EDA, journalism and the future of marketing...

Click on the headline to link to Lou Covey's posting that caused quite a stir and some interesting comments. Basically, Lou suggests that the EDA industry abandoned the media that covered it and as the media then cut back on coverage of the EDA industry, that very same industry now has fewer outlets covering its news, products, trends etc.

I have a slightly different take that broadens the discussion. It's not just about EDA, it's about the changes that are both real and perceived in terms of how people access information. Having been at the forefront of the EDA storm, I was reminded of the fact that one of the largest advertisers in the New York Times was Macy's department stores. Editorially Macy's and the retail industry were barely covered but they advertised in the New York Times because that's where they could send messages to their customers and prospective customers.

I think that Mentor Graphics in particular understood the value of being in front of thousands of customers every week in the printed version of EETimes. I hope that the EDA industry was not advertising in EETimes with the hope that they would receive editorial coverage. As I said at the EDAC meeting last Fall, the readers in the BtoB world rarely know who the editor is behind the story (Although some folks did not believe me, Scott Sandler at Novas actually did his own research and found that this was the case)

Those companies that still support print are, in my opinion, getting great value for money - over 100,000 readers every week seeing their message...many readers look at the ads for information as well as the editorial content. Let's not completely lose sight of this fact...check out Vanity Fair and Vogue and Martha Stewart Living...jammed full of ads from the likes of Ford, Proctor and Gamble and other leading marketing houses...it's about the audience not about if your press release is getting picked up. Macys and the New York Times - good example!