Indian shows increase space
The organisers of electronica India and productronica India, which will take place at Pragati Maidan, New Dehli from 4th to 6th September 2013, have announced that they've increased exhibition space to 15,000 square meters. Whilst it's obviously easier to grow events in a dynamic market such as India, it's great to see such a successful show.
Call for papers: SAME 2013
The organisers of SAME 2013 have issued a call for papers focused on Applications of Sensor Technology, which can cover example applications, systems, IC development, firmware or software. Abstracts must be submitted by 15th May 2013, with final deadlines for the paper and slides 20th June and 20th July respectively. Submission instructions and a template for the abstract are available on the SAME website.
Smart Systems Integration reports same strong attendance as 2012
The organisers of rel="nofollow"Smart Systems Integration have announced that this year's event achieved the same strong levels of attendance as last year. They've also posted some images from the event online.
Technologies magazine to close at end of March
Sad news: Technologies, the popular Israeli title, is to close at the end of the month. The publisher, K.D.C Technologies Ltd made the decision to cease trading at the beginning of the week. There is some speculation that the brand might be purchased, or that the editorial team might start up a new title: we will let you know if there is any announcement.
New French Online Publication, L'Embarqué, Launches
It may surprise some people - George Bush amongst them - that when it comes to the IT press, France has the most entrepreneurial journalists in Europe. The media landscape is dominated by blogs and online publications run by the journalists who edit them. So I was delighted to hear that the same is beginning to happen in the electronics sector. Pierrick Arlot and François Gauthier have announced the launch of a new online publication, L'Embarqué ("The Embedded"), with a website; daily and weekly email newsletters and a quarterly digital magazine. They're not only informing French engineers, as they will also publish an English language email newsletter that will update readers on news related to the French embedded market. The publication will cover news related to embedded hardware and software technology, as well as including market research and issues related to working in the embedded market.
This is great news. In B2B trade media, it's becoming harder for large publishing companies with their unavoidable overheads, to be profitable. Either publishers need to offer a much broader range of services, or the model need to change. Whilst it's not easy for journalists to start their own publications, when it works a higher percentage of the income ends up with the journalists that create the value. This has to be a good thing. And France is suffering from a lack of electronics publications: there's no possibility that this new title will lead to an overcrowded market!
I wish Pierrick and François the very best of luck with L'Embarqué and hope this new title goes from strength to strength.
Dataweek invests in online and launches mobile website
It's not all doom and gloom in South Africa. Although Quantum has closed, Dataweek continues to be successful, and has just launched an updated website. Engineers will like the ease of use and the more frequent updates to home page content, whilst advertisers will appreciate the tweaks to make their advertising more effective.
In addition to the desktop site, there's now a mobile version, which is also accessible from the main www.dataweek.co.za URL.
It's good to see that Dataweek is not only continuing to do well, but that the publishers, Technews are continuing to invest in the product. I hope this investment is rewarded with more advertising.
Fine Street adds control title to its portfolio
Fine Street has added Control Engineering Russia to it's portfolio, a great move that complements it's existing publications, including Components and Technologies.
Electropages to launch Chinese site
Electropages continues to develop and extend its reach. Following on from the recent launch of iPad and Android apps, the UK-based digital publication has told me that they intend to launch a Chinese version of the site in May 2013. With a promise to translate all editorial content, the new site will certainly not suffer from a lack of news stories, and I'm very keen to see the site launch in around four months time.
India gets first electronics test and measurement event
Electronics for You Expo has announced that they will be running T&M India - the first show for electronics test and measurement products and services in India. The exhibitor list already includes big-brand names such as Agilient, Lecroy, Megger, National Instruments and Rhode Schwarz, so the event certainly has the right exhibitors to attract high-quality visitors.
It's funny that this is the first T&M show in India - we've seen a significant interest in our clients' activities in India and so it's easy to assume that the country already has events to cater for all aspects of the industry. But the truth is that the country is growing so fast that some of the marketing infrastructure is still catching up. The local events and publications are developing rapidly, and it's clear that, over the next few years, India is will continue to be one of the most exciting countries for the electronics industry.
Quantum ceases publication with immediate effect
Sad to hear that Crown Publications has decided to close Quantum after 18 years. Crown have decided to walk away from the electronics industry completely, closing both the print edition and the website with "immediate effect", although they plan to continue their electrical industry titles.
