Ohio
Fo o d Te c h A Communications Project
PROCESSING PACKAGING INGREDIENTS SERVICES
Prepared by Enrique Saez for Mrs. Deborah Scherer Global Market Division State of Ohio
Contents
ohiof o o d t e c h
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Ohio FoodTech Project promotes Ohio as a technological hub for food & beverage processors worldwide.
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The publication of a magazine & Web Site, the promotion of Trade Shows activities and Trade Missions.
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A seven-member Board of Directors would oversee and approve the activities of the Magazine and the Website.
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We explain the guidelines for Ohio companies to join Ohio FoodTech.
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Description of the logo and its uses to promote Ohio.
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Contents, periodicity, editions, advertisements, funding & the Co-Publishing Theory to help explain how the magazine works.
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This section details all the possibilities that www.ohiofoodtech.org can bring to Ohio’s food & beverage companies.
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Biography of the project’s author.
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Selection of different versions of the Official Logo & the Magazine Cover
O h io F o o d T e c h
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S ynopsis. What is OFT?
buyers from South East Asia, Central Asia, The Arab World, hio Food Tech is a com- Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin munications project in- America due to the prepondertended to promote the ance of the United States Dollar international activities of all as a trade currency in those territhose companies with facilities in tories. The author of this project Ohio that are involved in any as- believes that it is now the right pect related to food and beverage time to launch such initiative beproduction. Those companies el- fore international currencies igible to join OFT are manufac- react to the low value of the US turers of packaging, processing Dollar. and quality control equipment, manufacturers of ingredients Activities Through The Magazine and consulting companies that The tools to the promotion of offer quality control/Quality As- Ohio as a technology center and surance, Lab Equipment & Mar- its affiliates are: keting services to food and 1. The publication of Ohio Food beverage processors worldwide. Tech Magazine, a quarterly magaThe main requirement for all zine published in English, Spanish, those companies is that they Arabic and Hindi and distributed by have a production, maintenance both the State of Ohio and the affilior customer service major facility ated companies in a regime of coin the State of Ohio. If they are publishing, which would be foreign-based companies, their explained later. US headquarters need to be based in the State of Ohio to be 2. The publication of www.ohioaccepted as members of OFT on foodtech.org, the official website of the ground that they create em- the project, which will include ployment and, subsequently, information on the technologies wealth in the State. Companies developed in Ohio and its prowith no operations or no major ducers. facility in the State would not qualify to join the Association. 3. The promotion of the State-organized Trade Missions that The idea behind the creation of bring Production Managers and DiOFT is to develop the name of rectors to the State of Ohio in which Ohio as an international hub or they visit food plants. The magazine benchmark for food technology would promote those events and be in all the aspects involved in part of them as the official publicasuch practice. Besides the dairy tion of the food and beverage techfield, food and beverage tech- nology manufacturers in the nologies created in Ohio have a State. potential to attract technology
4. The promotion of OFT members’ assistance to major Trade Shows in Europe and Latin America: Expo Pack in Mexico, Fispal Technology in Brazil, Food Ingredients South America in Brazil, Sial in France, Anuga in Germany, Gulf Food Expo in Dubai. Ohio FoodTech should be a part of those State-sponsored booths and pavilions as part of the State industry.
5. The promotion of Technologies developed by public Universities in the State of Ohio. Ohio FoodTech would be a great tool to promote the food and beverage investigations from public universities in the State of Ohio. That would be performed through presentations during Trade Missions and by publishing technical articles in the magazine. All these activities will be explained later on along with the way to finance them.
