With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/325830
and did an absolutely exemplary job. She remains as a member of the board of directors and a strategic advisor. We could not have built this company without her. Neil Soper came along —Karen actually convinced him to come here—and he was vice president of sales for 25 years, maybe even longer. He did a great job, and helped us grow our businesses and our relationships with our clients. He came from the radio business and was able to adapt the way that radio people do things into print. He attracted lots of good sales people, kept them motivated and was highly respected—and still is. Heather Parker, who is still on our board of directors, was in charge of inance and operations. She did a terriic job and was very valuable. There are other people but I would say those three people have meant the most to me, personally, in building this company. The publishing industry has gone through challenging times over recent years, but through it all the company is still standing. What have been the keys to the company's longevity, and what does it need to do to ensure relevance in the future? The publishing industry worldwide is somewhat challenged. But there are many advertisers and readers who still like magazines. Case in point: the magazine you are reading today is 180 pages. In order for us to continue, we are going to have to look at the various available platforms that we can integrate into one another so that we continue to be a meaningful content provider of good, signiicant stories that are appealing to a broad cross-section of readers. We need to keep exploring the digital age, but I'm not sure exactly what that means for regional publishers. I don't think it means the same for a regional publisher as it does for a national publisher or global publisher. So, it's trying to decide which is the most effective for the audience, for the advertiser to reach that audience and how we should invest our money. You can never take your eye off the ball. As the communication industry changes, Canada Wide will change with it, and the future look bright and positive. What aspects of the company give you the most pride? The fact that we've been around for 40 years and have an impeccable reputation in the marketplace, have no skeletons in our closet to be afraid of and have a lineup of blue-chip companies. These include BCAA, AMA, B.C. mortgage brokers, hospital foundations, two universities and, most recently, BC Cancer Agency and Brian Jessel BMW, is a credit to our staff and our reputation that has allowed us to attract these people. The fact that clients feel comfortable doing business with us is the joy of my life. If you go to the front desk [of our ofice], and look at all the magazines and all the people they represent, there isn't a publisher in North America, in Canada and certainly in B.C. that wouldn't give their eye-teeth for all of those titles. We don't keep them by accident, and the number [of publications] continues to grow. What are your thoughts on the future of print? A little company started in the backroom of a printer shop, on a borrowed desk, on a borrowed phone with half an editor. And 40 years later, we've got 50 magazines, websites and newsletters. We're proitable, we've weathered many storms and now we're weathering this digital battle that's going on, which I don't think affects regional periodicals nearly as much as it affects national periodicals. We're not news anyway, and I think you go to digital to look at news. So what the Economist does, and what Time magazine and MacLean's do is completely different than what we do. If I look at the magazine this story is in, it's 180 pages and is illed with advertising. You can't trick them all. I think people still like regional magazines. Beyond the numbers, how do you measure the company's success? When I go to a lunch, a cocktail party or I'm just downtown at the Four Seasons, the regard this company has in the media business, in this marketplace, is the greatest success that we can have. How people talk to me, how they talk about our products, how they talk about what we do and how we service them, that is our success. P R O M O T E D C O N T E N T P r o m o t e d C o n t e n t The Best is Yet to Come DAVE ROELS PHOTOGRAPHY Canada Wide's Key Moves 1. Got the publishing contract for Westworld magazine from BCAA. This set the company up as a bigger player in the marketplace. We've held this contract for over 30 years. 2. Picked up Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba Westworld. 3. Purchased BCBusiness magazine from Jimmy Pattison, which caused the marketplace to take the company very seriously as a mainstream publisher. 4. Acquired Award magazine for the contracting and architectural industry. 5. Ventured into the Lifestyle category by purchasing Real Weddings. 6. Broadened into contract publishing, including: 7. BCLiving.ca was the irst digital brand to be turned into print with BCLiving magazine. Who says print is dead! • AQ for SFU • Business Class for UVic • Burnaby Board of Trade • AnimalSense for the BC SPCA • Mortgage Broker • Salmon Steward • Speaking of Children for BC Children's Hospital • Westworld/GoingPlaces • Forward for BC Cancer Agency • Brian Jessel BMW p148-155-CWM40.indd 149 14-06-04 11:46 AM