Every ad-sales professional knows that specialized media research that demonstrates reader engagement is an incredibly effective tool. It provides assurance for marketers. It reveals trends that might have been below the surface, but can then be used to share with advertisers. It tracks ad recall and ad effectiveness. Every salesperson knows that each interaction with a prospect should offer a fresh idea or a new angle. Research is a powerful new empirical reason to extend a conversation.
As the industry has evolved from primarily print to a multidimensional approach, media research has changed with it. It’s more relevant than ever. We recently met with the team from Baxter Research Center, a 35-year-old research firm based in Lakeville, Minnesota. Baxter Research Center’s clients are a who’s who in the media industry, and include Endeavor Business Media, National Roofing Contractors Association, Crain Communications, National Electrical Contractors Association, Sosland Publishing, ALM, and many more.
Baxter’s product mix is broad. It includes:
- AdViewPRO, which provides print and digital advertisers with independent ad impact data, reader comments, and leads.
- AudienceViewPRO, which analyzes an audience and delivers an inside look at a brand’s content’s reach.
- BrandViewPRO, which compare brands across key attributes with state-of-the-art reporting and interactive presentation features.
- WebViewPRO, which provides actionable insights about website audiences to improve content, increase traffic, and boost ad revenues.
Jodie Cook Redwood.
To get a more comprehensive look at Baxter Research Center, and the state of both media and media research, we spoke to Baxter’s Director of Business Development Jodie Cook Redwood, who’s been with the company since 2020. Here’s a lightly edited look at our conversation.
Fox Tales: Tell us the general trends in the media-research world, circa 2024. Has demand changed? Have the types of research initiatives evolved?
Jodie Cook Redwood: From our perspective, the demand for media research from existing clients is pretty much the same, while the types of research initiatives have evolved. When we acquired Baxter Research Center in 2020, our primary study—which accounted for more than 95% of our business, was adViewPRO, which studies the effectiveness of print advertising. That remains our most popular study, as it includes deep ad analysis, purchasing behaviors, verbatim ad comments from readers, editorial readership insights, and more.
Fox Tales: More specifically, what kinds of research would represent Baxter’s wheelhouse—your company’s specialties.
Redwood: We offer four different studies: adViewPRO, which is Baxter’s claim to fame (and the reason we acquired the company); webViewPRO, to help companies understand and analyze their website audience, including visitor demographics, visitor habits, and visitor preferences; audienceViewPRO, to help companies learn what their audience likes and dislikes about publications, websites, newsletters, and social media, and how they consume content.
It also will identify qualifying information such as title, buying power and company size, which aids in having a clearly defined audience for your clients. And then there’s brandViewPRO, which provides detailed insights on a brand’s position in the marketplace by measuring brand favorability and attributes. We created this study working side-by-side with one of our publishing clients—so they could use the results to sell more ads.
Fox Tales: Traditionally, media research for the former “magazine” industry covers such projects as ad effectiveness and reader profiles. Are they still the core of the business?
Redwood: Great question.The bulk of the research requests we’re fielding are traditional. While some of our clients have stopped using print, many still do. And for them, it’s more important than ever that they have analytics for their print ads—to balance the widely available analytics for digital ads. Our sister company, LBM Journal, is a traditional B2B magazine, and acts as an incubator for new research ideas and concepts.
Fox Tales: Which of your segments are most critical? Associations, for-profit media businesses, B2B, B2C, agencies, etc.?
Redwood: B2B publishers represent the bulk of our clients, with associations in second place. We’re seeing more interest from B2C publishers, and we have one regional lifestyle magazine that’s having tremendous success with the studies.
Fox Tales: What would you say is Baxter’s USP?
Redwood: I’d say our unique selling proposition is the fact that we’re publishers first, and a research company second. In fact, in addition to being the VP Business Development for Baxter, I’m also Associate Publisher of LBM Journal. Here’s the story:
In 2003, when LBM Journal was a small, cash-starved startup, publisher Rick Schumacher was looking for an edge against our much larger competitors. At the Folio: show in 2004, Rick learned about Baxter, so we gave them a try in 2005, and their adViewPRO studies became my number-one sales tool. We steadily gained market share year-over-year, until becoming the leading book in our space in 2017. When COVID hit in 2020, Bob Keyburn, the owner/founder of Baxter Research, called and said that he was going to retire and close the company. Our advertisers were accustomed to the report data, so we asked Bob if we could somehow bring the studies in-house. He said the only way to keep the studies going would be to acquire the company. As it happened, we were averaging a 50% ad-sales boost in each Baxter ad study issue (a $200k annual return on an investment of less than $20k). So the other media rep and I convinced Rick to buy Baxter. And here we are. LBM Journal is still a client, and Baxter is on a steady growth curve.
Fox Tales: Tell us about Baxter’s history. When created, how it’s grown, next steps.
Redwood: Bob Keyburn created Baxter created in the late 1980s. Bob was a print-ad salesperson who knew that ads in his publication worked, but was unable to prove it. He came up with the idea of surveying subscribers to learn if they read the publication, if they remembered seeing specific ads, and if they took any action. Bob took the data and created reports for his advertisers—and they loved it. Bob’s ad sales took off to the extent that he realized he was onto something. He officially launched Baxter Research Center in 1989, and operated it until COVID struck in 2020. He put his heart and soul into building Baxter, and didn’t want to sell it to a competitor, so was in the process of calling clients with the decision to close. That’s when we disrupted his plans!
One thing: Baxter relied on word-of-mouth to spread the word. Since we at LBM Journal believe firmly in marketing, we’re spreading the word with other publishers who’d never heard of Baxter. I know what it’s done for our publication and my commission checks, so I love sharing this with other publishers. We’re excited to sponsor the upcoming BIMS 2025 event next March in New Orleans.
We’re in the final phases of a brand refresh, which we hope to unveil before the end of the year. We’re excited for our branding and messaging to match how Baxter is equipped to help today’s media companies thrive.
Fox Tales: Firms like Fox Associates play an essential role in the media ecosystem. Tell us about your relationship with them.
Redwood: We only recently became acquainted with Fox Associates, but media salespeople are among Baxter’s biggest fans. Especially those who are commission-based—because those who follow the system experience first-hand the income boost, but there’s something else. Sharing the powerful analytics in these reports changes the dynamic; instead of being merely ad sales reps, it positions us as trusted media advisors. We’re not just here asking for ad dollars. We’re making sure the dollars they spend get results.