Corinne Schindlbeck, the Markt&Technik who covers management & careers, has been awarded the Media Prize Technology by the VDE Südbayern, Germany. It’s great to see electronics industry bodies award prizes to journalists, and as an engineer I am particularly pleased that the prize went to someone who is encouraging young people to choose engineering as a career. Congratulations Corinne!

Tags: Awards, Editors, Germany, Markt und Technik, Weka

The people behind Bedrock must have heard publishers complaining that they could write better adverts, and have given them the choice. Although initially targeted at major brands, this service that allows advertisers to bid on advertising phrases from publishers is something that I’m sure would be attractive to the electronics media. It might only be a matter of time before publishers and editors stop worrying about SEO and start wondering how many advertising phrases they can include on a page!

Tags: Advertising, Editors, Electronics, Misc Marketing, Online

I’ve written in the past about the fact that our industry charges much higher CPMs than you’d see elsewhere. I feel comfortable that this is justified by high-quality editorial written by experts that attracts a very specific niche audience. Despite this, the publications that do invest in great editors aren’t making a fortune. In fact we risk losing a lot of great content from our industry because the current business models can’t support all the great editors that work in electronics.

Current CPMs vary considerably. Let’s say that they run from €20 to €100. At this level advertisers can struggle to justify the investment, whilst publishers can only just pay the bills. Things are just about in balance, with publishers only able to cut prices if there is a huge increase in page views.

Then Opencores.org send me their media pack. OK, I completely accept that the Open Cores website has a very specific audience. Visitors to the site include include a higher proportion of students than magazine sites as well as engineers who are attractive to a relatively small group of advertisers (including the notoriously stingy EDA sector). But the rates for the site are crazy! Prices drop to €0.46 per thousand (you have to buy a sponsorship for a month, and the CPM is calculated based on the average impressions per month). About one hundredth of the rates you might get from a typical magazine site!

In reality I don’t expect Open Cores to change the pricing of “mainstream” sites. But if other user-generated content sites enter the market with very low rates, then publishers are going to find their CPMs under extreme pressure.

Tags: Advertising, Editors, Electronics, Online, Sweden, USA

ED Europe is a purely digital publication. So does this mean print is dead?

Absolutely not. In my opinion print publications will never be redundant. We humans read for many reasons such as pleasure, education, information-gathering and business requirements and for many people there is considerable enjoyment in reading a well-written, well-designed magazine or newspaper that is traditionally printed. There is also for some a desire to own well-produced books that perhaps form part of a personal collection.

I see no future print scenario that will emulate Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451. ….now there’s a book worth owning.

From a B2B information perspective I think traditional print and electronic media can co-exist. The only proviso I would mention is that free circulation B2B print publications face sharply escalating costs on paper, printing and postage and therefore it is financially logical that B2B media companies will increasingly use electronic media to reach existing and new audiences

What are the benefits your readers see from a magazine that is delivered digitally?

Convenient delivery to their computer desktop, easy storage for reference purposes, easy to print if required. Individual pages or the whole thing can be emailed to colleagues, customers, etc.

ED Europe is delivered only as a PDF, whereas most other titles have some online system with animated pages and an option to download a PDF. Why haven’t you offered an online reader?

Unlike many PDF-delivered publications that are really print publications that have been adapted for, or in some cases just shoved onto, computer screens, ED Europe was specifically designed for PDF delivery. This provides numerous advantages for recipients. It opens in a landscape format that fits computer screens. Readers do not have to zoom in to read it or scroll around the page trying to find the story they want. Reader navigation throughout the publication is quick and easy and because of some very smart compression techniques we can produce a 26-page edition with lots of colour graphics that goes out typically as a 3meg file.

Let’s not forget here that ED Europe was created back in 2005 so it’s not unreasonable to call it a pioneering success in digital B2B media terms. It has during that time won three major awards in the USA.

On the subject of Flash-related animations in digital publications Penton Media is fully aware of these and plans to make full use of them.

Can you explain the difference between writing for a print publication and writing for a purely digital title?

In the case of ED Europe, there really is no difference. Because of the way it is designed we can run short news stories, full-length technical features and opinion columns in exactly the same way as a traditional print publication.

