The European website www.embedded-europe.com has been closed, with all content integrated into www.embedded.com. Although I can see the logic of this move it’s disappointing that European visitors to the site will have to search for local content rather than the site using geo-targeting to highlight European stories along with the global content, nor is the site offering a URL with a European-orientated feed of news. I’m told we can expect this to be added in the future.

The magazine has also switched from 10 issues to 5 issues in 2010, with entirely digital circulation, although I’m told that the editorial content will be specific to the European edition with minimal re-use of material from the US ESD. The layout will be changed completely, moving to a screen-optimised format on the Nxtbook platform similar to recent EE Times special editions. The layout is nice – similar to ED Europe in some ways, but offering full page adverts as well as leaderboard and MPU fractional ads. It’s great to see a publisher recognise the need to optimise the layout for the readers, whilst allowing advertisers to use familiar formats with high visual impact. We’re also promised special editions, which will be driven by sponsors.

The digital magazine circulation is a little confusing. The new media pack promises:

The digital issue goes to over 100,000 subscribers and will be seen by over 50,000 European web users.

25,000 ESD global digital subscribers via email link.
30,000 ESD Europe subscribers via email link.
50,000 EETimes and TechOnline European subscribers via email link.
50,000 unique European visitors to Embedded.com every month.

So in addition to the European subscribers, anyone currently receiving the digital version of the US title who is based outside of Europe and the US will get ESD Europe – i.e. they’ll get both the US and European digital issues. The EE Times and TechOnline European database will also be used to deliver unrequested copies, and there will be links to the digital title on Embedded.com.

So what circulation should we assume for the title? To me the circulation we can be sure is really valuable are just the 30K requested European subscribers. Although there may be other high-quality recipients, at this stage they’ve not requested the title and it remains to be seen whether the move to a large headline circulation is clever move, or whether it will just dilute the quality of the existing ESD Europe database.

ESD Europe has also quietly slipped in a rate increase (full page rates were $2100 last year, and are now $3000: an increase of about 40%). The extra circulation might go some way to justifying this increase, and there are no surcharges for flash or video adverts, but most advertisers I know value digital magazine less highly than print.

The European Embedded email newsletters will increase in frequency, appearing twice a week, which will hopefully increase loyalty to the brand, as well as ensuring the database is well maintained.

It will be interesting to see the success of the new publication. In merging ESDE and ESE, It’s not clear to me why there is value in circulating a European title outside of Europe, but if the format is as good as the EE Times specials, and with Colin Holland remaining in the role of Editor in Chief, I believe that the quality of the editorial and the easy-to-read layout will ensure good readership. From the advertising viewpoint, TechInsights acquired a significant number of UK-orientated advertisers who presumably will be unenthusiastic about the broader reach of the title, and may choose other UK, whilst global advertisers might question why they need to advertise in both the US and European brands to reach people outside of these two geographies. As a believer in the eventual move of most magazines in our industry from print to digital, however, I’m hopeful that ESD Europe will be a successful title.

I understand that although the paid for conference attracted a respectable 81 delegates, the main exhibition only pulled in just over 520 visitors across two days, despite attracting a total of over 1600 registrations prior to and at the event. The figures haven’t been officially released, but I’m pretty confident that these are accurate numbers. With over 1500 attendees in 2008, it appears that the move to Farnborough was a disaster.

The show didn’t appear to attract committed support from exhibitors prior to the event, as many told me they only signed up when offered a special deal a week or two before the show, although it was good to see commitment on the days of the show as all the booths were well staffed.

Personally I really hope next year’s event is a success. I’m not convinced about the choice of venue – whatever the actual numbers it was clear to anyone at the show that engineers didn’t flock to Farnborough. But the UK does need shows, not only as a vehicle to market products, but also to educate engineers. Even if the economy improves, it’s a tough job, but hopefully TechInsights can convince engineers they should attend, and convince potential exhibitors that the show floor will be packed!

What are the advantages of you owning the European titles rather than managing the publishing of them within TechInsights?
There are many: we’ll be able to make strategic decisions on our own, adapt the publications to the customer needs, and make long term investments such as the one we have already launched to create a new web site.

