June 27, 2005

A Fresh Perspective on Newspapers

Great quote in the Times about the Lawrence Kansas newspaper editor/publisher who says, "I don't think of us as being in the newspaper business. Information is our business and we're trying to provide information, in one form or another, however the consumer wants it and wherever the consumer wants it, in the most complete and useful way possible."

That includes everything from a website aimed at college readers, another website that provides transcripts of court cases, and even a site with the photos of every local little leaguer.

The 75-year-old boss of this paper is incredibly imaginative when it comes to ways to developing creative ways to package and present information to his community. He is rethinking the role of the local newspaper, and I think he's really on to something.

Newspapers do certainly face challenging times. But the appetite for information is greater than ever. Smart newspapers will think of how they can be their community's primary source for information...and use the Internet much more as their delivery system.

The same article lists the fastest-growing cities in terms of Internet users. Number One is our neighboring city of Atlanta, where the number of active home Internet users increased 43% over the three years ending this past May.

Hartford leads all other cities in terms of the amount of timespent on line at home per person during this past May: 20 hours and 39 minutes.

One of the hardest things for all of us is to look at our businesses with fresh eyes. We tend to turn to people who know our business or are in it. Perhaps we should more often turn to those who have none of those predispositions.

The fact that a 75-year-old took these bold steps sure does dispel the "old dog" adage.

What business are we really in? Are we defining our business too narrowly? If we re-think and re-present it, will it open our eyes to great new possibilities?

Create Your Own Tie

I thought the promotion piece was kidding. But it wasn't.

You can now create your own Ralph Lauren tie.

You can choose the tie color and the stripe color...and they'll add your initials, and - get this - "the vintage year 2005." [No tie shall be tied before its time.]

"Have it your way" has gone bonkers.

Heard of similar ridiculousness? Pass it on.

Wait....here's another one!

Nike iD lets you build your own sneaker. And Timberland is doing it too, with their most popular boot.

But ties???

New Venue for Product Placement

Song lyrics. I read that Cadillac was using focus groups of celebrities....give them a special preview of the Escalade and get their suggestions on how to make the cars more appealing. A by-product of this celebrity exposure has been an increase in Cadillac car mentions in song lyrics...logged at 70 times last year, vs. 46 the year before.

Product placement is one more Lifestyle Touchpoint that helps you break away from the over-cluttered media environment. There's something just a little scary about it. Some of those consumer advocacy groups want ads targeting kids to be more clearly identified as ads. The argument is that kids can't differentiate between programming and ads. Can adults differentiate between a stage prop and product placement?