Rodale's Bouker Pool
Photo: Joanna Totolici for BizBash
All this month we're bringing you Q&As with our 2007 Event Strategists of the Year. Here's the first.
In February 2006, as Rodale was bringing its event marketing efforts in-house, the Emmaus, Pennsylvania-based magazine publisher hired Bouker Pool to manage it. His mandate was to dedicate the resources and oversight needed to capitalize on a race series and other events tied to the company’s well-known titles, which include Runner’s World and Men’s Health.
Pool, 35, began sorting through a program that was previously managed by a third-party agency—a situation he contends wasn’t working—and devising ways to improve it. Less than two years later, Rodale’s Sports Marketing and Events Group, which sponsors more than 6,000 running, cycling, and competitive athletic events annually, is thriving: Revenues skyrocketed 169 percent in fiscal year 2007. In the process, Pool and his full-time staff of six have sold both their peers and their clients on a strategy that integrates magazine ads with three-dimensional, one-on-one customer experiences.
Explain the range of events your clients sponsor.
Obviously, we have proprietary events in-house, such as the Best Life film festival, but our approach is to listen to clients and not try to shoehorn them into a proprietary event if it doesn’t fit, because we have the capability to go beyond our walls to create a custom program. We have relationships with more than 6,000 other events and festival expos in the company’s portfolio of events.How were events viewed at Rodale when you took the job?
My direct boss [Andrew Hersam, vice president and publishing director for Runner’s World Media Group] was the one who was convinced [of the value of events] because of all the little things events did to support the growth of Runner’s World. And upper management saw that, but it was always sort of on the chopping block. When I came in, I felt very insecure with the position for the first six to nine months. I really felt like I had to resell the events program [internally] and find the ways in creating a business plan that we could monetize it and show that it belonged as a part of Rodale.
What was your strategy?
The first year was basically bringing all the process back in-house and setting things straight. As my boss said, “Dig through the pile of spaghetti.” We had a lot of these little things that were happening—sampling programs going on and editors speaking at events—but there was no one within Rodale having any sort of oversight. So it was peeling back, layer by layer, each thing that was going on and how that affected the [profit and loss], which was kind of a mess, asking, “Why do we have so much going out and little coming in, and where is the opportunity?” In the process, I had to reestablish the foundation and strengthen our relationships with the people who run the 7,500 events we have in our database.
Once you established order, how did you resell events internally?
I presented to each marketing group about how they could leverage events. The fact that the message was coming from someone who worked for Rodale and had skin in the game helped. I said, “I’m here as an employee of Rodale—if I don’t deliver, I’m out of here.” We went to every sales meeting and offered to join [salespeople] in any meeting they wanted us to attend with a client to help them look for additional dollars. It was just really getting in front of them and spending time with them, saying, “We don’t want to take your relationships with your clients, but we’re experts in events and we’re happy to help you find ways to drive additional revenues.” Assisting our sales-people and our integrated marketing group to drive incremental revenue was the first foothold.
Can you give an example of a client win that helped convince salespeople of the group’s value?
One of our advertisers, a nutrition company, was doing its event marketing with another publishing company. Rodale had really struggled to bring them into a program where they were buying pages across all our books and having that integrated with their event sponsorships and marketing. Our events group led a group presentation about the value of utilizing Rodale against all of our platforms, and we ended up winning their events business, as well as additional online and print revenues.
How is your group convincing clients that sponsorships can be leveraged in creative, untraditional ways?
Traditionally, Saturn looked at sponsorships on a big level. It was sponsoring the Boston Marathon and other major marathons, and found it was talking to runners after they had already trained for this big event and wasn’t starting their conversation with them early enough. We devised a way through our events to create a grassroots feeder program where they have a conversation with people 16 weeks out when they start their training with the little 5Ks and 10Ks, and let the local dealers create leads out of those events. So we were able to take a national message for Saturn and bring it to the local level by involving dealers. And we’ve taken that approach with other brands, too.
Prior to your current position, you founded an experiential marketing and sponsorship consultation firm in Denver. How is that experience helping you now?
[I know] how to run a business. I really approach the Rodale events group as a start-up. From running my own company and having the understanding of [profit and loss] and accounting and invoicing, all the way to HR, I could get the events group up and running without having to ask too many questions. Once I understood how Rodale did things, I used my experiences to formulate a business plan and build it out. And the fact that [my peers] saw that I had done something successful on my own, they were wiling to say, OK, this guy could probably handle it. When running a business, you also have to know how to assemble a team.
What were you looking for out of the hires in your events group?
