on top of things and gave me accurate, timely advice and information.
Reno's Employee Breakroom rocks! It's nice to see that the company cares, and through these difficult times is making an effort to improve morale and appreciate the efforts of the staff. Very well done.
ReplyDeletewhat screwball could possibly think that Mark Frisby would return to that hellhole after it's been completely distroyed. I'd say the April 1st date for his return is an April Fools joke, or just wishful thinking. i email him from time to time and he seems pretty happy right where he is over in Philly.
ReplyDeleteI was laid off from the company along with 7199 other in 2008. I was hired back when a rep resigned, in 2009. Since my return in October of 2009; my goal % have been, 126%-152%-123%-141%(<Jan. as long as no one cancels as of today) overal meeting every solution/product goal independently. I have found the reps struggling to be the ones who have called on the same business for the past 6 years. I find atleast 10 new doors to walk in every day, and stop in to every single running customer once a week (even some get a call from me daily to tell them they have the best looking ad in the paper.) The paper I work for is ranked in the top 30 even though the population ranks us well outside the top 100 through the corporate measure. (going by the report at the end of 2008) It is extremely difficult to sign 12 month contracts these days, and in my market local tv news dominates advertising. The only problem is they do not take the time to develop a relationship (1), They do not take the time to research demographics and specific needs of the client (2), and they usually sell things only to reach a quota. I have spent months (in prior hiring time span) less than $100 from goal all because I wouldn't sell or move something into higher revenue only to benefit me. If the attitude is already I can't, then that media rep is right! Even yesterday, I walked into a 2000 sf auto garage and sold a 6 months contract to online advertising only. (if any of you are able to pitch online please do, if you notice it went from around 70 mil in 07 to like 270 mil in 08 because it is an affordable means of reaching trackable targeted audiences!) Don't disqualify someone on appearance, location, budget, anything. Unless they have a restraining order, you do not have a reason to not create a relationship that could better both of your businesses.FINISH A SALES CALL NO MATTER HOW BAD YOU STUMBLED, CHOKED, NERVOUS, WHATEVER!- You will be amazed at how forgiving any one can be if you solution to their need makes great business sense and you showed the true value of the product/solution. If you noticed any misspelled words I am sorry; I decided to be a salesman over school teacher.
ReplyDeleteUntil reductions are made at USA Today and that worthless USA Weekend is scrapped, I don't think we will make progress.
ReplyDelete