Zapping The Merger p.

By: M.L. Stein

Former International Circulation Managers Association president now says he doesn't think absorption into the Newspaper Association of America was a good idea p.

RETIREES HAVE THE luxury of speaking their minds without worrying about losing their jobs, and circulation expert Joe Forsee took full advantage of that in an address to wholesale newspaper distributors.
Forsee, president of the International Circulation Managers Association for 12 years before the group was absorbed into the Newspaper Association of America last year, doesn't think that the merger was a great idea. He offered his reasons in a speech before the American Association of Independent Newspaper Distributors at its annual meeting in Las Vegas Oct. 25-28.
For one thing, Forsee explained, ICMA "was functioning well . . . was in good financial shape and charging much less for dues, conferences, seminars and services than most other newspaper associations."
But primarily, he "never thought the merger was the right approach." He said, "The argument for a unified approach to marketing challenges could, in my judgment, have been realized in a much more cost-effective manner ? by joint meetings and coordination between associations.
Forsee, who was circulation manager of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch before his ICMA appointment, also fired a few volleys at newspapers.
He lauded them for meeting current marketing challenges through research, technological changes and paying more attention to reader needs but added, "My concern is that marketing to many people means advertising ? and circulation means merely distribution. Newspapers are still not stirring up the entire marketing mix."
Forsee complained that circulation receives the "short straw" in a newspaper's strategies, even though it is one of the more important departments.
Marketing the newspaper to readers should be circulation's key task, he said.
"There is no other department suited to stir up all the elements of the marketing mix, utilize the information of what people want, what they will pay for it and get the product to the customer like the customer wants it," he added.
Forsee also lambasted late press runs as one of the "greatest injustices" in the newspaper business.
"For the life of me, with all that technology, I can't understand why consistent, on-time press runs can't be achieved," he said.
When circulation people try to convert publishers to this idea, their concerns are "rather frivolously dismissed," Forsee said.
Also, publishers can ? and should ? put out more attractive newsracks or city governments will monitor and regulate the racks, a trend already under way, he warned.
Nevertheless, Forsee sees better days ahead for the industry ? particularly in light of improved relations between publishers and independent distributors.
Noting that he once was part of the enmity between the two groups, he said, "As a circulation manager, I had my telephone tapped, received threatening phone calls at home and sat in courtrooms attempting to rebut accusations and relating for the record just how downright ornery some of you were."
Today, Forsee said, the adversarial distance seems to be lessening as distributors and newspaper managements enter into a "new spirit of cooperation . . . this is imperative."
He cited total-market-coverage products as an example. Saying they are vital to newspapers' economic health, he noted that their use is spreading because of adult distributors, "who can do it better."
The fact that Forsee was on the AAIND's program was testimony to the new rapport, he observed.
He wasn't the only newspaper representative invited to the conference. Mike Moran, senior vice president of the Audit Bureau of Circulations, explained the newspaper auditing process to the attendees, noting that although independent distributors are not audited per se, ABC field reps might call on them from time to time to verify a publisher's sales claim.
Moran said he first learned about AAIND when he received his invitation to speak to the organization four months ago.
AAIND paid further tribute to the newspaper business by presenting its Circulation Executive of the Year Award to Steven Falk, vice pres-ident/advertising and circulation of the San Francisco Newspaper Agency, which operates the business and production sides of the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner.
"The independent-distributor system is the most effective way of getting newspapers to consumers," Falk told the group.
"The reason is that no one in a business cares as much about it as someone who owns a piece of it. This means a 52-week-a-year commitment."