HIGHLIGHTS FROM DAY ONE: SUNDAY, MARCH 30

The opening night reception and dinner at Retail Conference 2008, titled "A Night of Winning Strategies," featured casino games like Black Jack, Texas Hold 'Em and Roulette, as well an autograph session with Playboy Playmate Sandra Nilsson.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM DAY TWO: MONDAY, MARCH 31

Welcome Remarks
John Q. Griffin, President, Magazine Group, National Geographic

John Griffin welcomed attendees to the 2008 Retail Conference with these words: "As a publisher, there's no greater pleasure than to see someone pay money to buy your magazine." He later added, "I can't solve all the problems of the supply chain. However, if we increase sales and efficiency, then the problems will become easier to solve."

What Consumers Are Thinking About Today
J. Walker Smith, President, Yankelovich Partners, Inc. 

J. Walker Smith focused his Monday morning keynote address on consumer attitudes in a weakening economy. He told attendees to look for pockets of growth even if economic conditions get worse. He specifically said that consumers in these times are unwilling to trade off high level stores service and experience for lower prices. "Consumers are trying to preserve their [positive] experience at retail," he maintained. Smith also stressed that consumers are time starved. "If you want them to spend time in your store, it better be worth it."

Enhancing the Shopping Experience Award

Stephen Leach, VP, Retail Marketing, Comag Marketing Group (pictured, left), presented the award for "Enhancing the Shopping Experience to Hope Remoundos, SVP Sales & Marketing, The Hudson Group. The MPA-IPDA award recognizes retailers for excellence in in-store execution, along promotion and commitment to the magazine and book category.

Happy to accept the award, Remoundos said, "This morning someone asked me if I was having a good day. I replied, how could I not be having a good day...I'm here in Florida, with friends and colleagues that I have known for way too many years to admit, and now I am accepting an award on behalf of Hudson Group for what we love to do most...sell magazines.  On behalf of the Hudson Group I thank you for this honor.”

Consumers, Retail and the Environment

MODERATOR
John Q. Griffin, President, Magazine Group, National Geographic Society

PANELISTS
Michela O’Connor Abrams, President and Publisher of Dwell
Steve French, Managing Partner, The Natural Marketing Institute
David Refkin, Director ofSustainable Development, Time Inc.
Dave Sherman, Partner, Blu Skye Sustainability Consulting

This panel discussed how concerns about the environment are changing the behavior of consumers at retail, reshaping the priorities of major corporations, and forcing magazines to do business in a whole new way.

Steve French conveyed the importance of marketing to the “LOHAS” consumer—a portion of the population (1 in 5 people), who are particularly important to engage.  (LOHAS stands for “Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability.”) These consumers are trend predictors, highly influential and very much driven by their values, which often involves living “green.”

David Sherman , whose firm has worked with Wal-Mart on sustainability, gave the magazine industry kudos for getting together to address the sustainability issue.  In particular, he lauded the creation of six innovation projects to improve supply chain efficiencies. These projects are: Merchandising 360, Title Mix Optimization, POS Replenishment, Bottom-Up Distribution, Scan-Based Trading and Aligning Incentives.

David Refkin stressed the importance of transparency in sustainability reporting. He revealed that while Time Inc.’s use of Certified Sustainable Forestry fiber is up from 25% in 2002 to 70% today, the company still has some ways to go. Time Inc. is in close partnerships with paper/pulp suppliers and governments to ensure that sustainable being practices are being enforced.  Time Inc. is also involved in a major magazine recycling project called ReMix (“Recycling Magazines Is Excellent”) in a number of major cities, which has so far resulted in a double-digit percent improvement in recovery of magazines.

Michela O’Connor Abrams provided perspective from the independent magazine viewpoint. “I am the proverbial grain of sand on the beach,” intoned Abrams. “Without those grains, there is no beach!” She said that Dwell has focused on sustainability issues since its launch issue in 2000, believing that “Good design is sustainable design.” The magazine company also practices what it preaches, fostering an eco-friendly work environment that mandates no water bottles, no light or heat during the weekend, natural ventilation when possible, and much more.