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ship of the State of Ohio, it will have a supervisory board As mentioned before, the OFT formed by eight delegates, six of entity will operate as an Associa- which would be chosen from tion created by the State of Ohio. each food and beverage sectors It would be funded by a combi- (manufacturers of technology for nation of private and public do- six sectors: Dairy, Beverage, Baknations. ery, Confectionery, Meat & A. The State of Ohio would pro- Seafood, Fruit & Vegetable) plus vide operational funds destined a representative of the State of to start the project and to cover Ohio. There will also be a final financing for operational ex- member with no voting rights penses, which will be detailed and functioning as Managing Dilater. B. The companies affiliated to the OFT organization will pay for copublishing costs of both the Magazine and the website maintenance. There will not be any membership fee. However, affiliated companies would have to cover travel expenses for their staff to international trade shows if they decide to attend. C. The State of Ohio and/or federal funding (if available) would cover the other aspects of the rector. Annual meetings, organiproject. zation and funding will be D. Some areas of this project explained later on. allow funding by companies and The six members of the board financial institutions whose ac- will be chosen by the affiliated tivities are not found in Ohio. For companies to OFT. Each comexample, shipping and courier pany will have the right to vote companies that transport heavy for the candidate that they conequipment from Ohio to the sider appropriate in the field or Middle East or Financial lenders fields that such company is inthat offer such services to inter- volved with. All companies will national companies. All those be allowed to submit candidates would be able to advertise in the for those six non-paid positions. magazine if the Board allows it. The Managing Director would organize the election and an inThe Board dependent source would do the The OFT project is conceived as vote count. After that, the seva five-year initiative that tries to enth member, the representative take advantage of the benign for the State of Ohio, would apdollar exchange rate for exports. prove the election of the six new Ohio Food Tech, which will be members. functioning as an Association or The Board members will serve a partnership under the guardian- five-year term. There will be a The Board & Project Funding
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Secretary of the Board that will rotate every year. The six members of the board would have to organize such rotation by themselves, independently of the Managing Director and the State Member. In case a Board member decides to leave the Board before his or her five-year term, he or she will have to propose a successor to the other five members of the board. They will approve the new member. Each member of the Board would represent the interests of the companies that manufacture technology or services for those specific food sectors. They will not represent their own companies or employers. They will not have any professional paid relationship with competing companies that have no activities in the State of Ohio. In case a member of the board is hired by a competitor —not affiliated with OFT or not based in the State—he or she will have to notify it to the other five members of the Board and propose a substitute. The six members of the Board will be free to have other memberships in professional organizations such as IFT, PMMI and others. There will not be special meetings during the year unless of an emergency such as death of a member of the Board, the arise of legal problems or the Global Markets Division requests an emergency meeting. As it might sound obvious, all those Board
propose four countries to be featured in a large report on the industry. Also, printing costs, printing quality, overall performance of all the actors involved in the magazine production process, etc. As mentioned before, the Board B. Trade Missions. The Managwould have a Secretary, which ing Director will propose two will be chosen unanimously by trade missions per year with pothe six industrial members of the tential companies to be apBoard and rotate every year. The proached. The Board will decide Board will review the yearly presentation from the non-voting member, the Managing Director, and would vote to approve the projects for the next year. It would also see the State of the finances by the Accounting Director, which would be an external auditor provided by the State of Ohio. After the General Meeting, the Board will approve the finances and operational proposals for the next year, being signed by all its members. The if it is appropriate to conduct Accounting Director will deal such missions, the best time of with the non-voting member, the year, etc. After that, the named the Managing Director, Board will submit its suggestions on a regular basis. The Account- to the Global Markets Division ing Director, the Managing Di- for its consideration. rector and the Secretary would C. Trade Shows. The Managing Director, along with the Finanmeet every quarter if needed. cial Director, will explain the Issues to be approved by the Board trade shows scheduled for the A. Contents of the OFT maga- next year and analyze with the zine and website. The Board will Board the advantages of attendhave to approve the proposals ing such events. The Board for cover stories and country would also be able to offer other profiles. There are 24 articles on alternatives, which will be apinternational companies and proved by the seven members of four country market reports. The the Board. After that, they will Managing Director—in associa- send their suggestions to the tion with the member of the Global Markets Division for its Board representing each food review. sector—will propose 24 candi- D. Finally, the Financial Director dates to be featured in the maga- will make a Presentation with all zine. He will explain the reasons the financial and accounting defor such decision. He would also tails to be approved by the meetings will take place in Columbus at the main office of the Global Markets Division. The eight members of the Board would meet once a year in Late September or early October.