The events industry is interesting because the skill set is unique. It’s understanding contracts, venues, sponsorships, and return on investment. There are so many standard units of measure for traditional advertising; events and sponsorships really don’t have a standard way of evaluating that value for advertisers and core sponsors. So I need someone who has an understanding of the different ways things are valued. I also look for people who have been out in the field and have actually handed out samples, have ridden on a mobile marketing tour. Until you’re in the trenches, there’s just that disconnect between planning it and actually doing it.
Can you give me an example of a hire who’s worked out particularly well?
Initially, I had to hire a sales guy to really be the nuts and bolts. I interviewed probably 20 people, including great people from ESPN and other big magazines. But the man I ended up hiring worked for a really small regional magazine. His knack for communicating with clients is uncanny. He can be talking to an advertiser who is having a tough time getting the dollars and cents of event marketing or buying into a sponsorship, and he can explain it in such a way that you can see a client’s face go, A-ha, I get it.
Had you seen a change in the way people view events even before Rodale pursued you?
I’ve been in the [sports marketing] industry for almost 15 years and have absolutely seen how everyone is taking a different approach to it and integrating it into marketing mixes and utilizing it in different ways. It is a growing field by no small margin. People who are doing it well and are really getting it aren’t forgoing the traditional media—they’re creating integrated programs and touch points with consumers across all the platforms and continuity across everything. They aren’t saying, “We’re going to do events now and get rid of some of our print.”
Do you think that’s what Rodale’s own salespeople feared when you started?
Absolutely. They see some buckets of money shifting, and in certain circumstances, some brands are taking money from traditional buckets and putting it into sampling or event marketing or hospitality programs. But companies that have had the most success are keeping continuity across most of their lines of advertising. They still have to communicate to the masses in a way people are used to. It’s not shifting overnight to where people are saying, "OK, I’m not watching TV, I’m not reading magazines."
Have you had situations where clients have come into the magazine through the event marketing group?
We haven’t seen it too much, but we’ve had a couple of conversations with companies that do a lot of event marketing that haven’t been in the magazine a lot. We’re about to put a big program together with Crocs. They’re a big event company and a big sponsorship corporation and don’t do a lot of traditional media, and someone from their agency approached us through the events group. It’s been a back-and-forth now for about six months. It’s not a done deal yet, but it is something that did come through the events group that could be a really significant client with Rodale, and across all the mediums, including print.
How was that received by the organization as a whole?
They think it’s great. We’ve kind of come out of hiding a little bit within Rodale. Early on it was, Stay under the radar, get some programs under our belt, do some great execution, and secure the revenues to hit our budget, and then we have a story to tell. And our story is great right now. We just launched a Nissan program, and Toyota is calling. It’s coming to the point that seeing is believing, and that’s going to launch us into the next phase as an events group.
MORE FROM BOUKER POOL
How He Keeps Up With Industry Trends: “There is so much industry information out there, and with a lot of my time spent traveling, I scan trade publications and Web sites and download information to read while on the road. I also attend industry events and participate in events to ‘secret shop’ our own executions as well as those of the competition.”
What’s Not in His Job Description: “We are building a business from scratch, so my job description encompasses a little bit of everything.”
What He’s Reading: Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Cahn Kim and Pudd’nhead Wilson by Mark Twain
Biggest Accomplishment of 2007: “Finding a way to keep my job and convince management that having an events department is a smart investment.”
Goals for 2008: “Keep my job. Growing the business 30 percent, with the addition of new clients and retaining current clients. And proactively creating marketing opportunities for brands and agencies, which then drive print and online spending with our Rodale brands.”
How He Sees Events Changing: “While events are being recognized as an important marketing tactic, the real change is how events are becoming more enriched with content, drawing in consumers, and creating longer and better consumer interaction.”
How His Job Is Changing: “Advertisers have developed a more sophisticated understanding of events and are more focused on interacting directly with the consumer, allowing our brands to be more proactive and creative in developing strategic event programs. This has increased the importance of our sports marketing and events team. In addition, we continually identify trends and business opportunities in order to enhance both the consumer’s and advertiser’s experience with Rodale’s brands.”
Favorite New Technology: “The evolution of cell phones from text messaging to picture-sharing to GPS and music.”
How He Measures ROI: “Before each program, we work closely with the client to make sure we develop a set of measurable criteria, all the while making sure we have the tactics in place to deliver the relevant data back to the client.”
What His Boss Says: Andrew Hersam, vice president and publishing director for Runner's World Media Group, says, “What makes Bouker and his team the best in the business is their vigilance in consistently rethinking consumer engagement and applying new strategies to exceed marketers’ objectives.”
