ETD: 910 Gimmicky Magazine Inserts Aim to Grab Page Flippers;
WARNING...New Credit Card Scam; Happy Birthday, Supermarket
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Tue Aug 9 12:39:01 GMT 2005
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0910 August 9, 2005
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem at gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] Gimmicky Magazine Inserts Aim to Grab Page Flippers
[3] WARNING...New Credit Card Scam
[4] Happy Birthday, Supermarket
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
There have been a lot of interesting articles recently on print media and
how they are suffering. Ad revenue is down. Even the WSJ, a paper that
always made money, lost money this last quarter. They need to find ways to
compete with the Internet (as does TV and radio). Well it looks like they
may have come up with something - gimmicky magazine ads as inserts - ads
that make a sound and flash. This could be interesting.
There is a new credit card scam done via telephone that can be very
dangerous. And most of us who receive the call wouldn't think anything of
it, and would answer the questions. They know your information, and they
are not asking for your D.O.B. or social security number. Watch out!
The supermarket is 75 years old. And I was quite surprised to learn what
was the first store. Take a guess before you read it. I'll give you a
hint - it's in the NYC area.
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] Gimmicky Magazine Inserts Aim to Grab Page Flippers
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Next month, Rolling Stone and Us Weekly magazines will feature a new ad
from the WB network that readers will have a hard time ignoring. Headlights
on an illustration of a car will flicker as music plays and characters from
"Supernatural," a new drama on the WB, offer sound bites about the spooky
program. The ad represents "something that is not just going to sit on your
coffee table," says Lew Goldstein, co-president of marketing for the Time
Warner Inc. network.
Readers have long been able to shun magazine ads by simply turning the
page. But advertisers are seeking more ways to command busy consumers'
attention in the digital age. "Ink on paper really doesn't cut it when
everyone has cellphones, Game Boys and Internet interactivity," says Tim
Clegg, chief executive of Americhip, a Torrance, Calif., company that
helped to devise the WB inserts.
Advertisers are increasingly creating print promotions designed to stop
readers in their tracks. A recent issue of Time Warner's People arrived in
mailboxes featuring a replica of a bottle of PepsiCo's recently introduced
Aquafina sparkling water constructed partly out of bubble wrap. "Bubbles
are more fun," read the ad, crafted by Omnicom Group's BBDO.
Touchy Feely: Aquafina's ad uses bubble wrap to simulate sparkling water;
an Elvis TV movie ad includes a sound device.
Other promotional inserts have included a sound device that played music to
tout "The Sopranos" in Time Warner's Entertainment Weekly. The August issue
of Lucky, a shopping magazine from Advance Publications' Condé Nast
Publications, contains a page of stickers presented by DaimlerChrysler's
Jeep, that say "Yes!" and "Maybe?" Readers can use them to tag items while
they shop. Foldout posters from McDonald's and cardboard coasters from
Anheuser-Busch's Bud Light have also appeared on magazine pages recently,
as have promotional CD-ROMs for programs such as "Over There" on News
Corp.'s FX.
"We can't afford to have people just flip the pages and keep on flipping,"
says Robert Schulman, a senior vice president of Cheil Communications
America, Samsung Electronics's ad agency. If advertisers can conceive
something that causes readers to pause, he says, "it makes a huge difference."
Magazine readers have long had to contend with subscription cards and
perfume strips, and even the occasional pop-up ad or giveaway. But this new
spate of ads, which must be inserted into the magazine during the printing
and binding process, lends a more active sheen to the typically passive
magazine ad.
The bulky ads are being encouraged by magazine publishers eager to show
advertisers that old media can compete with new media as a showcase for
their products.
At Premiere, the movie magazine owned by Lagardère SCA's Hachette
Filipacchi Media U.S., publisher Paul Turcotte says he is open to the idea
of including a small bag of bite-size candies or popcorn kernels with an
issue. The effort would give more value to readers, Mr. Turcotte says, like
"a prize inside a box of Cracker Jacks."
To accommodate these new ads, magazines are steadily putting more pressure
on their production staffs and printers. "When you get into real
three-dimensional products, that's when you start scratching your head,"
says Eric Blohm, director of direct marketing for closely held Quad
Graphics. The commercial printer once turned down a request to include a
small vial of baby oil in a run of magazines. If the vial had cracked
during printing or shipping, the reader would have ended up with a soggy
periodical.
