PLEASANTVILLE, NY. - That private capital has been unsuccessful in a leveraged buyout of Reader’s Digest Association Inc. should be no surprise. Private capital like Ripplewood Holdings has failed in all manner of media plays. The reality is that during a downturn, a company can’t be expected to be paying borrowed capital. Simple as that.
The […]
Reader’s Digest, Get Back To Basics (and Apologize to the Wallaces)
August 18th, 2009 · No Comments
Tags: Media Brands
The Stupid Idea of the Magazine Publishers of America
June 29th, 2009 · 1 Comment
Magazine Publishers Need to Encourage Keep-able Magazines
As a magazine lover, I want to keep magazines. I hate to throw them away, even when reality hits and I realize that I can’t save them any longer. I cringe when I see libraries de-accession precious bound volumes of magazines, though I know that collectors love them, and […]
Tags: Media Brands
Lesson for Newspapers from the Surviving Bits of the N.Y. Herald-Tribune
February 13th, 2009 · 1 Comment
With many newspaper flags are falling these days, there is a great opportunity for folks to pick up the pieces of the brands. We happened upon a great discussion on Metaprinter.com about saving newspapers; one central point of the discussion is that a newspaper brand, however struggling it is, gives credibility to online sites.
These brand […]
Tags: Media Brands · Regional Brands
Keep a Sunday Post-Intelligencer
January 11th, 2009 · 6 Comments
Daily Goes Weekly, Like London Weekend Television
SEATTLE - So, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is up for sale, and if no one buys it, the paper will turn into an Internet-only newspaper, or so says Hearst.
Hearst has owned the paper since 1921, and made a lot of money off of it for years, though they say that […]
Tags: Media Brands
Wacky-Good Brand Extensions We’d Like To See
October 24th, 2008 · No Comments
Here at BrandlandUSA, we love the brand extension.
Not only does it provide exposure for old brands, it helps give the aging “legacy” brand a new chance at relevance. Sometimes, the old uses for brands disappear. Witness McCall’s, which disappeared as a magazine when it was renamed Rosie. But McCall’s dress patterns are still around.
We have […]
Tags: Advice · Licensing · Media Brands
Ring Up America’s Top 10 Regional Telephone Brands
September 17th, 2008 · No Comments
Verizon missed the call when they renamed themselves.
While the company is well run, and we like the new Fios, the brand is a bore. Furthermore, we liked all the regional Bell names. There is no reason why Verizon can’t be a corporate name, even a new business name, but just because a merged company needs […]
Tags: Media Brands