In February 2006, as Rodale was bringing its event marketing efforts in-house, the Emmaus, Pennsylvania-based magazine publisher hired Bouker Pool to manage it. His mandate was to dedicate the resources and oversight needed to capitalize on a race series and other events tied to the company’s well-known titles, which include Runner’s World and Men’s Health.
Pool, 35, began sorting through a program that was previously managed by a third-party agency—a situation he contends wasn’t working—and devising ways to improve it. Less than two years later, Rodale’s Sports Marketing and Events Group, which sponsors more than 6,000 running, cycling, and competitive athletic events annually, is thriving: Revenues skyrocketed 169 percent in fiscal year 2007. In the process, Pool and his full-time staff of six have sold both their peers and their clients on a strategy that integrates magazine ads with three-dimensional, one-on-one customer experiences.
Explain the range of events your clients sponsor.
Obviously, we have proprietary events in-house, such as the Best Life film festival, but our approach is to listen to clients and not try to shoehorn them into a proprietary event if it doesn’t fit, because we have the capability to go beyond our walls to create a custom program. We have relationships with more than 6,000 other events and festival expos in the company’s portfolio of events.How were events viewed at Rodale when you took the job?
My direct boss [Andrew Hersam, vice president and publishing director for Runner’s World Media Group] was the one who was convinced [of the value of events] because of all the little things events did to support the growth of Runner’s World. And upper management saw that, but it was always sort of on the chopping block. When I came in, I felt very insecure with the position for the first six to nine months. I really felt like I had to resell the events program [internally] and find the ways in creating a business plan that we could monetize it and show that it belonged as a part of Rodale.
What was your strategy?
The first year was basically bringing all the process back in-house and setting things straight. As my boss said, “Dig through the pile of spaghetti.” We had a lot of these little things that were happening—sampling programs going on and editors speaking at events—but there was no one within Rodale having any sort of oversight. So it was peeling back, layer by layer, each thing that was going on and how that affected the [profit and loss], which was kind of a mess, asking, “Why do we have so much going out and little coming in, and where is the opportunity?” In the process, I had to reestablish the foundation and strengthen our relationships with the people who run the 7,500 events we have in our database.
Once you established order, how did you resell events internally?
I presented to each marketing group about how they could leverage events. The fact that the message was coming from someone who worked for Rodale and had skin in the game helped. I said, “I’m here as an employee of Rodale—if I don’t deliver, I’m out of here.” We went to every sales meeting and offered to join [salespeople] in any meeting they wanted us to attend with a client to help them look for additional dollars. It was just really getting in front of them and spending time with them, saying, “We don’t want to take your relationships with your clients, but we’re experts in events and we’re happy to help you find ways to drive additional revenues.” Assisting our sales-people and our integrated marketing group to drive incremental revenue was the first foothold.
Can you give an example of a client win that helped convince salespeople of the group’s value?
One of our advertisers, a nutrition company, was doing its event marketing with another publishing company. Rodale had really struggled to bring them into a program where they were buying pages across all our books and having that integrated with their event sponsorships and marketing. Our events group led a group presentation about the value of utilizing Rodale against all of our platforms, and we ended up winning their events business, as well as additional online and print revenues.
How is your group convincing clients that sponsorships can be leveraged in creative, untraditional ways?
Traditionally, Saturn looked at sponsorships on a big level. It was sponsoring the Boston Marathon and other major marathons, and found it was talking to runners after they had already trained for this big event and wasn’t starting their conversation with them early enough. We devised a way through our events to create a grassroots feeder program where they have a conversation with people 16 weeks out when they start their training with the little 5Ks and 10Ks, and let the local dealers create leads out of those events. So we were able to take a national message for Saturn and bring it to the local level by involving dealers. And we’ve taken that approach with other brands, too.
Prior to your current position, you founded an experiential marketing and sponsorship consultation firm in Denver. How is that experience helping you now?
[I know] how to run a business. I really approach the Rodale events group as a start-up. From running my own company and having the understanding of [profit and loss] and accounting and invoicing, all the way to HR, I could get the events group up and running without having to ask too many questions. Once I understood how Rodale did things, I used my experiences to formulate a business plan and build it out. And the fact that [my peers] saw that I had done something successful on my own, they were wiling to say, OK, this guy could probably handle it. When running a business, you also have to know how to assemble a team.
What were you looking for out of the hires in your events group?
