New boots, TWO of 'em!

Bridgeport got a new pair of boots this month, Two Boots!

Huh? Allow me to explain. The long-awaited Two Boots of Bridgeport fired up the pizza ovens and opened to rave reviews. Located right here at 277 Fairfield Avenue in Bridgeport, coincidentally 4 floors below BAM's new office, Two Boots is the latest in what is turning into Bridgeport's exciting new dining, drinking and entertainment scene.

The BAM staff had a chance to sample the fare at Two Boots during 2 pre-opening events. The menu features some of the most creative pizza concoctions I've ever experienced. Try the Newman, an Italian-inspired white pie with sopressata and sweet sausage. Like it hot? Then order the Bayou Beast (my favorite) - a crispy thin crust pizza with BBQ shrimp, crawfish, andouille, zippy jalapenos, and mozzarella. It goes great with a cold IPA or a Stella.

Other specialty pizzas feature great names like Mel Cooley, The Dude, Earth Mother, and the favorite of all of us in the ad biz, the Larry Tate. Non-pizza entrees include some terrific salads, yummy Po' Boys, and a fun kid's menu. There's a great lunch special for just $6.95.

Two Boots has a funky Cajun vibe, with New Orleans Mardi Gras beads covering the walls. Head honcho and fellow Bridgeport pioneer Phil Hartman promises that the stage in the back room will soon host some great live entertainment. We're looking forward to it! Welcome to the neighborhood Phil!

NOTE - the way it's been going lately, if you're trying to reach us any time around lunch time, your best bet is to check downstairs at Two Boots. You're almost guaranteed to find at least a couple of us there. You see, once they start cranking out the pizzas for lunch, that wonderful aroma starts working it's way up the stairway and into our office, calling us like bees to honey. Considering that our old office was located just above a dumpster, this is heaven!

BAM is Bullish on Bridgeport

If you've been reading my blog, you must know by now that I'm up on Bridgeport. I've always enjoyed this city, and over the last few years I found myself here more often for dining, entertainment, etc. Finally, we packed up BAM this past summer and moved down the 25/8 connector from Trumbull to our cool new home here on Fairfield Avenue in Bridgeport. We now look forward to taking a lunch break and walking around the downtown area. There's so much to discover... restaurants, galleries, museums, and lots of interesting people. We can walk to the ferry, the train station, and to the Arena to catch a Sound Tigers game! So this blog will continue to feature some newsbits on what's new, hot and happening in the Park City.

This piece ran in the Connecticut Post this week. I'l glad that we'll finally have people living in the Citytrust Tower, as well as in the great new projects under development downtown (including the condos that are a part of our new home, the Bijou Square project).

TENANTS BEGIN MOVING INTO CITYTRUST UNITS
PAM DAWKINS pdawkins@ctpost.com
Connecticut Post Online

