Turning trust into action: engaging your readers to help the community
22 January 2012 · By Anne Wong
We often talk about engaging the community — creating unique events, connecting with them through social media, encouraging dialogue and participation, reflecting their passions, grievances, beliefs, and news.
But with our power to connect and engages comes the responsibility to drive action to support the community issues we report on.
News articles on tragedies and social injustices often elicit the strongest emotions. How often have we read a sad story and wished we could do something to help?
Well, here's the beauty of being in newspaper marketing. We can.
With the right structures in place, we can respond immediately to tragic news issues reported by our editorial, enable, and encourage action from our readers with our marketing, help the needy, and in doing so, boost our brand empathy and trust.
...[more]Media companies must keep up with breakneck pace of change in 2012
10 January 2012 · By Joe Talcott
This is the time for New Year predictions, and I'm keen to make mine. Three hundred years ago, making a prediction about the near future would have been pretty easy. If asked, “What do you see for next year?” you could safely predict next year would be very, very much like this year. Not so today.
And so, my first prediction: The pace of change will increase.
“We shall never again see change move at such a slow pace.” That was the sobering statement that concluded a presentation on the future at last year's Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. For those of us who have been dealing with the most extraordinary changes in our businesses, it is a prediction that generates a fair amount of trepidation. Yet, it is a prediction that will surely be proved true.
My second prediction: Successful media companies will embrace the change.
You've heard that “two heads are better than one.” So imagine the power of 2 billion brains. The Internet connects us. As of March 2011, more than 2 billion people were connected to the Internet and, as a result, to each other. It is this “connected collective” that is powering the massive rate of change we are experiencing. In the past, scientists worked in isolation (alone or in small teams). Having made a discovery, they published their work so their peers could review it and substantiate or refute it. Today that process is massively compressed. Scientists are now able to collaborate in ways previously unimaginable, in real time. And so are writers, educators, inventors, technologists, investors, students, musicians, governments, revolutionaries, and marketers. As more and more people connect, the results of those collaborations will come faster and faster.
...[more]Practical planning in times of economic crisis
22 December 2011 · By Herman Verwimp
Too much optimism can kill.
In times of economic crisis, your marketing and sales departments need several competencies: speed, flexibility, realism and persistence.
What we learned from earlier crises is that those companies that react fast and creatively can best control the damage. Those who react (even a bit) too slowly will lose money and market share. Most media company boards will only accept a budget that is better than last year's. They call it, most years, a budget with “ambition.” Well, this year it's time to change that behavior.
Who on earth is able to make a budget for the whole year 2012? Not one government, not one company, and surely not a company that is dependent on income from advertising. I would call a budget with growth in income next year a “lie,” a “dream,” or a “bad piece of work.” For those who are in an income-growth position, I invite you to speak at the next INMA conferences, and to speak with the INMA staff for an in-depth interview. I'm afraid we will only meet a handful of people.
...[more]How can newspapers re-capture advertising share?
16 December 2011 · By Scott Stines
Changes in consumer news consumption already have led to significant changes in how and where advertisers invest their marketing budgets.
Traditional media’s share of ad spending continues to decline as advertisers shift their budgets to more efficient media channels. By 2016, interactive marketing (social media, e-mail marketing, display ads, mobile marketing, and search marketing) is projected to account for 35% of total ad spending in the United States, or roughly the amount advertisers will spend on TV advertising this year (Forrester Research, U.S. Interactive Marketing Forecast, 2011 to 2016).
How can newspapers re-capture advertising share and compete for interactive marketing budgets? What are the keys to future success?
...[more]Tasteline.com: stretching your brand and becoming more relevant to your customers
06 December 2011 · By Hilde Torvanger
For more than 10 years Tasteline.com has helped the Swedish people with recipes and inspiration when it comes to food and food experiences. Their vision has been to be the complete food site for inspiration for food, beverages and health. “Christmas delights, how to make your own dumplings, the menu of the week, how to make a tasteful dinner in 15 minutes” et cetera are all typical content of the Web site.
Tasteline.com is a strong brand in Sweden and they realised that there was a great potential for brand extensions into related businesses. The retail food industry in Sweden has yearly revenue of approximately SEK 300 billion, and is definitely the biggest category. At the same time, e-commerce was growing, and food had by far the fastest growth. Obviously there was a promising opportunity there.
They chose to develop and launch a home delivery service of food called “Tasteline Matkasse.” This means Tasteline Food Box. The food box consists of food and recipes for five dinners for four people. It is a subscription offer, and the food box is delivered every second week.
By doing this they not only connected even better with the consumer and hence could strengthen the brand, but they also took control of a larger part of the value chain. And they could fulfill their vision in a broader perspective.
...[more]Think digital-only and stop being dragged down by the past
30 November 2011 · By Anne Wong
The first day of the WAN-IFRA Digital Media Asia event in Hong Kong left me both elated and challenged. Thinking digital-only is like saying “stop being dragged down by the past — look only at the possibilities ahead.”
