Editor’s Take: Charts, Change and a Little Controversy
One of the reasons any veteran in his or her field is brought in to manage an operation is to inject some fresh ideas, come up with some money-making business initiatives and perhaps even spark a little controversy in the process. As I approach my first anniversary with Catalog Success, I’ve instituted some positive change, some new features and we have some other initiatives that you’ll find out about later in the year.
Wait! Don’t go to sleep! I’m not looking to give myself a happy anniversary pat on the back (yawn!). I’m talking about some of the previous initiatives here that I’ve inherited, namely our Catalog Success 200 chart that dominates this issue. One thing you may notice right away about our fifth-annual ranking of the catalogers with the fastest growing housefiles is that I altered its name slightly, from the “Top 200 Catalogs” to simply, “The Catalog Success 200.”
The name adjustment might not sound like much, but this chart has a controversial history to it, and I’m actually looking to diffuse a little of it. And let’s face it: Catalog Success is hardly a controversial publication. Nevertheless, part of this controversy relates to calling those catalogers in the chart the “top” 200. I always found that misleading. Unlike some of the Fortune, Inc. and Billboard charts, among others, ours wasn’t created solely as a means of ranking companies by how big they are, sales-wise or even profits-wise.
A True Resource
A lot of charts showcase the biggest in their fields, yet those toward the top aren’t always on an upward growth plane. But consistent with our mantra to be your partner, the Catalog Success 200 is a very valuable resource tool for catalogers, because it tracks the fastest growing housefiles. And it's no secret in this business that a cataloger’s housefile is its lifeblood. Renting lists from comparable catalogers or even competitors isn’t appealing when the list’s recent growth has been flat. Renting a list that has grown by, say, 25 to 50 percent over the past year is.
On the other hand, if XYZ Catalog Co. grew 50 percent in sales last year, that’s all well and good. Perhaps if you’re in the market for a catalog acquisition, it’s worth a closer look to see if it’s up for sale. It also may have grown that fast because it either acquired another company or got a nice injection of venture capital. And it may now be overpriced. (Besides, not too many sales charts will show you what a company’s EBITDA has been, and that’s certainly a crucial growth gauge as well.)
Some charts also can showcase companies that have been huge for years, but haven’t been growing at all. Not much you’ll want to do with those kinds of companies.
Certainly, charts are necessary in the business world. But think about it: You’re in a very unique kind of business that revolves around the exchange of mailing lists, fluctuating postal rates and regulations, what consumers do with their mail every day and on their PCs every night, and other rather quirky things that the average Joe doesn’t think about.
So, I invite you to peruse and clip our chart. It provides you with a useful tool in your daily business life. And yes, no matter how much we try to explain our unique methods, some people will continue to find it controversial since it’s not like a pop music chart. So I welcome you to call or e-me. I’m all ears on ways we can make it even more useful in the future.
Promotion
On a personal note, I’m proud to announce that Kendra Clayton, senior copy editor/assistant editor for the Target Marketing Group, has been promoted to production editor for Catalog Success and our sister publication, Fundraising Success. Kendra will oversee the production process, trafficking copy and pages from editor to editor and to and from the art department.
A five-year veteran of our company, Kendra is incredibly organized and talented, so putting her in charge of our deadlines and content flow will only help our editorial process go smoother and smoother. Because the production editor position is more of a behind-the-scenes gig, you probably won’t see much of Kendra at conferences. But she nonetheless is an integral part of our team, and I hope you’ll join me in welcoming her into the fray!
—Paul Miller, Editor in Chief
(914) 669-8931, pmiller@napco.com