Board. Fortunately, there is no need to approve or discuss disciplinary actions against members with unpaid co-publishing bills because the project does not contemplate any credit policies. E. Once all the issues on the agenda are approved, the Board will sign the Act and the General Meeting will be officially approved.
Membership 1. The OFT project is open to all those providers of technology and services related to the food and beverage business with operations in Ohio. Processing, packaging, ingredients and other services are welcome to join the project. 2. There would no be needed to pay an entry fee or any monthly or yearly fee. 3. Each Member will have to pay a minimum maintenance amount or fee to appear on the company listings published in OFT magazine and on the database included on www.ohiofoodtech.org
4. All those members that publish advertisements or advertorial articles would have to pay their co-publishing fare. 5. Membership is planned to last the five years that this project is planned. All members will have the right to be featured in the booths organized by the State of Ohio, if any, at major Trade Shows and be included in all the free activities in which OFT is involved. 5
State to all the food and beverage processors outside of the United States. It will feature these contents:
6. Being a member of OFT does not prevent its members from joining other professional associations or organizations either national or internationally. 7. OFT has no right to cancel any member’s membership for legal issues, copyright or trademark infringement or other technical issues related to the member’s commercial activities. 8. Disputes between OFT members will not be brought to the attention of the Board and memberships will never be canceled. 9. Being a member of the OFT Association will give a right to include the OFT logo on equipment and in promotional and technical literature. 10. Each member of the OFT Association will have a right to bring any other specific matter to the Board at the time of the General Meeting. 11. Cancellation of membership. Each member of the OFT Association will have the right to cancel its membership at any time by notifying it by letter to the Managing Director. 6
Letter from the Governor & Masthead. The Governor’s letter will include a salutation by the Governor of the State of Ohio in which he will welcome all international companies and encourage them to visit Ohio for business Promoting Ohio as a Brand: purposes and recreational activiThe Logo ties. Ohio Info and Map. This twoThe OFT project needs a sign of identity so that it would be easily page editorial piece will show a recognizable internationally. The detailed map of the State with author of the project has created useful information on transseveral logo designs for the con- portation, facilities visited in sideration of the State of Ohio. Trade Missions, recreational places, Museums, OFT Members The Logo will be included in A. Literature promoting all the locations, etc. Cover Story. Dairy Processor. activities of the Association B. Both the website and the OFT Every issue will include a fourpage article on a major internamagazine. tional dairy processor that has C. Booths at major trade shows D. It would also be used by OFT been on the news recently for members, if they wish, in their market success, technology upliterature, manual, websites and dates or new products introducon equipment and ingredients tions. The company will have been chosen previously by the packaging. Once the OFT project is ap- Board. The article will feature the proved by the State of Ohio, the company history along with inlogo propriety will be trans- formation on production, quality ferred to the State along with the control, new products, distribuwww.ohiofoodtech.org site and OFT tion, marketing, product portfolio, etc. magazine name. CS. Meat Processor. The same concept will be applied. Ohio Food Tech Magazine Definition & Contents One of the main pillars on which CS. Beverage Processor. The the OFT project relies on is the same concept will be applied. Ohio Food Tech Magazine. This publication has been conceived CS. Confectionery Processor. by this author to show the tech- The same concept will be apnological advances created in the plied.
