The Marketing Law website does a great job of highlighting the issues of running international marketing campaigns based on parody. Although parody is protected in countries such as France, Germany, Australia and the USA, the UK Government has chosen not to exempt it from copyright law in the UK. The site warns that “marketeers need to take care when using parody, caricature or pastiche in advertising, packaging or branding in the UK”. We are not amused!

Tags: Advertising, France, Germany, Misc Marketing, UK, USA

Although there has been no official announcement, I understand that one result of the sales of EE Times Europe is that local sites will be dropped, meaning that EE Times will no longer provide news in French and German. Although the publication had a number of local sites, the dropping of the other sites (Israel, Eastern Europe, etc) is unlikely to disappoint as the differences between the local and European sites were minimal. Although the crowded German market is perhaps a good reason why EE Times might not gain a significant share, it’s disappointing to see yet another publisher pull out of France. It’s inconceivable that the French market can only sustain one publication, and I hope to be able to tell you of a new launch in France before the end of the year.

Tags: EE Times, Europe, France, Germany, Israel, Online

The organisers of BATTERIES 2010, which will take place from September 29th to October 1st in CANNES-Mandelieu, French Riviera, have issued a call for papers. They’re asking all potential speakers to send a short abstract (100 to 300 words) as a PDF to c.pillot@avicenne.com & visinoni.monica@wanadoo.fr. The deadline for submissions is 30 January 2010.

Tags: Call for Papers, ESE, France, Shows and Events

Paris, 23 November 2009 – EPN France will stop publishing in print and online in 2010 after circulation of the November/December issue and the December newsletters and web updates.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our advertisers, colleagues and other collaborators who have supported CIE and EPN France in the past. The European edition of EPN has always had a substantial requested circulation in France – which currently stands at 6,147 requested subscribers.

So advertisers looking for good, audited circulation in France can continue to take advantage of EPN’s readership there in 2010. EPN has published split-run editions for France in the past to cater for specific advertisers who need to reach French engineers with advertisements and/or multiple-page inserts in the French language. This is a service we will continue to offer on demand in 2010 and beyond.

For more information, contact:

Martin Savery, Publishing Director

Reed Electronics Group, Paris

msavery@reedbusiness.fr

tel: +33-6-0724-5553

Nick Walker, Director of Sales, EPN/EPN France

nwalker@reedbusiness.fr

tel: +44-(0)1442-864191

Tags: EPN France, France, Reed

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

Although not as high-profile as the closure of EPN France, Reed has also announced that they will be closing EPE at the end of the year. Whilst this decision still leaves Spain with a reasonable number of titles – unlike France – this is another disappointing move, particularly as the industry appears to be emerging from the economic downturn.

Tags: EPE, EPN, EPN France, France, Reed, Spain

Although not the first title to have 100% digital circulation (Electronic Design Europe has been digital-only for some years), the decision by Reed to switch EDN Europe to all-digital distribution will have a major impact on the European electronics media.

It’s disappointing to see Reed make such major cutbacks at a time when the industry appears to be recovering, but at least EDN Europe has escaped the fate of EPN France. Reed has also taken a realistic look at advertising rates, slashing them by two thirds, although the title will charge a premium for rich media and video content in the advert.

Of course the cut in advertising price is initially demanded because the circulation will, at first, fall dramatically (the digital circulation is currently only around 11K), but Reed confidently predict the circulation will more than double by the end of 2010. The good news is that Reed will continue to invest in high-quality circulation, promising that they will retain a BPA audit.

If Reed can create a business model that provides a significantly lower cost-per-thousand than print titles – and they certainly should do as the cost of digital distribution is so much less than printing and posting a hard copy – the move to digital circulation could be a success.

Tags: Advertising, EDN Europe, Electronics, EPN, EPN France, ESC, Europe, France, Reed, USA, Video

Reed has decided to close EPN France at the end of this year, despite the merger of Electronique and Electronique International from the beginning of 2010. This leaves just one major French publication. The EPN France website will also close at the end of 2009. The news was also announced at the same time Reed said they would distribute EDN Europe only as a digital title from January 2010.