BRIDGEPORT — Hey, you late-night downtown revelers, you folks who drive along Main Street with the volume up — take it down a notch: There are people trying to sleep here.
After years of planning and building, and four months of delays, tenants of the redeveloped Citytrust property on the corner of Bank and Main streets started taking possession of their keys Friday.
Some planned to spend the night.
It was late Thursday when the city issued a temporary certificate of occupancy for the 117-apartment building, removing the last barrier to residency. This was a large project for the city and "the folks in charge of the approval process were very, very careful," said Eric Anderson, of developer Urban Green Builders.
So far, about 83 of the units are leased. And while there's been no formal announcement, Citibank has signs up on the windows of a ground floor site, announcing plans for an office.
Anderson said Friday he hopes to announce soon plans for a grocery store; he's in talks with a couple he won't identify, other than to say they've run a grocery store with a restaurant function in New York for more than 20 years.
"They could not have a better reputation," he said.
He and Anthony Ancona, the owner of Fat Cat Joe and Fat Cat Pie — the coffee shop and pizza restaurant slated for the former bank location on the ground floor — are already planning to open a "beergarden" atop the former Arcade Mall building, which is also under redevelopment.
Ancona didn't have a specific opening day for the Fat Cat restaurant. However, he said, now that the residential portion is ready for occupancy, he expects the construction workers can concentrate on the restaurant site.
"We learned a lot from this experience, and the next building we do we're going to be a lot better at it," said Nancy Hadley, director of Bridgeport's Office of Planning and Economic Development.
Hadley's interest in the project goes well beyond the official; she moved some of her furniture into a two-bedroom, corner unit back in May but had to wait until Friday to actually spend the night. The Bank Street leasing office was busy Friday afternoon, as a stream of tenants came in to pick up keys.
"Being from New York, we want to be around things, life," said Fitzroy Daley. He and his wife, Kumiko, spent the past year in another unit, and plan to eventually move into the new apartments under development at 144 Golden Hill St.
He works in Shelton and Kumiko commutes into New York.
"Actually, all of our stuff's over there," Fitzroy Daley said, explaining the one-bedroom units in that location have tubs; only the two-bedroom units in Citytrust have tubs.
Tom Canfarotta, a teacher at the Bridge Academy, is also making Citytrust his temporary home. He's purchased a condominium in the 881 Lofts project on Lafayette Boulevard and needed a place to stay until it opens.
"They're saying February," he said.
"This is so much fun," Hadley said Friday as she lugged a mirror and box from her City Hall Annex office, across Broad Street, down Bank Street and then through the parking garage to the John Street entrance for the freight elevator.
The contractors are still replacing the parts on the main residential elevators, so everyone's using the freight elevator.
According to Hadley, the need to come up with a system for that elevator was one reason for the delay. The elevator will be staffed all day and night, and the telephone system wasn't enough. So until the main elevators are on line, residents use an intercom hookup on each floor to call the attendant.
For Hadley and other tenants in the eight-story "Liberty" building (named for the former tenant, Liberty Bank), this means a trek through the adjacent 11-story Citytrust tower.
On Friday, she passes the open door of Manuel Aranda, who's waiting for the cable guy.
Aranda spent the past 10 years commuting from Brooklyn to Stamford and his father's Aranda Carpentry Corp. Since his father drove, Aranda said, he didn't really mind the travel. But they recently moved the company to Bridgeport and his father announced his upcoming retirement. That made the decision for Aranda, who on Friday was dealing with a gas leak in the stove of the one-bedroom apartment he'll share with his wife, Vanessa.
But the bed was made, clothes were hanging in the closets and he already knew where the dresser, bench, television and desk were going to go.
They picked this building because "It's beautiful the view, and my wife loved it."
Hadley based her apartment choice on the view.
For $1,300 a month, she has two bedrooms, "closets galore" and views of the Pequonnock and Steel Point development sites, as well as the Barnum Museum.
She plans to use that view to entice other developers.
"The issue in Bridgeport is you've really got to get up to see it."
Her view pales in comparison to what can be seen from the penthouse unit at the top of the Liberty building.
That's where Anthony and Suzanne Ancona were Friday, cleaning their new apartment, which is really two units turned into one. Anthony Ancona, when asked about the rent, would only say he's a good negotiator, and that the deal was a bit complex, since they're involved with the commercial projects, too.
"We're dedicated and we're not going anywhere," Suzanne Ancona said. "It's totally exciting. We've always tried to live where we work Why don't you want to do that?"
Their apartment comes with a wraparound patio, with the aforementioned views, on which Anthony Ancona said they plan to create a home for bees, whose honey they will sell in the restaurant. The pair own the Fat Cat restaurant in Norwalk, as well as two wine and liquor stores.
"I love Bridgeport," Anthony Ancona said, pointing to the sites and the proximity to the bus and train stations. He's already discovered a $1.50 bus ride will deliver him to the doorstep of the Norwalk restaurant. "This is a real city."