Presentations ranged from those exuding confidence to those admitting to uncertainty and experimentation. Enterprising outfits shared successful social media campaigns and new multi-media storytelling tools, while a conversion specialist from Google Analytics shared an amusing and informative look at the treasure trove of data that exists on in Google’s free insights and data analysis pages.
There was also a shared realisation that the future of news boils down to great journalism, a committed focus on the consumer, wholesale and rapid internal operational and culture change, and adopting, adapting to, and leveraging new technology without the fear of failure.
The news consumer has changed; that’s why our world has changed. One speaker warned about how unforgiving our audiences have become. “If they don’t like what they see on the landing page, they’ll just go away and never come back.” The same speaker also reassured us that it’s OK to keep iterating until you get it right. Technology has spawned a new generation of low-tolerance customers spoiled with immense choice, and a large number of competitors with low barriers to entry.
...[more]Making room for creativity when busy is your enemy
21 November 2011 · By Joe Talcott
A short time ago I read a piece by Australian GQ Editor Nick Smith. He lamented the fact that many people are answering “busy” when asked “How are you?”
He imagined a situation at a trendy party (which GQ editors often attend):
Me: Hi, how are you?
Them: Soooo busy.
Me: Oh really? Then why are you here?
Them: Oh, I thought I’d just pop in for a few.
Me: So you can’t be that busy then?
Them: I ... I beg your pardon?
Me: So you’re not really busy then.
Them: What do you mean?
Me: You’re at a party. Why would you say you were busy?
Them: Well ...
Me: Well what? If you were soooo busy, you wouldn’t be here.
Them: F#*k off.
I, too, have noticed that people have been using “busy” to answer the question “How are you?” instead of “fine,” “OK,” or “Great. And you?”
...[more]Putting social media in perspective
18 November 2011 · By Scott Stines
Non-stop news coverage of social media — specifically Facebook — has captured marketer’s attention — whether inside or outside of the news-media industry. Extensive coverage of Facebook’s audience and revenue growth has served to accelerate the adoption of a sound ‘social media strategy’ by some and motivated others to pursue short-term tactics for fear of being left behind.
Is Facebook — and social media — truly, as one industry commentator recently claimed, ‘the most disruptive of the many powerful forces to rock traditional media since the Internet’ or is the non-stop news coverage producing a loud and constant buzz that is inhibiting our ability to put social media — and Facebook — in perspective?
There seems to be no end to news coverage about Facebook. In the past 60 days I’ve learned that because of Facebook the Internet has become a smaller place; consumers are spending less time surfing the Web while they spend more time on Facebook — or other social media sites. Another story reveals that nearly a third of those 18 to 24 years old use Facebook to catch up on news. And on the heels of that story another reveals that US$7 of every US$10 spent on social network advertising is spent with Facebook.
...[more]Why not a news industry media lab as a driver for innovation?
10 November 2011 · By Herman Verwimp
These days newspapers are full of pictures of prototypes for new electric cars. Audi, BMW, VW and others are all presenting the results of wild ideas that are born in their research or design departments. Maybe they look futuristic or as though they escaped from a science fiction movie. But at least they are the result of a thinking process and a vision. And when you look at the actual design of a Ford Mondeo or Audi TT or Peugeot’s latest models, you can easily recognise the influence from the design “exercises.”
Meanwhile you can also watch at YouTube a movie called “Productivity Future Vision” made by Microsoft. Not Apple, Microsoft. Are they starting to take the lead in new developments? At least they have vision. And more than 2 million people have watched the movie already.
Other places that attract the attention of media and journalists these days are economic think tanks like the Belgian institutes Itinera or Econopolis. If media want to have comments about scenarios for the future, they always look at those trend watchers, experts, design labs. And you know what? Their opinions are sexy, attractive and worth learning more about. Food for in-depth discussions. Food for the creation of decisions. People believe in it.
...[more]Sea change in local news coverage: multimedia newsrooms
31 October 2011 · By Bob Provost
In the early 1990s, CNN’s coverage of Desert Storm essentially redefined the television news landscape for American viewers. CNN’s 24-hour, on-location coverage demonstrated that a “mere” cable network could go toe-to-toe with the major broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, ABC) on the day’s major news story and actually do them one better. Industry experts point to this moment in media history as a sea change in the evolution of video news reporting and viewer acceptance of a new cadre of cable network news organisations. Today, there are several dozen credible cable news networks covering general or niche news categories that have achieved strong brand acceptance in the consumer marketplace.
Well, it hasn’t made news on the global landscape, but in the arena of local news coverage I believe the “multimedia” 24-hour newsroom of the daily newspaper has essentially achieved the same milestone.
If I were to identify the first such instance, I would probably point to the Times Picayune coverage of Hurricane Katrina’s devastating impact on New Orleans and other gulf coast communities in 2005. Essentially unable to publish and/or distribute their print product, the newsroom focused on their Web site, nola.com, providing unprecedented around-the-clock coverage and earning accolades for their response to the public’s need to know in a time of great crisis.
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