Activating Your Sponsorships

“Activating Your Sponsorships” by Thomas Nardacci

Businesses and private not-for-profits spend an extraordinary amount of money each year on sponsorships. Sponsorships are a good way to give back and an excellent way to cast your organization in a positive light. They are also a good way to advertise to specific audiences.

There should be more behind your sponsorship effort than handing over the check and seeing your banner at an event or logo on a program. That should only be the start of your plan, and should be followed with an effort to activate the sponsorship. “Activation” is a buzz word that has been making headway in the past few years.

Your sponsorship needs to be planned and negotiated in advance so that you and the cause you are donating to can leverage other opportunities. Depending on the type of donation and cause, there may be opportunities for news stories. For events, you may have a product samples you want to distribute. Or, if it is a ticketed event, you may negotiate a certain number of tickets to be held for an internal effort to boost employee productivity or morale.

America’s largest companies have dramatically changed their approach to sponsorships, and smaller sponsors are now following suit. Proper planning and execution can make your sponsorship more strategic and more effective.

History is Complex and Marketers Should Do Their Homework

History has always fascinated me. In one of my first lectures as an undergrad history major, a professor said to the class that "History is an argument based on fact." When you study history, many times you find that the stories you know, or the historical figures you know about, are usually much more complex.

For example, I recently finished "The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin," a Pulitzer Prize winner by Gordon Wood. I found out a great deal more about Franklin and his politics before, during, and after the Revolution. The insights about Franklin were new to me. But, I also know that there are other works out there, including Franklin's own autobiography, that paint a different picture.

The New York Times has an article that offers a great history lesson that marketers should pay attention to:

New York Times
January 27, 2006
What's in a Brand Name? Houston Just Found Out
By SIMON ROMERO

HOUSTON, Jan. 26 — What better way to honor the brash origins of this city, the owners of Houston's new professional soccer franchise reasoned, than to name their team "Houston 1836," a nod to the year when two entrepreneurial brothers from New York arrived here to build a city atop the swampy bayous of southeast Texas.

Many Latinos in Houston, though, greeted the unveiling of the team's name this week with a shudder. Eighteen thirty-six also happens to be the year that a group of English-speaking interlopers waged a war of secession that resulted in Mexico's loss of Texas, ushering in more than a century of violence and discrimination against Mexicans in the state.

In fact, the team's owner, the Anschutz Entertainment Group of Los Angeles, appears to have upset some of the very soccer-crazy fans they were hoping to lure, after basing its venture in part on the crowds of Spanish-speaking fútbol aficionados who regularly fill stadiums here to attend the matches of visiting clubs from Mexico. Marisabel Muñoz, a spokeswoman for Major League Soccer in New York, which is controlled in part by Anschutz, declined to comment.

"Clearly, not enough homework was put into this," said Paco Bendaña, a prominent Houston-based authority on marketing to Latinos. "Historically speaking, 1836 is not something we celebrate."

Oliver Luck, the president of Houston 1836, said the name was chosen over 15 other choices, including Americans, Apollos, Buffaloes, Bulls, Eagles, Generals, Lonestars, Mustangs, Stallions and two names in Spanish, Gatos (Cats) and Toros (Bulls.) Eighteen thirty-six, Mr. Luck said, was partly inspired by a European tradition of naming soccer clubs after the year of their creation, like Hannover 96, organized in Germany in 1896.

"We were aware of the possibility of the double entendre, but at the end of the day we believe 1836 is significant because it was the year of Houston's founding," Mr. Luck, a former chief executive of N.F.L. Europe and a former quarterback for the Houston Oilers football team, said in an interview. "We spent a lot of time on this internally. By no means was it intended as a slight."

Of course, no one in Houston disputes that a lot happened in Texas in 1836, including the settling of this city, the siege of the Alamo and the battle of San Jacinto, in which troops led by Sam Houston defeated Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna's army, the concluding military event in Texas's attempt to secede from Mexico.

(The San Jacinto Memorial Monument on the outskirts of Houston stands 570 feet tall, 15 feet higher than the Washington Monument; a frieze at the base of the monument's shaft describes events in the Anglo-American colonization of Texas.)