Righteous Excitement in Bridgeport

For the last few weeks, Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino have been in town shooting scenes for a new crime drama called "Righteous Kill". In this film, scheduled to be released next year, two veteran New York City detectives hunt a vigilante who may be one of their own. The Righteous Kill cast is layered with stars... Donnie Wahlberg, 50 Cent, John Leguizamo, Brian Dennehy, and Martin Scorsese, to mention a few. The film's Bridgeport locations include interior scenes at Joseph's Steakhouse and other spots right here on Fairfield Avenue, across the street from BAM's new office, as well as other locations around town, including a transformation of the Mechanics and Farmers Bank building into "Club 404 of Harlem" (above). I couldn't resist having some Photoshop fun with the "Bob and Bob" photo:

How People Sense Media

The use—and limitations—of eyeballs and ears

Erwin Ephron

The following ray of sunlight is from a copy- testing company (name delicately withheld): "There is an open battle for the eyes and ears of consumers... and a silent battle for their hearts and minds."

I think they got it right the first time. Checking eyes and ears can make our media dollars smarter. Hearts and minds I leave to Beth Israel.

Clark Gable had big ears when small ones would have done. He learned his movie roles by listening while he slept. The often overlooked point is that eyes can close, but ears cannot. Which brings us to the subject: our different media senses—how they work and how well we measure them.

The Media Senses

Media exposure is defined by our senses, not by research. The key media senses are seeing (TV, print, Internet, out-of-home) and hearing (radio, TV, Internet). Print also has an underrated touch dimension, which allows us to skim the pages.

When the Advertising Research Foundation was a frisky five years younger, it constructed a model for measuring media. The critical behavior for TV audience is eyes on the screen. This is worth some thought.

Seeing is a voluntary or conscious sense. We turn or point the head to see things (some frogs don't have to). And we close our eyes not to see things and to sleep (some fish can't do that either).

Hearing is involuntary in that we may not be listening, but we cannot shut our ears.

A Peeping TV

The words "viewing," "seeing" and "watching" all have slightly different shadings, but that's smoke. When the words are used in TV research, they should mean seeing, or eyes are on the screen.

The people meter is coy. It claims to report watching, but it doesn't measure seeing, although the technology is available. The short explanation is people think having a peeping TV in the bedroom taking pictures is an invasion of privacy.

To report TV exposure, the people meter asks respondents to push a button when they start and stop watching TV. Watching is a vague term. They don't push the button when they turn their head, or close their eyes or multitask or leave the room briefly. In those cases they are continuously recorded as watching, even though they do not see the screen.

This minor malfeasance—widespread during commercial breaks—significantly inflates commercial minute audience. It makes advertisers pay for viewers who do not see the screen.

Radio's Value Is Hearing

Just as an ideal TV currency measures seeing, an ideal radio currency measures hearing. The difference, is hearing is involuntary (or unconscious).

A noisy neighbor is annoying because we cannot close our ears. When sound is present, we may not focus on it, but we are aware of it. All of us can hear without listening.

The radio portable people meter is a passive system that measures hearing. When respondents carry a PPM, they hear any carrier signal the PPM records since the PPM registers a radio exposure only when it is audible to the human ear.

That is the key sensory and measurement difference between TV and radio. Even when listeners are not listening, they still hear radio. But when viewers are not viewing, they do not see television. Why is this important?

The Basement of the Brain

Brand awareness is the hard currency of advertising, but a second kind of awareness has bubbled up from the basement of the brain. It's the kind that Gable used when he learned his lines while sleeping.

Neuroscience shows the brain processes things unconsciously as well as consciously. Advertisers see value in this unconscious, or "low-involvement" processing of advertising. They find it helps consumers remember brands and can influence their brand decisions.

Hearing, as distinct from listening, is a good example of low-involvement processing.

The Surround of Sound

What does this mean to radio advertisers? In addition to conscious awareness (listening), radio is the poster child for low-involvement awareness (hearing). This combination gives radio the most complete attentiveness package of any medium.

Listeners when not listening still hear radio. But when viewers don't see television, viewers don't see television.

Is that why we call both audience?



Erwin Ephron is a partner of Ephron, Papazian & Ephron, a leading consultancy to advertisers and the media industry. He can be reached at ephronny@aol.com or at ephrononmedia.com.

9/11. Six Years... Pause and Remember

Welcoming Jeanne Back to BAM

It is my pleasure to welcome Jeanne Rolston-Csejka to BAM as our Senior Art Director.

