January 22, 2007

Selective News

I understand the concept (and appeal) of selective news: identify what categories of information interest you and only tap into them...typically on the Internet. But then what happens to the information that you didn't know interested you until you saw it?

I'm thinking of the way a newspaper is organized. We turn the pages, ostensibly looking for the issues that interest us...and then, along the way, we discover something we had no idea would either be there or appeal to us, and it opens up our eyes to an entirely new issue.

Do we lose that experience when we over-customize the information we receive? Do we dull our curiousity...narrow our horizons?

I cannot imagine life without a newspaper. Like Jay, its tactile nature appeals to me. And I especially enjoy the discovery of stuff I didn't know, didn't expect to see, and love learning about.

But I think that newspapers should consider zero-basing their content. The world of information has changed so dramatically since the heyday of newspapers. We've got radio, TV, and - most consequentially - the Internet. Newspapers have not changed accordingly. We now have a few national papers - USA Today, The New York Times - and then we have the metropolitan dailies...virtually all declining in circulation.

Imagine if you were creating a metropolitan daily from scratch today. What would that paper look like? What would its content be? To what extent would it customize its editions (by geography, area of interest, demographic profile, etc.)? How much international and national news would it include? What would make it most relevant to its metropolitan audience?

Importantly, how would it differ from what's being presently produced in your metropolitan market?

My guess is that it would differ substantially. Then the challenge is to go from here to there...or get ready for a slow and painful death.

I don't think that's an exercise that most newspapers have the guts to go through. And, if they do, they typically turn to people in their own industry to tell them how to solve the problem. My guess is that the solutions are going to come from outside the industry. And they're going to come. Like they say..."when the pupil is ready, the teacher arrives."

Combo Brands The Rage

Who doesn't like the Gap/Project Red promotion? After all, it's good stuff in a good looking campaign for a good cause.

And, it's more. It's co-branding at its best. Blending brands to add more uuumph to both.

Apple's iPod did it with Nike and BMW. Burger King did it with Sean "Diddy" Combs. And Target has done it with a bunch of big name designers.

Interesting exercise: who fits with your brand? What's their business? How could you leverage each other's muscle to create an even more powerful presence?

Not only does the exercise help you identify co-branding opportunities, it also helps you define more clearly to yourself precisely what your brand is and what it stands for.