The announcement of the name on Wednesday quickly elicited strong reactions among Latino soccer followers. Carlos Puig, the editor of Rumbo de Houston, one of the city's Spanish-language daily newspapers, said his e-mail inbox filled with messages from readers "going crazy with the name."

Rumbo lambasted the name on its front page on Thursday, describing the choice as an "own goal," a soccer term for the occasion when a player inadvertently kicks the ball into his own goal, scoring a point for the opposing team. Rumbo also questioned whether the name would attract fans among Latinos, who account for more than 40 percent of Houston's population.

One of the reasons Houston landed a Major League Soccer franchise, with Anschutz relocating the Earthquakes from San Jose, Calif., and renaming them Houston 1836, was the impressive crowds at soccer matches here in recent months. A match between Mexico and Bulgaria drew more than 35,000 fans last November, and games in Houston featuring Mexican clubs in 2004 and 2005 drew some of the largest crowds in the InterLiga tournament's history.

Some in Houston were quick to defend the team's name, including one participant in a soccer blog carried on the Web site of The Houston Chronicle who identified himself as Mexican-American and told critics of the name to "give me a break and stop being so politically correct."

Mr. Luck, the president of Houston 1836, said the name was the top choice among respondents in an online questionnaire about potential names, and that the Anschutz Entertainment Group, which is controlled by the billionaire financier Philip Anschutz, had conducted its own polling and development of the brand. He said he hoped to win over skeptics with explanations of the origins of Houston and the state of Texas.

"We had Mexican heroes on our side, something not a lot of people are aware of," said Mr. Luck, who added that the first book he read upon moving to Houston in the 1980's was T. R. Fehrenbach's "Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans." "The truth in history is often complex."

Complexity might be a fair description of the emotional associations some have with the name 1836. Tatcho Mindiola, director of the Center for Mexican-American Studies at the University of Houston, said he saw irony in the choice of a name that could be gung-ho for Anglos while insulting to Latinos.

"It's unfortunate because sport is an integrating mechanism in society, and unintentionally or not this is a blunder," Mr. Mindiola said. "Do they think we're going to wear a T-shirt with the year 1836 on it?"

---------------------------------------------------------------------
In addition to the Wood book on Franklin, I highly recommend "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown.

Gramercy Communications Mentioned In National PR Outlet

Thanks to Bulldog Reporter, a national public relations industry outlet, for recently mentioning the launch of Gramercy Communications, LLC:

Bulldog Reporter, 1/21/06
New Public Affairs/Public Relations Firm Opens in Albany, N.Y.

Tom Nardacci, recently launched Gramercy Communications, LLC, an Albany, N.Y. firm that specializes in public relations and public affairs for businesses and non-profits in the state capital and New York City.

Nardacci previously directed public relations for the Alliance for Downtown New York, Lower Manhattan’s business improvement district and formerly served as a senior staffer in the New York State Assembly and the U.S. House of Representatives.

iTunes and the Tipping Point

The first people that I knew who had a first generation iPod were two guys in the IT field. I have to admit, at first glance I didn't know what it did or what it was for. They showed me how it worked and they also explained what it would mean for the industry and what it would probably do for Apple's stock. Not only do I own an iPod, but I have bought over 300 songs in the past few years.

Malcolm Gladwell's famous book "The Tipping Point" explains this type of social phenomenon. I bought my iPod, which also led to downloading 300 songs, because of this interaction, and so did hundreds of thousands of other consumers. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it no matter what your area of expertise.

Below is an article that appeared in Mediaweek about the growth of the iPod and iTunes since its inception.

"iTunes Soars 241% to 20 Mil. U.S. HHDs"
by Mike Shields, Mediaweek
January 19, 2006

More than 20 million households have downloaded Apple's iTunes music store, representing close to 14 percent of the total U.S. Internet population, according to new figures released by Nielsen//NetRatings.

The number of iTunes users soared in 2005 by 241 percent, going from 6.1 million unique users in December 2004 to 20.7 million in December 2005.

As for demographics, the iTunes audience has a high composition of teens: 12- to 17-year-olds are almost twice as likely to visit the store, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.