Now ask me that question relative to writing directly online and that’s a very different journalistic proposition. Penton Media editors now write directly to websites and the way headlines and other related information is written has to be within certain parameters that suit web journalism.

So we now see a complete Penton Media portfolio where editors write for traditional print, digital and online media

ED Europe launched an HTML email newsletter. Why didn’t you simply create a shorter PDF magazine to cover the news? What are the advantages of the HTML delivery?

Three reasons for that. ED Europe’s NewsLine newsletters provide readers with a fast, convenient, easily absorbed information service. For Penton Media it has created an additional revenue source while also doing the valuable job of driving traffic to our websites.

You have been one of the pioneers of online video in the European electronics industry. Do you see video continuing to grow as a medium in our industry?

Penton Media are committed to online video in a big way and yes I do see the use of video as a B2B communication tool expanding. Penton Media has an Engineering TV department that works in conjunction with publications and editors to produce very high quality professional standard coverage. For me and many of my editorial, colleagues at Penton one of the major video innovations has been the way in which we report on exhibitions. To be able to shoot a three-minute interview with somebody that has been deeply involved in the development of new products and technology and have them explain it directly to our design engineering audiences has to be one of the most immediate and informative ways of communicating complex information.

In addition to our editorially created video coverage Penton Media is now looking at hosting vendor videos on our websites. Conceptually, these are videos produced by companies that want to promote their products and as such can considered as being a modern high-tech form of advertising. Penton Media will be hosting these videos for a fee and the number of weeks/months the video will appear for will depend on the level of fee paid.

What is the one thing you’d like to change about the way companies do PR in the electronics industry?

Generally speaking the successful PR executives and PR agencies do a pretty good job of presenting and distributing information to the media.

But while we are on the subject of PR agencies I will just release one particular bee-from-my-bonnet. PR agencies in a bid to do the best for their clients will often promote the use of editorial columns to publicise the client. And why not? Its a powerful form of promotion that contains that all important credibility ingredient called editorial integrity; although sometimes I wonder, and call me a tad cynical here if you wish, if the real attraction is more to do with the fact that editorial coverage is free.

Without going into a full scale, force 10 rant here let me put the point simply. There are agencies with foresight that appreciate magazines do need advertising income if they are to stay in business. Sadly, there are others that will soak up all the editorial support they can without thinking that in the long-term publications are a business and understandably need to turn a profit or otherwise face closure; a situation that benefits no publicity agencies.

If an industry feels there is a value to having B2B media circulating in its sector then it needs to consider supporting that media with advertising.

And let’s get one thing straight; I am certainly not talking here about a pay-to-play editorial approach. Clearly, that would ultimately denigrate the content of any journal and would not serve the interests of either readers or advertisers. What I am saying is that all industry clients and their agencies should recognise that in the long-term maintaining independent, well written and well produced business media is in everyone’s interests.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time, when you’re not writing about electronics?

Wining and dining with family and friends, travelling in Spain, playing classical Spanish guitar (badly)

What’s your favourite gadget?

A corkscrew

Tags: Advertising, Awards, CIE, Clients, Digital Magazines, Digital Magazines and Print Publications, ED Europe, Editors, EiN, Electronics, Email, EPE, ESC, ESE, Europe, Interviews, Newsletters, Online, Penton, Spain, USA, Video

Reed has decided to close EPE and EPN France, as well as switching EDN Europe to an all-digital circulation. I’ve written separate posts on each of the titles, but the extent of these cutbacks is shocking. It’s now time for new online titles with low-cost business models to launch: all these publications were able to generate a significant advertising revenue that would no doubt could be profitable for a different set-up.

At Napier we’ve seen the IT industry transformed with great online publications that generate great traffic and strong revenue. I hope there are entrepreneurial editors who can make the same thing happen in the European electronics media.

Tags: Advertising, Editors, EDN Europe, Electronics, EPE, EPN, EPN France, ESE, Europe, France, Online, Reed

François Gauthier has been named as Editor in Chief of the new publication Electroniques, which was formed by merging Electronique and Electronique International. His responsibilities start with the first issue of 2009, due to be published on 20th January.

At the same time, Pascal Coutance has been named Editor in Chief “délégué”, responsible for the development of the Electronique.biz website. Pascal has been charged with development of other online channels, such as mobile and introducing new advertising formats. Interesting he will also define a strategy for for new products that are either chargeable as premium content or reserved for magazine subscribers. We’re promised an updated site will be launched at the start of 2010.

