DMNews squeezed in an interview with the very busy Andy Sareyan — EVP of Meredith Publishing Group — on David Algire, Meredith’s new VP of retail sales.
David Algire is joining Meredith as VP retail sales. Is this a new position?
The title is new, and the position is new because it’s based in New York. He has a broader set of responsibilities: to run the newsstand group and interface with editors and take some of the experience he’s had for many years through Primedia and Reader’s Digest to help bring us along.
How is this position different from what Meredith has had before?
We didn’t create a new position out of thin air — we’re just tapping one of the finest newsstand marketers in the country who has tremendous experience. Honestly, David is a very seasoned executive who has had a lot of experience in retail sales and the publishing world, and to bring in somebody with his talent and capability and vision is a great thing for Meredith. It’s not a radically new position; it’s just bringing in a guy who has a skill set and a talent and experience base who will help us in this very important part of the business.
Why is it so important to bring in this kind of expertise?
In every publishing company, subscription marketing is awfully important, and newsstand sales are equally important. Newsstands have a lot of visibility. A lot of people use newsstand sales as a barometer of the health of a magazine. It’s a great way to have new readers sample your product, and it’s an important marketing and sales vehicle for us. Newsstand has always been, across the board, an important position in any publishing operation I’ve ever been involved in. Of course, it’s also getting harder. The retail space is a limited resource, and a lot of different products and different publications vie for the same retail space. You want to make sure your products get premium display and get seen and noticed and bought by as many people as possible.
Who will David Algire be working with?
He reports directly to me. David Ball is the VP consumer marketing, and that is our subscription division, so he and David will be very close.