This is a homecoming for Jeanne. She originally joined BAM as a graphic designer in 2002. Her outstanding design ability allowed her to advance into the role of Art Director. Now, after spending some time working on national brands at a large agency, she's back and better than ever!

This is an exciting time here at BAM. We're getting settled in our new office here in Bridgeport, we're fortunate enough to be working with some terrific new clients, and now Jeanne is here to be a partner in our growth and success.

Sarah's Destination: Dublin

Sarah Churchill has been accepted into a graduate art program at the University of Dublin, and will be moving to Ireland in a few weeks. This is an amazing opportunity for her, and I congratulate Sarah on her acceptance into this internationally renowned program.

Sarah came to Bob Abbate Marketing as an advertising assistant in 2004, and quickly advanced to the position of Graphic Designer. She was promoted to Art Director last year, and has been instrumental in the creation of many of our most successful campaigns.

Sarah's last day at BAM is this Friday. I wish Sarah much success and happiness as she follows her dream.

You can send your best wishes to her at Sarah@BobAbbateMarketing.com

I'll miss you Sarah.

Trendy Block Takes Shape in Bridgeport

BA: BAM has a new home! As of July 1st we're ensconced in our new digs in downtown Bridgeport. Some say we're crazy, we say we're right where we want to be. We love this city, the vibe, the beauty, the energy. Here's an article from The Connecticut Post about our building.

