Harold,
No one is raising an issue with the excellent work that you
and the staff have done is procuring additional revenue sources, particularly
in this area. The concern is over what we’re actually saying, that Yaesu
is the Principal Sponsor of LoTW, which isn’t the case.
If I read your very detailed comments correctly, Yaesu is
actually sponsoring the LoTW web site, not LoTW, and while that may seem like
hair splitting to some it doesn’t to me.
I can accept Yaesu as the Principal Sponsor of the LoTW web
site, but I have a problem with them being identified as the Principal Sponsor
of LoTW.
Something to consider.
73 Joel W5ZN
From: Kramer,
Harold, WJ1B [mailto:wj1b@arrl.org]
Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 5:28
PM
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/