Theory of evolution
It’s been six weeks since I arrived at PROMO. The first week, the January issue was in the final stages of editing. While I scrambled to figure out the phone system and find the coffee room, PROMO’s editors coolly went about the business of producing an incisive review of the year and a recap of its top marketers. Since then, I’ve come to rely on that thorough competence — in fact, it underpins most of my New Year’s resolutions for PROMO. ▪ My goals are based on conversations with PROMO staff, input from the media gurus at PROMO’s corporate parent Primedia, and my own gut instincts (after 20 years of business journalism, I’ve learned not to discount these). They’re even shaped by preliminary talks with folks in the promotions industry — not yet as much talk as I need, but keep reading. ▪ And so, coffee cup in hand and phone ringer turned down (I have been settling in), I’m ready to go public with this year’s resolutions:
- Heat up the bath water; keep the baby
By which I mean, we’ll be keeping all the best of PROMO that our readers rely on — ideas, best practices, insight, analyses — but stepping up our standards for the depth and completeness of our coverage of the promotions industry.
- Make time for face time
See the face on this page? Well, plan on seeing it in a lot more places in the months to come. I’ll be at shows and conferences, and on-site as well — and I want to meet you, learn from you and share what I’m learning. The other PROMO editors do also. New this year: we’ll be hosting a series of roundtable discussions with some of the best brains in the promotions industry, and including their ideas in the pages of the magazine.
- Spotlight the best people
PROMO has always done a good job of identifying smart campaigns and innovative strategies, and now we’ll be taking a closer look at the masterminds who are raising the promotions bar. Look for more from us on those making the deals and executing them, what results they got and what you can learn from them.
- Show me the money — and all the other numbers
Ironic that, given promotions’ rep as a discipline of “quantifiability,” the numbers are so hard to dig out. We’ll be working on that. We’ve got original benchmarking studies on the drawing board, and a renewed emphasis on the numbers associated with deals and campaigns. And look for more metrics provided by consultants and industry researchers.
- Keep evolving
A magazine is a work in progress that never reaches an ideal destination. The editors and I are continually looking for ways to make PROMO better, and we need you to help us. If you don’t volunteer the information, believe me, we’ll find you and ask.
