The March 1, 2010 edition of Fortune Magazine & the February’s edition of News & Tech highlighted the barrage of new e-Readers hitting the markets. So what’s the hype?

From the Fortune article titled, “The Future of Reading”, by Josh Quittner, it states how the once highly touted internet ad CPM revenue now stands at a dismal 10%. Or quoting, “today online ads bring in junk CPMs, - about 10% of the revenue per 1000 views compared with print”.  To calculate CPM, find the cost for an ad, then divide it by the total circulation the ad reaches (in thousands).

As Publishers adapt their content to the new digital mediums, some revenue models are pay-per-content, subscriptions, and ad revenue based on CPM. However, in the article it stated one brilliant method to solve the low internet CPMs with e-Readers and Tablets is to serve up full screen display ads. Or quoted by Josh, “many publishers will be able to thrive on advertising revenue alone”. So to get to the next page one will have to click on an ad, the whole ad, and nothing but the ad (emphasis added). Should Publishers take this new ad CPM revenue model and e-Reader ubiquity to the bank? 

What is ubiquity? To classify a device or product as ubiquitous implies it is everywhere, and everyone has one. The closest digital item to ubiquity today is the cell phone. But for the cell phone to have reached this state, as being a “near ubiquitous’ device for talking and sending text messages, it has taken years and is still only at approximately 70% of the US consumer market. The computer has been around for years, with only 52% plus of U.S. households having internet access, smart phones are no where close to being ubiquitous at 20-30% of the market, and e-Readers & Tablets are just starting to make noise on the consumer device radar.  

Josh summed it up nice towards the end, “wherever attention flows, money will flow”, assuming e-Readers & Tablets will get a lot of attention. But his statement, I say, also supports past research from McPherters* on the value of print, “that print has 8 times the audience and 14 times the pages views over the internet”. Print is ubiquitous!  

The GossRSVP’s focus has been and continues to be on marrying one of the only ubiquitous products known to man “print”, with the “near ubiquitous” device the “cell phone”. As I stated before, “print is a web within itself, and the cell phone is the new mouse”.  Anything that can be done on the internet with a mouse can be done with print and the cell phone as the mouse; it is just not perfected yet. But it is coming!

No one can contest that e-Readers, Tablets & Smart phones are a great new medium for advertisers and the digital consumer. However, theses devices are still years away from ubiquity which will keep print revenue CPMs at the forefront for a long time, and be further enhanced with interactive features!

By Roger Belanger, Director GossRSVP

Contact: roger.belanger@gossinternational.com

For a brochure on interactive features click here: http://gossrsvp.com/u.asp?id=rsvpbro  or text rsvpbro to 64842.

*McPherters.com

Educational partnerships on research typically can bring better awareness to specific groups while advancing or validating the topic being researched. Such is the case with research conducted by both of our Collegian partners Cal Poly State University, Graphic Communication Department and Clemson University, Department of Graphic Communications.  Find under our “Studies” link two recent papers by Cal Poly students on their research and study of interactive technology and the state of 2D codes as it relates to print.

Another recent study done by Clemson students concluded in December-09 with great findings supporting “Print to Mobile Initiatives”. The Clemson students utilized the GossRSVP technology for the print to mobile portions. Below are their preliminary findings with a final report to be posted soon.

“There were 2 groups, Email (control) and text. Email started with 175 and text started with 180.

86.9% of cell phones had unlimited texting.

57.9% had access to the internet but only 34.1% actually use it.

1st text/Email resulted in 56.4% response rate from text and 24.6% from Email

Text message returned more responses than all Emails in under three minutes (85 for text, 43 for Email

2nd Text/Email resulted in 44.7% response rate from text and 21.6% from Email

Text returned more responses than all Emails in under three minutes again. (80 for text, 37 for Email)

3rd text/Email resulted in 56.5% response rate from text and 34.1% from Email.

Text returned more responses than all Email in under one minute. (100 for text, 58 for Email)

4th text/Email resulted in 31.4% response rate from text and 24.4% from email.

Text was better than Email but not the best

Text responses were consistently higher than Email responses

Text responses came back consistently faster”

To view the final Clemson report check back next month under the “Studies” link at this web site. 

Direct Clemson questions to Prof. John Leininger at: ljohn@clemson.edu

Direct Cal Poly questions to Prof. Harvey Levenson at: hlevenso@calpoly.edu

By Roger Belanger, Director GossRSVP

To get a GossRSVP detailed brochure click here:

http://gossrsvp.com/u.asp?id=rsvpbro  or text rsvpbro to 64842

In 2009 both Google and Microsoft entered the media to mobile arena, confirming & validating business endeavors into this field by earlier entrants like GossRSVP and others. In addition, we are seeing innovations everywhere in the “print to mobile” space.

