Resume
Melinda Gipson
Business Developer & Strategist; Interactive Marketing/Communications Pro
Contact: 623 Burberry Ter., SE, Leesburg, VA 20175
C: 703-887-7933; Melinda.gipson@ gmail.com; aim:melindag, Opportunopoly at NAA.org, @newzmaven
Marketing/Business Development Consultant: May 2008-Present
In just the few months since leaving GateHouse Media, I have crafted multiple online publishing partnerships and refined marketing presentations for Reston-based Mobile Discovery; conducted key market research for Boston-based MetaCarta and Grouptivity, and revamped their sales strategies; and resumed blogging for the Newspaper Association under the flag “Opportunopoly.” In addition to spotlighting interactive publishing opportunities, I’ve created a new, innovative community forum-based ad unit that could enhance the bottom line of any B2B publishing enterprise. MetaCarta has endorsed my work on LinkedIn. Mobile Discovery was so pleased with my performance it asked me to join its advisory board. My work with such pioneering Internet entrepreneurs puts me on the front lines of communications and publishing innovation online.
GateHouse Media Internet Strategy & Business Dev. Dir.: October 2006-May 2008
At GHS I tackled top-line revenue opportunities that eluded less innovative newspaper publishing companies. 18-month project highlights:
• Launched a new national TotallyLocal brand that encompasses all of GateHouse’s e-commerce content
• Initiated participation in the Newspaper Consortium (a landmark cooperation among U.S. newspaper publishers), then managed GHS’s Yahoo relationship on the Joint Steering Committee
• Crafted the participation and roll-out schedule for Yahoo! HotJobs (national/local recruiting site) across hundreds of GHS properties; initiated console design and feed administration; managed the hand-off to field training and finance; continued Joint Steering Committee participation until I launched a local online shopping search portal
• Participated in the transition/assimilation of first Gannett, then Morris newspaper acquisitions by GHS
• Served as the entry point for all vendor relationships and managed GHS relationship with multiple vendors of key services
• Structured and managed innovative new strategic partnerships, one of which serves as the basis for a new, national retail pay-for-performance marketing program. Created all the marketing and initiated sales training and sales nationwide.
• Managed the search and selection of an auto classifieds contractor
• Managed Google relationship on several levels, including introduction of Google Print and an adwords reseller agreement.
• Partnered with, launched, designed and managed the rollout of a search-based shopping service while continuing to review other basic building blocks such as email and user-generated content. Served as the strategic check and balance to help determine revenue-based priorities for technology introduction/implementation.
• Created the PowerShopper Blog as a means of encouraging locally-targeted, user-generated retail reviews.
Newspaper Association of America – Electronic Media Director: 1995-2006
During my tenure at NAA, I was considered the leading strategist and advocate for the interactive newspaper industry. Acted as an online publishing evangelist, helped industry leaders forge the kinds of technology and marketing partnerships necessary to build larger audiences and reap sustainable revenue. As NAA Director of New Media Business Development, I developed the association Web site (www.naa.org), NewsVoyager.com, The Digital Edge (www.digitaledge.org), AdConnections.org and its successor the NADbase, and the Local News Gateway (lngate.com). The latter, created in 2001 after an innovative Wireless Pilot Project I conducted with a group of 20 newspaper pioneers, was the newspaper industry’s first-ever mobile index. While at NAA, I also:
• Was the lead NAA staff support of the New Media Federation Board, the advisory panel charged with steering the 900-member New Media Federation and crafting its annual budget. During my tenure, the federation reached its peak membership and engagement.
• Launched New Business Development Task Force, hosting meetings on new business opportunities uniting newspaper industry leaders with technology industry innovators. The group targeted online advertising innovation, pushing the envelope on rich media advertising online, wireless publishing and e-commerce. It also launched a nationwide digital agency outreach program that was directly responsible for more than $6 million in incremental revenue to online newspapers. After just two years with the association, I was named Digital Edge Pioneer, an honor reserved for the single person in any given year most responsible for the industry’s progress and innovation.
• Crafted the first curriculum for the Minority New Media Fellowship Program, a groundbreaking leadership training program to better equip and diversify newspaper industry executives.
• Served as liaison to the NAA Technology Committee, supporting senior newspaper CTOs in their standards, research and educational initiatives. I developed a high-level understanding of, and had direct involvement with, many evolving industry standards such as AdsML, IAB rich media ad units, video advertising, and user registration/privacy standards.