I’m amazed that Reed feel they can’t make money with one of just two French titles. Although the German electronics market is somewhat larger than the French market, the vast disparity between the number of publications in each market makes no sense.

At Napier we saw a similar collapse in the French IT print media, but this resulted in a number of new online publications. The electronics market has yet to see many online titles driven by “real” editorial content (rather than simply taking press release content). It will be interesting to see if online electronics sites are launched to create new vehicles to reach French engineers: I’d certainly back any new launches as it seems any reasonable site would be almost guaranteed to succeed!

Tags: EDN Europe, Electronics, Electronique, EPN, EPN France, 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, Editors, Electronique, ElectroniqueS, ESE, France, Online, Print Publications

The organisers of BATTERIES 2009 have announced that the event was attended by 350 delegates, which is a strong showing from a niche show. Unsurprisingly they also announced the event will continue next year, running from 29th September to 1st October 2010. the organisers have sensibly chosen to keep the same venue in the French Riviera, a location that must help attract attendees!

The proceedings for BATTERIES 2009 are also available and can be requested by contacting rveyrac@lepublicsysteme.fr.

Tags: ESE, France, Shows and Events

In a widely-expected move, Electronique and Electronique International are to merge, forming a new title, ElectroniqueS. Given the state of the advertising market, and other factors specific to France, the move is a logical one, with the new title resembling a relaunched Electronique, although the editorial content will be bolstered with material to appeal to management, purchasing and other non-design engineer readers.

The good news is that the frequency will be higher than Electronique, with “at least” three specials enhancing the basic 11 issues per year. The publishers also promise a free digital version, and I wonder whether this might be a route to expand the circulation beyond the relatively modest 10,000 that are planned for the launch.

In the French market it’s no surprise that ElectroniqueS is not going with an aggressively low-priced rate card. In fact advertising rates are higher than Electronique both in terms of the page rate and the cost per thousand.

The website electronique.biz is already a single port of call for everyone in the French electronics industry, so there are only a few changes such as the addition of white papers.

Online display advertising continues to be offered on a sponsorship, rather than cost-per-impression, basis.  Disappointingly the online rates have also increased, whilst traffic growth appears to have slowed – May and June both showed a increase of less than 10% over the previous year, much lower than the previous few months.

The new white paper service offers a guaranteed number of downloads, with the contacts that download provided as leads., It’s great to see that there is a guarantee of a minimum number of leads, although at around €100 per lead, the cost is higher than many in the electronics industry are willing to pay.

The daily and weekly news emails will continue, and new vertical newsletters will be launched. Embedded and Display will both have monthly newsletters, whilst quarterly emails will be issued about automation and telecom/RFID.

Overall I think that the print and online offering looks good. It will be sad to see France drop to just two mainstream titles, with no news title, which must offer great opportunities for someone to launch an online-only title in the country. I’ve seen this happen in the French IT press, so it would not surprise me if we see some new launches. It’s disappointing to see the prices edge up, and arguably value for money drop when measured in terms of cost per impression. ElectroniqueS will doubtless be the premier title in the market with a strong editorial team, and so I’m sure it will be a success. The high rates, however, may present an opportunity for an aggressive push for market share from EPN France.

We are still waiting for the editorial team to be finalised – check back at Napier News for all the latest!

Tags: Advertising, Electronics, Electronique, ElectroniqueS, Email, EPN, ESE, France, Newsletters, Online, Print Publications, USA

The organisers of SAME have announced the following statistics for this year’s event:

• 898 Visitors
• 25 Exhibitors
• 12 Sponsors
• 33 Speakers

The event also created interest amongst electronics publications, with more than 15 press representatives attending. SAME is always a small, focussed show, so numbers are never huge, but to have got almost 900 attendees at such a event must be regarded as a real success, particularly in today’s tough economic climate.

Tags: Electronics, ESE, France, Shows and Events