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Just got a press release from the publisher of Campus Activities Magazine. The publishers of the magazine and Eric Lambert, owner of the Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities (APCA), are suing the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA).
As you'll see from the press release, CAM and APCA are going after NACA for allegedly engaging in some tacky and juvenile business practices. Not sure if this is all true, but if it is, it makes NACA look pretty stupid.
Read the press release, and then I have a few comments at the end.
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For Immediate Release:
Campus Activities® Magazine and APCA File Suit Against NACA
When I first got wind of the fact that NACA had purchased such derogatory web domains such as apcasucks.com, I just knew it had to be a mistake. After all, I spent eleven years with NACA and certainly had kicked around some foolish ideas during my tenure, but nothing so demeaning as purchasing domains that had reference to a competitor and then directing them to their (NACA’s) website.
Obviously everything hit the fan around the time of the NACA National last year when this news came out. Both schools and agencies were angry that a national association with such a long history in the entertainment marketplace would stoop to such low tactics.
Personally, I didn’t believe it and I notified our national advisory board members, our student ambassadors and NACA board chair, Jon Dooley of Marquette University, that we would not get involved in an incident I felt sure the staff, the executive director and the board would not have had a part in. I decided to back out to wait and see what would transpire.
Then came Alan Davis’ email to the NACA volunteers. “The ownership of apcasucks.com and ihateapca.com expired on February 11, before the National Convention, and we did not repurchase those names at that time … I regret the controversy that has developed regarding this situation, and I appreciate those of you who have contacted our office directly with questions and concerns. Our intention was not, and is not, to embarrass APCA and any other organizations … NACA maintains its position as a professional association dedicated to advancing activities in higher education. I greatly appreciate the dedication of NACA’s membership and volunteers and want to assure you of our commitment to operate in a manner that is consistent with our core values, which include high ethical standards.”
Obviously it is APCA’s position that Alan Davis and the NACA staff would have had no intention of taking down these web sites if they had not been caught red handed. Also Davis’ apology was not directed at APCA but at the NACA volunteers who were not hurt by the unethical antics.
Now, where Campus Activities® Magazine fits into all of this.
I had several conversations with Eric Lambert after this situation was discovered, and of course he was upset and angry that NACA would stoop to such a deceptive way to lure customers away from his organization. Even though NACA assured their membership they were finished with the underhanded and illegal practices of using competitors’ trade names to redirect traffic to their site, Eric’s research had come across the following: campusactivitiesmagazine.net; campusactivitiesmagazine.org; campusactivitiesmagazine.biz; campusactivitiesmagazine.us; campusactivitiesmagazine.ws; and campusactivitiesmagazine.info; ALL of which have been and of this writing are still being intentionally re-directed to NACA.org.
I was astounded. They had not only been caught with their hands in the cookie jar but having been slapped, they continued to steal the cookies. Campus Activities® Magazine is a registered trademark of SES, Inc. dba as Cameo Publishing Group. NACA has violated both state and federal statutes above and beyond the offenses they were guilty of with APCA because they violated a registered trademark.
I want our readers to know that in this case we have no choice but to pursue suit in this act and will ask for punitive damages as well. We have and continue to spend countless man hours and dollars on our website to compete with an organization who has virtually endless resources. We have offered the “Olive Branch” on numerous occasions in a request to set aside our differences and work together in the best interest of the campus entertainment community. They have been offered the opportunity through us to expand their exposure to all of America’s campuses active in purchasing entertainment and related programs. They had everything to gain and nothing to lose, but instead they chose to try to tie into our success by pilfering from our prospective client pool.
Regardless of the position NACA takes, these were purposeful acts and highly unethical for an organization which has had such a great history in the campus market. What could they have possibly been thinking? What could have made them so desperate to turn to such low brow activities?
I have been in this business for 28 years now, 11 with NACA and 17 with Campus Activities® Magazine. I am proud of my association with the campus market and all the excellent student activities programs, agencies and talented artists who make up this industry. It hurts me deeply to have to fill a column I enjoy writing each issue with news that tends to pull us apart rather than bringing us together. But Campus Activities® Magazine has always been my baby. It was our first magazine and the one we remain the most proud of. It allows us a chance to bring buyers and sellers together in a market that is filled with diversity and new opportunities. It is my obligation to protect its reputation and its future. For sixteen years, we have been the number one campus entertainment trade publication in the world and I have to think it is because we listen to our readers and make every effort to deliver what they want.
Sincerely,
W.C. Kirby
Owner / Publisher
803.712.1429
Kirby@cameopublishing.com
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I am sharing this here because it's worthwhile for those of you in campus programming to know about the ongoing dispute.
In the interest of full disclosure... My company is an associate member of NACA. We don't participate in many NACA events because we don't feel NACA is a great place to promote educational speakers, and because NACA is incredibly expensive. Their ads, their exhibit prices, their membership – everything is exorbitantly priced for those of us running small businesses, and it's very hard to get a good return on the sizeable investment that NACA requires. But, we're a member, because we get some benefit from their mailing lists and occasionally, one of our speakers wants to attend a conference they sponsor.
We are occasional advertisers in Campus Activities Magazine, and we have won their "Agency of the Year" and "Speaker of the Year" awards several times in the last five years.
We are former members of APCA, but stopped our membership and attendance at their conferences several years ago because, like NACA, we weren't getting a positive return on our investment there.
If NACA staff members are spending their time trying to undermine these small businesses, then it's safe to assume that CAM and APCA are taking a bite out of their bottom line and they are feeling threatened. CAM and APCA are alleging that NACA is engaging in unethical activities to try to undermine them.
Imagine your local Walmart launching a covert campaign to drive a small boutique hardware store in your town out of business. That's kind of what this is like, if it's true. I'm bothered that an organization (NACA) which basically exists on the fees paid by small businesses like mine is spending its resources attacking other small businesses. Certainly if there is room in the industry for so many agencies, speakers and performers, there is room in the industry for more than one organization serving them.
My advice to NACA is this. In business, you deal with competition by providing a higher quality product than your competitor. Customers usually follow. With its massive resources, volunteer network, and established brand, NACA would do better to strategically improve its product, rather than going after the competitors nipping at their heels. If NACA improves its magazine, the ad dollars will come. If NACA makes its conferences more affordable, the attendees and the exhibitors will come.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
