DOH! – Newspapers Are Not Dead
A friend of mine sent me a link to this story about how newspapers are launching a 75 million dollar ad campaign fighting the image that newspapers are on the decline.
“One campaign slogan reads: “The Internet is the best thing to happen to newspapers since the paper boy.” A central figure is a cartoon character seen reading a newspaper online while carrying a cellular phone tower and typing on two keyboards.”
I am going to put this into my DOH! category as there are a litany of things wrong with this. Here are my thoughts:
- Anytime in the history of the world that a company has had to advertise that they are not dead, is the immortal sign that they are truly dead.
- Here’s a crazy thought… Why don’t you take that 75 million and innovate a new product or service to actually make yourself relevant instead of just telling us you are?
- Or take the 75 million and answer the following questions for me:
- How do expect to compete for ad dollars against sites like craigslist who does not charge for classified ads while you do?
- How are you going to compete against both job sites as well as the numerous networking sites?
- How are you going to compete in the face of 24/7 cable news coverage and bloggers?
- How are you going to overcome a generation of users who have NEVER read a newspaper and get all their news online?
And finally, with all the great technology out there, are you telling me there is still no printing method available that I don’t have to get ink all over my hands and fingers after reading a newspaper?
Good luck on the campaign boys, I am sure it will yield fabulous results.
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OMG.. this is funny! I’m right with you! Yeah, 75 million should be enough to figure out how to create ink that doesn’t rub off! LOL! I’m thinking Newpapers are going the way of the dinosaur!
I was a newspaper guy for nearly 15 years and was the front line guy for bringing a 50,000+ paper online in 1995 and keeping it together through this past year with a few observations for you.
1. The newspaper is dying. It’s going to be a long drawn out one, with the paper gradually becoming more locally focused until the smallest areas are covered sufficiently by the Internet. The daily paper is going to gradually reduce itself to a local gossip rag, shopper or entertainment guide until it finally peters out.
2. There is a lot of ego involved in the old guard. A lot of them told us youngsters we were foolish to waste time with “this online thing” and frankly refuse to go back on their chest thumping. The ones with any brains understand that the wagons are circling, but figure it won’t happen before they retire and it’s someone else’s problem. In the meantime, why risk status quo? A chief editor’s job was pretty sweet at my paper. Meet for an hour or so to decide what everyone deserves to know today, take a 2 hour lunch, do some Kiwanis or Lions Club or whatever you like, visit a school or two to talk about how important your job is, etc. Not a bad way to earn your six figures.
3.:
- You compete against craigslist by having the best penetration in the local area. You fight to hold on to this until the web is covering every little nook and cranny properly, at which point you give up and offer yours free.
- Ditto. Plus you gather all the “old boys” network to promise to honor the paper in exchange for voting you big salary increases since you sit on his company’s board.
- Ditto.
- You don’t. Your clientele is old rich people and your services are geared toward them. You kid yourself with school programs like NIE and the like. Your best hope is that these kids grow up in the “old boy” system and advertise in your paper in exchange for a favorable board presence.
There are better printing methods, they just cost more money. It’s hard to convince the brass that it’s worth it to create a quality product when it’s assumed you’re going to throw it away within an hour.
Bill,
Thank you for your great insight. Everything you wrote makes absolute sense. It will be interesting to see if the local papers can actually compete with their online editions or because of all the competition only big players like the New York Times and the WSJ will survive. I am wondering what you are going now after being in the business for 15 years? Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts.
I been in newspapers 20 years, Cord – newspapers are not known for innovation or silver bullets. We move slow. We’ve been around. We’re local. We got content – good and bad. And we got ads. You and I buy online, we look at ads online, we read news online, we are citizens and community online – we have access. Its a privilege. Not everyone does. And the generations following shop and buy everywhere – been to the Gap or Old navy lately?
I’m not hip to the big $75 million campaign – nor to all the insight Bill shares – yet this I know – its a fun time to try and market the darn thing. The old guard is dying. The youngsters are still hungry. The online presence of the paper adds value. Radio brought the end of newspapers, TV killed radio, the web smashed TV. Newspapers are still here. So is TV, So is radio. I’m not delusional enough to think anything lasts forever – ask my ex-wives – but things do transform.
Bob, I absolutely agree, great points and thanks for the feedback. I am going to take your word for it, no need to bother the ex-wives.
good idea, Cord – they’re unruly
– and I’d prefer they don’t catch up with me – LOL -