"It just gets more difficult as these things get funkier and funkier," says
Mike Riley, executive vice president, sales, at printer Quebecor World.
Some hurdles are inevitable. While newspapers can be bundled with food and
other bulky product samples because they are often hand delivered,
magazines are sent through the U.S. Postal Service, subjecting them to more
restrictions.
For example, Cheil developed a magazine insert ad for Samsung televisions
aiming to show a life-like TV picture of the outdoors. When the reader
opened the ad, a powerful pine smell wafted through the air. The smell was
"just a little too strong on the evergreen," says Tony Catalano, vice
president and national sales director for Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S.
The postal service informed Hachette that the scent's strength exceeded
regulations, so all parties had to "dial back" the aroma before the ad
appeared in subscriber issues of Premiere and Elle Decor.
Extra printing and postage costs are usually part of the equation for such
advertising, and publishers say they pass those off to advertisers. The
total cost of a particular ad varies widely, depending on the project's
complexity, weight, assembly requirements and other factors. The most
stunning tricks can run advertisers as much as a few extra million dollars,
says Paul Caine, People's publisher. In some cases, advertisers limit their
costs by distributing the promotions only to subscribers, or even
subscribers in certain geographic regions.
Magazine owners and advertisers have to consider whether a CD tucked into a
binding might crack, or whether a new piece of advertising will cause
slowdowns on the printing line. At Entertainment Weekly, which has put
pieces of rope and a tea bag into its magazines as parts of ads, director
of production Carol Mazzarella gives insert ads "as much stress testing as
possible." Staffers will hurl a bundle of magazines from a high roost onto
the floor to make sure something won't break, she says. It's also important
to make certain a magazine will still fit into a mailbox.
Such obstacles don't seem to curb magazine publishers' appetite for the new
gimmicks. "One of the key people on our staff goes out virtually every day
to advertisers with two suitcases of samples of product that we would love
to get into a magazine -- like flip books," says Paul Caine, publisher of
People.
Despite the challenges, there isn't much room for error. "When you are
talking about a product that is distributed en masse, then stacked, then
shipped, then restacked and then sold, brought home, opened and read, it
has to be a perfect consumer experience every time," he says.
Article at....
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112346384833807207,00.html
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[3] WARNING...New Credit Card Scam
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Note, the callers do not ask for your card number; they already have it.
This information is worth reading. By understanding how the VISA
& MasterCard Telephone Credit Card Scam works, you'll be better
prepared to protect yourself.
My husband was called on Wednesday from "VISA", and I was called
on Thursday from "MasterCard".
The scam works like this: Person calling says, "This is (name), and
I'm calling from the Security and Fraud Department at VISA. My Badge
number is 12460 Your card has been flagged for an unusual purchase
pattern, and I'm calling to verify. This would be on your VISA card which
was issued by (name of bank). Did you purchase an Anti-Telemarketing
Device for $497.99 from a Marketing company based in Arizona?" When you
say "No", the caller continues with, "Then we will be issuing a credit to
your account. This is a company we have been watching and the charges
range from $297 to $497, just under the $500 purchase pattern that flags
most cards. Before your next statement, the credit will be sent to (gives
you your address), is that correct?"
You say "yes". The caller continues - "I will be starting a Fraud
investigation. If you have any questions, you should call the 1- 800 number
listed on the back of your card (1-800-VISA) and ask for Security.
You will need to refer to this Control Number. The caller then gives
you a 6 digit number. "Do you need me to read it again?"
Here's the IMPORTANT part on how the scam works. The caller then
says, "I need to verify you are in possession of your card". He'll ask you
to "turn your card over and look for some numbers". There are 7
numbers; the first 4 are part of your card number, the next 3 are the
security Numbers' that verify you are the possessor of the card. These are
the numbers you sometimes use to make Internet purchases to prove you
have the card. The caller will ask you to read the 3 numbers to him.
After you tell the caller the 3 numbers, he'll say, "That is correct, I
just needed to verify that the card has not been lost or stolen, and that
you still have your card. Do you have any other questions?" After you
say No, the caller then thanks you and states, "Don't hesitate to call
back if you do", and hangs up.
You actually say very little, and they never ask for or tell you
the Card number. But after we were called on Wednesday, we called back
within 20 minutes to ask a question. Are we glad we did! The REAL
VISA Security Department told us it was a scam and in the last 15 minutes
a new purchase of $497.99 was charged to our card.
