Scout Branding Company won Advertising Agency of the Year Wednesday at the American Advertising Federation Birmingham Peak Awards. The competition honors top professionals in the advertising and marketing fields.
Scout Branding is a Birmingham-based advertising, branding and interactive company.
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Posted in In the news
Tagged AAF, advertising, American Advertising Federation, award, Peak Awards, Scout Branding Company
Trial coverage to a big step forward in October, thanks to a federal judge and tech-savvy reporters. During the corruption trial of then Birmingham mayor Larry Langford, Twitter became a primary source of live updates throughout the eight days in session.
Federal law prohibits broadcasting from within the courtroom. And a sign just outside the courtroom instructs that cell phones must be turned off. But Judge Scott Coogler allowed members of the media to use their phones to send updates to their Twitter accounts.
Followers were able to read live accounts of testimony, arguments and the mechanics of a high-profile trial from their computers and phones. It’s likely the first time a major trial received this level of scrutiny.
“The difference is Twitter is like a reporter taking notes, if you will, instead of having to take the notes back to their office, they’re writing them on a device which then goes out.
“It’s their own interpretation of what’s going on in the proceeding, and when I looked at it, it seemed pretty clear to me.”
During the trial, Coogler instructed jurors to isolate themselves from media coverage, but also included blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other sources of information. But he also took time to praise reporters for handling the coverage with decorum in and out of the courtroom.
Trial Twitterers included:
It’s clear that for citizens and for reporters, Twitter has changed how trial news is reported and consumed.
For more, see the story and video from Fox 6.
How would you grade the media’s coverage of the Langford trial? Did you follow along on Twitter? Leave a comment at the beep. Beep.
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Posted in In the news
Tagged coverage, Fox 6, Larry Langford, Scott Coogler, trial, Twitter
As part of Time Inc’s plan to lay off 6 percent of its workforce, Birmingham-based publisher Southern Progress Corporation began laying off dozens of employees this morning, according to our sources.
Update: The total number of people laid off today stands at 48, or a 12 percent to 13 percent reduction in workforce at Southern Progress.
The hardest hit groups appear to be accounting and Southern Living’s editorial staff. Others in support roles and on the business side were laid off. Several Cooking Light staffers reportedly took buyouts.
Coastal Living, Health and SPC Digital appear to have escaped this round with no layoffs.
Southern Progress magazines continued to see declines in advertising revenue in the third quarter.
Time Inc. filed notice Wednesday with the New York Department of Labor that it plans to lay off 280 workers within New York State between Nov. 2 and Jan. 31.
Update: The Birmingham News has an official statement from Time Inc.
Update: Southern Progress is also closing its corporate library and has plans to lease one of its three buildings after moving staff into the other two buildings.
Update Nov. 6: The New York Post reports that in addition to the cuts in the Lifestyle Group in Birmingham, three Real Simple staff members were laid off in New York.
If you’ve been laid off from SPC, or know someone who has, please let us know via our contact form. We’ll keep your personal information confidential.
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Posted in In the news
Tagged Coastal Living, Cooking Light, Health, layoff, Southern Living, Southern Progress Corporation, SPC, SPC Digital, Time Inc.
Update: See photos from this event and a wrapup.
It’s our first morning meeting, and it’s going to be an eye opener.
Matt Cuthbert and Dennis Pillion of AL.com will show you how they shoot, upload and promote videos, and how you can, too. Ever wonder how you can use video to tell a story or promote a brand on your site? Learn how in our Nov. 17 workshop at Shift Workspace downtown.
Matt is the senior editorial producer and has been with AL.com for 11 years. He oversees the site’s entertainment and living sections, acts as a liaison with the state’s three largest newspapers, manages the community blogs and writes a couple of his own.
Dennis is a sports producer and has been with AL.com since 2007.
Invite your friends and colleagues in media (print, broadcast, online, etc.), public relations, advertising and marketing.
Note: You must RSVP for this event. Admission is $10, which includes coffee and pastries
Please RSVP by Friday, Nov. 13, 5 p.m.
Special thanks to our sponsors, Shift Workspace and W Social Marketing.
Note: Ticket revenue goes to W Social Marketing, not Media of Birmingham.
Questions? Contact us or leave a comment.
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P.S. Please join our free mailing list for all the updates straight to your In box.
Vodpod videos no longer available.Tailgating at the Magic City Classic
Posted by Dennis Pillion, al.com on October 27, 2008 at 01:48 AM
Posted in Our events
Tagged 2009, al.com, Dennis Pillion, downtown, event, Matt Cuthbert, Media of Birmingham, MOB, networking, November, Shift Workspace
Birmingham-based magazines continued their ad sales slump when comparing their third quarters of 2008 and 2009. The most surprising drop came from Hoffman Media’s Cooking With Paula Deen, which fell 14.1 percent according to figures from the Magazine Publishers of America. The magazine had increased 3.2 percent between the first half of 2008 and 2009.
