EMI poised to grow

Written by Josh Pichler, jpichler@enquirer.com
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110429/BIZ01/304290007/EMI-poised-grow

When the Chicago Cubs were looking for outside help to re-design and produce their monthly magazine Vine Line, they turned to EMI Network, a Cincinnati marketing and publication company.

EMI now manages the magazine’s content, reaching 30,000-plus Cubs fans nationwide. It created a special graphic design for each Cubs home game ticket and started developing videos for the Cubs web site. When Cubs great Ron Santo died last December, EMI produced an instant classic edition of Vine Line celebrating the life of the nine-time All Star third baseman.

The company also opened a new Chicago office located in Wrigleyville to help it serve the Cubs.

EMI isn’t sharing specific plans, but its work with the Cubs has positioned the 27-year-old company to expand in the sports marketing space with other professional and possibly collegiate programs. Six months after the Cubs deal was signed, EMI is optimistic about its growth prospects.

Advice from the top

Dan Magarian has run several businesses, including Photo Plus, Professional Transportation Group, Inc., PTG Logistics, L.L.C., and EMI Network.

When he started at EMI, Magarian said he eased the transition by listening to his new colleagues before making any changes or setting a new direction.

“I came in and basically told people, ‘I’m here to listen and learn.’ “

The sports business complements EMI’s work in creating marketing and advertorial content for clients in the medical, legal and education fields. EMI clients have included Dinsmore & Shohl law firm, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Its advertorial content has been featured in publications including Forbes, Good Housekeeping, Ladies’ Home Journal and U.S. News & World Report.

For example, EMI might produce an advertising supplement on top lawyers in Cincinnati that runs in a regional publication such as Forbes. The supplement would be supported by advertisements from those lawyers’ law firms. The law firm gains exposure; EMI and publication gain advertising revenue.

In an era in which content is king, and advertisers’ tools to measure return on investment are increasingly sophisticated, EMI’s president and CEO says he’s confident about the future.

“I have never felt better about the opportunities that are out there,” says Dan Magarian, who acquired the company in late December 2000. “Whether in professional sports, college sports, health care … there is huge opportunity. All companies are going through change, and they need help. We are like the creative Delta Force.”

New media landscape

Like other companies that traditionally have operated in the print medium, EMI is navigating a new media landscape in which consumers expect to access content when, where and how they want it. No longer are print products enough. Clients today need to reach consumers 24/7 via laptop computers, digital tablets and mobile phones. For instance, EMI has done print and video work for USI Midwest, an insurance and financial services company.

Magarian says EMI’s model of being a middleman between publishers looking for increased advertising revenue and businesses seeking exposure in high-end publications through a message they control, still works.

“From our perspective, we feel that EMI is a publisher’s best friend. You want a partner like EMI to help monetize your inventory,” he says.

But Magarian also sees growing digital opportunities for EMI, which currently has about 35 employees. The company does not disclose annual revenues. EMI’s relationship with the Cubs gives it what every content creator seeks – access to its subject. The relationship also shields EMI from strict MLB restrictions that other media outlets battle when it comes to providing Cubs content online.

From his office on Elm Street in downtown Cincinnati, Magarian recently played a Cubs video that EMI produced for the Cubs’ web site under the Vine Line banner.

These videos take viewers behind the scenes; past examples include players interacting with the Boy & Girls Club and footage from a casino night sponsored by pitcher Ryan Dempster’s family foundation.

While watching the video, Magarian discusses the Cubs’ May series at Boston, where they will play the Reds Sox at Fenway for the first time since 1918. EMI plans to create photo and video content which it will then distribute online through Cubs.com.

Wally Hayward, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for the Cubs, says that’s an example of what EMI’s resources and capabilities bring to the table.

“It’s getting best-in-class service and creative solutions by having a dedicated company behind ideas as opposed to a small group of individuals,” Hayward says. “The team we had was great, we just now have more resources behind them.”

While Hayward acknowledges digital demand for content, he adds that historic events such as Santo’s death prove the enduring value of print products.

“Even with ticket stubs, it’s amazing how fans collect things. You can’t do that if it’s a digital thing.”

Hayward contacted EMI on the advice of Paul Kissane, who spent 16 years at U.S. News & World Report as a vice president in charge of advertising sales for the Midwest. Kissane now works for Bloomberg.

Following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Kissane says magazines saw a decline in traditional advertising from industries such as tobacco and car companies. He says U.S. News & World Report believed advertising from colleges and hospitals could grow, but that the magazine’s sales force typically specialized in selling to companies such as Procter & Gamble and General Motors.

Kissane was impressed with the advertorial work that EMI had done with universities and the health care industry, and met with Magarian.

“Dan rolled up his sleeves and listened. He came up with some ideas and some strategies, not just for the magazine, but also what was going onto the web. That was still in its infancy,” Kissane says. “Dan and his group were really on the forefront.”

Kissane says Magarian personally called on regional hospitals and smaller colleges that wanted to be in issues highlighting the best colleges or health care providers in the country, but that had limited advertising budgets. EMI ultimately produced “significant” growth in those areas for the magazine, Kissane says.

“Dan and his group said they would create the ad, place the ad … and we’ll get you in there for an affordable price.

“Instead of a (college) getting sticker shock, Dan could get them into the magazine for a lower rate.”

Over the past 10 years, Kissane says, advertisers increasingly have demanded a return on their investments.

“When I started 22 years ago, there was a lot more, ‘Let’s just get the word out.’ Now, companies are very sophisticated and looking at where they’re spending their money and asking are they getting that return,” he says.

“You always hear the point that content is king. You’ve got to get somebody in the right mindset. When they’re looking for colleges, they’ll go to U.S. News because they’re an authority. Bloomberg is the gold standard in financial information. You’ve seen this incredible segmentation in the last 10 years, and that’s where Dan was before it even happened.”

An entrepreneur at heart

Magarian, 51, is the son of Armenian parents. His father fought in World War II, was captured by the Germans, escaped and wound up in France, where he met Magarian’s mother. The family moved to the United States in 1956, and Magarian’s father eventually became a journalist and worked for Voice of America.

Magarian worked as a sports writer in high school, then studied mass communications at Virginia Commonwealth University. But he says he always was an entrepreneur at heart.

“I always worked from a young age. I cut lawns, then got friends to cut lawns, delivered newspapers. I always had an entrepreneurial feeling.”

In 1980, he started Photo Plus, a custom photo lab business based in Washington, D.C. He eventually sold the business, and went on to lead two transportation companies. In December 2000, he bought EMI, where he combined his business experience with his early interest in communications.

“I was intrigued by the business. It seemed like it had the makings of something that could grow,” he said.

Kissane says Magarian’s wide-ranging background in business gives him a competitive advantage.

“He’s a strategic partner and a real businessman who has been in a lot of different fields and categories, and he brings that to the party.”