PUBLISHER R. Craig Bednar
PRESIDENT Jim Bergeson
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Shana Karle
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Marcel Gyswyt
EDITORIAL
ED I TOR David Gee
MANAGING EDITOR Drew Wood
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Jim Asplund, Holly Dolezalek, Allie Fendrick,
Tom Hubler, Beth LaBreche, Elizabeth Millard, Katie Pelton,
Julie Moore Rapacki, Kate Rubin, Steven Schussler
March Madness?
Truth be told, any month of the year is
a crazy time to be in our business.
WHAT’S THE VIEW like when you look at the landscape in
your business or industry? Seeing some changes per chance?
Lots of people are fond of saying, “The only constant in
business these days is change.” I hear it all the time, in a wide
variety of circles. At the risk of sounding a bit ego-centric, however, I don’t know that any industry has changed as quickly, or
with as much unpredictability, as the mainstream media business, particularly publishing.
Not that you don’t believe us, but here are a few statistics to
back up the assertion anyway.
According to Vocus Media Research Group, in 2009, approximately 293 newspapers folded across the country, along
with 1,126 magazines. And eight of those magazines had a circulation of one million people or more. It’s a
pretty dramatic illustration of just how much pressure the current media business model is under.
Like every other media outlet, as well as a lot of you presumably, we soldier on trying to figure out a new business model so we can survive and make money in the most challenging economic environment in our history.
We’re also looking for new channels to distribute and monetize our content, and doing everything we can
think of to activate our brand. One of those ways is through a growing roster of special events, and we co-hosted
a unique one (along with LaBreche and PR Newswire) last month at the Best Buy corporate campus.
As you probably know, our Reputations event featured social media hotshot Chris Brogan, co-author of the
social media book Trust Agents and a Twitter guru with 121,000 followers. If you didn’t attend, or even if you
did, you might want to read the contrarian take of our resident blogger from the digital marketplace, Andrew
Eklund. The founder and CEO of Ciceron has some things to say about Brogan, and they’re not all good!
The point of our event, however, was certainly not to serve up another helping of kool-aid and/or create
more Brogan disciples. Rather, we wanted to stimulate conversation. And if the tweets and blogs that crowded
cyberspace following the event are any indication, we think that we did.
Paired with Eklund’s blog, 4ge!, on our recently revamped website is Long Copy, a new blog from veteran
advertising copywriter Andy Thieman. We will be adding others as well, so be sure to stop by regularly.
And however you encounter or engage us, either through printed content, online or at one of our events,
thank you!
ADVERTISING
ADVERTISING SALES Shana Karle
ADVERTISING SALES Carl Gillen
ART
ART DIRECTOR Dana Oelfke
LEAD STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Tate Carlson
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Marshall Franklin Long
PHOTOGRAPH Y INTERN Eric Hampton
PRODUCTION
PROJECT DIRECTOR Dianne Talmage
PROJECT COORDINATOR Dana Oelfke
GRAPHIC DESIGNER Emily Bretzel
CIRCULATION
CIRCULATION DIREC TOR Jeremy Wieland
CIRCULATION MANAGER Derek Kirchhoff
CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE
Cassie Haubenhofer
ADMINISTRATION
CREDIT MANAGER April McCauley
ACCOUN TANT Pat Schossow
MARKETING & PROMOTIONS
EVENTS & PROMOTIONS MANAGER Amanda Peterson
EVENTS COORDINATOR Dahlia Brue
WEB
WEB DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Sandy Powell
WEB AD COORDINATOR Anna Atendido
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
Brian Adams, Jacquie Berglund, Andrew E. Brehm,
Amanda Brinkman, Kim Brown, Betsy Buckley,
Andrew Eklund, Jim Hansen, Jack P. Helms, Bill Monson,
Randy McPherson, Anita Patel
EDITOR,
Minnesota Business Magazine
Tiger Oak Publications, Inc.
One Tiger Oak Plaza
900 South Third Street
Minneapolis, MN 55415
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© Copyright 2010 Tiger Oak Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
The opinions of columnists are their own.
MINNESOTABUSINESS.COM
Minnesota Business Magazine (ISSN 15396452) is published monthly by
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