• by Larry Dobrow , September 10, 2003

Even when discussing his own media-consumption habits, American Business Media (ABM) president and chief executive officer Gordon Hughes can't help but plug the medium to which his organization is devoted.

"For me, it's a great week when I have a few extra minutes to pick up The New Yorker," he says. "But it's crucial for me to read Ad Age and Adweek. For somebody in the oil business, it's crucial to read Oil & Gas Journal. If you don't, you're behind in the game."

With this week's unveiling of its latest print and online ad campaign - the group's fourth in nine years, and at a cost of $3 million one of its biggest - ABM is preaching the B-to-B gospel at a time when the long-suffering medium is finally showing signs of emerging from its long slumber. And it's the timing of the campaign that is perhaps more notable than its overarching goal, which is to raise awareness and visibility. After all, it doesn't take a lot of moxie to advertise when business is good; when business is recovering or in free-fall, as B-to-B has been over the last few years, it's heartening to see an industry trade group do more than somberly convene think tanks.

"Our theory is that we've always wanted to be advertising during the worst of the economy, just to show that companies shouldn't be pushing advertising aside," Hughes explains. "It's better for us to advertise, rather than just say [to ABM members] 'keep calling people.'"

While Hughes is ostensibly paid to be optimistic, the numbers back him up. Data released earlier this week by the Business Information Network (a joint venture between ABM and TNS Media Intelligence/CMR that tracks B-to-B print ad spending) showed the first monthly increase in ad pages versus the year- ago period since November 2000. In June, ad pages were up slightly less than 1% over 2002 levels, while revenue surged nearly 5%. The overall 2003 figures don't look great - pages are down 3.6% and revenue is up 1.2% - but Hughes believes the year should finish on a positive note.

"I think we'll finish up about 3% in ad revenues," he says. "Pages will probably be flat, but you know - 'flat is the new up.'"

Painting himself as more conservative than most within the B-to-B media food chain, Hughes expects 4% revenue growth in 2004 for B-to-B print media ("we'll see a slow build rather than a hockey-stick escalation") and more accelerated growth in trade shows and the Internet. "Barring any calamities, you'll see people traveling more and going to more meetings," he says. "The Internet doesn't contribute the huge amounts of money that ad pages do, but it's an incredibly rich medium for B-to-B."

The ABM business-media campaign will run until November in The Wall Street Journal, Chief Executive, Adweek, Mediaweek, Brandweek, BtoB and Advertising Age, then pick up again in February. Several of ABM's member companies, including Reed Business and VNU, will run the ads pro bono in their publications.