Of course, in the past several months, following the launch of Apple's video iPod, the iTunes store has become an important outlet not only for music but for traditional broadcast TV networks. Both ABC and NBC have begun selling episodes of their hit series through the store for $1.99 per episode.

Martha Stewart to Launch New Lifestyle Magazine

There's an old saying, "It's not whether you get knocked down, but whether you get back up that matters." I previously blogged about Martha Stewart's crisis communications and comeback and this latest announcement is very relevant to that post:

Stewart to Launch New Lifestyle Magazine
By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK - Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., which said last September that it was studying whether to launch a lifestyle magazine aimed at that audience, confirmed plans Thursday for a two-issue test that will debut this spring. The magazine, titled "Blueprint: Design Your Life," aims to teach and inspire women on how to decorate, dress, entertain and organize their lives. The target audience is women aged 25 to 45.

The first issue, priced at $3, will be available on newsstands in May with an initial pledged circulation base of 250,000. A second issue is slated for August 2006. The company anticipates publishing six issues of Blueprint in 2007.

Atlanta's Image Makeover Not a Hit to All

A few months back, I posted an Ad Age opinion piece by Al Ries about Atlanta's new brand pitch. This article is from today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Atlanta's image makeover not a hit to all

By LEON STAFFORD
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/10/06

Atlanta's 4-month-old effort to brand itself is getting mixed reviews from the city's marketing community.

Many of Atlanta's top advertising and public relations executives say the campaign — which includes a new logo, city anthem, advertising and tagline — has some strengths but could use tweaking.

They give Brand Atlanta, the city's new public-private marketing arm that created the work, high marks for initiative, getting the community involved and the moxie to try to sell a song they say could never have pleased everyone.

But Atlanta loses points for a tagline they say is ambiguous, advertising that has a limited reach, and timing the campaign's release so close to the opening of the Georgia Aquarium, Atlantic Station and the expansion of the High Museum of Art. In all that buzz, some say, much of the message was lost.

Joe Hair, a marketing professor at Kennesaw State University's Coles College of Business, said Brand Atlanta's October launch was too close to the holidays and the city's new attractions.

"The ATL branding campaign message has been competing with many other products and services, and in the past two months in particular, the competition for people's attention has been distracted by the huge amounts spent on the holiday season promotions," he said. "Frankly, people have had too many other things to think about other than the new ATL campaign."

Atlanta's marketing community will learn more about Brand Atlanta's strategy today when two of its leaders, Vicki Escarra and Hala Moddelmog, stop by the American Marketing Association's monthly luncheon at Villa Christina.

'We want to be hip'

Brand Atlanta was armed with about $4.5 million in public and private funding and nearly an additional $4 million in donated services from everyone from local media companies to Hollywood stars. It launched the campaign with the unveiling of the city logo.

The group later released the anthem, "The ATL," penned by Atlanta-based super producer Dallas Austin, at a Monday Night Football game at the Georgia Dome.

That was followed by the tagline, "Every day is an opening day," and advertising with the voices of Conyers native Holly Hunter and Samuel L. Jackson, a graduate of Morehouse College.

Kathy Bremer, partner and managing director of the Atlanta office of Porter Novelli, an international public relations firm, said the campaign reflects the vibrancy of the city.

"We want to be hip, and we want a campaign that stirs things up," said Bremer, whose office was one of several in Atlanta that applied to do the public relations work for the campaign. That job eventually went to the Atlanta office of Ogilvy Public Relations WorldWide.

"I look at it as, 'Is the glass half full or half empty?' " Bremer said. "I think it's half full. There was more that hit the mark than not."

Amy Hoover, executive vice president of Atlanta-based marketing recruiter Talent Zoo, called the campaign "a decent effort to get started, but I think there is more they can do.

"Everyone I've spoken with thinks the campaign fell short of the mark," said Hoover, acknowledging that this is a very early assessment. "When you look at better work in that category, it really is subpar."

The executives say they are eager to see something that demonstrates to the outside world what really separates Atlanta from its competitors. "Every day is an opening day" only works if it indicates why this distinguishes Georgia's capital from all the daily "openings" that happen in cities across the nation.

"It's missing the emotional essence that many Atlantans can get behind," like Las Vegas' "What happens here, stays here" tagline, Hoover said. "If that campaign is a 10, then I'd call ours a four or a five."