Directory. The directory will include all the OFT members by alphabetical order, detailing a CS. Fruit & Vegetable Proces- brief description of their acsor. The same concept will be ap- tivities, equipment/ingredi plied. ents/services offered, contact Country Spotlight. Each issue information, financing inforwill feature a report on a coun- mation, agents and distributry’s food and beverage market. tors, etc. The report will detail the main Application Stories. Application market players, products charac- stories are one-page articles in teristics, technical capabilities, which a processor explains its renew introductions, etc. It will be lationship with a technology or a very complete country analysis ingredients provider. It is considwith production and consump- ered an advertorial. One examtion data. ple would be a bottled water Ohio Industry News. This sec- company in Paraguay using filltion will include all the news re- ing equipment manufactured in garding the commercial activities Ohio. The provider of the equipof OFT members internationally. ment would pay for the page, as New plants, new contracts, office it was an advertisement. It inaugurations, agents and dis- would also provide the means to tributors news, etc. conduct the interview, either by Technical Novelties. This sec- telephone or at the facility. The tion will include technical brief author of this project recomnews on new ingredients and mends using the same trips to equipment or services offered by conduct both a Cover Story and the OFT members. the Application Stories. If a dairy Technical Articles from the company from Mumbay were State University. Another option featured as a CS, the same trip to be taken into consideration would be used to interview local is the publication of technical companies for Application Stoarticles elaborated by both ries or to cover a Trade Show. the Academia or technical directors and engineers from Periodicity & Languages OFT member companies. Ohio Food Tech Magazine is Those articles would not in- conceived to appear four times a clude any commercial refer- year. It is not possible to set a ence to companies and would total number o pages because the be as technical as possible. editorial contents would range Calendar of Events. This page from 50 to 70 + pages. We have will detail all the major trade to add the advertising pages that shows internationally, whether will be paid for by the OFT memOFT is present with a booth or bers that wish to advertise in the not. It will also include the dates magazine and pay as co-publishof other technical events to be cele- ing. It is recommended to pubbrated in Ohio, the Board General lish four issues per year with Meeting, launch date of the OFT these closing dates: magazine issues, etc. CS. Bakery Processor. The same concept will be applied.
Issues Winter Spring Summer Fall
O h i o Fo o d Te c h
Closing Date December 1 March 1 June 1 October 1
Editions As previously mentioned, OFT Magazine is planned to serve the Ohio Food Tech project internationally. It is conceived to be the communications arm of the project. The four major languages in which it would be published are:
English, to be distributed among processors in The Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia, Pakistan and Central Asia. Spanish, to be distributed in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela. As the Managing Editor of Latin America’s leading food and beverage publication, this author is con-
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vinced of the necessity of a version of the magazine in Spanish. Marketing managers prefer to conduct business in English as opposed to technical personnel who feel more confident in their native Spanish. Arabic to be distributed in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Western Sahara and Yemen. Arabic is spoken by over 400 million in those countries. It is recommended to develop the magazine in Arabic because there is no major association with such initiative in place. This author is confident that an Arabic version would be a great win for the performance of the OFT Association in the Arab World. Hindi, to be distributed in India, Pakistan and Nepal. It is vital to publish a Hindi version because of the emergence of the Indian economy, with a booming food economy and the entrance of major distribution operators in the country. Hindi is spoken as a first language by 680 million and as a second language by an additional 225 million. India’s food manufacturing business is going to grow exponentially within the next decade. So far, there is no major company or organization publishing its own corporate magazine in Hindi. The author of this project has both the desktop publishing software and the translators required to translate and design the Hindi version of OFT Magazine.
It is impossible to set a circulation goal because of the Co-Publishing regime. 8
Operating Costs Vs. Printing Costs The Ohio Food Technology Magazine Project relies on the idea of outsourcing all the editorial and production services. The Project Manager would also be the Magazine Editor and will be responsible of the editorial contents and the graphic design unless the State of Ohio decides to outsource the project completely or create a separate position to handle all the editorial matters. The Magazine editor will have to: 1. Write the editorial contents in English, elaborate the Cover Stories and coordinate translation of the articles and advertisements into Spanish, Arabic and Hindi by external translators. 2. Coordinate the reception of the advertising materials and layout the magazine. 3. Be responsible for the graphic materials, take photographs and request other graphic art from advertisers and processors. 4. Coordinate the final design on Quark X Press of the several editions of the magazine by outsourced companies. 5. Coordinate the elaboration of the Country Spotlight Report, which is the only article to be outsourced. 6. Overview the elaboration of the technical articles with companies and universities. 7. Establish production deadlines and send the final materials to the printer. 8. 9. Inform the Board members of the daily operations as Project Manager. 9. Settle any possible dispute amongst advertisers before submitting it to the Board. 10. Establish relationships with Ad Agents to represent the mag-
azine amongst external advertisers (those with no business interests in Ohio) if approved by the Board.
