Adam Burnham, Digital First
By Nancy Lane, President, Local Media Association
Journal Register Company is now in the very top tier when it comes to percent of total advertising coming from digital, surpassing even the McClatchy Company's impressive 22%. This has happened in a short time (less than three years) since John Paton declared that the company would follow a "digital-first" strategy.
Adam Burnham, Senior VP of Local Digital Sales, met with Innovation Mission attendees late yesterday afternoon for several hours to share some of their digital success stories.
Highlights include:
• AdTaxi is producing $3 million/month or $36 million/year for the company. Products offered by AdTaxi include an in-house ad exchange (this is a "trading desk" for unsold inventory that accounts for 1/3 of all AdTaxi revenue), social, mobile, search, video and more. To count as an AdTaxi buy, the package must include at least two of the AdTaxi products.
• Social is paying off and they are having success building and managing social media campaigns on Facebook and Twitter. In Denver they are using a local vendor called Growth Weaver and are selling packages in the $1,500 - $10,000 range. They conduct advertiser workshops for social and often close up to $40,000 on site.
• Digital sales specialists support the traditional staff but are also responsible to go after new business on their own. For deals, they have found that deals-only reps work best.
• Sales strategy: "first and foremost we must grow digital at a rate that exceeds our print losses."
The full report from the Innovation Mission, including all of the key takeaways and information on Google partnerships, will be available in mid-June. To order a copy, contact Tanya Henderson at tanya.henderson@localmedia.org.
Check back on Tuesday for some of the key takeaways from the Innovation Mission attendees, including their top action items.