Trendy block takes shape in Bridgeport
PAM DAWKINS pdawkins@ctpost.com
Connecticut Post Online
Article Last Updated:07/07/2007 12:23:40 AM EDT
BRIDGEPORT — The Bijou Theater ballroom is no longer a welcoming place for the swoops, twirls and dips of formal dancing, but its new occupants consider it a perfect place to design buildings.
"It's all about the pickup conversations," not the planned meetings said Paul Antinozzi — whose father, Daniel, started architectural firm Antinozzi Associates 51 years ago — when discussing good design practices.
To that end, the firm's $700,000 investment in the conversion of the two-story, 11,700-square-foot space on the theater's second and third floors included few walls taller than 42 inches. What was once the dance floor houses open workspace delineated by waist-high walls, over which designers and other employees can talk, instead of the barriers of cubicle walls. Even the few offices at the front of the building, overlooking Fairfield Avenue, will have glass walls facing into the space; a conference room at the back of the room will also have an interior glass wall.
The firm's 30 employees have moved from the Stratford office, but some construction work is still going on.
The question, Antinozzi said Tuesday, was whether to go for a "funky industrial" look, renovating the 99-year-old ballroom, which hadn't been occupied since 1950, into a completely white space. Instead they compromised, using warm colors Antinozzi said creates a friendly work environment and round rather than square forms to turn the exposed ductwork into a design feature. They kept most of the original wood floors in the main office area and three grand chandeliers with amber hanging lights, which descend from the exposed steel trusses of the 36-foot ceiling.
The third-floor balcony once offered stadium-style seating, ascending from a mid-thigh-high, cast-iron balustrade to the wall. The balcony is suspended by rods attached to beams in the ceiling and its base, said George Perham, an Antinozzi principal and vice president.
Antinozzi Associates, which had funding help from a city block grant loan, brought that floor up about 2 feet to a uniform height, and added a waist-high metal rail with thin wires that doesn't block the view from either above or below. They colored the balustrade — now another design feature — amber, to match the chandelier lights.
According to Perham, the air conditioning system adds a bit of white noise and the volume of the space helps keep the noise level down overall. They've even built a "white room," so when the company's interior designers need to pick a color they're not influenced by undertones in paint or carpet.
This type of detail is a product of the nearly four years the move has been in the works.
Developer Philip Kuchma, whose Kuchma Corp. owns the site, called Antinozzi about taking the space when he first began the Bijou Theater project. Plans call for a movie theater and in June Kuchma received planning and zoning approval for a $25 million, five-story residential and retail building for the corner of Fairfield Avenue and Lafayette Circle. This building — designed by Antinozzi Associates — will be next to the theater building's second restaurant, Two Boots Roadhouse, which Kuchma expects to open before August.
Antinozzi and Perham, whose firm has done a lot of work in Bridgeport, were already considering moving here. They looked at the old Boy's Club and CitiTrust buildings, Perham said, but "None of them were quite as artistic as this one."
"We're a little bit of pioneers," Antinozzi said. "That's what architecture's supposed to be."
"Bridgeport needs to show people that there are prominent companies and prominent organizations that want to be here," Kuchma said. "We have to push away that whole notion that Bridgeport attracts second best."
Antinozzi Associates aren't alone in the Bijou Theater building.
Cafe Roma has been up and running since December 2005 and, even though business slowed a bit during all the recent construction, "It was for a good cause," co-owner Massimo Tabacco said. Business, which includes new customers from Antinozzi Associates, is already improving, he added.
Tabacco said he and partner Pino Pace are also starting to see foot traffic along Fairfield Avenue, and customers are coming in at night just for dinner.
"We have faith in Phil [Kuchma]. We think he's really the force that's dragging [this along]," Tabacco said. Kuchma is waiting on one last lease signature before declaring the Bijou Theater project full. That lease is with a New York-based filmmaker, but Kuchma said last week he couldn't offer any more details until the deal is done.
This filmmaker is in addition to Larry Locke Productions, whose principal is filming a documentary about Bridgeport Mayor John M. Fabrizi; CardinalPointe Film Funding, another New York company that is opening a Bridgeport office; BAM, which stands for Bob Abbate Marketing; Two Boots Roadhouse; and online marketing company Big Ideas Productions LLC.
"We're trying to create a little bit of a film center here," said Kuchma, who added he deliberately went after other tenants with a creative bent.
"People who by being in a space help to bring a space to life."
"We're just in the process of moving right now," Big Ideas founder Vincent Descoust said Friday. The 10-year-old company originated in the Bridgeport Innovation Center, but Descoust, who has three employees, said, "I needed to move in order to grow the company."
He's leased about 700 square feet on the fourth floor, at the back of the Bijou Theater, which meets his requirements for something "less conventional," that is still a good place to bring clients.
"There's a great potential in downtown Bridgeport," Descoust said, comparing it to the renaissance of South Norwalk.
Tabacco, too, sees comparisons to "SoNo," at least where it was 10 years ago. "It's not just a project anymore. It's starting to be reality."
Kuchma isn't the only person to see potential in this block of Fairfield Avenue.
For seven years, Joseph Sangut's JS General Contracting LLC has worked on the four buildings Lafayette Square Associates owns in that area — 300, 350 and 360 Fairfield Ave. (including the parking garage) and 1 Lafayette Circle.
Now, Sangut hopes to open Lafayette Coffee Cafe & Gallery in the ground floor of the parking garage across from the theater in five to six weeks.
"Tenants love him. People love him," his drive and desire for perfection, said Christopher Werba, property manager of the four buildings, when asked why the owners encouraged Sangut to open a coffee shop.
The original idea goes back about seven years, to when Joesph's Steakhouse came into a spot on Fairfield Avenue that had included a deli. Werba said the owners of Lafayette Square Associates — Sheldon Goldstein and Edward Silverman — thought the parking garage and existing buildings would create enough business to make a coffee shop with a deli a success.
As for the new development at the Bijou Theater, Werba said, "That's just the cream" on top.
Sangut, who admits to tearing down the walls in the nearly 3,000-square-foot space three times before finding a configuration he likes, plans to sell coffee, high-end pastries, hot and cold sandwiches and beer and wine. In addition to a salad bar, he's building a private room just for meetings and he'll be able to roll out the windows looking out onto Fairfield Avenue, to create an open dining space.
Sangut said he hasn't yet decided on the interior decor, but isn't worried about locking in a palette.
"Whatever it takes — paint it once, twice or five times."

Conventional ads get conventional results. Are you sure that's what you want?

Roy Williams offers his opinion on why most ads are duds:

I’ve said many times, “Most ads aren’t written to persuade, they’re written not to offend.”