Many entrepreneurs are starting their own mobile messaging companies utilizing our subscriptions reseller services, restaurants using text alert programs, trade show vendors applying our mobile features to their pre-show, show and post show advertisements, and traditional printers and publishers developing new interactive tools utilizing our API that will allow every printed page, article or listing to be interactive. Now that is cool!

With the mobile market innovation wave in full swing and the digital consumer wanting to do more with their phone, advertisers are learning how to leverage these technologies and trends to bring consumers more value via print. It won’t be long before an advertiser says, why would we print another piece without an interactive or digital connection? With the growth of new entrants in 2009 offering interactive tools, 2010 should be a promising year for interactive print in the USA.

By Roger Belanger, Director GossRSVP.

“An interesting article and discussion from CPG Matters about coupon distribution trends that was picked by Retailwire.”, go ahead and take the survey at this link:,

http://www.retailwire.com/Discussions/Sngl_Discussion.cfm/14124

 I did and my comments are this week’s blog.

The proposition value of print remains the most compelling, giving brands the most effective branding & the largest audience. Past surveys show that print still has nine times the audience and fourteen times the page views over the Internet. That is a lot of eyes the internet does not see!

Even though print remains the best way for brands to distribute coupons, it does not mean paper has to be the redemption method. I think this is the point most are missing. The tried and true, “print”, and new technologies, “internet and mobile” can complement each other.

We are and others are developing enhanced methods for discovery and redemption. Being able to discover coupons locally within print flyers and redeem them locally or nationally without paper are solutions CGP brands need to compete with local brands.

Roger Belanger, Director GossRSVP, LLC

“She says that the printed piece started the engagement process much more effectively than and e-mail blast, which is very easy to delete or forget. Once you are engaged, you are more likely to respond to an e-mail follow-up or call to action,” Kilgore says. But it all starts with the printed piece.”

The October-09 issue of Deliver Magazine highlighted this direct mail initiative by Ricoh which can be found one page 28 at www.delivermagazine.com . Also of great interest is the “Made to Order” article on the “Mine” Magazine and personalization initiatives by Time Inc.

“Time Inc. Media Group president Wayne Powers says that while “Mine” may be viewed as direct to consumer, it is more of an engaged relationship.” Consumer engagement is the lexicon of these two highlighted initiatives, one that brings value to the advertiser and the consumer, win / win initiatives. While one of the holy grails of print is print metrics, another identified by Mr. Powers is “Are there ways we can better align the content within these magazines to match the consumers interests?” Although this topic may be once removed from the printer & press manufactures, they must help solve such holy grails of print to remain relevant to publishers and advertisers.

The amount of customization already done by printers on press and in post press is amazing, but publishers and their advertisers want more. Let us not rest until print is truly interactive.

By Roger Belanger, GossRSVP, LLC

We see two main factors that continue to hold back the growth of interactive print. The first I believe is a myth and the second an opportunity.

First we continue to see reluctances by publishers, especially newspapers, wanting to allow metrics to be part of their offering. They seem scared they will loose advertisers or advertisers will be able to leverage the cost they pay for an ad if their ad only gets a few hits in a given print publication. Though one would like to say print metrics and page views are one in the same they are not. Just like on the internet, there are millions of pages that get seen everyday, but not clicked on. But the ones that do get clicked on some metrics are provided, great! So if print publishers can break this mind set, or myth, and separate ad sales from the fear that metrics will erode sales, we believe then interactive print technology will really take off.

Secondly, publishing & editorial tools do not have interactive features as part of their front end offerings, thus making it a bit more expensive & cumbersome to add after the fact. This is mainly a technology issue, but more importantly an opportunity for the print publishing industry to capitalize on.

There are additional adoption and technology issues to overcome, but they are much smaller than these two I note above. GossRSVP and its partners are working to bring awareness to the myth above, and we welcome others in the print industry to join us to capitalize on the opportunity to bring interactive tools at the forefront of publication & ad creation tools.

By Roger Belanger,  Director, GossRSVP, LLC

It is always nice to get confirmation on what you are doing from an outsider. So is the case today from the “PrintSpeaks.co.uk” newsletter from the Editor Karen Charlesworth.  We appreciate her article in support of the Goss vision for making print interactive.  With the cell phone now the ubiquiteous device the timing is right and we are starting to see large advertisers dabbling with mobile sms codes and 2D bar codes in print.   

While 2D codes make interactive print elegant, we see them as the icing on the cake, with mobile text messaging being the workhorse today. Users of the GossRSVP Media to Mobile System get near 100% consumer participation utilizing our feature rich sms text codes.  Users fo the GossRSVP system can use just the text codes in their print products, or they can utilize the 2D bar codes to allow their customers the option of texting, typing or scanning the codes.   