There are several fixed costs related to the production of the magazine. Those are:
A. Preparation of the Country Spotlight Report by a freelance writer. B. Translation of the book into Arabic, Spanish and Hindi C. Transportation expenses to prepare the Cover Stories. Usually, those trips should coincide with major Trade Shows and events in order to cover the exhibition editorially and do the cover stories on the same trip. For example, during the Food Ingredients South America or the Fispal shows in Brazil it would be convenient to interview four companies in Brazil, Argentina and other countries in the area so there will not be a need to travel to the region until the next year for editorial purposes. This is very convenient when traveling to the Indian Subcontinent and the Far East. The Board and the State of Ohio should set all travel expenses guidelines. D. Desktop Publishing expenses, which would be outsourced. E. Office management expenses for the Magazine Director such as telephone line, stationery, cellular telephone, and transportation expenses to Columbus. Since there is no budget for office space rental, the Managing Director would work from his own office.
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F. Salary for the Magazine Editor, unless the Magazine Editor is outsourced and all the assignments are paid individually. G. There will not be any budget for photographers. The goal is that the authors of the articles provide photographs themselves. It is financially impossible to afford
a trip to a third world country of an editor and a photographer plus Per Diem costs, insurance and other expenses. H. There will be a budget for shipping expenses related to shipping materials and copies of the magazine to potential advertisers from the Magazine or the Editor’s office. I. Regarding Lab expense, due to the printing process, they will be
part of the Co-Publishing final budget, which will be explained in the next chapter. J. The Magazine budget will be prepared by the Accounting Director and the Magazine Director and presented to the Board for approval during the Annual Meeting. After it is approved the Accounting Director, who will be the sole responsible for its implementation and control. He will monitor all the expenses.
Co-Publishing One cost to deal with is that related to printing and distributing the magazines. This author conceived the Co-publishing Theory by which the printing cost is distributed by the advertisers and the State of Ohio. There are two main factors to keep in mind: Each advertiser will choose the amount of copies that wishes to receive. Let’s say that there is a Minimum Copy Order of 20,000 copies for the printing to be viable. There are 22 advertisers in such issue and the State of Ohio would keep the remaining copies after deducting the ones ordered by the advertisers. This is an example.
Copies: 20,000 Total cost: $19,800 Cost per copy: $0,99 Total ordered by 22 advertis ers: 14,000 copies Copies absorbed by the State of Ohio: 6.000 Amount paid by the State: $5,999 10
A. The second aspect to take into consideration is that there are no distribution costs since the magazine is printed at a printing facility based in Ohio and the copies are to be picked up by the advertisers at the main office of the Global Markets Division in Columbus. It is the sole responsibility of the advertisers to pick up their copies or to pay for their shipment to their office or any other destination. The idea behind the co-publishing theory is that the copies of the magazine should be mailed along with business cards, catalogues and other literature. Everything in one package. Also, the State of Ohio should be able to distribute its magazine copies directly from Columbus or its satellite offices throughout the world. B. There is a delicate matter to be taken into consideration. Application stories and some other editorial contents will be considered as advertising. A book with 22 advertisements and 5 application stories would end up being an issue with 27 advertisers. C. Those editions with a limited amount of advertisements will be financed by the State of Ohio. In that case, the State of Ohio has the authority to decide to publish the issue on pdf and distribute it via email or the website. D. Minimum Copy Orders will be set by three independent sources from the printing and publishing industries. E. What if there is no copy request from companies that publish Application Stories? In that case, there are two options: E.1 The company that provides de application story will have to