Tony Accurso, general manager of JWT Atlanta, a public relations concern that also bid to represent Brand Atlanta, said he likes what he sees. He just wants to see more of it. Brand Atlanta needs to get its message in front of people more, whether it be by displaying the logo on more Atlanta-centric Web sites or renting billboard space beyond the center of the city.

"The campaign doesn't come to me," he said. "It seems I have to go to it."

A mix of response

Response to the campaign nationally has been wildly divergent. The New York Times focused on the confusion some felt about the tagline and the difficulty in branding a city. The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer used Atlanta's new tagline to razz the city about its traffic woes and long waits at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. And the Times Picayune of New Orleans said the city's branding challenge reflects one of its biggest problems: "Usually culture binds people together, but Atlanta has no real culture of its own."

John Padgett, media director for Atlanta-based advertising firm Hauser Group, said everyone needs to cut Brand Atlanta some slack. The group has done the near impossible for any city — brought together civic, public and private groups for a common goal. Having worked in all of those areas, he said, Atlanta should be admired for what it has accomplished.

"I understand what it takes to gain consensus, and that is the most impressive thing that I have seen so far," he said.

Padgett said he followed the development of the campaign up to the release of the anthem, when a maelstrom of negative press and reviews turned him off. The media, he said, seized on criticism of the music and made that the story instead of looking at the campaign as a whole.

Indeed, many of the local and national stories done since the campaign's launch have focused on fallout over the song.

Former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr's comment in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial column that the song was "unintelligible moaning" was picked up by newspapers far and wide. Local Fox TV host Dick Williams also received mileage nationally when — responding to the song's refrain "get 'em up, get 'em up, get 'em up" — said, "Not a good line for a city with a high crime rate."

Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., said he was not surprised that the song garnered strong reactions.

"I could understand how the song can be polarizing," he said. "But brands can be polarizing because they have to be about something and be distinct. You can't please everyone."

Lessons from Sago, WV Mine Tragedy

I found this article, from "Editor & Publisher" to be thought-provoking and relevant to journalists, public relations practitioners, and business executives:


Mine Rescue Lesson: Just Say 'Don't Know'
By David D. Perlmutter

(January 05, 2006) -- In the wake of the Sago mine tragedy, perhaps a new category of Pulitzer Prize should be created to honor the journalists or news managers who caution that a story is not ready for prime time or publication. Unfortunately, the winning reporter or editor would likely soon be out of a job at a big time network or newsroom.

"Journalism," claimed former Washington Post publisher Philip Graham, "is the first draft of history." But when I set my students, as an exercise, to factually verify initial media reports of major news events they are shocked. From the Tiananmen uprisings and government crackdown to the flooding of New Orleans, they find the same sad tale. The first draft is full of errors.

The need to reevaluate how journalism produces and delivers a first draft of news is made even more imperative by the twin disasters of Sago, West Virginia. First, there was the explosion in the coal mine, which apparently led to the eventual death of at least a dozen trapped miners. The second calamity was the false story that most of the miners had survived and were being rescued.

In perspective, the media did not create the rumor that the miners were safe. Miscommunication, misheard phone exchanges, and optimistic gossip probably lay at the root of the bad information. Officials, too, were at fault for not immediately clarifying what they knew and what they did not. But the fact is, most Americans, including probably people who knew the miners, believed the three hours of saturation news reports on television and the Internet that the miners were "rescued."

Did any news producer or editor decide not to run the "safe!" story,
arguing, "Whoa, no one has confirmed this. Let's not run the rescue angle until we get 100 percent confirmation. Until then, let's just say we don't know."

Modern newscraft, addicted to technology, worships the god of speed. Laptops, satellites, and cell phones make live-from-ground-zero reporting alluring. But the problems instantaneousness creates can not be ignored.

The rise of 24-hour news demands that every minute of the long news day be filled with sensational items. I am old enough to remember taking alarm when an anchorman would cut into regular programming, to the accompaniment of a thumping Telex rhythm, intoning soberly: "This just in: Breaking news." Now, it sometimes seems, on CNN and Fox News the anchors and the streamer graphics announce significant "breaking news" two or three times between every commercial break. As a result, we have lost all perspective about what is an important story and, more vital, what is most important about a news story: getting the facts right.

