Showsight September 2021

A M E S S A G E F R OM T H E P U B L I S H E R

FRIENDS,

Approximately 45 days ago, we announced that SHOWSIGHT THE PLACE FOR PUREBRED DOGS WITH PURPOSE is launching the largest project that has been ever even attempted by a publishing house or media channel in our community. The response we have received from you about our new digital BREED MAG- AZINES has simply left us speechless. We’ve never received such an overwhelming number of emails, phone calls, social media and text messages on a daily basis—and they haven’t stopped coming. In the 12 years that I have been a part of SHOWSIGHT I’ve never struggled as I have recently to reply to all messages within 48 hours. I would like to take this time to apologize to every individual and all Parent Club Board Members who may still be waiting to receive a return phone call from us. We are replying to everyone in the order in which your message was received. We ask that you please be patient with us as it is crucial that all of your questions are answered in detail. You will be hearing back from us! Our BREED MAGAZINES have taken the digital world by storm. For some breeds, more than 70 pages of educational materi- als has already been received. For others, the total number of pages is 5, 15, and on and on... With your support, our digital magazines include educational material on every single AKC-recognized breed. And when it comes to kennel advertisements, we have yet to slow down. We have already received hundreds of bookings for these and we are working to complete every single advertisement and editorial within 30 days of receipt of all materals. What has pleased us here at SHOWSIGHT is the knowing that every single preservation purebred dog breeder, Parent Club Board of Directors, and their membership understand the need of this proj- ect—if they, their breed, and our community as a whole is to have a successful future. This latest project was developed in response to all the misin- formation that has been published on various websites, social media pages, and individual breeder websites on just about every single breed. Not to mention the amount of dishonesty published by indi- vidual breeders through various marketplaces—pretending to be something they are not and hiding behind perfectly Photoshopped images. Some even going so far as to say they are an “Award-Winning Kennel” or “Breeder of Merit” when they are not. Unfortunately, many puppy buyers simply don’t know any better. We will not allow this to happen in our BREED MAGAZINES. Every single breeder who requests that their kennel—and their dogs —be published by Aramedia Group, publisher of SHOWSIGHT Magazine, will specifically be asked to provide 100% proof of their claims. Any attempt to mislead readers through false claims will result in the removal of content and a ban on all future advertising. We will not publish anything negative about these “breeders,” but we won’t allow them to be part of our channel. Within 12 to 24 months, we expect our channel to have millions of monthly viewers globally. Of course, all of our marketing dollars spent with Google, Facebook, and other channels will only be target- ing the US and Canadian markets. Our motto is straight forward: Support breeders who have devoted their lives to breeding healthy, typey purebred dogs AND “Grow the Sport of Purebred Dogs by bringing in many new people.” These two things we do to protect the core values that have made the dog show community successful in the first place, and to get rid of strategies that have been hurting us... In the last 10 years, the canine industry has grown by over 700%, but our purebred dog community hasn’t grown much at all. (In many cases, the numbers have dropped dramatically.) So, who did grow? Puppy millers and “breeders” of designer mixes. Why? They have utilized technology to build better websites and social media pages with top-quality photography, which in many cases isn’t even their own work! They know that puppy buyers don’t know any better. These “dog breeders” use social media and various websites to get their opinions out there to millions, while we haven’t done a very good job to promote our message. And for a while, we really didn’t

have to. In fact, many of us still don’t have to utilize social media to remain successful. But if we care about the preservation of purebred dogs and the dog show community as a whole, we have no choice but to relentlessly get our message out in front. All we have to do is make sure that everything we publish is of high quality and is factually correct. All content we publish will either be educational or motivational. I did forget to mention that this plan was born in 2018, and as with all important things, has taken time to develop. The launch of our BREED MAGAZINES took three years, as we needed to prepare funds and speak with thousands of breeders and many breed clubs to see how they feel about it and how things should it be done. As many of you already know, we are not taking one single dime from the clubs or the breeders. The only thing we will ever charge for is if a breeder calls us to place an advertisement on their own kennel. Even when it comes to soliciting advertising, we will not be aggres- sively reaching out. On occasion, we will send emails and utilize social media to share special rates. But that’s about it. If we receive 55 pages of articles on one breed and zero advertisements, we will still publish all 55 editorial pages. Although I can’t speak for every single employee in my company, I can speak for myself. “I didn’t purchase Doll-McGinnis Publications in 2017 just to publish a dog show magazine and brag about it. I truly wish to make a huge difference for the Purebred Dog Community—and this is just the start.” I hope that I don’t ruffle any feathers with this statement, but my first “ask” of every single dog show person is not to forget the real reason we are showing dogs. (And it isn’t to win a ribbon.( Yes, of course, we have people who come into the community for hobby purposes. They want to have fun and we should support them and be grateful for their support. But I am not speaking about them here. I am speaking about those who keep saying that they are a dog show person. We have too many within our sport who say they are a true dog show person, but seeing their actions does’t support this claim. These people seem consumed by winning a ribbon at all costs. I wish I was permitted to name the 100+ individuals who have been part of the dog show world for the past 30 to 50 years whom I have been speak- ing with over the past year. Some are professional handlers, owner-handlers, breeder/owner-handlers, and judges. These dedicated fanciers are the ones who have told me what we need to do. I am just sharing this information with you as it opened my eyes—and now I want to open yours too, if they aren’t already. I am nobody to tell anyone what to do, of course, but my sug- gestion to everyone (especially the newcomers and the younger generations) is to bother the experienced members of our community who have built the the sport into something special. I have done this, and it is the number one reason why I am where I am at today. Although I am young in age, mentally, I feel 30 years older. I was raised by my grandparents since I was two days old, and I have been serving people with a lot of wisdom since age 20. At the same time, I kept becoming involved in groups and activities with people who are my age. All of these things com- bined has helped me to understand all age groups, as all age groups are part of my daily life. As CEO of Aramedia Group, I promise you that we will always do what the community needs and approves us to do. Judging from the thousands of responses we have already received in such short time frame, it seems that our educational BREED MAGAZINES have become a hit! I am pleading for your to reach out if you have ideas that we should imple- ment to help your breed and our community. Each BREED MAGAZINE can only be as strong as its breeders and clubs will allow. Our apologies, but we won’t be giving out ribbons for your generosity. I will, however, promise you that you will receive much more than a ribbon. You will get permanent satisfaction from knowing that you’ve done the right thing for your breed and for the purebred dog community.

Sincerely,

AJ ARAPOVIC, OWNER & PUBLISHER

Est 1992

40 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, SEPTEMBER 2021

Powered by