WMG Interactive

The Week That Was.

It's hard to believethat the Summer is already slowly coming to an end.  The proof is that I'm getting ready to go to the Great American Truck Show in Dallas next week, and the Cubs are slowly falling back in the baseball pennant race.  Both events have become end of summer traditions for me.  But before moving on to Dallas, we need to take a look at what news was generated in the world of driver-recruitment advertising this week.

"Exciting" is not a word used to describe trucking media very often, but the recent move by Randall-Reilly Publishing to outbid Target Media Partners for the exclusive rights to Pilot / Flying J truck stops has at least made the business "interesting" lately.  The barrage of weekly press releases are almost comical now, with each being very careful not to come right out and say, "We're better than them," but using every opportunity to imply it.  My favorite line from this week's Target Media Partners press release?  "Unlike Wall Street owned truck stop chains, Ambest stops are family owned and operated businesses and take pride in having the finest locations along the best routes, with great products and friendly service.  Truly they are America’s Best Truck Stops and Service Centers."  Classic.  Shame on those Wall Street folks for taking advantage of us by not having pride or the best locations or friendly service.

What is the best truck stop?  I certainly have no idea and am positive that you would get ten different answers if you asked ten different drivers, so all this "we've got exclusive rights to Truck Stop X" is all worthless unless the product you're selling provides the customer with a positive return on their investment.  So, other than the fact that it doesn't mean anything, it is great reading and quite entertaining in the meanwhile.

I hope you had a great week, and look forward to seeing everyone in Dallas.  Travel safe!

Internet Advertising Widens the Gap in July

"You cannot manage what you do not measure" is a mantra that was preached to me repeatedly in my early days of trucking at Heartland Express.  As much as I may have dreaded hearing it daily then, it is a mantra that I say repeatedly today.  The July 2009 numbers are in and it will come as no surprise that Internet advertising is widening the gap on print media as it pertains to contacts, cost per contact, and cost per hire. 

What may come as a surprise is that for the first time ever, some Internet sites outperformed their print media magazine counterparts in phone calls!  For years I've said that Internet recruiting would never fully replace print advertisement recruiting, and even used the example of how television and radio continue to co-exist long after "experts" claimed that TV would mean the demise of radio.  Now, I'm not so sure.

We've been able to decrease our overall client base's print media advertising 70% (some have eliminated it altogether) as compared to last year and have increased productivity at the same time.  Sure, you can point a finger to the economy, and that has surely had some influence, but we were doing this before the economic downfall of late.  The $2,500 that you used to have to spend to generate 200 phone calls for your Recruiters can now be done through a $500 spend on a reputable website.  I'm not throwing darts here....I have the proof.  Contact me, I'll go over it with you.

 

State of the Union (so to speak) in Trucking Media.

The business niche of driver-recruitment publishing has seen numerous changes over the past thirty days, and you almost need a separate publication to keep up with what is going on in the publication world.  So, short of doing that, I'll do my best to lay it all out there and see what we can make of it.

Flying J and Pilot Truck Stops recently announced a merger that will supposedly help bring Flying J back from the chapter 11 bankruptcy filings that took place in December 2008.  Before the merger announcement, Randall-Reilly Publishing's Truck Stops Express Division announced that it had secured exclusive distribution rights for it's network in both these truck stops.  This move by Randall-Reilly adds 509 truck stops to its distribution network, which now boasts "more than 1,000" locations, according to a recent press release.  The eight magazines that Randall-Reilly distributes to these truck stops each month?  Hang on to your hat and try to keep up - here goes.  Truckers News, NextTruck, Best Driver Jobs, Big Rig Owner, Changing Lanes, Owner-Operator/Company Driver, and RPM for Truckers. Whew.

On the other end of this spectrum was Target Media Partners, who lost the distribution rights for both Flying J and Pilot as a result of the Randall-Reilly deal.  However, in a statement released by Target Media Partners, they have "added hundreds of full service locations and increased 1,200 other locations off the main freeways, giving advertisers access to over 2,300 truck stops twice per month."  Sound confusing?  It is.  In addition to the "other locations" mentioned in the release, Target Media Partners will be distributed in Travel Centers of America, WILCO Hess, and Roady's Truck Stops.  They deliver nine magazines to these stops, including The Trucker, Trucker's Connection, Trucking 2000, Independent Contractor, ITJ, Down Time, Truck Job Seekers, Team Drivers, and On the Road Sportsman.

RAMP Publishing, who utilizes Randall-Reilly's Truck Stops Express to distribute their publications, OTR and Pro Trucker has announced some changes of their own.  According to Publisher Andy Shefsky, RAMP will suspend operations of OTR and Pro Trucker during the fourth quarter of 2009 while they introduce their new publication, Driver HEALTH to the market. Currently, the plan at RAMP is to reintroduce OTR and Pro Trucker back to the market in January 2010.

So, what does it all mean?  The three big players in the "trucking book" game have all three made some substantial changes that may or may not lead to more and bigger changes.  It wouldn't be beyond the realm of possibilities to think that Randall-Reilly and/or Target Media Partners may consolidate some of their respective publications, or stop publishing one or two altogether.  Down-sizing certainly seems to be the trend in today's economy.  Time will tell and we will keep you informed as we monitor these situations.

Mergers and acquisitions are not limited to print media, as Bruce Martin, President of Layover.com, recently announced the acquisition of Truck.net.  These are two pretty big players in the market, and it could lead to a trend of other acquisitions as the Internet continues to make huge gains in market share when it comes to driver recruitment advertising.  Again, we'll keep you informed as information becomes available.

Thanks for reading, hope to see you soon!