Ohio Fo o d Te c h order the same amount of copies Country Spotlight. Editorial as the average order from the Ohio Industry News. Editorial other advertisers in the same Technical Novelties. Free advertising, there will be a limit in the issue. E.2 In case of no copy requests, products featured by OFT member. the Application Story will have Technical Articles from State to be pulled out of the magazine University. Editorial Calendar of Events. Editorial since it is not editorial content. Once the Co-publishing basic Directory. Free advertising. The directory listings will not contain Another aspect to take into full, half or quarter-page ads in consideration in the Co-Puborder to distribute its space lishing Theory is that the final equally among advertisers. printing budget includes sevApplication Stories. Advertising eral aspects regarding digital paid by each advertiser. manipulation, printing, trimming and other technical asSize and Paper Quality pects. If the advertiser makes The most ideal size for the maga mistake regarding the forazine would a trim size: 8.375� w mat in which the ad materials x 10.75� h, printed in four colors have to be submitted, the on a 80 gram paper that gives us printer will add fixing costs to enough quality to produce a the final printing budget. Unhigh quality product. We have to fortunately, all those expenses keep in mind that major Eurowill have to be paid separately pean technology companies such by the advertiser or the ad maas Krones or SIG produce excepterial will have to be pulled tional magazines from a graphic out until the problem is fixed. perspective. We do not need a This is the only way to keep a high quality paper because the very basic printing expenses idea of the magazine is to reprobudget. duce photographs with mediumhigh quality on a lightweight guidelines are clear, there is a paper. We have to keep in mind need to remark what is consid- the mailing expenses. Many ered to be advertising and what companies like the Brazilian Packaging Association or IDFA is considered to be editorial. choose laminated ultra thin enInside front cover, Back cover & In- velopes to mail their corporate magazines. Those options would side Back Cover: Advertising Letter from Governor & Masthead: have to be studied by the Board. Editorial Distribution Ohio Info and Map. Editorial As previously mentioned, the Cover Story. Dairy Processor. Editorial Co-Publishing theory does not CS. Meat Processor. Editorial.CS. include mailing expenses. Once Beverage Processor. Editorial CS. Confectionery Processor. Editorial the copies are in storage in the CS. Bakery Processor. Editorial Global Markets Division office in CS. Fruit & Vegetable Processor. Columbus, the Magazine Director will notify the advertisers Editorial 11
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and the State Board Member that the copies are ready for pickup. The copies should be sent from the printers in separate boxes indicating the name and address of each advertiser.
Legal liabilities Since Ohio Food Tech Magazine is a magazine intended to serve the interests on a trade association and independent journalists and designers prepare it, Ohio Food Tech will have no legal responsibility over any opinions, Contracts The Ohio FoodTech Magazine information or contents pubproject has been conceived as a lished in the magazine. Howfully independent editorial ini- ever, this author does not believe tiative with only one staff member under salary: the Magazine Director. However, another option to be consideres is to contract such services independently as if they were external services of a communications agency (TEKKNIKA Communications). The author is open to study both options. We have to keep in mind that in case of hiring a communications agency to do all the assignments of a Magazine Director, all the billing and contracts to graphic designers, translators and writers, among other services, will be issued by his own company and that company will present one invoice per services to the Board of Ohio Food Tech. In that case, the author of this project suggests signing a that there might be situations in contract between the State of which legal action should be Ohio and the communications needed due to the nature of the company for a period of five information. All Cover Stories years and with the clauses that are pre-arranged by either the the Board of OFT establishes. Magazine Director or a member 12
of the Board with contacts with such company. The final articles are read by the company so there is always a second chance to find any misspelling or mistakes. After the company approves the final draft, the article is sent to the graphic designer. The author of this project is conscious of the importance of those articles for companies. Since their image is at stake those corporate profiles are a serious matter.
