In Business

Tim Kulchar, owner of Region Voiceover Co., operates out of his home where he looks to help local business owners promote products through radio advertising, commercials, websites, narrations and other media forms. (Photograph by John Luke/The Times.)

You may never have met Tim Kulchar, but you may know his voice.

As a voiceover artist in the region, Kulchar helps local business owners promote products through radio advertising, commercials, websites, narrations and other media forms.

Though it’s his soft, baritone voice people hear, Kulchar allows his ideas and creativity to do the talking.
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A marketing and advertising platform developed at the Times Media Co. last year is being utilized at other newspaper properties owned by its parent, Lee Enterprises Inc.

Kathryn Hepko, online sales manager at the Times Media Co., said “Get It” marketplace was launched in May as a response to growing digital marketing demands of advertisers. She said the marketplace on The Times’ website provides an opportunity for local small and medium-size businesses to be found through search engines and have an online profile.

“The product is a multi-dimensional digital marketing platform that helps advertisers get found online when a potential customer may be searching for them, whether it’s in an organic search capacity or a directory,” Hepko said.
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The Super Bowl commercial blitz is extending beyond the usual talking babies and office chimps to engage viewers online and get more for advertisers’ $3 million-plus investment.

Marketers are using every trick in the playbook to dominate the buzz before the game and long afterward, too. The gimmicks include online contests, a car “race” powered by Twitter mentions, and a secret new level of a hit iPhone game.

The goal is to build buzz, not get lost in the 42 minutes of Super Bowl ad time, and get cheap or free exposure when viewers watch again on YouTube.
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Lee Enterprises earnings excluding unusual items increased 29 percent in the first fiscal quarter, due mainly to strength in digital advertising.

The parent company of the Times Media Co. earned $13 million in the first quarter when adjusted for unusual items, or 29 cents per diluted share, as compared to $10.1 million, or 22 cents per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter, according to the company’s earnings statement issued Tuesday.
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Leslie Robinson, owner of Mane Image, recently had a billboard installed on U.S. 30 in Hobart that uses a quick response code. Consumers can scan the 2-D image and be connected to a website, photo or video. The popularity of the 2-D technology is growing in the U.S. (Photograph by Jon L. Hendricks/The Times.)

Around the time Calvin Klein stepped up its multimedia marketing game by replacing racy billboard ads of seminude models in Times Square with a king-sized pixelated bar code, Mane Image was getting ready to launch its own interactive advertising campaign using 2-D technology.

“The QR code billboard is our crown jewel,” Mane Image owner Leslie Robinson said. “I know I love technology, and this was just another way to get our information to the public. Not to mention that within an hour of the board going up, we had a phone call and a walk-in consultation. How cool is that?”
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The Times Media Co. has won two President’s Awards and is one of three enterprises in the running for Enterprise of the Year within Lee Enterprises.

The Times, a division of Lee Enterprises, won an Innovation Award for its pioneering work in digital marketplace initiatives and an Exceptional Achievement Award for other digital initiatives, including its customer call center for Lee media companies throughout the nation.

The Times will learn if it has been selected as Enterprise of the Year on November 5, with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Daily Herald, of Provo, Utah, being the other nominees.
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Phillip Weis, owner of Highland Pack & Parcel, works with customer Rich Dull, of Munster. The business is an independent shipping, packing and office supply store.
(Photograph by The Times.)

After 12 years in management and operational roles in retail, it was time for Phillip Weis to start his own business.

In 2008 Weis opened Highland Pack & Parcel on Kennedy Avenue. The business offers professional packing and shipping options, mailbox rental, copying, printing, faxing, laminating, banners, posters and more.

Weis originally opened the business as a pack and parcel, but it quickly morphed into a full business center.

“I wanted to get out of the corporate atmosphere,” Weis said. “I’ve always enjoyed being artistic, and I have a background in graphic design. I’ve created this concept and have enjoyed it ever since.”
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In this file photograph taken Sept. 2, 2005, Times Square is reflected in the Viacom logo on its headquarters in a New York. Viacom's second-quarter profit jumped almost 52 percent Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010, boosted by cost-cutting at its Paramount Pictures film studio and higher revenue from its cable channels. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, file)

Americans may be fond of the Web, but they are still in love with their TV sets—and so are the advertisers who want to reach them.

Big media companies are riding a rebound in TV ad spending. This week, Viacom Inc. and Time Warner Inc. both reported that their cable TV channels saw improvements in advertising revenue. CBS Corp. saw a similar rebound at its local television stations. News Corp. saw growth on both sides.

The companies’ results this week offer one encouraging data point for economic prognosticators. It means businesses have the money to spend on commercial time again. And they are more confident that consumers will have the money to respond to their ads at shopping malls and car dealerships.

Media executives say the rebound can keep rolling into 2011.
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Digital advertising sales for Davenport-based Lee Enterprises increased 24.8 percent in the third fiscal quarter, compared with one year ago, while the decline in total revenue moderated to 3.6 percent and cash costs decreased 5.7 percent.

Digital advertising revenue on a stand-alone basis grew to $12.9 million, representing 9.2 percent of total advertising revenue, according to the third-quarter earnings report released Tuesday. Digital retail advertising revenue rose 34.3 percent and digital classified advertising increased 13.2 percent.

Earnings per diluted common share were 22 cents, compared with a loss of 55 cents a year ago. Excluding adjustments for unusual items in both years, earnings per diluted common share more than doubled to 26 cents from 12 cents a year ago.
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A screen shot of Associated Press news content on the Yahoo news website is shown in San Francisco, Monday, Feb. 1, 2010. The Associated Press has signed a licensing deal with Yahoo Inc. that gives the news cooperative a steady stream of revenue at a time less money is flowing in from newspapers and broadcasters. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

The Associated Press has signed a licensing deal with Yahoo Inc. that gives the news cooperative a steady stream of revenue at a time less money is flowing in from newspapers and broadcasters.

The announcement by both companies Monday didn’t disclose the financial terms of the agreement, which allows Yahoo to continue posting AP content on its site.

The AP says it is still negotiating to renew its online licensing agreements with two other companies with far deeper pockets, Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Google stopped posting fresh AP content on its website in late December.
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