NEWS

Stark Unveils their "Build Green Circulation" Campaign

September 7, 2007By Jamie Andrew, Stark Services

Stark Services unveiled its "Build Green Circulation" campaign in early September. The Stark vision is to build magazine circulation with their audience development tools and motivate all magazine industry professionals to use recycled paper. They believe that all print magazines and subscription promotions can and should be printed on recycled paper. Stark is the first fulfillment service bureau to encourage the publishing industry to help end deforestation and reduce carbon dioxide in the air.

Stark Sponsors First CM Webinar

CM's Lively First Webinar
June 27, 2007 By Kristina Joukhadar, CM

Circulation Management presented its first webinar on June 26. The topic was "Strategically Selecting Your Fulfillment Supplier", and it was informative, lively and also a lot of fun.

Stark's Carl David Gets Mentioned in FOLIO's Sept 06 Issue

FOLIO: The Magazine For Magazine Management
Finding a Fulfillment Provider - Seven Tips on Outsourcing Fulfillment
September 2006 Issue By Linda Zebian, FOLIO

Don't mistake tools for goals. Any fulfillment house has the tools, it's how these tools help to accomplish your goals that will lead you to success. "Go through an RFP", says Carl David, vice president of Stark Services. "Having an RFP will help you to be clear in which things are requirements for yourself and which things are wish list. Establish what the dollars-and-cents issues are and what the want-to-haves are."

Carl David
VP STARK SERVICES

CM Features Stark Services in Their Jan/Feb 06 Issue

CM - Circulation Management
State of the Art in Fulfillment - It's not about pushing buttons anymore; the systems do all that. Rather, it's about strategizing and making publishers' data work for them.
January/February 2006 Issue By Jane E. Zarem, CM.

Carl David, VP of marketing at Stark Services, finds that the talent base for the circulation management pool among many of its clients has either disappeared or never existed. Stark markets fulfillment services to independent publishers with one-to-five titles - an equal mix of consumer and b-to-b, both paid and controlled.

"It's a completely different world for magazines with no circulation person on staff," says David, "and a lot of those magazines exist. They certainly represent in number as many as those that do have people on staff."

When it serves the client, Stark bundles circulation support with fulfillment. "That may be the entire circulation management of a magazine, a supplement to the skill set of someone on-site, or help with a spot project," says David. "In other cases, we do fulfillment only. The value for our clients is making the circulation function better, faster and cheaper in terms of both time and money by customizing our service to the publisher's needs."

Circulation, of course, depends on technology, and, like all fulfillment houses, Stark has all the tools. "Frankly," says David, "I talk less about technology with our clients and more about planning and execution. Even when we have a long-term contract to do fulfillment for a publisher, it makes sense to be their active marketing partner. The two go hand in hand. Without a good marketing program, the publisher won't have much to fulfill."

While outsourcing the entire circulation department may not be a trend, Stark is certainly encouraging it for publishers that can benefit from such a strategy. "We think people are spinning their wheels by not having experience and best practices in place and ready to roll out as fast as possible," says David. "We've developed the tool sets to handle any circulation strategy, as well as to help our clients with the whole picture."