This goes back to chapter one, “Nine Secret Words” in my first book, The Wizard of Ads. Do you remember the nine secret words? “The Risk of Insult is the Price of Clarity.”

Clarity. Ah, there we have it.

Rare is the ad that makes its point clearly.

The customers who cost you money are the ones you never see; the ones who don’t come in because your ads never got their attention.

I was writing an ad this week and decided to insert a word flag. I chose a phrase of declarative rebuttal; “And to that, we say, ‘Piffle and Pooh.’”

Obviously, ‘Piffle and Pooh’ is just a whimsical way of saying “Poppycock.”

My client was worried that people might be offended, so he asked me to change it to something else. I hung up the phone and yelled at the walls. If you’re curious what I said, just walk into my office. I’m pretty sure it’s still echoing in there.

Would you like to know the 4 Biggest Mistakes made by advertisers?

Mistake 1: Demanding “Polished and Professional” Ads
If you insist that your ads “sound right,” you force them to be predictable.
Predictable ads do not surprise Broca’s Area of the brain. They do not open the door to conscious awareness. They fail to gain the attention of your prospective customer. This is bad.

Mistake 2: Informing without Persuading
Study journalism and you’ll create ads that present information without:
(A.) substantiating their claims,
“Lowest prices guaranteed!” (Or what, you apologize?)
(B.) explaining the benefit to the customer.
“We use the Synchro-static method!” (Which means…?)
“It’s Truck Month at Ramsey Ford!” (Come to the party, bring my truck?)

Mistake 3: Entertaining without Persuading
Study creative writing and you’ll draft ads that deliver entertainment without:
(A.) delivering a clear message.
“Yo Quiero Taco Bell” (Dogs like our food, you will, too?)
(B.) causing the customer to imagine themselves taking the desired action.
“Yo Quiero Taco Bell” (I should buy a taco for my Chihuahua?)

The best ads cause customers to see themselves taking the action you desire. These ads deliver:
INVOLVEMENT: Watch a dancing silhouette ad for the iPod and mirror neurons in your brain will cause part of you to dance, as well. This is good advertising.
CLARITY: The white earphone cords leading into the ears of the dancing silhouette make it clear that the white iPod is a personal music machine.

Mistake 4: Decorating without Persuading
Graphic artists will often create a visual style and call it “branding.” This is fine if your product is fashion, a fragrance, an attitude or a lifestyle, but God help you if you sell a service or a product that’s meant to perform.

“Do you like the ad?” asks the graphic artist.

“Yes, it’s perfect,” replies the client, “the colors create the right mood and the images feel exactly right. I think it represents us well.”

Sorry, but your banker disagrees.

Hey, I’ve got an idea; why don’t you and Artsy go home and redecorate the living room at your house? Me? I’ll stay here and ruffle some feathers and sell some stuff. I hope you don’t mind.

But you probably will. Because you worry needlessly when people don't like your ads.

Ninety-eight point nine percent of all the customers who hate your ads will still come to your store and buy from you when they need what you sell. These customers don’t cost you money; they just complain to the cashier as they’re handing over their cash.

Do you believe the public has to like an ad for the ad to be effective? You do?

To that I say “Piffle and Pooh.”

Jack Off! (or "CBS Doesn't Know Jack", "Jack Shits", etc...)

CBS-FM is back! Today at 1:01PM, CBS Radio dumped its struggling Jack format and returned 101.1FM to its original format - Oldies! Here's an article from the NY Post:

'JACK' SHUT: WCBS-FM IS DUE BACK

By ADAM BUCKMAN

July 7, 2007 -- Hit the road, Jack!

CBS Radio will boot Jack-FM and bring back WCBS/101.1FM, the beloved oldies station that "Jack" replaced two years ago, sources said yesterday. The change could happen as early as Monday.

Millions of New Yorkers were heartbroken in June 2005 when CBS abruptly dropped CBS-FM and its lineup of legendary disc jockeys - including Bruce "Cousin Brucie" Morrow, Harry "The Morning Mayor" Harrison, and afternoon jock Bob Shannon - after 33 years as New York's oldies station.

