To be absolutely clear, my concerns do not in any way
reflect on the fine work of Deb Jahnke and her staff
in Business Services who no doubt did not make the policy decision to pursue this
arrangement. Nor do I believe it is in the purview of individual Board Members to
direct the COO to pursue an advertising/sponsorship opportunities for LoTW. My understanding is that if there is such direction
it would come from the Board as an entity or from the Administration and
Finance Committee. Perhaps some further expansion of the specifics of this
Board Member “direction” would be valuable.
Addressing the specifics of this decision it appears that first
quarter revenues have already reached $11,678. Apparently that amount is
already about 74% of the total annual goal. Moreover, LoTW
credit revenue is rapidly increasing.
Assuming credit revenues continue at the same pace for the balance of
the year, it would appear annual credit revenue would be on the order of
$47,000. Even given those encouraging resultso,
according to Harold’s note that amount “it is no where near what is
required to support the service.”
In light of those facts it is perplexing why senior staff would
approve a commitment to“ a non-exclusive
commitment of $6,000 for one year” to characterize Yaesu
as “Principal Sponsor” of a service with development costs of
several hundreds of thousands of dollars
and an annual expense in excess of $50,000.
Even the most cursory glance at these numbers give lie to the contention
Yaesu is “Principal Sponsor” of LoTW. It is barely a significant contributor to annual
operating costs. As a point of reference, if my recollection is correct $6,000 is less than we charge for two full page ads in a single
issue of QST. One more thing puzzles me. How can an agreement to name an entity
as “Principal Sponsor” be non-exclusive? Is it possible to have more
than one “Principal Sponsor”?
If anyone is surprised by my reaction to this development I
should point out that we had a nearly identical discussion a couple of years
ago when Icom was initially named “Principal
Sponsor” of ARRL Sweepstakes. In that instance Icom
underwrote a substantial portion of the cost of SS Plaques. After some “animated”
Board discussion it was determined that the term “Principal Sponsor”
was not an appropriate term and Icom was identified
as “Principal Awards Sponsor. I would have thought that consideration for
concern expressed at that time would have warranted some discussion with the
Board or at least A&F prior committing the organization to use of the term ”Principal
Sponsor.”
It has been said that “(s)ometimes these opportunities arise quickly and we
need to act on them.” Maybe so,
but that doesn’t make it a good idea, particularly when there is a history
of Board
concern on a similar issue.
It has also been said there was a “continuing issue of
confidentiality” and “Yaesu was adamant
that we keep these business negotiations confidential.” No doubt this was important to Yaesu. Why would we think the “sale” or “rental”
of the name and goodwill ARRL has built up over nearly 100 years is any less important
or any less valuable? Let’s face facts,
the only reason Yaesu had any interest in this arrangement
is because of the value of the name, reputation and goodwill in the Amateur
community that ARRL has built over generations of Amateurs..
We proudly declare ARRL as “the national association
of Amateur Radio” and proclaim ARRL as the leading voice of Amateur Radio
in Public Service, Advocacy, Education, Technology. We
say we are the voice of our members. How
do square that with bartering the name of ARRL for a paltry $6,000? This can’t be equated with advertising in
QST. It is much more than simply providing a space to promote their products.
Identifying Yaesu or anyone else as a “Principal
Sponsor” of an ARRL activity suggests that entity has a relationship with
ARRL and prominent role in the creation or operation of the activity. No matter
how you view the facts of this action that simply isn’t true in the case
of Yaesu and LoTW.
I believe this is flat out wrong, but even if you feel
differently, I can’t imagine anyone on this Board believes $6,000 per
year is “Principal Sponsorship” of LoTW.
Jay, KØQB
-----Original Message-----
From: Kramer, Harold, WJ1B
[mailto:wj1b@arrl.org]
Sent:
To: arrl-odv
Cc: Jahnke, Deb, K1DAJ
Subject: [arrl-odv:16736] Logbook of the World Sponsorship
To:ODV
From: Harold Kramer
Re: Yaesu and Logbook of the World/ Jay Bellow’s email
It would be next to impossible for any organization to pay for half
the development costs and operation of LoTW that, to date, ARRL has fully
funded by itself. I was not here for the original development efforts and
costs, but I know that they were considerable. Today, Kathy Allison
provides full time Logbook support along with help from Jon Bloom, Dave Patton,
Norm Fusaro and others. In the past year, we have also spent money to
upgrade the Logbook hardware and software to meet the increasing number of QSOs
and users.