My colleague Andrea Miller, who specializes in studying breaking news, and I have found the public to be turned off by the clutter of too much breaking news and the sensationalism attached to mundane stories. They also resent the barrage of stories that may be visually interesting but hardly constitute important news, like, say, the ubiquitous California highway police chase. In one study of people's reaction to hypothetical breaking news stories, we found that people were largely uninterested in which news organization was first with the report. Yes, there were exceptions: derailed tanker spilling deadly chemicals; tsunami headed for one's city.

But for almost every other type of news report, people had two demands. The first was accuracy -- that they were being told the truth, and if not the whole truth at least nothing but the truth. Second, people wanted relevance, knowing that the hyped-up news item was objectively of importance in their lives, not just eye candy.

The twin tragedies of Sago, West Virginia suggest that the god of speed must be thrown down and that accuracy and relevance should become the preeminent standards of serious journalism. In an era when many newsworkers are wondering about their future, giving the public information they trust, respect and need is both good journalism and good business.

-----------------------------------------
David D. Perlmutter (letters@editorandpublisher.com) is an associate professor of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University and a senior fellow at the Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs. He is the author of "Policing the Media" (Sage, 2000) and editor of the policybyblog website.

Are Bloggers De Facto Company Spokespeople?

"Are Bloggers De Facto Company Spokespeople?" by Tom Nardacci

When employees blog from work they are putting their views in the public domain on company time. Their IP addresses are traceable to company computers. Their seemingly anonymous posting now becomes a statement from inside the company.

Organizations should update their human resource manuals to include sections related to blogs and chatrooms on company time. In times of crisis or scrutiny, well-intentioned and loyal employees may make matters worse. Your public relations plan should clearly spell out who company spokespeople are.

Companies should post to relevant blogs with the same protocols that you would speak to a media outlet. Your public relations counselor should be involved.

Albany Boys & Girls Club

Boys & Girls Club officers are elected
Times Union, Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Carla Bensi

ALBANY -- The Boys & Girls Club of Albany has elected new officers and members for their board of directors.

Mary Ann Kentoffio of Kent Associates is president, John Henry of Whiteman Osterman & Hanna is vice president, Brent Farrell of M&T Bank is treasurer and Nancy Peters of Nancy Peters & Associates is secretary.

"I am honored to be the new board president. The club is the only organization in our community that offers quality youth development programs, nearly free of charge, annually to over 6,000 youth who need them most. I am looking forward to working with the board and helping the club meet the challenges ahead," said Kentoffio.

Nominations for two-year term members were approved for Adam Davidoff of Brown and Brown Insurance; Scott Klenk of CDPHP; Thomas Nardacci of Gramercy Communications and Vicki Valenti of Citizen's Bank.

Erie Canal - "Charting a brighter future"

It's nice to see that the Erie Canal has been making its way into the news. I wrote my Columbia University thesis on Erie Canal tourism and was very happy to be included in this article, which appeared in Albany's Times Union newspaper last June. During my semester long research I travelled every length of the Canal and interviewed over one hundred Canal users and non-users.


"Charting a brighter future"
Times Union 6/3/05
Kate Gurnett, Staff writer

Spots like this make revitalization seem "little short of madness," as Thomas Jefferson called the original "Clinton's Ditch." Broad stretches of upstate New York have seen the Erie Canal's hallmarks -- cargo, commerce and ideas -- succumb to poverty, parochialism and population decline.

Last week, Gov. George Pataki announced the latest in a string of initiatives to revive the 524-mile canal corridor. He would create a natural greenway, linked to corresponding tracts in the Hudson and Niagara river valleys. It will draw bicyclists, boaters and nature enthusiasts while boosting local tourism, he says.

His plans dovetail with a report due this month from the Erie Canalway National Corridor Commission that recommends historic preservation, heritage tourism and recreation to pep up 234 corridor communities linking the Hudson River to Lake Erie and two Finger Lakes.

If it works, the corridor -- home to 80 percent of upstaters -- could become a destination like New England, with festivals, marinas, cycling tours, winter sports, national museums and valuable real estate. Such a place would draw European and American tourists to a new "off the beaten path" vacation spot.

