While the restructuring of Bookspan will have no effect on consumers belonging to the company's more than 35 book clubs, it will let the club marketer and operator expand its business under two new divisions. Bookspan is a partnership of Bertelsmann AG and Time Warner Inc.
Bookspan completed the restructuring Jan. 1, becoming a parent organization with two subsidiaries, the Doubleday Entertainment book club division and the YES Solutions operational and creative services division, said Janet Wolf, senior vice president, human resources and administration for Bookspan, Garden City, NY.
“Our consumers are marketed to and respond positively to the name of their selected book club,” she said. “The relationship a club member develops has always been and will always remain with the individual club that they belong to. The subsidiary names Doubleday Entertainment and YES Solutions are used in a business-to-business context.”
Under the new structure, Doubleday Entertainment will continue to market the book clubs to consumers through the mail and on the Web. Doubleday also is based in Garden City.
“We chose the name Doubleday Entertainment because of its huge name recognition, and we already owned the name Doubleday, which has an enormous credibility factor,” Wolf said. “Entertainment was selected because it evokes excitement and gives us the flexibility to expand our business.”
YES Solutions, Hanover, PA, will continue to provide creative and operational services to its largest client, Doubleday Entertainment, while it also offers its services to other multichannel marketers.
“In essence, YES Solutions is a brand-new 70-year-old company,” Wolf said. “Over the years, Bookspan has been providing its customers — over 7 million members in over 35 book clubs — with the highest quality service. YES Solutions provides operational and creative services to multichannel direct marketers, national retailers and BTB enterprises. Among those services are distribution; customer service operations; order fulfillment; as well as creative services and comprehensive digital photography for print and the Internet, specializing in rotation, animation, and zoom photography.”
YES Solutions has signed about 10 outside clients for its services including Hasbro Inc., Sara Lee, Dorchester Publishing and Lego. It handles shipments from toy maker Hasbro's Web site, hasbrotoyshop.com, and ships main selections for the Dorchester Publishing Romance and Leisure Book Clubs as well as providing photography services for Lego and Sara Lee.
To attract more clients, Wolf said, YES Solutions will exhibit at industry-related trade shows, advertise in trade press and be highly visible in its marketing. Some of the markets it plans to target are apparel, home textiles, housewares, toys, travel accessories, decorative/architectural hardware and electronics.
Kristen Bremner covers list news, insert media, privacy and fundraising for DM News and DMNews.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters
