Business and Society 2.0

People think paper making is a great energy consumer. In fact it was some years ago, but technology has played is role, things changes but the idea stays the same. Looking more closely, we will see some interesting facts and figures about paper making and the usage of energy. On average it takes 500 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity to produce 200kg of paper, the average amount of paper that each of us consume each year. "The European pulp and paper industry is strongly in favour of renewable energy and has declared an intent that commits the industry to increase the share of biomass-based energy in its total primary energy consumption from 49% in 2001 to 56% in 2010"(1). Does 500 kilowatt-hours sound a lot? Well, let´s look to other energy consumption of our day to day life. 500 kWh is equivalent to: • Powering one computer continuously for five months • Burning a 60w light bulb continuously for one year • The energy consumed by a typical household leaving its electronic e

Chris Smith wrote for Search Engine Land " What Could Save the Yellow Pages? 10 Ideas ". From his article he has the opinion, in spite of the usage decline of printed Yelow Pages (YP) and that well known companies like Idearc and R.H. Donnelley are facing great difficulties, the Yellow Pages companies can survive. I take his ideas numbers 2 and 4, to reduce environmental impact and improve Public Relations, to comment a bit more. To reduce environmental impact by reduction on the number of books distributed is a false question and it is a myth I would like to reformulate. What is important for YP industry is to optimize the distribution of books, ideally distributing to those that really use the books or have potential to use them. If there are areas or households that have potential to use the printed directories, probably boomers and matures will have more propensity to use the print then youngers (1), YP should delivey to these potential users/buyers and on the contrary th

A report from the Kelsey Group, mentions the following case of success: Profiles of Success - Local News Goes Multiplatform in Las Vegas, by Rob Curley, President and Executive Editor, Greenspun Media and Chris Jennewein, Senior VP and Publisher, Greenspun Media. The Opportunity In Las Vegas, Greenspun Media owns a local newspaper, radio station, cable news outlet, local alternative weekly, weekly newspapers and several tourism-related publications. The objective was to determine how to drive synergy across these key properties and position Greenspun for the future. The Solution The solution was to develop an "online first" approach, with all new online staff and new Web sites. "What attracted us to Greenspun was that we could change the rules," said Greenspun Publisher Chris Jennewein. Since Greenspun's Las Vegas Sun was the No. 2 newspaper in town, "we had no core print business to support and defend." Moreover, Greenspun's TV properties can supp

First of all millenials (age 14-25) and Generation X (26-42) spend less hours reading newspapers in print format (1.1 to 1.4 hours per week) but old generations, baby boomers (age 43-61) spend 2.7 hour a week and matures (age 62-75) still use 4.3 hours a week. However the millenials and generation X are not reading news from newspapers online. They only spend 0.7 and 1.0 hours per week reading newspapers online. Other generations, boomers and matures spend more time reading newspapers online then youngers, 1.3 hours per week (1). Both newspaper readership, print and online, are declining and Internet surpassed newspapers as the source of information. Content and quality of the news provided are important for our democracy and liberty of thinking. If newspaper industry fails to atract these younger generation to their contents, most of the professionals and specialized journalists and opinion makers will not have access to express themselves and share with the community. Of course they

The need for self expression, empowerment and entertainment cross all generations and this is important to be considered in the future development of social networking tools such as online videos, blogging and spaces. These facilities also stimulate teachers to find new ways of teaching and motivate students to learn with more interactivity between peers and teachers. According to Seybold Report (1) "people who are using social networking the most are the Millenials, those born between 1977 and 1995, otherwise known as Generation Y". In spite of beeing the future, in what concerns money spenditures, according to the Generation Buy Survey (2) "not only are 40 and 50 years old spending more on themselves per month then millenials and Generation X", but they are also spending "more then three times the amount of money per month on their spouses than adults under 40". The same is occuring with kids and teen children. This is an important issue for marketers to

In a recent dicussion, Mark Ellis, Vice President, Sales & Marketing at DMI, Inc, posted the following comment: "Print is absolutely not dead. I've been on the sales side of the industry for more than 25 years. There’s been talk of “paperless society” all the way back to when I first got my start at a print for pay division of Xerox (the old Xerox Reproduction Centers AKA XRC) in the early 80's.The role and value of the printed document will only continue to be enhanced with the advent of new communication technologies such as Web 2.0. This is especially true in the area of direct marketing, direct mail, and in particular cross media variable data, or 1:1 marketing where variable data printing is incorporated. The economy has already slammed the print industry, and there will undoubtedly be another shake out which will probably be much worse then the post 9/11 recession. I’ve been with my company for 18 years and we are fortunate to have grown to the largest 100% all d

We see a trend in printing technology to use also the electronic media support. For most of the conventional media, printing technology continues to be offset lithography. Digital printing was considered has having less quality then offset. This is not an issue anymore. From print buyer´s perception, only 25% consider it as unacceptable. In fact, most of the print jobs can be done with new digital technology equipment with an offset quality, except in a few cases. There are new tools like System Brunner´s Proof Check (1) that can measure color and adjust parameters quickly. What can increase quality perception of a printed job is more the finishing options available, like “UV coating, foil stamping, embossing or die cutting on the front or the cover”. (2) Actually the unit cost of digital printing is still higher then offset technology, but for short runs the digital printing is a better solution, mainly due to the high cost of make-ready for the offset. We can estimate the “breakeaven

Well some people discover new ways and formulas to get printed products alive. In the case, Home Pages, in the market since 1997, are launching new Directories for small cities and communities. The business is growing, but still to be proven if this is sustainable for the long range. It is published in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin, with around 40.000 independent businesses. The strategy is to cover just a small community with very attractive prices. If the business is mostly done locally, then for the advertiser does´nt make sense to invest in a book with a large scope and circulation. If for the advertiser the target customers are within an wider scope they can invest in several books. Reference http://homepagesdirectories.com/

A new book is now available-Buyology in Brief, by Martin Lindstrom. A quick summary extracted from http://www.moneyweb.co.za/mw/view/mw/en/page1 Does sex sell? What do religion and ritual have in common with successful brands? How successful is product placement? Does subliminal advertising really influence our behavior? Based on the largest neuromarketing study ever conducted, Buyology separates the truths from the lies about why we buy, revealing how marketers and advertisers truly capture our attention, our loyalty, and our dollars. Buyology unveils the results of marketing guru Martin Lindstrom's pioneering three-year, $7 million dollar study that used the latest in brain scan technology to peer into the minds of over 2,000 people from around the world. The shocking results will reveal why so much of what we thought we knew about why we buy is wrong. Buyology rewrites the rules of marketing and advertising. In 1957, when a market researcher named James Vicary claimed that a lig