Advertisements Positioning Some undesired situations could arise regarding advertisem e n t s positioning. When a magazine has only three pages and there is a demand for three more, frustration is inevitable. In order to prevent it, it is necessary to set some guidelines regarding advertising space for OTF members: 1. Since the sole intention of the magazine is to help increase sales of technology, ingredients and services related to the food and beverage industries, there is no need to offer advertising programs in ad-
vance. Every company should place their advertising space requests right after the previous issue is sent to the printer. If OFT members were allowed to buy advertising programs, some prime positioning pages would be taken for years. In case more than one advertiser decide to use one of those pages; the Magazine Director would try to negotiate with those companies in order to reach an agreement. It the agreement is not reached, that page should be offered to external advertisers. 2. We need to keep in mind that the magazine has to set its advertising content guidelines. We cannot have a magazine with 80% of its content reserved for advertising. In a perfect world, no more than 40% of the space should be dedicated for non-editorial contents. However, we have to keep in mind that magazines add pages by 8. We may publish a 32-page magazine, a 64-page magazine and a 72-page magazine, but not a 76-page one. If we decide to “kill” pages, we will be forced to reduce 8 full pages. Some times magazines tend to include one or two so called “house ads” so that they will not loose the other paid advertising pages. In case of the Co-Publishing Theory, the magazine does not intend to make a profit so there is no need to include hose ads. Because of that, we would mostly have to add all those pages to place advertising pages for our members. It means that it is even stricter to fill those pages and to “kill” the entire set if one ad is missing. Because of that, it is most likely that the other 7 advertisers would not
take it very well if their ads were pulled out due to external reasons. In that case, it is necessary that the advertisers keep in mind that those pages are tentative until the entire set of pages is accommodated and the pages are full. Non Affiliated or External Advertisers Another option to be taken into consideration in order to lower production costs is the inclusion of advertisements from companies that do not manufacture or offer services or products in Ohio. As explained before, two good examples would be a financial company that offers lending
services to Asian companies, a shipping company that serves the Arabian Peninsula or even specialized insurance companies. In case the Board of OFT and the State of Ohio decides to welcome such companies, this author consideras that: 1. Sales are to be handled by a Rep Agency, an individual company that takes the established 20% commission with no contract. 2. Prices are established by that Rep Agency and the Magazine Director and approved by the Board.
3. No food and beverage equipment, ingredients, packaging and processing companies will be allowed to advertise in the magazine if they are not OFT members. 4. The Rep Agency will establish the guidelines for his clients to submit ad materials, payments (the Accounting Director) and other details. 5. The cover page will never be sold for advertising. 6. In case that two or more OFT members decide to acquire the inside cover, back cover and inside back covers and they are not able to reach an agreement, those pages will be offered to an external advertiser if that company was interested in them.
Final Steps So far, the reader should have noticed something interesting. We have not mentioned any Subscribers or Distribution List. Yes, it is one of the consequences of the Co-Publishing theory. Ho- ever, there are some situations in which the Magazine Director will need to have his own stock of complementary copies in case he meets a potential advertiser, a potential Cover Story company or a future investor in Ohio. In that case, 50 to 100 copies should be more than enough. Those copies should be added to the final Printing Budget. 13
The Website The second communications tool in the Ohio Food Tech Project is the website: www.ohiofoodtech.org. The Site will contain Issue Library. All the Cover Stories and Country Spotlight Reports will be available on pdf format. Company profiles & Directories. The directories will be available, along with company profiles & agents listings to OFT affiliates on html format. Visitors will be able to request information about companies, technologies and ingredients. Money Matters. This section will include a list of financial institutions that offer funds to acquire technology in the countries covered by this project. Visa information. There will be useful information on entry visas to the United States and links to the Department of State website. Missions. We will include reports or photographic portfolios of trade missions in Ohio. Visitors to the web page will also have the option to enquire for upcoming missions. Trade Shows. A calendar of international trade shows will also be included, indicating if WFT 14
will be present with its own booth. Visit to Ohio Food Plants. Another way to promote Ohio technology and ingredients/services is by helping foreign production managers and technical staff in their visits to plants where there is equipment already producing. The website will help those professionals organize their in-
quiries and even suggest interesting choices to visit in the State. Info on Hotel accommodation, shopping and leisure. A business visit from a faraway place is always combined with some shopping and leisure time. Those
travelers would love to go to a water park with their kids, spend a night at a fancy restaurant in Cleveland or even a baseball game before they fly back to Seoul. Transportation schedules, hotel information and other contents should be included on the website.