Karen also notes “UpCodes are the subject of new promotional iniatives..etc.”  It is great to see both UpCode & GossRSVP Codes being related too within the same article.  UpCode our partner in Finland & GossRSVP are working together to further advance this technology with new initiatives forthcoming bringing value to our customers.

You can read Karen’s article at;  http://www.printspeak.co.uk/index.asp#editorial  and learn more about UpCode at www.upcode.fi

By Roger Belanger,  Director, GossRSVP, LLC

In the October-09 issue of WAN-IFRA Magazine, an article titled “Web tools for steering your audience” they note how search technologies have direct advertising returns. They note, “Advertisers are willing to pay more for ads that are likely to generate request for information about their offerings (CPL = cost-per-lead advertising), or direct transactions (CPA = cost-per-acquisition)”.

These mature adverting data collection methods imply consumer engagement. Without engagement, or someone clicking on their advertisement, the ad is just information or an ad promoting their branding. These lead generating technologies continue to be mainstream that all advertisers can relate to for the web, and advertisers are also realizing these same models can be adapted to print.

With GossRSVP technologies, advertisers can mirror the internet, where the printed product is the web and the cell phone is equivalent to the mouse. With over 5.4 trillion printed pages in North American alone, and mobile cell technology growth exploding lead generation via consumer engagement from print is a natural. Contact us today to learn more about interactive lead generation tools for print & other media.

By Roger Belanger,  Director, GossRSVP, LLC

Standing on your feet for six days straight is not the kind of thing someone says is fun except if you are answering questions and helping customers and potential customers navigate the mobile market as it relates to Printers, Publishers, Packaging Companies, Marketing Agencies, Colleges Academia and College students. That is exactly what Print09 was, fun, for the GossRSVP Sales team and presenters of Media to Mobile solutions.

The number and the diversity of inquiries made each day fun and eventful. Our web based reseller application is allowing our Print Customers to “grab the revenue now”, that is the “mobile text ad revenue” mobile marketers would typically grab. Printers and Publishers have a hugh customer base and they are realizing third party mobile marketing vendors are knocking on their traditional print customers. GossRSVP Print09 presentations illustrated how Printers and Publishers can utilize their GossRSVP subscription account to provide interactive value elements for print while in addition providing their retail customers mobile services to complement their print ads.

While many print media pundits talk about printers needing to become multi-media service groups, not many solutions are offered.  Our customers are realizing their GossRSVP subscription tools are allowing them to do just that, become multi-media service providers to their traditional print customers.  After all, all customers have media options, and the more low cost options printers and publisher can offer their coveted customers, the more loyal they will remain, while they inturn understand just what it means by “grabbing the revenue now”!

By Roger Belanger, Director, GossRSVP, LLC

GossRSVP is pleased to announce its one year anniversary while doing it in one of the worst down turns of the economy and the print industry in history. But at the same time the mobile market growth did not waiver much, rather it continued with double digit growth rates. This mobile market growth and buzz in the industry contributed to our 186% customer growth from December-08 to July-09, and continued strong interest in the GossRSVP Media to Mobile Solutions.

Our mix of customers, from small restaurants, ad & media agencies, printers and publishers, and custom API solutions testify to the scalability, the feature rich tools, and the reselling ability of the GossRSVP System offering. “They provide a wonderful platform, great customer service, and excellent pricing”, said Kathryn Solie, of Solie Mobile Marketing.

GossRSVP would like to invite you to learn how your business can benefit as a user and / or a reseller of Media to Mobile solutions by attending an upcoming Webinar or by attending Print09.

Prior to the Print 09, you are invited to join a webinar titled, Engaging the Customer: Integrating Mobile Marketing into Print, to be held on Tuesday, August 25 at 11:00 am.  For details and to join the webinar click on the following link: 

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/921437410   Space is limited,  so reserve your seat now.

Print09 will be packed with many Goss & GossRSVP mini theaters to show & tell the latest Goss Print Innovations and GossRSVP Media to Mobile technologies. Various GossRSVP customers will have scheduled Media to Mobile Presentations at our larger theater. See the Print09 show daily for presentation topics and times, or opt-in to our show alerts, demo times and show specials now by texting gossrsvp to 64842. Hope to see you at Print09!

For a detailed GossRSVP brochure sent to your e-mail, simply click here:   http://www.gossrsvp.com/u.asp?id=rsvpbro  Or text rsvpbro to 64842 to supply your e-mail via your web enabled phone.

Roger R. Belanger
Director, GossRSVP, LLC.