How will the acquisition change the way that the European titles are sold in the USA?
There will be no change at all as we always had our own sales team in the US, with Todd Bria on the West, Steve Priessman in the Midwest and East and Jim Lees covering Atlantic states.

What benefits will European advertisers see from the change of ownership?
We’ll be more Europe centric and will be looking at targeting the editorial content to the needs of our European readers both on line and in print. Also, we’ll invest more into readership acquisition and qualification.

You purchased the European DesignLines, which have a global audience, but TechInsights has retained Embedded Systems Europe, which is a European publication. Can you explain why you did this?
The Design Lines we have kept in our portfolio do address the European market and even if by essence these micro sites can be seen globally, the content is aimed at our core European readership. Embedded Systems Europe has been changed to ESD (UK) with a UK only circulation. Techinsights have a core competence in the Embedded field with a number of ESC events around the world and ESD fits nicely into their portfolio.

When do you think there will be a noticeable upturn in the European electronics advertising market?
The market is still very much depressed and advertising budgets have been cut to a minimum. However, we see some signs of an upturn online and 2010 should be much better online than 2009. With regards to print we’ll probably see much more activity in the second half of 2010 with the electronica 2010 exhibition being a key driver.

What’s your view of companies that don’t advertise, but expect their PR to be covered in your titles?
There are 2 different categories in such companies: the first one consists of all the small companies that think they cannot afford advertising and these do some PR which we are happy to publish to inform our readers about start ups and new technologies. The second category is more of a problem as they have money, have an extended PR department and expect their PR to be published but do not support the trade press with advertising. These companies in the end only hurt themselves as they do not take advantage of a medium that can help them create more brand awareness among the specifiers and buyers who are the publications’ readers. Plus the cost of an advertising program in trade publications is relatively small when you compare it with other expenses these companies make. If these companies believe in PR and in the magazines that publish them they ought to do some advertising. If they don’t they may find that in the medium term there will be no publications to publish their PR in.

What is the one thing you’d like to change about the way companies do PR and marketing in the electronics industry?
The one thing most companies seem to have forgotten about is that we are all in the same ecosystem: publishers create reader communities who buy companies’ products. A recent study by our partner is Asia Global Sources has shown that even in the Google age, brand is the key to success: engineers type in brands into the Google search engine rather than key words. And how do you get brand recognition? Mostly by advertising in print and online.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
Listening to music – mostly classical, walking in open nature, mountains etc. Also I tend to spend a great deal of my free time working on the renovation of our second home in Périgord, France and visiting wineries in Burgundy, and Bergerac which has some top notch and relatively little known producers.

What’s your favourite gadget?
I am not very good at gadgets and I am not sure if I actually own any other than a couple of digital cameras and an iTouch MP3 player which I rarely ever use.

John started with UBM writing for chemistry and chemical engineering related titles (Manufacturing Chemist, Process Engineering) after which he joined The Engineer, where be began covering electronics. John then moved to the recently launched Electronics Times as News Editor, moving up to Deputy Editor and finally Editor of the title. He has launched Communications Systems Worldwide as well as CommsDesign.com, and also worked on EE Times as part of the CMP US organization. Most recently John has covered communications, writing articles that have been published throughout the global EE Times network, as well as continuing his work on CommsDesign.com.

It sounds like John is unlikely to have a quiet retirement as he tells me that there is a long list of places that he and his wife plan to visit. At Napier we’ve enjoyed working with John over the years and would like to wish him a fun and enjoyable retirement.

TechInsights say that there are two reasons for the decision: firstly to ensure good promotion of ESC UK, and secondly to encourage some of the advertisers that liked Embedded Systems Engineering’s UK circulation to start spending on the merged title.

This is a interesting move: TechInsights claim they already have a digital circulation of about 30K subscribers, but clearly the move is cost-driven, although it does appear that some of the advertisers in Embedded Systems Engineering were not happy with the new pan-European format when the title was bought and merged with Embedded Systems Europe. I believe, however, that promotion of ESC has to be a secondary reason: publishing a magazine is an expensive way to promote a show! The good news is that we are promised that European content will remain a significant part of the magazine.

TechInsights remains optimistic, saying that they “Hope to continue with Nov and Dec issues the same way”. There is even a promise of some of the European print circulation returning later in the year to promote the ESC and IP/SOC 09 even in Grenoble.