Huson takes over French titles as Francois Krebel retires
Francois Krebel built a reputation as being one of the "good guys" of the electronics media in Europe, and has just announced he is retiring. At Napier we had a great time working with him and wish him all the best for his well-deserved retirement. We're also really pleased that Huson Media has picked up the French titles he represented – they also do a great job for the media they represent.
Will Google really stop linking to French online publications?
The French are getting excited over the threat from Google to stop linking to French media websites in protest against legislation that would force search engines to pay for content. I think this is a good thing: Google has the power and influence to stop laws that prevent reasonable sharing of links, and publications must understand that links are the heart that pump traffic to their sites.
But what about the UK? The law has allowed the NLA to force businesses that share links to newspapers to pay licence fees. So where is the protest from Google over here? Well it appears that because Google has negotiated an exemption, they're quite happy to forget the protests. Google is a search engine, so they're fine, but media monitoring companies – who have software engines that search for content, so are hardly that different – are not. Perhaps "Don't be evil" got replaced with "I'm alright, Jack" in the UK.
DATE attracts over 1000 submissions
DATE 2013 has achieved a real milestone by attracting over 1000 submissions for the conference. This is a stunning result, and shows how challenging it can be to secure a speaking slot at an event.
Although it will be held in Grenoble, France in 2013, DATE continues to have international appeal, with the Americas and Asia-Pacific accounting for 30% and 19% of the submissions.
Competitions with prizes made easier in France
After the European Court ruled on 14 January 2010 that "a local law cannot prohibit, whatever are the circumstances, commercial practices consisting in making the entrance to a prize draw conditional on the prior purchase of a good or service, even if it is to ensure a higher level of protection of the consumer", France has finally relaxed their laws relating to promotions that offer a chance of winning a prize. I'm not a lawyer, so I strongly recommend reading the article about the changes in French law on the Marketing Law blog.
New white paper–Email Marketing Success
We've conducted several research studies in partnership with the University of Chichester to understand how to create more effective email marketing campaigns. Our Email Marketing Success 2012 white paper reveals several surprising facts about engineers and email marketing: 80% of engineers find less than 20% of the marketing emails they receive to be useful, they don't want company news and the sender is by far the biggest factor in determining whether an engineer opens an email. The white paper is available free of charge, so download Email Marketing Success 2012 now!
Sorry this white paper is no longer available. Contact Napier for the latest email marketing research.
Electropages app adds users' projects
A nice touch! Electropages has added the Tech Bench tool to their mobile app, which allows mobile users to take a photo and add a description of their latest project. I'll be interested to see what great designs are shared through the app!
South African publisher launches Android apps
EE Publishers have launched Android apps for their EngineerIT, Energize, Vector and PositionIT magazines. It's good to see that they have followed the launch of their iPad apps about six months ago with support for the android platform, and it will be interesting to see whether the Android platform can match the popularity of iOS.
Napier’s Student Intern Joins Marketing Team Full Time
Student Intern, Jess Baker joins Napier’s growing marketing department after a successful internship during her final year at University. Jess will help deliver PR campaigns as well as developing and managing email marketing campaigns for clients across Europe.
Napier were one of the first agencies to publically support PRCA’s campaign for paid internships. “High-quality paid internships are a key part of our strategy to attract the best marketing talent to Napier,” commented Mike Maynard, Managing Director of Napier. “Jess’ skills and enthusiasm really grabbed our attention during her internship, and we are excited to have her join the Napier team permanently.”
Jess began her full time position upon completion of her BA Hons in Events Management, and hopes to be graduating with first class honours later this year. “I was thrilled to be offered a permanent job at Napier,” said Jess. “During the internship I realised how much I wanted a career in PR and marketing, and I’m thrilled to be joining the Napier team.”
Napier’s intern scheme is based upon industry best practice, aiming to give future PR professionals the ‘on the job’ experience needed to understand and maximize their skills in the PR industry, whilst providing training to a professional standard.
Electropages launches Android app
Following on from the successful iOS apps for electronics engineers, Electropages has launched their first Android app, Electronics News. It uses a very similar interface to the apps for Apple devices, and provides a general as well as sponsored newsfeed, as well as video content.
It's good to see Electropages continuing to invest and innovate in mobile platforms, and the design looks great - much better than most Android apps. Congratulations to the Electropages team.