• In early 2005, created a partnership of 17 newspapers to engage in a multi-year cross-media optimization study (XMOS) with major marketers in collaboration with the Advertising Research Foundation, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and the ANA. The program helped shape the metrics by which online newspaper audiences and ad effectiveness are measured.
• Explored winning strategies, partnerships and technology for online publishers, crafted several marketing relationships with technologists targeting the newspaper industry, and created a range of promotional opportunities for companies to sell services to online newspapers, including the Digital Living Room at NEXPO in ‘06. I also personally negotiated multiple vendor contracts with the NAA for Web and mobile services.
• Was responsible for a significant portion of programming for the annual newspaper new media show, CONNECTIONS
• Was, and continue to be, widely sought after as a speaker on innovations in online publishing. I have quality relationships in both analytic and editorial/journalism circles. Recent appearances include keynote addresses in Helsinki, Finland (October 2008), CityGate Stockholm (March 2008), Beyond the Printed Word (Dublin, 2007), the World Association of Newspapers’ publisher’s conference in Istanbul and IFRA in Prague (2004), WAN’s Strategic Leadership Summit in Moscow, Beyond the Printed Word in Barcelona (2002), the Pacific American Newspaper Publishers’ conference in Sydney, Australia (2000); and regular appearances at Internet World, NY, LA and Toronto.
Education
• LeaderPoint Institute, The Executive Experience, January 2008
• University of Maryland Leadership Training Program, 2003
• MBA Certificate of Achievement, Kogod School of Business, American University, 2000
• Adjunct professor, Advertising and Marketing on the Internet, Kogod School of Business, American University, 6/1/1999-5/31/2002.
• MSJ 1980, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University.
• BA 1979 in Literature and French, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL.
References: http://www.linkedin.com/in/melindag
A publications appendix follows.
Publications and Additional Career History
Blogger
Newzmaven.com and more often at NAA’s Community Website: http://community.naa.org/blogs/opportunopoly/. Proficient at YouTube, Podcasting and Twitter.
Newspaper Industry Publications
Authored most of the analytical and business tutorials in online publishing for the NAA for a decade including the Google white paper (2006), Online Marketing Toolkit (2005), Online Classified innovators (2004), Playing the Game to Win: Keys to Online Profitability, Streaming Advertising: Lessons from the Front (2002), Info to Go: Key Findings and Recommendations on Wireless Publishing (2002), How to Sell Online Advertising (1999), Winning the Digital Ad Wars, a book and training video targeted to help online newspapers maximize ad revenues (1998), Web.Help: a guide to launching a newspaper Web site (1997), Opportunities in Anarchy: A Blueprint for Building Online Services (1995).
Contract Author
Beyond regular columns in Advertising Age and SRDS’s Interactive Edition, wrote:
• The Future of Broadband: Trendsetters, Technology and the Impact on Content, Simba Information Inc., 2001
• Electronic Marketplace 2003, Simba, 2000, and
• She was cited in Harvard Business Review, May 2002, “Disruptive Change: When Trying Harder is Part of the Problem” for contributions to a year-long doctoral study of innovation among traditional publishers.
Prior to NAA: Editor, Publications and Audience Development, VP New Starts
• Immediately prior to joining NAA, I launched the Washington coverage for Paul Kagan’s Baseline online media industry news service, but this followed more than a decade of intensive editorial product launches.
• In late 1994, I created Multimedia Daily, an executive fax bulletin on online media, the third in a string of successful business-to-business publications she launched for Pasha Publications in two years, and took it to $500K in revenue in 6 months.
• From 1985-1991, I edited Space Business News. Earned first place awards in every category recognized by the Newsletter Association, and first prize in breaking news from the National Press Foundation (National Press Club’s top newsletter award). During this period, also pioneered coverage of interactive media for Electronic Media and freelanced widely (Philadelphia Inquirer, Regardies, New York Times.) Previous works for Pasha include Microspace Renaissance, the definitive guide to small satellites, 1992. Edited World Guide to Commercial Launch Vehicles, 1991; and Space Station Directory and Program Guide, 1990.
• From 1983-1985, was International Editor for Communications Daily and Managing Editor of Satellite News, business-to-business newsletters from Warren Publishing.
• In 1980, founded the Washington Bureau of Religious News Service, and was a leading member of the Washington and White House Press Corps.
