Gannett’s business strategy
February 16, 2007 in industry news
The Business Beat #
In a post earlier this week we directed readers to an audio recording of Gannett’s brass reporting to investment banking house Credit Suisse. #
The report is almost an hour long and somewhat boring in places. For those who didn’t listen, we wanted to provide some the highlights of the presentation that took place on December 6, 2006. #
Comments from Craig Dubow, chairman, president and CEO of Gannett #
* Gannett will move in two directions by supporting core businesses and enriching digital efforts into a major international business #
* Local and hyper-local content is the key to future #
* Career Builder is a cornerstone of the digital strategy #
* Online advertising is the holy grail #
* Gannett will establish business partnerships with Tribune and McClatchy #
* Less focus on publishing newspapers and more emphasis on Information Center #
* New business model drops focus on circulation reach and readership #
* The goal of innovation is to improve profit #
* Will lure small advertisers than normally don’t advertise in daily newspapers #
* Gannett is no longer printcentric #
Comments from Sue Clark-Johnson, president of the newspaper division #
* Must work beyond news and develop hyperlocal data that connects communities #
* News is no longer a mononlogue or even a dialogue, but a community converstation #
* Will develop thousands of microsites (mom.com) as an example #
* Microsites will be complemented by some print pieces #
* Gannett has trained 380 new videographers #
* Will not abandon print product, but target a demographic that is 45 years-plus, middle/upper income and post high school in education level #
* Goal is to expand audience #
* Gannett is not selling space on paper anymore, but selling audiences to advertisers #
* Sale offers will be across platform #
Stay tuned for comments regarding USA Today and Gannett Broadcasting coming soon to this very blog. #
Wow! I wonder if they re-trained current staff, or hired people? Probably a bit of both…
p.s. Thanks for wading through that hour-long speech for us!
I thought we were supposed to call them photojournalists. Don't videographers shoot weddings and PR stuff?
What if we compromise and say "video journalist."
College Newspapers- beware the USA Today and the NY Times Collegiate Readership programs and the new Quadrantone on line advertising platform. The Big boys want your college newspaper advertisers and they want you college newspaper readers.
If your school is approached by the Gannett/USA Today Collegiate Readership Program or the NY Times, I hope that you will consider this: They will use their newspapers on your campus to financially beat your college newspaper into submission. They can sell ads to your advertisers at a ridiculously low rate for a while to alienate your advertisers. They can sell local advertising with local advertiser inserts. They can even create customized coupon books that are inserted in the local and national papers they provide for your campus readers- Just another clever way to steal your college newspaper advertisers.
Read what is happening now at The Penn State to their school newspaper- the school that started the college readership program 10 years ago! Other schools seem to be catching on:
<a href="http://media .www.cw.ua.edu/media/storage/paper959/news/2004/02/13/News/Free-Newspaper.Program.Here.For.Semester.Maybe.Longer-2860679.shtml” target=”_blank”>http://media <a href="http://.www.cw.ua.edu/media…” target=”_blank”>.www.cw.ua.edu/media/storage/paper959/news/2004/02/13/News/Free-Newspaper.Program.Here.For.Semester.Maybe.Longer-2860679.shtml
Just came across this post looking for international business. I wonder how these great plans for expansion are doing now in the financial/economic meltdown.