The events industry is interesting because the skill set is unique. It’s understanding contracts, venues, sponsorships, and return on investment. There are so many standard units of measure for traditional advertising; events and sponsorships really don’t have a standard way of evaluating that value for advertisers and core sponsors. So I need someone who has an understanding of the different ways things are valued. I also look for people who have been out in the field and have actually handed out samples, have ridden on a mobile marketing tour. Until you’re in the trenches, there’s just that disconnect between planning it and actually doing it.
Can you give me an example of a hire who’s worked out particularly well?
Initially, I had to hire a sales guy to really be the nuts and bolts. I interviewed probably 20 people, including great people from ESPN and other big magazines. But the man I ended up hiring worked for a really small regional magazine. His knack for communicating with clients is uncanny. He can be talking to an advertiser who is having a tough time getting the dollars and cents of event marketing or buying into a sponsorship, and he can explain it in such a way that you can see a client’s face go, A-ha, I get it.
Had you seen a change in the way people view events even before Rodale pursued you?
I’ve been in the [sports marketing] industry for almost 15 years and have absolutely seen how everyone is taking a different approach to it and integrating it into marketing mixes and utilizing it in different ways. It is a growing field by no small margin. People who are doing it well and are really getting it aren’t forgoing the traditional media—they’re creating integrated programs and touch points with consumers across all the platforms and continuity across everything. They aren’t saying, “We’re going to do events now and get rid of some of our print.”
Do you think that’s what Rodale’s own salespeople feared when you started?
Absolutely. They see some buckets of money shifting, and in certain circumstances, some brands are taking money from traditional buckets and putting it into sampling or event marketing or hospitality programs. But companies that have had the most success are keeping continuity across most of their lines of advertising. They still have to communicate to the masses in a way people are used to. It’s not shifting overnight to where people are saying, "OK, I’m not watching TV, I’m not reading magazines."
Have you had situations where clients have come into the magazine through the event marketing group?
We haven’t seen it too much, but we’ve had a couple of conversations with companies that do a lot of event marketing that haven’t been in the magazine a lot. We’re about to put a big program together with Crocs. They’re a big event company and a big sponsorship corporation and don’t do a lot of traditional media, and someone from their agency approached us through the events group. It’s been a back-and-forth now for about six months. It’s not a done deal yet, but it is something that did come through the events group that could be a really significant client with Rodale, and across all the mediums, including print.
How was that received by the organization as a whole?
They think it’s great. We’ve kind of come out of hiding a little bit within Rodale. Early on it was, Stay under the radar, get some programs under our belt, do some great execution, and secure the revenues to hit our budget, and then we have a story to tell. And our story is great right now. We just launched a Nissan program, and Toyota is calling. It’s coming to the point that seeing is believing, and that’s going to launch us into the next phase as an events group.
MORE FROM BOUKER POOL
How He Keeps Up With Industry Trends: “There is so much industry information out there, and with a lot of my time spent traveling, I scan trade publications and Web sites and download information to read while on the road. I also attend industry events and participate in events to ‘secret shop’ our own executions as well as those of the competition.”
What’s Not in His Job Description: “We are building a business from scratch, so my job description encompasses a little bit of everything.”
What He’s Reading: Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Cahn Kim and Pudd’nhead Wilson by Mark Twain
Biggest Accomplishment of 2007: “Finding a way to keep my job and convince management that having an events department is a smart investment.”
Goals for 2008: “Keep my job. Growing the business 30 percent, with the addition of new clients and retaining current clients. And proactively creating marketing opportunities for brands and agencies, which then drive print and online spending with our Rodale brands.”
How He Sees Events Changing: “While events are being recognized as an important marketing tactic, the real change is how events are becoming more enriched with content, drawing in consumers, and creating longer and better consumer interaction.”
How His Job Is Changing: “Advertisers have developed a more sophisticated understanding of events and are more focused on interacting directly with the consumer, allowing our brands to be more proactive and creative in developing strategic event programs. This has increased the importance of our sports marketing and events team. In addition, we continually identify trends and business opportunities in order to enhance both the consumer’s and advertiser’s experience with Rodale’s brands.”
Favorite New Technology: “The evolution of cell phones from text messaging to picture-sharing to GPS and music.”
How He Measures ROI: “Before each program, we work closely with the client to make sure we develop a set of measurable criteria, all the while making sure we have the tactics in place to deliver the relevant data back to the client.”
What His Boss Says: Andrew Hersam, vice president and publishing director for Runner's World Media Group, says, “What makes Bouker and his team the best in the business is their vigilance in consistently rethinking consumer engagement and applying new strategies to exceed marketers’ objectives.”