The company replaced the station's music format with a new format known as "Jack," with no live disc jockeys or local flavor.

The news of a possible switch was first reported yesterday in the Radio Business Report, a trade publication, and then corroborated by several sources who requested anonymity.

It could not be determined how many, if any, of the station's original jocks would return. CBS officials would not confirm the format switch.

Cousin Brucie - now hosting an oldies show on Sirius Satellite Radio - was cagey when reached by phone and asked if he knew about a forthcoming switch.

"Should this happen," he said, "I would be very happy for the people of New York because it means that they won themselves a battle."

RAEL: radio ads have emotional impact equal to TV ads

According to new research based on advanced physiological testing, radio ads have emotional impact on consumers that is equal to that of television ads. The Radio Ad Lab released the new study, Engagement, Emotions, and the Power of Radio, at the Interep Mid-Year Radio Symposium today in NYC. The study was designed to assess how well Radio ads generate emotional responses and engage with consumers, compared to television ads. The study used methods of measuring emotional responses that don't require verbal responses, but work at a deeper, pre-cognitive level: CERA (Continuous Emotional Response Analysis).

Two Great Local Newspaper Groups Are Now One

BAM has terrific relationships with our friends at both Hersam-Acorn Newspapers and Hometown Publications. I'm thrilled that they're joining forces. Here's yesterday's press release:

Jun 19, 2007
Hersam Acorn Newspapers to acquire 11 newspapers, printing plants
Hersam Acorn Newspapers LLC announced today that it has signed a purchase agreement to acquire the New England publishing and printing assets of Journal Communications of Milwaukee, Wisc.

Hersam Acorn is the publisher of The Darien Times.

The acquisition consists of 11 community newspapers, five shoppers and two printing facilities (in Trumbull, Conn., and Bennington, Vt.). The Connecticut companies do business under the names Hometown Publications and Trumbull Printing.

“This acquisition gives Hersam Acorn Newspapers a wonderful platform from which to grow. We will now operate 19 newspapers in Connecticut, one of the finest printing operations in the country, as well as shoppers in New York, Massachusetts and Vermont,” said Martin V. Hersam, chief operating officer of Hersam Acorn Newspapers.

“Journal Communications has built impressive newspaper and shopper groups here. We look forward to building these businesses,” he said. Journal Communications is on the New York Stock Exchange, listed under JRN.

“Our Connecticut advertising and editorial reach now extends from Greenwich to New Haven with 180,000 readers every week,” said Thomas Nash, group publisher of Hersam Acorn Newspapers.

In 1908, the New Canaan Advertiser was founded by John E. Hersam, great-grandfather of Martin V. Hersam. In that same year, Karl S. Nash, Thomas Nash’s father, was born in Ridgefield. Nash founded Acorn Press in 1937. Hersam Acorn was formed in 1997 when Hersam Publishing of New Canaan and Acorn Press of Ridgefield merged.

Hersam Acorn is comprised of the Greenwich Post, The Darien Times, the New Canaan Advertiser, The Wilton Bulletin, The Ridgefield Press, The Redding Pilot, The Weston Forum and The Lewisboro (N.Y.) Ledger.

Trumbull Printing is a 58,000-square-foot printing facility that houses two Goss and two Tensor web press lines. Hersam Acorn is currently Trumbull’s largest customer.

“This is a fantastic printing facility and we’re looking forward to working with all the people who do such a great job for our newspapers now,” Hersam said.

Hometown Publications is comprised of the Easton Courier, Monroe Courier, Trumbull Times, Valley Gazette, Oxford Gazette, Stratford Star, Milford Mirror, Huntington Herald, Hamden Journal, Amity Observer, and Bridgeport News. Hometown also publishes two shoppers, Fairfield Today and Shelton Extra.

The acquisition also includes a publication in New York, the Country Shopper, based in Pound Ridge.

The shoppers in Vermont and Massachusetts are comprised of Tri State Pennysaver News, Vermont News Guide, Yankee Shopper and the Berkshire Penny Saver.

