Largo, FL-based Cox Target Media last month abruptly shut down its Carol Wright monthly co-op program, which it purchased in 1996. The operation was the victim of declining ad revenues driven in large part by increasing demand for targeted programs.
Cox folded the Carol Wright business into its weekly Val-Park program. The move resulted in the layoff of an undisclosed number of employees.
The massive Carol Wright program had seen a decline in ad revenue in the 1990s as ownership changed hands twice and marketers sought more targetable programs, according to industry sources. In 1999, Cox scaled back the program’s annual distribution from 250 million to 200 million pieces to focus more on families with children.
Cox will now focus its attention on Val-Pak, a weekly mailer with a reach of 52 million households that can better target based on ZIP code, street addresses, and other data. Val-Pak mails to more than 250 markets throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada.
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