John Griffin, recently returned from an environment forum presented by National Geographic and the Aspen Institute, commented that policy decisions are imperative to support sustainability. He believes it is likely to happen in the next Administration.

Path to the Presidency
Matt Cooper, Washington Editor, Condé Nast Portfolio

Matt Cooper outlined the problems of the current Republican administration and the strengths of the Democratic party coming into the final seven months of the Presidential campaign. All signs, he said, pointed to a Democratic victory in November. "However, you can't underestimate the Democrats' ability to blow it," he quipped. Cooper dismissed speculation that Al Gore would enter the race this summer. "As a political reporter, I'd like nothing more than a crazy scenario like that," he said. "But I don't think he wants it. In many ways, he's got a better gig." As for McCain: "The first challenge is to make the case that he's not too old. He'll probably pick a VP who's younger than him. Age will be an issue."

Insider Insight: Through the Eyes of Former Retailers

MODERATOR
Richard Lawton, SVP, Comag Marketing Group  (extreme right)

PANELISTS
Steve Burbridge, SVP of Sales and Logistics, West, Time Warner Retail Sales and Marketing  (extreme left)
Tim Humanik, VP, Sales and Marketing Services Comag Marketing Group (2nd from right)
Jerry Lynch, President, International Periodical Distributors Association (2nd from left)

This panel provided an inside track into the world of category managers and buyers. Richard Lawton was previously at Barnes & Noble. Jerry Lynch served a long career at Wegmans. Steve Burbridge used to be at CVS Pharmacy. And Tim Humanik spent the first 10 years at Harris Teeter.

Steve Burbridge: The General Merchandise category is very different from other categories. “It’s one of the first categories assigned—you get junior managers.”

Richard Lawton: “I felt that it’s my job to market the category.”

Tim Humanik: “Operations don’t often see the true profitability of the magazine and book category, selling it short.”

Jerry Lynch: “We need to get out a campaign educating retailers about the profitability of magazines.”

Puzzled, Perplexed & Pondering...Why Publishers Do the Things They Do

MODERATOR
Rob Gursha, EVP, Marketing, Time Warner Retail Sales and Marketing (extreme right)

PANELISTS
Linda Brennan, VP Worldwide Circulation, Businessweek (2nd from right)
Terry Day, VP Circulation, National Geographic (3rd from left)
Ken Godshall, SVP of Consumer Marketing, Hearst Magazines (extreme left)
Jeremy Koch, EVP/Consumer Marketing, MPA (3rd from right)
Suzanne Roman, President and CEO, The Taunton Press (2nd from left)

This breakout session featured straight-talking executives who answered retailers' questions on strategies, tactics and the economics of magazine publishing.

Jeremy Koch: "Newsstand takes up tremendous psychic space for publishes. It's a proxy for 'how the dogs like the dog food,' as one of my old bosses said."

Ken Godshall: "Last year we raised the cover price on about six Hearst publications. It's one of the few areas in publishing where you can get a price increase. This happens about once every three to four years and it follows a long period of testing."

Linda Brennan: "Five percent of our circulation comes from newsstand."

Sue Roman: The intense interest of Roman's readers allowed Taunton to have a high newsstand cover price. The fact that readers were paying the cover price "means that we serve our special interest field well."

Reaping Rewards from Publicity
Anne Zafian, VP, Director, Distributor Sales and Retail Marketing, Simon & Schuster

According to Anne Zafian, one of the biggest challenges for publishers is to get books to stores fast enough to take advantage of publicity hits. She cited several examples of titles that saw increased demand—and sales—after getting PR hits. These included books like The Secret and the series YOU: The Owner’s Manual, featured on “Oprah,” and books with movie tie-ins like The Spiderwick Chronicles and The Other Boleyn Girl.

Industry Networking Reception
This networking event was hosted by IPDA.