We are both going to lose credibility on this one. You lose it for once again reinforcing one of my original points (the one about getting facts straight). I lose it for admitting, publicly, that I’m spending potential billable hours blogging without getting paid for it. (Luckily, my wife doesn’t read these sites.)

No, I’m not and have never been a paid contributor (or even an unpaid contributor) to PMQ. I’ve never gotten so much a a foam pizza frisbee from them. I’m not morally opposed to it… they’ve just never offered.

However, if Pizza Today and PMQ want to bid for my allegiance, I’d turn on the low bidder like a rabid dog. Tell PizzaMarketplace.com they’re welcome to throw their dough into the ring as well. Pizza World? Pizza Week? DoughRoller’s Digest? My affections and powerful lobbying abilities are available to the highest bidder. Ask about my weekly rates.

Sean

Don’t you think, for credibility sake, you should let people know you are paid contributor to PMQ.

Thanks for illustrating my point about the dangers of badmouthing competitors (though the details of your reading habits might be “a little too much information” for most of us). Personal attacks and petty bickering makes the attacker (in this case, you) look unprofessional and petty, not the person being attacked.

I’m not tired of reading about the US Pizza Team because I don’t read about it. It doesn’t interest me. Why would you? As far as Canuckistan goes, they do have some innovative toppings worth investigating.

I work with advertisers, and can tell you bickering is a turn-off. They don’t care. They care about two things: Direct and indirect benefits. They judge direct benefits by dividing the advertising dollars spent with the publication by the number of leads and the sales the ads/trade shows yield. They judge a publication (at least the smart ones judge a publication) on their cost per lead and, ultimately, cost per sale. If both Pizza Today and PMQ produce leads and sales at an acceptable cost, they will advertise in both places.

There are also indirect benefits to be judged, such as overall association with the publication, press coverage, being invited to speak or participate at their events, referrals, information, perks… and the camaraderie of being part of their activities like the Pizza Team, etc. Again, advertisers weigh the benefits against the costs.

Your time and energy are much more effectively spent figuring out how you can provide more benefit to your readers and your advertisers than wasting time writing reports on the alleged shortcomings of your competitors.

Worldwide circulation of 55,000? They don’t even know where they’re going here…and China has billions of people. Don’t advertisers here want to know exactly where and what message is getting out. Who cares about pizza in Canuckistan or Australia when I’m trying to make money here and the last thing I want when I’m reading for those whole two minutes I’m having a crap is 10 pages of crap about some guy’s restaurant out in the wilderness.

Come on people, aren’t you tired of reading about the US Pizza Team - which everyone knows is just a “gimme” to Chris Green and his ego. Anyone with any kind of talent in that area bailed or joined the REAL pizza champions. Pizza Cruise? Sank…oh, but wait they’re trying to bail it out again in 2007. New York Pizza Show, now partnered with another restaurant show. Orlando…a whole two aisles of booths that weren’t even full, and partnered with a show that’s been around for years.

Most of the crap on the “think tank” is written by his kids, and their so-called experts don’t even bother to answer half the time.

At least Pizza Today has a purpose.

C’mon Pizza tossers wake up and smell the dough! Print is dead, but makes for pretty good fire staring.

Billy: The PMQ thinktank is an amazing resource filled with specific and useable information. It only works because the PMQ folks are as much pizza people as they are publishers, and that’s threatening to competitors. Pizza Today’s website is very professional and attractive. PMQ’s is has the look of a Rube Goldberg contraption, or one of those early flying machines that don’t make it off the ground. (Sorry, PMQ). I invariably end up in the wrong place (ideaforum?) when looking for thinktank. However, if you research the webtraffic of both sites and the number of sites linking in, PMQ blows away Pizza Today by a multiple of something like 5 to 1.

Again - I like Pizza Today and (probably until now) had a good relationship with them. They ran stories on my IdeaFarm pizza clients (ideafarm.net) and were professional and competent. They need to rethink their approach. If they were smart they would learn from the success of PMQ. Apologizing for their “expose” would also be a good move.

Sean

The slick pizza industry magazine Pizza Today (Goliath) has always seen the gritty upstart PMQ (Pizza Marketing Quarterly aka David) as a thorn in their side.  Recently, Goliath went on the attack with a circulation "expose" on PMQ….