The Folio: 40

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, March 15, 2001 by Jillian Ambroz, Dale Buss, Terry Fisher, Cindy Gillis, Sarah Gonser, Caroline Jenkins, Michael Kaplan, Mark J. Miller, Bob Moseley, Susan Thea Posnock, Lee Steele, Geoff Van Dyke

Shortly before leaving SA for her current position at U.S. News, Goetz began to focus on another initiative: charging readers to download archived SA articles, in PDF form, from the title's Web site. Although Goetz left SA before the PDF project came to fruition, she used her experience with both CTP and PDF at U.S. News, where she followed a similar production strategy. She tested, then moved the book to CTP, and has implemented a PDF workflow for printing reprints.

Goetz became a crusader for CTP, digital advertising and, through her participation in DDAP (Digital Distribution of Advertising for Publications), for a universal PPD (PostScript Printer Description).

"I looked at a lot of what SA did with CTP when I was with Time--although we didn't end up doing all of the same things," says Frank Scott, the former director of digital development at Time Inc. who led the company's own CTP charge. (Scott currently serves as vice president, director of research for the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation). "I worked with her a lot when we were co-chairs of the DDAP's universal PPD project. Through her efforts, Fast Company was the first magazine to use a universal PPD in its digital ad specs. She really took on the role of pioneer, of innovator, in that area."

CATHYMEROLLE

CAROLINE JENKINS

She's advancing industry acceptance of digital advertising.

Cathy Merolle, New York production director for the Meredith Corporation, vividly remembers a certain Kraft Foods ad she helped manufacture almost 10 years ago for Family Circle, then owned by The New York Times Company: "I feel kind of proud of that particular ad," she says. "It was the first digital ad produced for a gravure title."

Merolle's 30-year career consists of more than one first. In addition to helping produce the first digital ad for a gravure title, she was on the team that first transmitted digital files via WAM!NET, participated in the first Digital Ad Lab case study, and helped standardize listings for ads in SRDS. And at Meredith, Merolle was among the first to embrace digital advertising. When she arrived in the mid-1990s, only "a handful" of ads came in digitally. Today, 85 to 90 percent of ads are digital--and thousands of dollars are being saved in the process.

Since her work with digital advertising began, Merolle has spoken extensively on the topic at conferences, teaches a printing class at New York University, and regularly walks advertisers through the digital workflow at Meredith printing plants.

"Advertising was what was holding everything back," she explains. "Editorial has been 100 percent digital for years. When all the files come in the same way, digitally, things are more predictable and there's more consistency in proofing. Production directors need to know that."

"I think she's contributed most in that area--in education," says Glenn Frazier, director of quality at Meredith. "She's really helped increase the comfort level of advertisers with all digital files. She showed them that digital does work and that they will still like ads done digitally."