It’s taken a little while to get these two editorial positions confirmed, although I don’t read anything into this delay. I am, however, interested that there are clear plans to put some kind of paywall around content on the web, and wonder how easily this can be done. By limiting people who can access content, you’re going to limit page – and therefore advertising – impressions, so any such move must be made with care, otherwise it could end up reducing, rather than increasing overall revenue. Keep checking back at www.NapierNews.eu for more information on how this project develops!

Tags: Advertising, DATE, Digital Magazines and Print Publications, Editors, Electronique, ElectroniqueS, ESE, France, Online

Didn’t product books die out years ago?
Engineers have always been interested in finding out about new products. Look at the amount of pages that news and other titles give to new products. At EPN, we have made new products our speciality! It’s what we do best and so we focus on delivering new products from around the world to readers across Europe. The large amount of responses we receive to ‘bingo’ numbers via the web on each story supports this approach of give the people what they want!

What does a magazine deliver to engineers that they can’t find when searching the web?
Magazine editors are the ultimate spam filter! We choose the products that are of interest, that take the technology up a notch or which are truly new and different. The beauty of a magazine is that sometimes you didn’t know you are looking for something until you see it in the pages of EPN! It is also impartial and measured information about products, not the marketing department’s idea of a good story, which can be reproduced on some online sites churning out content. Editor’s ask questions on behalf of their readers, i.e. engineers, to make editorial particularly pertinent to their daily working lives; again, you won’t find that on a company’s website.

How do you balance your time between writing for the print publication and writing for epn-online.com?
Product stories that appear in the magazine also appear online so most of my time is spent writing these. I write some online-only product stories too. I also write some content for the online section, Industry News. These are news stories about a new Alliance or Industry body; a merger/acquisition or technology collaboration. However, EPN is all about products, so while these stories are of interest to engineers there is no product in them and are not as prominent on the homepage as Top Products. I conduct an Interview of the Week, another online feature, occasionally. This is a Q&A with C-level executives or technology experts; although I can only claim to dabble – Mick Elliott is the man for probing questions!

In similar industries such as IT, independent blogs have become a significant medium. Yet in electronics there are few independent blogs, with most blogs part of the online presence of a large publication. Why do you think electronics is different?
I must confess I hadn’t thought of the electronics industry being different. Writers become associated with a target audience. National newspapers have blogs of their columnists which are accessed through the newspaper’s home page. Perhaps with IT, blogs are opinion-pieces about whether a new OS is any good or more corporate news with what Google or Facebook is up to. Maybe electronics journalists aren’t as opinionated as IT ones! The audience is different. Engineers don’t get het up about whether one FPGA is more stylish, they clinically compare attributes and make informed choices. The electronics industry seems to have ploughed its own farrow, reporting intelligently via blogs on magazine homepages. At the risk of sounding immodest, EPN has two of the most qualified in their field bloggers, Mick Elliott reporting on distribution and Helen Duncan reporting on all things RF and Wireless – their posts are certainly independent!

What changes do you expect to see over the next three years in the European electronics media?
You are not the first to have asked! At the risk of disappointing you, I cannot prophesise a paperless office with online or digital editions soon. A few companies seem to value appearing in print above all else, so, I am not convinced that print will disappear by the time of the London Olympics! Maybe in another five to 10 years, when all the graduates today who are more web-dependent for information sources are in engineering jobs, the emphasis for content delivery will change.
However, I may be like the Hollywood director who dismissed Fred Astaire’s audition with the words, “Can’t sing, can’t act, can dance a little”! The real crux of your question is that no-one, if they are honest, knows what will be most popular and effective for everyone……

What is the one thing you’d like to change about the way companies do PR in the electronics industry?
You’re going to limit me to one? ! OK, use someone who knows about publishing AND electronics. A knowledge of both will eliminate the following sins: putting management-speak or eight words instead of one in a presentation/press release; suggesting meetings without thinking what will the editor get out of this? (A story, should be the answer, not a cup of tea and a chat!); sending a press release containing all the information, and an image with the highlights superimposed on it – trust me, I’ll know to mention that it consumes only 8µA in sleep mode
And that’s me being restrained!

