Selling advertising across print, Web, TV, radio and other channels has become a hot new trend for the world's multiple-media companies. Media companies - and primarily newspaper companies in the Southern United States - have been successful at organizing and executing cross-media advertising strategies. This multimedia strategy includes sales department organisational structures, sales package pricing strategies, pre-packaged multimedia products, creative approaches to multimedia campaigns, sales representatives' incentives and training plans, incremental sales strategies, and sales targets structures. The tour is ideal for those media companies who are planning or building cross-media advertising operations. These and many other issues will be addressed at a variety of media company visits, including:


Programme

Day 1
Sunday, 11 February : Atlanta, Georgia

Participants arrive in Atlanta

18h30 - Welcome cocktail in the hotel foyer.

20h00 - Welcome dinner.

Day 2
Monday, 12 February : Atlanta, Georgia

09h00 - 12h00 - Visit to Cox Interactive,
An innovative Interactive arm of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and national hub for all Cox websites. Cox employs multimedia campaigns for their local markets. Director of Interactive Media, Leon Levitt, will lead the group of speakers, http://www.coxnet.us/.

12h00 - Transfer to CNN; Lunch at CNN tower, www.cnn.com

13h30 - Visit to the Cable News Network world headquarters
CNN and its parent, AOL Time-Warner, have been leaders in cross-media advertising for their cable TV, Internet and magazine properties. Participants will learn about their sophisticated advertising strategies across media, and will get a tour of their TV news production facilities.

19h30 - Dinner meeting
with Mary Minnick, Coca Cola's VP for Marketing, Strategy and Innovation (TBC), http://www.coca-cola.com

Day 3
Tuesday, 13 February : Augusta, Georgia, and St. Petersburg, Florida

9h00 - 12h00 - Morris Communications and Morris Digital Works
Morris owns 27 newspapers across the United States, from Alaska to Florida; more than a dozen radio stations, city magazines, outdoor advertising and a variety of websites. The company packages cross-media advertising for city and regional marketplaces, including print, web and radio components. Participants will learn about multi-legged sales calls, new organizational strategies, pre-packaged multimedia campaigns and compensation plans for sales executives, http://www.morris.com/
http://www.morrisdigitalworks.com/

14h00 - 18h00 - Flight to Tampa.

18H45- 21H00 - Poynter Institute for Media Studies
Dinner, presentation and discussion with Poynter's Howard Finberg, director of Interactive Programming. Theme is "Managing in an Era of Change." (TBC), http://www.poynter.org/

Day 4
Wednesday, 14 February : Tampa, Florida

09h00 - 12h00 - The Tampa multimedia company features a $45-million U.S. building built specifically for Convergence. Participants will learn about Tampa's well-honed cross-media advertising strategy, sales techniques, organizational strategy, training programmes and other components of the strategy. http://www.tbo.com/

12h00 - 13h00 - Lunch

13h00 - 15h00 - Sales executives speak about their team training activities; tour of campus and newsroom

15h00 - 16h00 - Co-Learn Cross Media Sales Training Programme, Senior VP Peter McCampbell (TBC), http://www.colearn.com/mainpage.html

Day 5
Thursday, 15 February : Naples and Sarasota, Florida

09h00 - 12h00 - Naples Daily News publisher John Fish presents overview of cross-media advertising operation; Sales Director and sales representatives present to the group, http://www.naplesnews.com/

12h00 - 13h00 - Lunch

14h00 - 15h30 - Transit to Sarasota Herald Tribune

15h30 - 17h30 - Herald-Tribune Publisher Diane McFarlin welcomes participants to this New York Times-owned newspaper. The Sarasota Herald Tribune owns a daily newspaper, website and local cable news station. The sales department sells packages across media. Participants will learn the Herald-Tribune's style of cross-media sales, and about their strategy for the future. http://www.heraldtribune.com

17h30 - 21h00 - Special evening at John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art and Treviso restaurant; PT Barnum historic advertising exhibition and presentation, http://www.ringling.org

Day 6
Friday, 16 February : Dallas, Texas

07h45 - 9h45 - Flight from Tampa to Dallas

11h30 - 13h00 - Lunch and welcome from Publisher Jim Moroney, Dallas Morning News, a Belo newspaper, http://www.dallasnews.com/

13h00 - 16h00 - Print, Web and TV sales executives to speak about cross-media advertising experience at Dallas Morning News, DallasNews.com and its TV station

16h10 - 17h30 - Founders of advergaming company, Blockdot, talk to participants about reaching young media consumers with advergaming online and on mobiles, and the reasons why newspaper company Media General bought the company (TBC), www.blockdot.dom

19h00 - Farewell Dinner

Price includes all domestic flights (business class) and transfers, hotel
accommodation in carefully selected 4 and 5 star hotels and all meals.
Flights to and from the United States are not included.