News America Marketing, often referred to as just News America, is a marketing business owned by News Corp. It publishes ''SmartSource Magazine'', a weekly consumer-branded newspaper insert offering advertising and coupon promotions, delivered in over 1,600 newspapers in the U.S. and is one of three companies in the United States (the other two are Valassis Communications and Insignia Systems, Inc.) that control almost all the in-store ads and grocery coupons in the United States. One major division of the company is SmartSource iGroup, formed in 2000 from acquisitions and investments and runs the company's online couponing site, www.smartsource.com, in addition to other interactive consumer businesses like sampling and direct mail. The SmartSource brand began in 1998.

History

The News America FSI was formed when

News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New ...

purchased the marketing divisions of two Free Standing Insert (FSI) business competitors: Quad/Marketing Inc. and Product Movers Inc., in 1988. In 1997, News America purchased Actmedia, an In-Store marketing and promotions company that operated out of Connecticut, and the company changed its name to News America Marketing.

Products

News America Marketing has three categories of products: Home-Delivered network, In-Store network, and Online-Savings network. The Home-Delivered network contains the free standing ''SmartSource Magazine'', door hangers,

direct mail Advertising mail, also known as direct mail (by its senders), junk mail (by its recipients), mailshot or admail (North America), letterbox drop or letterboxing (Australia) is the delivery of advertising material to recipients of postal mail. The d ...

promotions, and home-delivered samples. The In-Store products include at-shelf messaging, coupon dispensers, cart advertisements, large format entrance ads, Shelfvision video, floor messaging, and in-store sampling. The Online Savings network includes SmartSource.com. In 2011, SmartSource began printing

QR code A QR code (an initialism for quick response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional barcode) invented in 1994 by the Japanese company Denso Wave. A barcode is a machine-readable optical label that can contain information about th ...

s on its online printable coupons in order to prevent coupon fraud. The company released a free couponing application for

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating ...

titled ''SmartSource Xpress'' in March 2012. ''SmartSource Xpress'' for iPhone was released in 2013. On July 24, 2015, News America Marketing purchased the Canadian company Checkout 51 for an undisclosed price. Checkout 51 provides consumers with a digital means of performing coupon redemptions through smart phone enabled receipt scanning technology.

News Marketing Canada

News Marketing Canada was created in 1995 through the merger of two separate Canadian FSI companies and today publishes the coupon inserts, ''SmartSource Magazine'' and ''UtiliSource'', the French-language version. Since News America Marketing's 1997 purchase of Act Media, News Marketing Canada has offered in-store advertising and promotional products as well. In September 2011, it launched SmartSource.ca, a coupon website for Canadian shoppers.

Philanthropy

News America Marketing has published two

Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Children's Miracle Network Hospitals (CMN Hospitals) (French: Réseau Enfants-Santé (RES)) is a nonprofit organization that raises funds for children's hospitals in the U.S. and Canada. Donations support the health of 10 million children each ...

-themed issues of their ''SmartSource'' coupon insert every year for more than 20 years, generating funds and media value for the organization. ''SmartSource Magazine'' has also featured an annual issue of an Easter Seals-themed insert. Over the course of 15 years, the Easter Seals-themed ''SmartSource Magazine'' has helped generate more than $3.3 million for Easter Seals. News America Marketing has also supported

Volunteers of America Volunteers of America (VOA) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1896 that provides affordable housing and other assistance services primarily to low-income people throughout the United States. Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, the organiz ...

’s “Toys for the Holidays” program. Since 2009, News America Marketing has sponsored an all-expense-paid trip to the Super Bowl each year for two Marines and a guest. Each November since 2011, News America Marketing has published a special edition of ''SmartSource Magazine'' featuring

Wounded Warrior Project Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) is an American charity and veterans service organization that offers a variety of programs, services and events for wounded veterans of the military actions following September 11, 2001. It operates as a nonprofit ...

's “Believe in Heroes” campaign. In addition, the organization has held fundraisers in its individual offices for the Wounded Warrior Project as well as

Operation Gratitude The South China Sea raid (designated Operation Gratitude) was an operation conducted by the United States Third Fleet between 10 and 20 January 1945 during the Pacific War of World War II. The raid was undertaken to support the liberation of L ...