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time, when you’re not writing about electronics?
Horse-riding. I live in London, but there are some stables nearby and when hacking across the lower fields, you would never guess that half of London was racing to get to the other side of London, a few feet away! When I go away with work or family, I always try and book up a horse-ride – you see nature differently on the back of a horse!

What’s your favourite gadget?
I am very attached to my Blackberry, but it’s a bit like chocolate – I have to lock it away sometimes!
Is a microwave a gadget?!
I might have said sat-nav, but I have had a few arguments with it lately when it takes me in a circle or the long way round!
Personal DVD players keep the kids quiet on journey which makes them worth their weight in gold!
Years ago, I had a solar-powered calculator that converted metric to imperial measures and Celsius to Fahrenheit and vice versa – that was invaluable! It’s probably an iPhone app now. I wish there was a portable barcode reader that could convert the world’s currencies in real-time so that I could confirm that it really is a bargain!

Tags: Editors, EPN, Interviews, UK

Julien Happich has joined EETimes Europe as Editor in Chief, replacing Peter Clarke who will remain with Techinsights in a new function after the recent reorganization. Julien is well known in the European electronics publishing scene, having worked at EPN for almost 10 years. Julien is an editor with real technical expertise, and has a masters degree to prove it!
We were amused to see some unattributed quotations about Julien in the news release we received, claiming fFirst reactions from the PR community and colleagues were enthusiastic: “Julien is an brilliant choice – he has excellent ideas” , “Good choice! He’s a top bloke and very well-respected”, “Great move!” Obviously EBP are not going to be shy in promoting their newly-acquired titles! In fact we’re also delighted that Julien has taken the role: he’s a great choice, one we would absolutely endorse.
When I wrote about the acquisition of EE Times Europe a couple of days ago, I was pretty upbeat about the prospects for the magazine. I’m confident that the new setup will prove to be a great opportunity to grow the title and am sure that Julian will be a key player in ensuring that success.

Tags: Editors, EE Times, TechInsights

The UIPRE (Union Internationale de la Presse Radiotechnique et Electronique) has just celebrated its 50th anniversary. The organisation is the only worldwide active association of trade journalists and editors specialising in electronics. Formed on 13th August 1959 when 22 specialist journalists from eight countries met in Frankfurt in the wake of the German Exhibition on Consumer
Technologies, the organisation continues to attract members who want to maintain a high standard of journalism in the electronics industry. Happy Birthday UIPRE!

Tags: Editors

Michelle Winny has wasted no time since leaving CIE, as she has already landed the editor’s role at Electronics. Michelle replaces John Taylor, who held the editor role at Electronics for more than a year, and whose last issue will be September 2009.

Tags: CIE, Editors, Electronics, UK

The last job I would want at the moment is to be a publisher. I’m amazed at how well they continue to run their businesses in a time when not only is there huge change in the delivery medium (the move from print to online), but also when they see a dramatic drop in revenues due to the recession. For this reason I’m trying not to write about the problems, but to focus on the successes that publishers continue to deliver.
Despite continually looking for good news, it’s clear that the recession is hitting UK publications hard. Electronics has combined its July/August issue, and appears to be pushing readers to switch to a digital version; Michelle Winney is leaving CIE; EDN Europe has switched Graham Prophet to a part-time contract; and I even heard a source at Electronics Weekly muttering that if the name wasn’t “weekly”, then the frequency of the magazine would have been reduced.
Clearly these are tough times for publishers in all industries, although controlled circulation titles do seem to take the biggest hit in a recession. In a recession the same principles of good marketing still apply: getting the right balance of different marketing activities will produce the best results. I’d urge marketers to take an integrated approach to campaign planning at all times, rather than simply seeing the advertising budget as the easiest thing to cut: it will make your campaigns more effective! When publications with outstanding editorial content begin to struggle, it should concern everyone in the industry, not just publishers.

Tags: Digital Magazines and Print Publications, Editors

Sad to report a couple of editors losing jobs within our industry. Recent layoffs include Phil Ling from Embedded Systems Europe and Marisa Robles Consée from Elektronik Journal. Rüdiger Hahn has also retired from EJ.

Tags: Editors, Germany, UK