Meanwhile, with layoffs imminent at Southern Progress, the decline in ad sales continued among the five remaining titles. Coastal Living saw the biggest slump, dropping 13.6 percent, while Health Sunset remained nearly steady with a 0.3 percent drop. Southern Progress magazines saw a 6.9 percent drop overall.
U.S. magazines lost 18.6 percent average in ad sales from 2008 to 2009 during the third quarter.
Also:
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Do Birmingham publications suffer from a lack of diversity? Do they reflect the city they serve?
The questions were prompted by a glance at the redesigned landing Web page for the Birmingham News. Granted, these are just the columnists, but the News and AL.com decided these are the ones to feature prominently with mug shots.
Birmingham News columnists
All white, with two women out of eight columnists. The city population itself is 73.5 percent African American.
Compare that with the recently launched B-Metro magazine, which also features its columnists on the front page of its site …
B-Metro magazine columnists
We see a little more diversity, with three men out of nine contributors, one African American.
At Birmingham Magazine, the four columnists featured are all women, all white. (See graphic at right.)
(The Birmingham Business Journal doesn’t include writers’ photos on its site.)
The questions we have:
Your comments are welcome below.
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Posted in In the news
Tagged B-Metro Magazine, Birmingham, Birmingham Magazine, Birmingham News, columnist, diversity, population, race
Time Inc. plans to cut 6 percent of its 9,000-member workforce before Thanksgiving, according to a report today in the New York Post. Its Birmingham-based Southern Progress is expected to dole out pink slips as soon as Thursday, say company insiders. Time Inc. will release third quarter earnings on Wednesday.
The scale of the layoffs means Time Inc. holds the distinction of the biggest mass firing in publishing this year, outpacing the 460-plus involuntary terminations at rival Condé Nast.
As previously reported, Southern Progress has cut 41.4 percent of its Birmingham staff in the past 12 months, eliminating 290 positions. However, this quarter’s cuts are expected to go deeper …
The Birmingham, Ala.-based Southern Progress, whose flagship title is Southern Living, escaped major hits in the round of layoffs unveiled in the fourth quarter of last year. The division … will not be so lucky this time around, sources predicted.
Southern Progress also oversees Cooking Light, Health, Coastal Living and Sunset magazines and Myhomeideas.com and Myrecipes.com. It closed Cottage Living and Southern Accents magazines and sold Southern Living at Home.
Time Inc. cut 6 percent of its 10,000-member workforce in 2008. All Southern Progress titles lost ad revenue between the third quarter of 2008 and 2009.
Read more stories on Southern Progress.
Update Nov. 3: The New York Times reports Time Inc. has begun layoffs at Sports Illustrated, and that layoff meetings begin Wednesday morning at other titles.
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As we meet each month, we’d like to have a volunteer photographer on hand to document the event and share photos on our site.
We’re currently assigning volunteers for the next 6 months:
Keep in mind that while we typically meet from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., a few of these meetings may end up as lunchtime or breakfast events.
Those interested should fill out this form
by 5 p.m. CDT Nov. 13.
We’ll notify you of the final schedule. Also, as our thanks, we’ll post a link to your business on our site and in our event promotions.
If you have questions, please contact us.
Taylor Bruce (at left) and Tanner Latham, travel editors for Birmingham-based Southern Living magazine, won the bronze award in the 2009 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition. The two won in the Travel Blog category for the magazine’s Tales from the Road.
The judges said, “What voice! With these two writers, their photos and comments from loyal readers, it’s fun to travel the South. As idiosyncratic as the region they cover.”
The gold winner was Amy Ziff’s The Window Seat (Travelocity). The silver winner was Kitty Bean Yancey’s Hotel Hotsheet (USAToday.com), which ended in March.
The Society of American Travel Writers Foundation sponsors the annual awards.
Also: Taylor wrote about the win in “Top 10 Southern Ways to Celebrate Our Blog Award!“
New Vision Television, owner of CBS 42 (WIAT) in Birmingham, emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy this month. We first reported the bankruptcy in July.
The company, based in Atlanta and Los Angeles, owns 14 stations nationwide.
“New Vision now has one of the strongest balance sheets in our sector,” Jason Elkin, CEO and founder of New Vision, said in a statement. “Being debt-free will enable us to invest in our people, our product and complementary acquisitions to drive New Vision forward, while our competitors continue to focus on daily liquidity and covenant compliance.”
New Vision made no job or benefit cuts linked to the reorganization, the company said.
Other local TV notes:
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Posted in In the news
Tagged ABC 33/40, bankruptcy, CBS 42, digital television, DTV, Fox 6, HDTV, high-definition television, NBC 13, New Vision Television, television, Twitter, WIAT
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