The deal is expected to close soon. Terms were not disclosed. DH Capital, LLC and CobbCorp, LLC served as Hersam Acorn’s exclusive financial advisers. Mark Thorsheim of New Canaan is a managing director of DH Capital.

The Media Is Not the Message

More from The Wizard...

"I'm in the furniture business. Which media should I use?"

"I'd like to target people who are afraid of the dentist. Can you recommend a good mailing list company?"

"My uncle uses television ads to attract new customers and they work really well for him. Television ads have made him rich. What's your opinion of TV?"

"No one in my town listens to the radio anymore. Everyone has satellite or an iPod."

"I tried advertising. It doesn't work for my kind of business."

People say things like this and expect me to have an intelligent response. What usually happens is that I stand there, dull-eyed, with my mouth hanging open. These are not my favorite moments.

When my brain finally recovers and I tell them the truth they need to hear, they act as though I've sidestepped their question.

Here's the truth they needed to hear. Maybe you need to hear it, too:

Relevance is what determines whether an ad works or not.
Every media fails when it delivers a message no one cares about.

Have you ever run an ad that failed?
Let's pull aside the curtain and look backstage to see what really happened:

1. The ad was so predictable that few people even noticed it.
SOLUTION: Get a new ad writer or remove the handcuffs from the one you've got.

2. Prospective customers noticed the ad, received the message and understood it perfectly. They just didn't care.
SOLUTION: Dump the irrelevant subject matter. Discover what people actually care about and talk about that instead.

3. The ad's message would have been relevant, but it was unclear.
SOLUTION: Remind your writer that creativity often gets in the way of clarity. Remind your layout artist that the prettiest ad is rarely the most effective. You're running a business, not a magazine. Make sure the dynamic duo understands that their continued employment depends on creating ads that sell the product.

4. You committed to an ad campaign that was shorter than your product selling cycle. If people buy your product once a week, don't expect your ads to return a profit during the first week. If people buy once a month, don't expect to break even on your advertising during the first 30 days. If your product selling cycle is longer than 2 years, you can expect to lose money on your ads – even if they're good – the first 4 to 6 months. You'll start pulling ahead during the second six months. Your real growth won't happen until you begin reaching that same group of people for a second year.
SOLUTION: Commit to an ad campaign commensurate with your product selling cycle.

5. The listener failed to be engaged because the ad was written from a cultural perspective other than the customer's own. (This is why Anglo-conceived Hispanic campaigns usually fail. Translating language is easy. Transferring cultural perspective is nearly impossible.)
SOLUTION: Hire a different ad writer to create the second campaign. Make sure the writer is from the cultural background he or she is trying to reach.

Bottom Lines:
Ads that fail in one media would usually have failed in any other.
The media is not the message.
The message is the message.
And the message is what matters most.

To deliver a pointless message powerfully is the definition of hype.

To deliver a powerful message pointlessly is the result of weak creative.

To deliver a powerful message powerfully is the first step in making a fortune.

Now go do it. And good luck.

New Report Turns Traditional Auto Advertising Assumptions Upside Down

A new report by the Polk Center for Automotive Studies shows that over 35% of first time vehicle buyers consider the Internet their most valuable information tool. In fact the Internet was relied on more than television, radio, magazines, and newspapers combined. How is your website looking?

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (Jan. 31, 2006) – Traditional mass media has been rendered nearly obsolete among first-time vehicle buyers, according to a study released today by the Polk Center for Automotive Studies. Out of considered mass media outlets, thirty-five percent of first-time vehicle buyers consider the Internet to be their most important informational tool, compared to 8.2 percent for television, 4.4 percent for magazines, 3.6 percent for newspapers and 1.1 percent for radio.

The study also found first-time buyers are independent in their decision-making and rarely are compelled to visit the dealership where their parents last purchased a vehicle. Sixty-five percent of respondents said they made the purchase without any influence from family and friends and just seven percent felt buying from the same dealership as their parents was of high importance to them.

View the report here: http://usa.polk.com/News/LatestNews/2006_0131_pcas_3rdstudy.htm