Operations

In the fiscal year ending June 2005, the company had 28%

operating margin In business, operating margin—also known as operating income margin, operating profit margin, EBIT margin and return on sales (ROS)—is the ratio of operating income ("operating profit" in the UK) to net sales, usually expressed in percent. ...

s, the highest of all News Corporation businesses. Its annual revenues were $1.1 billion, an increase of 9% from the prior year. As of 2007, News America produced the majority of revenues for News Corporation's magazines and inserts division, and it controlled an estimated 50% to 60% of the insert market and as much as 90% of the in-store business.

Legal cases

In 2005, Theme Promotions, a merchandising firm, won a $6.8 million jury verdict against News America. The California jury found News America guilty of violating civil antitrust and unfair-competition laws. In 2006, the state of Minnesota accused News America of engaging in unfair trade practices. The company settled in 2008 by agreeing to pay costs and not to falsely disparage its competitors. In March 2006, a News America Marketing coupon insert competitor, Valassis Communications, settled FTC charges that it had attempted to induce News America Marketing to collude on pricing by signing a consent decree that barred Valassis from engaging in, or attempting to engage in, future anticompetitive behavior. The FTC made no charges against News America Marketing in connection with its investigation. Shortly after the decree was signed, Valassis sued News America Marketing. Between 2009 and 2011, the News Corporation paid out about $655 million to settle charges of

corporate espionage Industrial espionage, economic espionage, corporate spying, or corporate espionage is a form of espionage conducted for commercial purposes instead of purely national security. While political espionage is conducted or orchestrated by governme ...

and anticompetitive behavior by News America. * In 2009, a federal case in New Jersey (Floorgraphics v. News America Marketing In-Store Services Inc, 04-cv-3500, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, Trenton) brought by a company called Floorgraphics went to trial, accusing News America of hacking into Floorgraphics's password-protected computers. Much of the lawsuit was based on the testimony of Robert Emmel, a former News America executive who claimed to be a whistle-blower. After a few days of testimony, the News Corporation settled with Floorgraphics for $29.5 million; several days after that, it bought Floorgraphics. On 20 July, US Senator

Frank Lautenberg Frank Raleigh Lautenberg (; January 23, 1924 June 3, 2013) was an American businessman and Democratic Party politician who served as United States Senator from New Jersey from 1982 to 2001, and again from 2003 until his death in 2013. He was ori ...

wrote a letter to the Department of Justice requesting that the ongoing FBI probe include the Floorgraphics hacking allegations. On July 21, 2011, it was reported that representatives of the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

and the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

had begun investigation into the Floorgraphics allegations. * In 2010, the News Corporation paid $500 million to settle a case brought against it by Valassis Communications, after that company had won a $300 million verdict in state court in Michigan. The lawsuit by Valassis was based on claims that News America had gained market share by forcing its packaged-goods customers to sign long-term insert contracts or risk huge price increases on their in-store advertising displays The settlement included News America entering into a 10-year shared mail distribution agreement with Valassis Direct Mail, a Valassis subsidiary. * At the beginning of 2011, in a case in Minnesota brought by Insignia Systems, News America faced more than $600 million in fines. The News Corporation paid out $125 million to settle the allegations of anticompetitive behavior and violations of antitrust laws. This was the third time that the two companies had been involved in lawsuits. In August 2000, Insignia was sued by News America regarding exclusive promotional agreements with several major supermarket retailers, a suit that was settled confidentially in November 2002. In November 2003 Insignia was sued again, regarding Insignia's right to market in-store advertising and promotional services. In late 2011, the District Court of Atlanta granted a permanent injunction prohibiting Robert Emmel, a former News America Marketing executive, from sharing News America Marketing's confidential information and found that Emmel was not a whistleblower and was therefore not entitled to whistleblower protection under the Dodd-Frank Act, as he had claimed. In the court's ruling, it stated that far from harassing, or acting in a retaliatory manner towards him, News America Marketing “actually assisted Emmel in obtaining new employment after it terminated him.”

References

Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'' {{2011 News Corporation scandal Mass media companies of the United States Companies based in New York City News Corporation subsidiaries