NAID Briefing

I like almost everything about business. I like entrepreneurial spirit. I like innovation. I like progress and I like meeting needs of clients in creative ways. I like to see people seizing opportunities and I enjoy competition. These key components of the free market system are what make the major economies of the world so powerful and our standards of living so high.

So when a company like GIE Media Inc. seizes the opportunity to produce a magazine to serve our industry, I welcome it. I welcome it as an inevitable consequence of a growing entrepreneurial industry coming of age.

And, while it is true that for the last 10 years, the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) has been the exclusive source of this type of information for our industry, and the exclusive, industry-specific outlet for advertisers, there are now several companies targeting those same readers and advertisers. As I said, it was inevitable. The only thing you can hope for when you know that competition is coming is that they are quality players, and so with GIE’s entrance into this market I am relieved.

But as I said, up until now NAID has been in a neighborhood by itself. And so some are asking whether it is threatened by a new publication that targets the same industry and solicits the same advertisers as NAIDnews. The answer is yes and no, but either way, it was inevitable and it is all for the better. Let me explain.

Yes the advertising in NAIDnews is a revenue source for the association. And, yes there is arguably a finite amount of ad dollars to be spent in the marketplace. So, yes NAID will compete for those dollars. My personal feeling is that the money available for advertising is currently more plentiful than NAID’s ability to capture all of it. True, vendors may not always be so interested in this market. When that happens, the competition for those dollars will increase.

No they are not competition to NAID as the industry’s non-profit trade association nor do they threaten or replace its mission.

NAID is owned, quite literally, by its members. Every member has one share of ownership. No member has more or less than any other. That is how non-profit trade associations are legally structured. Every dollar NAID generates is spent by members to improve their industry. That’s the job of the Board of Directors.

One very small part of the money raised by NAID members for this purpose comes from the advertising that appears in the association journal - NAIDnews. Hopefully NAIDnews continues to raise money to help NAID meet its goals. But if it didn’t make money, NAIDnews will still be produced as good as, or better, than it is now.

GIE Media Inc. produces a number of fine publications for a variety of industries. They know the publishing business well. They know the industries they write about and I expect the highest quality from them.

The appearances of Secure Destruction Business magazine, as well as that of SHREDMALL.com, are great examples of capitalism and the entrepreneurial spirit that have made our economy so great. The author is executive director for the National Association for Information Destruction.