The Webmaster One of the advantages of the website is that we only need a Webmaster, obviously a freelancer, to handle the entire website. He would design and update the entire site, optimize graphic art and even do e-mail camWhat language should we use? Obviously, there needs to be some concordance between the website and the magazine. The sections that do not need to be updated very often must be offered in the four languages on the website (Issue Library, Money Matters, Visa Information, Info on Hotel accommodation). The other sections—Missions, Trade Shows, Visit Ohio Food Plants & Company profiles can be offered only in English.
paigns to promote services and events. I suggest hiring his services on a flat rate, independently of the work involved since the Magazine Director or the State of Ohio would provide most of it. The Webmaster would only report to the Magazine Director.
The Budget & Website Name In order to put a website up and running we just need a simple budget: A. Domain registration, usually $8 a year B. Hosting budget, usually $60 a year Thereisnoneedtoacquiresoftware,computers and other materials. The name of the website would refer to the entire Ohio Food Tech Project so it would be advisable to use the .org end. The name would be www.ohiofoodtech.org if we choose www.ohiofoodtechmagazine.com the magazine itself would have more relevance over the other aspects of the project. The name of the website would be a property of the State of Ohio. Advertising on the Website There are eight major sections on the website. Keeping the site open to advertisers is a decision to be made by the State of Ohio. This author advices not to let third-party companies (Google, Yahoo, etc) handle advertising sales on the website because it would give the impression that the sole intention of the Site is to seek ad revenues.Those ad would not refer to professional services. This author recommends offering advertising space to non-food and beverage companies for all the sections but the Issue Library and Company Profiles & Directories, which would remain advertising free. If we place advertisements from OFT members on the directories those advertisers have a major advantage compared to the non-advertisers OFT members. In the age of electronic communications we can do marvels online, and those interactive banners would attract more attention than the page itself. Also, it would
create a two-league division amongst OFT members. The goal of this project is to help both small and major food and beverage companies succeed in the international market. Flashy sophisticated banners are not available to everyone.
Regarding advertising rates online, they would be calculated by CPM, a standard advertising term related to the impressions or visits made to a website by 1,000 visitors. In case OFT decides to allow external advertisers, those advertising s a l e s should also be handled by the same Rep Agency so all the revenues would be funneled through the same channel and under the same 20% commission rate.
About the Author Enrique Saez, the author of the Ohio Food Tech Project, is a professional journalist based in Chicago. A native of Spain, Enrique graduated in 1992 from Complutense University in Madrid and settled in the
O h i o Fo o d Te c h
USA. Between 1999 and 2007, he was the Managing Editor of Stagnito’s Industria Alimenticia magazine, a monthly publication that covered the Latin American food & beverage industry. A bilingual, bi-cultural editor, Enrique handles his own communications company, Tekknika Communications. He also writes
for trade magazines in England. He can be reached at +773253-5288 or via e-mail to tekknika@gmail.com.
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O h i o Fo o d Te ch
The Project’s Image
Logo Black. Media: Equipment, Packaging
Logo Green. Media: Stationery, Equipment, Packaging
Logo Multicolor. Media: Stationery, Ingredients Packages The Magazi ne Lo go
The four editions would share the same logo (elephant 80 pt.in a color I named Ohio in QuarkXPress). On the right corner, a colored box would indicate the Language. Logo Blue. Media: Stationery, Plastic & Paper Packaging
Logo Black # 2. Media: Plastic & Paper Packaging, Equipment
Ohio
E NG L I S H E D I T I O N
Fo o d Te c h Bringing Excellence to the International Food & Beverage Industry
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