In the last week I’ve been sent information about Elektronik’s ARM special and discussed the custom publishing projects that IML has recently completed. Although the magazine industry is still surrounded by clouds of doom and gloom, this highly unscientific sample makes me wonder whether how important custom publishing will be to the European electronics media. (I know that the Elektronik ARM special isn’t technically custom publishing, but I think it is a good example of the growth of vendor-specific publications).

With the availability of tools that mean anyone can self-publish a magazine, perhaps the media companies offer something that is really valuable – [relatively] independent journalists. When coupled with the publishers database that let them reach huge number of potential readers, this gives publishers a real opportunity to generate significant business from custom publishing.

Although custom publishing can be an excellent marketing vehicle, with ARM possibly offering the best example of a company that depends upon a vibrant ecosystem for its success, I do wonder whether it’s all good news.

Marketers have no problems making sweeping statements, such as “print is dead”, despite new launches providing clear contrary evidence. Personally I think that the marketing industry is increasingly looking for the “magic silver bullet” that will achieve great ROI and clear measurement, whilst requiring minimum effort. Perhaps some of the enthusiasm for custom publishing is a result of people searching for the “one big thing” that will really make a difference?

It will be interesting to see whether custom publishing does grow in our industry. I definitely do believe that there is a place for it – the ARM special is clearly a great move for vendor, partners and publishers. However, I hope marketing managers don’t lose sight of the importance of frequency and simple hard work that will generate the most sustained returns in the long term.

Tags: Elektronik, EPD, Germany, Misc Marketing, UK

Clean/green technology is one of the hottest industries at present, giving publishers a great opportunity to launch new titles. Last year we saw Weka launch Energie & Technik as a sister title to Markt & Technik, and to start the year we have a new publication from Elektroniktidningen. ctsweden.se is a web-based publication that claims to be the first independent, technology focused news site about cleantech in Sweden. With the same website infrastructure, editorial team and advertising salespeople, the site should be an extremely cost-effective extension to Elektroniktidningen’s portfolio. It’s great to be able to write about new launches at the start of 2010, and I look forward to other publishers announcing new launches in the near future.

Tags: Advertising, Elektronik, Elektronik Tidningen, EPE, ESE, Online, Sweden, Weka

Hüthig, publisher of elektronikJOURNAL, has appointed Richard Thompson as their new sales rep in the UK. It makes sense to add elektronikJOURNAL, which is positioned as the publisher’s horizontal title covering design, production and automation, as Richard already represents the three vertical titles: IEE, Productronic and Elektronik Industrie.

Tags: Elektronik, Elektronik Industrie, ESE, IEE, UK

The publishers of Elektronik i Norden has added all subscribers to the paper magazine to the circulation of their weekly email newsletter, creating a total circulation of 17,347 covering Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark.

I think this is a pretty pragmatic approach. Although the culture of data protection might mean that a few of the new recipients don’t want the emails, I’m sure that most subscribers will find the content valuable and advertisers will be delighted to have another effective promotional vehicle in Scandinavia.

Tags: Denmark, EiN, Elektronik, Email, Newsletters, Norway, Sweden

Huethig Verlag has announced that both elektronikJOURNAL and IEE will have a new layout and design from January 2010. The new look is promised to be “lively”, and the publishers promise that his will mean the titles “stand out of the grey mass of magazines”. We’re promised that the yellow and black colour scheme of elektronikJOURNAL will stay, so it’s a fair bet that the title will continue to stand out!

It’s good to see continued commitment from publishers in the crowded German market, especially as this announcement follows on from an increase in IEE’s circulation from 20,000 to 26,000.

Tags: Digital Magazines and Print Publications, Elektronik, Elektronik Journal, Germany, Huethig, IEE

ICC Media is offering lead generation programmes on their Embedded-know-how.com portal. The packages are designed for a range of different marketing materials such as white papers, webinars and videos, and include promotion of the item on both the home page of the portal as well as in two issues of their 30K circulation newsletter.

Clearly advertisers increasingly want tangible results and greater accountability from their campaigns, and I’d expect more publishers to offer such services. Whilst the ICC package is a relatively small adder on the cost of hosting the material on the website, they are not offering a guaranteed number of leads. Whilst this means that they will be able to focus on delivering high-quality, I’m sure as the lead-generation market becomes more competitive, there will be pressure to offer a guaranteed maximum price per lead. By being one of the first to offer lead generation – along with larger sites such as ElectronicsWeekly and Elektroniknet – I’d expect ICC to build valuable knowledge that will help ensure their lead generation package remains competitive as others enter the field.