Svet elektronike plans bumper 200th issue
Publishers are always hitting milestones based upon the number of issues published or years since the launch of the magazine. Sometimes there's some good editorial content, but often these anniversaries slip by almost unnoticed. So I was impressed to hear that Svet elektronike will publish with a hardback cover to celebrate the 200th issue in September 2012.
The 200th issue will feature a selection of the best articles that the title has published, and the publisher promises a few more "candies" for readers! Despite the obvious increase in costs due to the hard cover, the magazine will also offer discounts to advertisers who would like to participate in this special edition.
It's good to see that Svet elektronike is really doing things right with this special issue: a hardback edition will definitely stay on readers' shelves for some time, which surely will encourage advertisers to take advantage of the additional exposure it will generate.
To take advantage of the special offers email stik@svet-el.si or contact Napier.
New association for journalists, authors and publishers in electronics industry
The IEPA (International Electronic Press Association), an organisation for journalists, authors and publishers working in the fields of electronics and communications, was founded on 1st March 2012. Based in Habsburg, Switzerland, the IEPA id the successor to the “Union Internationale de la Presse Radio-Electronique” or UIPRE, a union of journalists that was founded in Frankfurt, Germany, on 13th April 1959 by a panel of 22 trade journalists from six European countries.
The UIPRE was founded because of requests from industry and German trade fair organisations to increase the number of technically proficient journalists. It's great to see that this work will carry on with the launch of the IEPA: there has never been a more challenging time for publications, and surely the best way to ensure long-term success is by delivering great content written by technical journalists. I'm delighted to hear of the formation of the more modern IEPA, and look forward to them contributing to an increase in the overall standard of technical journalism, as well as benefiting the organisation's members.
CONVERtronic hits 100
CONVERtronic, the Spanish electronics magazine published by GM2 PUBLICACIONES TECNICAS, S.L., will reach its 100th issue in May 2012. The magazine was born on May, 2002 by two shareholders Angel Martinez and Andres Hennequet, who had more than 20 years of experience working in technical publications. It's great to see publications doing well, and I'd like to personally wish CONVERtronic a very happy 100th birthday.
German study forecasts stable advertising revenue in 2012
Thanks to the team at Weka for highlighting the recent "Advertising Trend Study" by TNS Emnid, which forecasts stable B2B advertising revenue in 2012. More than three-quarters of the 317 marketing and media decision-makers interviewed for the study were positive about the German economy, their own businesses and their advertising budget. About 40 percent anticipated increased spending, with nearly half forecasting a flat budget.
Despite expectations of strong growth in online, mobile and social media advertising, trade shows and print ads in trade media continue to dominate German B2B advertising budgets, taking around two thirds of companies' total spend. One factor driving the move to online is the trend towards booking packages that cover traditional and new media, with 32 percent of managers planning to implement B-to-B campaigns across all media on a regular basis, and another 41 percent running cross-media campaigns on a case to case basis.
New Bulgarian online publication
PR and marketing teams often spend hours perfecting the language in press releases and other marketing materials, but then fail to translate the content. This means that - in Europe at least - the majority of your audience are trying to understand content written in their second (or third) language. Marketing teams that imagine their carefully crafted English is communicating the exact meaning they want are simply fooling themselves as translation errors and cultural factors inevitably interfere with the message.
So I[m always delighted to see new publications in local language, particularly for countries that don't have the largest electronics industries. Electronics-bulgaria.com, part of the larger IndustryInfo.bg portal, is a new site that gives marketers an effective channel to reach Bulgarian engineers. The publisher, TLL Media Ltd., is well established, and has a strong portfolio of engineering magazines.
IndustryInfo.bg contains 11 vertical portals, including Electronics-bulgaria.com, and promises to cover companies, markets, products, technologies, and services.
Whilst it does take more effort to communicate in the first language of your audience, I know that the greater impact you achieve is definitely worth the effort, and we're going to be working with the new sites for our clients' Bulgarian campaigns.
Our marketing book is now available on the kindle
We've been giving away copies of a book that Mike wrote about marketing for some time. It's been popular, but we've been getting more and more requests to publish a kindle version. Good news: it's now available! Simply go to your local Amazon website and search for "in search of marketing knowledge" in the kindle section to download your copy.