Case Study: Housing Giants decides to go digital only

Reed Business Information (RBI) is a business-to-business publishing company. RBI is quickly becoming an online media company with great print products. The company operates 75 brands in various vertical markets including construction, electronic, manufacturing, hospitality, entertainment, and retail spaces.

The company has been involved in digital editions for four years now. The company produces digital editions of 51 print magazines (48 are controlled circulation) using various technology platforms.

RBI constantly reviews new technology in the marketplace. To date the program has been a cost savings initiative. Last year the company deployed 2.8 million e-mail blasts and saved $1.5 million in print costs.

Housing Giants represents a new program for RBI and John Blanchard, Vice President of Manufacturing focused on the technology and manufacturing perspective about launching Housing Giants in a digital only format.

Housing Giants was a budgetary-challenged magazine. Due to the limitations, the publisher decided to make it a digital only product.

Housing Giants increased the frequency to 24 times and modified the editorial and created a list of 30,000 subscribers in a model based upon paid sponsorship and advertising.

The design of the new publication was intended to take advantage of the platform’s digital capabilities incorporating streaming video, flash animated advertising created internally and by ad agencies. Font types and sizes are modified for optimized reading on the Internet.

Additionally the company is using Nxtbook Media statistical tracking system to track the opens, page views, click through rate, and the length of time spent on each page.

• RBI received feedback from readers and digital vendors. The company learned how to optimize print legibility and make it so readers wouldn’t have to zoom to read the content.
• Search features and navigation tools and mouse over zoom on content made it better for advertisers.
• The table of contents helped with branding, direct links to digital edition conversions and Web site links.  
• Open rates, across the board, were better than e-newsletter products.

• Digital editions are a transitional product to guide readers from print to online editions.
• The editions save on postage increases.
• E-tear sheets help companies be more efficient in house.
• RBI used digital editions to reach international customers in Asia and Europe.

Note: This study was excerpted from the 2008 Gilbane Report. To view the archived Webinar, click here.