. Board Members have also directed me to pursue
advertising/sponsorship opportunities for LoTW. I accepted this as my
charge. This lack of revenue for LoTW was discussed extensively at
previous A & F Committee meetings. In the 2008 budget, LoTW revenue
from award credits for this year is budgeted at $15,735. We were
pleasantly surprised that first quarter revenues were $11,678 about 74% of the
total annual goal, so credit revenue is definitely increasing. However,
it is no where near what is required to support the service.
That’s why we were seeking additional revenue. Yaesu
has committed to a non-exclusive commitment of $6,000 for one year. Their
sponsorship only commits us to displaying a banner ad on the LoTW pages on our
web site and lets them hang a banner at
In addition, we were careful to use similar language, i.e.
Principal Sponsor, that we currently use for the Icom sponsorship of
Sweepstakes and West Mountain Radio’s sponsorship of the RTTY
Contest. The term “Principal Awards Sponsor” cannot be
easily applied to LoTW. We also used the operational guidelines for
sponsorship that we developed for the Icom Sponsorship. If I recall
correctly, members of the previous P and S Committee prompted me to draft these
guidelines and the Committee consequently reviewed them. There have been
other precedents for this type of arrangement. We placed logos, banners
and even created unique pages on our web site for United Technologies, Dayton
Amateur Radio Association (DARA) and CNCS (Corporation for National and
Community Service.) for the grant programs that they funded.
Yaesu’s commitment of $6,000 for one year is the prevailing
market rate. By today’s standards, a banner ad is a very low
impact, ineffective Web ad. There is no interactivity, motion, audio or
video. It is not “served” or customized to an individual user
like more sophisticated Web ads. The traffic to the site is about 35,000
page views a day. This includes a count of each individual page that is
viewed by a user. In terms of advertising numbers, this is a low traffic
site with a very targeted audience
The trigger for this relationship was the fact that LoTW finally
hit 20,000 users. I certainly would have brought this up at the A &F
Committee, but we had not begun discussions with Yaesu at that time.
Sometimes these opportunities arise quickly and we need to act on them.
There is also the continuing issue of confidentiality. Yaesu was adamant
that we keep these business negotiations confidential.
In addition, there is benefit to us in having a company like Yaesu
advertise/sponsor the Logbook site. First, Yaesu will also publicize the
LoTW service for us. This is a type of relationship that will benefit
ARRL. Yaesu’s sponsorship will create more interest in the amateur
radio community about LoTW. Yaesu sponsored IOTA in the past, so they have
some experience in this area. Given the stiff competition in the amateur
radio industry, our having a major manufacturer like Yaesu support LoTW invites
other, more risk adverse advertisers to participate. It sets a good
precedent for future support from advertisers, individuals and
foundations. It says that “Logbook of the World has
arrived.” All previous funding attempts for LoTW including grants,
sponsorships, and advertising have been unsuccessful to this point. The
ARRL/Yaesu relationships will l hopefully be a real ice-breaker that will lead
us to additional support and recognition.
With regard to LoTW updates, according to our Operational goals for
2008, as approved by the Board, we still anticipate that we will add another
LoTW award in the third quarter of this year. This plan is in place and
moving forward.
Finally, I would like to note that Deb Jahnke and her staff in Business
Services worked hard to make this happen. For the reasons above, this was
not an easy “sell.” That have met or exceeded their budget
every month this year often “pitching” the same accounts over and
over and using creative print advertising techniques (check out the June QST)
and a sophisticated, consultative approach to advertising to achieve
their goal. As all of you know, the advertising revenue of $2.66 million
this year that they generate from Yaesu and other advertisers help us pay for
many other programs in ARRL that are not funded by member dues.
I hope that this information is helpful.
73,
Harold
Harold Kramer, WJ1B
Chief Operating Officer
ARRL - The national association
for Amateur Radio
Telephone: 860 594 0220
email: hkramer@arrl.org
web: www.arrl.org/