Bette Blum

Brandweek, Dec 6, 1999 by Tony Case

To get an indication of how close Bette Blum is to her contacts in the newspaper business, one need look no further than her sand collection. Blum, senior manager/media services for Alamo Rent-A-car, collects sand from beaches around the world and has enlisted her friends in the industry to collect sediment from their trips abroad, which Blum then transfers to spice jars and proudly displays in her home. Those loyal friends have helped Blum compile dozens of sand samples from such diverse locales as Israel, Argentina and Bora Bora.

"All my reps know about my sand," says Blum, who spent childhood summers on the Jersey Shore and says the beach is "probably the closest thing to my heart"--and, in fact, the reason she lives in the Sunshine State. "A lot of my reps are my friends," she explains, "because I think the more you deal with somebody and the more you get to know somebody, the easier it is to work with them."

Mediaweek's choice for newspaper planning All-Star, Blum oversees $5.5 million in annual newspaper ad spending for Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Alamo, the nation's third-largest car rental company with $1.5 billion in revenues. Alamo's ads--featuring the slogan "Drive Happy," created by Foote Cone & Belding, New York--appear in 75 newspapers throughout the U.S., Canada and Latin America, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe and Washington Post.

Besides their willingness to scoop sand for their client, those contacts can't say enough good words about Blum's professionalism and media expertise.

"Bette Blum--aside from being one of my favorite clients--is a woman I have to think about when I go on vacation," jokes Liane Lowy, account manager in the Miami national sales office of the New York Times, who has dealt with Blum for the past eight years. "She has huge knowledge of the business. She knows her newspapers, she knows her markets." She calls Blum "a great negotiator, a tough negotiator." Lowy calls Alamo "a large campaign" for the Times, and says the paper has conducted focus groups for the advertiser.

Beth Andron, account executive with the rep firm Newspapers First in Hollywood, Fla., seconds that praise. "Bette's knowledge of newspapers and the industry as a whole make her a delight to work with," she says. "Her creativity and keen sense of humor make her a joy to know. She is a wonderful asset to both the world of media and the world of sales. She's just the whole package--she's got everything it takes to make things happen."

Andron's boss, Larry Malloy, vp/Florida region, calls Blum "a thorough professional. Somebody who knows and understands our business, and certainly someone who understands hers." Malloy singled out Blum's strong background in research (she previously worked in research for N.W Ayer & Partners, New York, where she handled such accounts as AT&T, Avon, 7-Up and Gillette). "She brings a very objective mindset to the table when it comes to analyzing all media," Malloy says. Blum has also served as manager/media services at Certified Vacations, where she dealt with such accounts as Delta Vacations, American Express Vacations and Universal Studios, Hollywood.

Debby Steiner, vp/sales for New York-based ad-placement service Media Passage, whose clients include the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Miami Herald, says Blum's "real star qualities are that she works incredibly well under pressure. In the midst of most people having meltdowns over stress and pressure, she never succumbs. She's a real leader, and a motivator. It's all very natural for her. There's no phoniness at all."

At the same time, she says, Blum "is not a pushover. She manages her business and takes her responsibilities as a marketing manager very seriously. But she always makes sure in the midst of a negotiation that everybody wins, that all parties are happy."

Steiner says Media Passage worked for 18 months to get Alamo's business, which it finally landed six months ago. "She did some blind-referencing on us ... and was very professional about weighing what she'd heard. She took a leap of faith and did a test with us, and I really applaud her for that. I think she's terrific, and I can't imagine her not doing business with us."

Blum is a big fan of newspapers. "They definitely reach an upscale audience in each of our top markets. The news environment adds a lot of credibility to the advertising. People tend to take the word of newspapers more than any other medium. People feel they can trust newspapers."

Flexibility is also an asset of the medium, she says. "With newspapers, you can almost make a last-minute change if you have to--and we've had to do that." She recalls that last year, when wildfires in central Florida threatened to keep visitors away, Alamo hastily placed advertising in northern newspapers. "We had to do something immediately, and you can't do TV immediately," she says. "Newspapers really pulled for us."

She points to the industry's relatively competitive CPMs, especially against consumer and trade magazines, which, she says, have a "very high cost per thousand. Nothing is a bargain, but [with newspapers] we know we're getting a decent audience for the money we're spending." Alamo uses an array of media, including consumer and trade magazine, broadcast and cable TV, radio, yellow pages and the Internet.