With a major image change, experts say. Yes, the Erie Canal has great name recognition. But many people think it disappeared with a mule named Sal. Few realize its recreational potential, says Thomas Nardacci, a Rensselaer native who wrote his Columbia University master's thesis on Erie Canal tourism.

"When you think Vermont, you think cows, barns, ice cream, scenery, and skiing. They market that message all around the country and world. New York can portray that same image with the Erie Canal: canal towns, biking, hiking, canoeing and picnics," he said.

"It's a fabulous story," said Eric Mower, who chairs the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Commission. "The Erie Canal was built by people from all over the world, by immigrants, laborers, engineers from other countries ... It's part of our (state) identity, like Broadway, like the Finger Lakes, like Niagara Falls."

Still, despite 20 years of individual efforts to tout the canal, the revival is slow.

"It's one baby step at a time," said Jeff Swain, chairman of Parks & Trails New York, an Albany advocacy group that has organized a cross-state Erie Canal bike tour since 1999. The group's new guidebook, "Cycling the Erie Canal," unexpectedly sold 1,500 copies in its first year of publication.

The canal's off-road trails, scenic villages and historic sites can make it an international bicycle touring destination, said PTNY Executive Director Robin Dropkin. Bicycle owners outnumber boat owners 10-to-1 in the United States, she said. Cycling visitors spend $100 to $300 per day.

Water interest also is strong, said Lee Poinan, who owns the Colonial Belle tour boat in Fairport. "I can't tell you how many (Web site) hits we get from Europe, South America, Canada."

Some canal fans were skeptical. Government officials have talked of converting the waterway for two decades.

"I think you're gonna end up with some signage and some fluff but not a real powerful plan to promote this," Oswego County contractor Tony Pauldine told planners at a public meeting last year.

Actually, just signs would be good, some merchants say. Tourists seeking boat tours at Lockport Locks and Erie Canal Cruises in Niagara County often get lost on the way from Niagara Falls.

"Signage is the biggest problem we got," owner Mike Murphy said.

In the 19th century, canal revenues were so strong they kept New York afloat when other states defaulted. Today, the New York State Canal Corp. operates in the red. Last year's operating and capital costs were $58 million. Revenues from boat tolls were $2 million. It survives as a subsidiary of the state Thruway Authority.

A single facade improvement in one town costs $35,000, said Assemblyman Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam. Currently, 24 Mohawk Valley Heritage Corridor communities are seeking up to $9 million in state funds.

It mounts quickly. "But without an investment to enhance the significance of place, the heritage," upstate just won't be quaint or historic, Tonko said. "It is a huge economic development tool. It's place esteem."

Since 2000, New York has funneled $260 million in federal Community Development Block grants to hundreds of upstate communities, said Glen King, director of the Governor's Office for Small Cities. The cash has helped Ilion open a new restaurant, given Little Falls a face-lift, and is rehabilitating two city blocks in Geneva at the northern end of Seneca Lake.

"It's always amazed me how many communities in New York state turned their back to their waterfront," King said. "Today, we want that back."

Add tax incentives and shared infrastructure costs and private investment should follow, the federal commission report states.

Mower, a Syracuse-based advertising mogul, hopes to tap corporate donors for a $3 million interpretive center on Pier A in Manhattan, an upstate traveling museum and a feature documentary, among other improvements. As investments pour in, so will visitors, he says.

The greatest measure of success, says King, is when private investment starts taking over.

Ultimately, what upstate needs is "an intangible," said Andrew Cuomo, who spearheaded a canal revitalization program in 1997. That is hope.

"Because a region that doesn't believe it has a future, people start to move out, the energy is negative. That becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy ... There's something to a region believing that it has a future."

If that happens, the slogan adopted by the canal commission in its report -- Changing Our Lives for the Better -- might again become a reality.

Podcasting for Beginners

I received some interesting feedback about the podcast post, and wanted to point you to a site where you can download and listen to a variety of professional, quality podcasts.

"BusinessWeek" has a very extensive podcast library, which includes news and features on a wide range of topics. It is the perfect place to start to sample podcasting.



The link is: http://www.businessweek.com/search/podcasting.htm