Long story made short - we made a real fraud report and closed the
VISA account. VISA is reissuing us a new number. What the scammers want
is the 3-digit PIN number on the back of the card. Don't give it to
them. Instead, tell them you'll call VISA or Master card directly
for verification of their conversation. The real VISA told us that they
will never ask for anything on the card as they already know the
information since they issued the card! If you give the scammers your 3
Digit PIN Number, you think you're receiving a credit. However, by the
time you get your statement you'll see charges for purchases you didn't
make, and by then it's almost to late and/or more difficult to actually
file a fraud report.
What makes this more remarkable is that on Thursday, I got a call from
a "Jason Richardson of MasterCard" with a word-for-word repeat of the
VISA scam. This time I didn't let him finish. I hung up! We filed a
police report, as instructed by VISA. The police said they are taking
several of these reports daily! They also urged us to tell everybody we
know that this scam is happening.
Please pass this on to all your family and friends. By informing each
other, we protect each other.
Marguerite Bardini
+++ [Moderator's Comments] +++
I checked this out at Snopes and learned that it is plausible, yet MC and
Visa said it hasn't happened (likely story - they don't want to start a
panic). In any event, be
careful. http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/creditcard.asp
George
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[4] Happy Birthday, Supermarket
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Seventy-five years ago today, the first supermarket made its debut in
America. The store, a King Kullen in Queens, N.Y., was comparable to
today's no-frills warehouse outlets.
Other companies pioneering the supermarket concept in 1930 were Ralphs
Grocery Company in California, the Texas-based Weingarten's, Big Food
Markets, and Henke & Pillot, which was purchased by The Kroger Co. in 1956,
according to the Food Marketing Institute in Washington.
Key to the early success of the supermarket were the shopping cart,
introduced in 1937; the automobile, free parking lots, and mechanical
refrigerators in the home and store.
Over the past 75 years, FMI notes, the supermarket helped America:
-- Endure the Great Depression: The format emerged while thed nation was
grappling with the Great Depression, and an impoverished public welcomed
the unprecedented low prices, variety, and opportunity to select products
directly from shelves.
-- Create the middle class: The supermarket’s low prices freed up
substantial funds for families to spend on cars, homes, education, and
other needs and amenities, especially as the industry proliferated in the
1950s and 1960s. On the supermarket's silver anniversary, President Kennedy
said that the supermarket’s low-cost mass marketing techniques "have
enabled a higher standard of living and have contributed importantly to our
economic growth."
-- Help end the Cold War: Between 1958 and 1988, some 50,000 Soviet
citizens traveled to the U.S., most touring American supermarkets while
there. The supermarket showcased how a free-market economy could deliver
abundant, affordable food, and thus became a metaphor for what capitalism
could do, and Communism could not. In his autobiography, Boris Yeltsin gave
this account of his 1989 visit to a supermarket in Houston: "When I saw
those shelves crammed with hundreds, thousands, of cans, cartons, and goods
of every possible sort, for the first time I felt quite frankly sick with
despair for the Soviet people. That such a potentially super-rich country
as ours has been brought to a state of such poverty! It is terrible to
think of it."
-- Lower food costs: The cost of food today is nearly 6 percent of
disposable U.S. family income -- the lowest of any country in the world --
and down from 21 percent in 1930 and 50 percent in the 19th century.
-- Enjoy abundant variety: The corner grocery store of the 1920s carried
about 700 items, most sold in bulk, and consumers had to shop elsewhere for
meat, produce, baked goods, dairy products, and other items. The
supermarket brought all these products under one roof. The number of
products carried climbed to 6,000 by 196, to 14,000 by 1980, and to more
than 30,000 today.
-- Experience one-stop convenience: Even the first stores featured health
and beauty care items, electrical supplies, auto accessories, and lunch
counters.
-- Pioneer new technologies: Supermarkets have led implementation of
technologies designed to improve efficiency and customer service, most
notably the bar code — now scanned more than 5 billion times a day worldwide.
-- Serve communities: American supermarkets serve their communities with
compassion, supporting food banks, schools, and other vital institutions.
In the times of greatest need, such as the hurricanes that swept Florida in
2004 and the 9/11 terrorism disasters, supermarkets are among the first
businesses to reopen, dispensing water, medical supplies, batteries, and
other essentials.
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