Adnerds

You will probably have noticed that I for one am a little obsessed with newspapers. With how they are obviously enjoying digging their own grave. However, I must admit that newspapers are somewhat less obstinate than the music industry (which is still in denial). And they are trying by all means to turn the tide. Although “turning the tide” is not exactly what they are accomplishing with some of their initiatives.

Two weeks ago I read in De Standaard (online offcourse, I hardly ever read a hard copy newspaper anymore) that media agencies in the US are joining an initiative called “Journalism Online” in order to fight for its future. A noble goal. A great idea to fight together ( this was not always the case, neither was it always possible). But let me explain to you why I think the “Journalism Online” approach will have a hard time becoming popular with consumers…

The Journalism Online Approach

On the company’s (or association?) website, you can read all about their plans and beliefs:

“At this critical moment for the future of news, Journalism Online is pioneering the effort to make the transition to a paid online model successful for publishers and easy for readers.”

Journalism Online believes (together with over 500 US distributors already, according to their site) that users are willing to pay for news. They even got proof of that. That’s right: Journalism Online truly believes people will be willing to pay for news. I believe they are being naive.

Well, as a consumer, I will never pay for news. News is like a home, a shelter. It is a necessity good that should be for free. Creating one big e-commerce engine that allows you to buy articles from a variety of content publishers will probably work for some people and even for some types of news (e.g. if you want to follow all news about your stocks, which is not a necessity good but a luxury good. In this case consumers will be willing to spend some of their earnings. In this particular example, I think aggregating the content from many publishers and selling it in one place is a good thing.

But knowing what’s up with the Mexican flue, that a plane crashed in the Hudson or that wildfires in Athens are almost under control is not something you should have to pay for. Besides, in all of these examples I just go online and get notified by peers that this is happeningas initiatives by regular users are already spreading the news. So I don’t even have to go and search for it. That’s exactly what Janis Krums did when the plane crashed. That is what many others did with regard to the swine flue. And if you want to know all about the fires in Greece, simply search for #grfires on Twitter.

Don’t react, change!

But we are not only here to complain, we are willing to reach out and discuss the best possible solution. In fact, we already did. And we are pretty convinced that our thoughts can make a substantial difference. With additional value for both the consumer (more and better content) and the content editors (more advertising revenues as well as a constant income stream). But our solution might require the newspaper business to be reshaped or their business model to be turned inside out. But it’s for the better, right?

We’ll explain about it later, but want to give the opportunity for newspapers to talk with us first ;-).

We already reached out to the Journalism Online association, immediately after reading the article in De Standaard, but they didn’t respond (yet). Maybe, if they got their online reputation management tools installed, they might just read this blog post.

Our email (maybe we should have printed it and sent it as a hard copy…):

Dear,

I read in a Belgian newspaper, De Standaard (that I read online), that over 500 companies/titles already joined your initiative. As part of the AdNerds, a two-man division of the Proximity BBDO Belgium office (a communication office of 111 man strong and part of the worldwide BBDO and Proximity network), we are the most digitally advanced employees of our company (we call ourselves the “radical digital division of Proximity BBDO”). Not only in Belgium, but worldwide.

As the newspaper industry is suffering in Belgium as well and we have some clients in this field, we gave it some thoughts before. In contrast with your solution (where the user has to pay), we focus on a mixed model where users have to pay a low/acceptable monthly fee and advertisers have the ability to push extremely targeted ads (and thus pay hard cash for it). Instead of starting with an e-commerce website, we try to focus on the consumer and his needs. Above all of this, we focus on a hybrid model, trying to mix the on- and offline world seamlessly into one solution, offering publishers to cut (partially) on publishing and distribution costs in the long run.

However – for the moment – our view is economically not viable to be rolled out by one newspaper. That is why our concept hasn’t been tested and exploited yet. Our belief is however that a large-scale operation, where your company is obviously going for, can/will make this an economic viable solution and a success for the advertisers, the publishers as well as the user/reader.

I was wondering if you happen to have the time and interest in meeting us (in real life or on a conference call) to discuss our views and share some thoughts. No strings attached, although we think that our views could make a big difference for the whole industry.

KR,

Bart

PS: newspapers, something I was aching to tell you before, please write online articles as one writes blogposts: include links to your sources, so I –all of us– shouldn’t have to google “Journalism Online” in order to get to the website… Thanks so much!