Tags: EiN, Electronics, Elektronik, elektroniknet, ICC Media, Lead Generation, Video

The first Elektronik ecodesign prize has been awarded to Stephan Benecke of TU Berlin, for his thesis about "Energy Harvesting in micro systems technologies“. This award, which is presented during the Elektronik ecodesign congress, is given for an exceptional masters thesis about “green” electronics. Proving that the award is international, second prize was awarded to Andreas Köhler, Lund University Sweden, for "End-of-life implications of electronic textiles – Assessment of a converging technology".

It’s great to see that Elektronik, and co-sponsors Rittal, are encouraging young engineers, and I hope that this award goes from strength to strength in the coming years.

Tags: Awards, Electronics, Elektronik, ESE, Germany, Sweden

Elektronik Informationen is planning for 2010 with confidence, announcing three special issues covering “Electromechanics & Electronics Packaging” (April), “Optoelectronics & LED Technology” (June), and “Smart Engineering” (October). Smart Engineering will cover efficiency, ecology and sustainability in electronic product development. These special issues will each have a circulation of 22,000, and be in addition to the normal monthly magazine.

It’s great to see a title like Elektronik Informationen planning to expand in 2010, and they have definitely picked some exciting topics to cover.

On a separate note, Elektronik Information is moving to Eversbuschstrasse 134, 80999 Munich, Germany. Their telephone numbers will remain unchanged.

Tags: CIE, Electronics, Elektronik, Elektronik Informationen, ESE, Germany

With over 500 guests, the Weka Sommernachtsfest 2009 proved to be a fantastic event held at the historic MVG Museum. Proving that Germans really do have a great sense of humour, WEKA’s Managing Director Kurt Skupin told guests “We can’t afford it, and if you really want to know, we never could afford it”. Weka have a gallery of photos and also a video of the event on the Elektroniknet.de website.

Tags: Elektronik, Germany, Markt und Technik, Weka

The first Elektronik automotive congress was held in Munich on 19th May. The organisers, Weka, report that the event attracted 16 exhibitors/sponsors as well as 130 attendees and speakers. It’s great to see new events for the European electronics industry, and although the attendance was relatively low, I’m a strong believer that small, focused events like this one often provide the best return-on-investment for electronics companies trade show budgets.

Tags: Elektronik, Germany, Shows and Events, Weka

The organisers of the 6th Wireless Congress 2009: Systems & Applications (Elektronik magazine, the organisers of the electronica show and ZVEI) have issued a call for papers. The event will be held on October 21-22, 2009 in Munich, and will also include a table-top exhibition. Proposals can cover a wide range of topics from ZigBee and Bluetooth to WiMAX and WLANs. The deadline for submissions is 11th May 2009.

Tags: Call for Papers, Elektronik, Germany, Weka

After months of talking, the results of the AgLa survey are finally out. This is the study sponsored by E&E, Elektronik Informationen, Elektronik Industrie, Elektronik Praxis and Elektronik Journal to answer the Weka-sponsored La Elfa study.

So who were the winners and losers? Well not surprisingly the raw readership results are less flattering for the three Weka titles than La Elfa, although unsurprisingly even this study still shows M&T as the title with the highest reach. Elektronik Praxis does well, beating Elektronik to have the second-highest reach. Elektronik Industrie is another winner, “beating” D&E. In this study respondents are asked about the pan-European titles, which don’t score well, although EPN gets the highest readership (who says product books are dead!).

So what does this mean? Well like all studies this one isn’t the perfect solution to media planning – like all the others it provides useful information, but also can’t be the perfect answer. Even if the surveys were perfect, we still wouldn’t plan a media schedule by blindly chasing the highest reach (and there should be a special mention for Elektronik Informationen, which was the first title to contact me about the study, and to highlight the positive conclusions you can draw about the title from the study). Why not contact me for a more detailed comparison of the two surveys?

Tags: Elektronik, Elektronik Industrie, Elektronik Journal, Elektronik Praxis, EuE, Germany, Markt und Technik, Research