Really enjoyed the New Yorker article http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/03/31/080331fa_fact_alterman - on the future (or not) of newspapers. It has created an interesting discussion on Brian Fuller’s Blog. http://greeleysghost.blogspot.com/
In the electronics space in the US, I am convinced that we remain “over published” in the area of print. Despite the closure of venerable magazines such as Electronics News, Electronics Buyers News, Electronics Business, Electronics and EEPN, there are still dozens of magazines in the space. The net effect is that advertisers support various publications and as their spend declines, it declines in all areas instead of cutting back to one or two key vehicles. Then, the owners of these vehicles cut costs to try to catch up with the declining spend and advertisers cut back more speeding the spiral like decline.
With the introduction of Blogs, social networking (I’m told that there are over 70 engineering communities in Facebook!!?) and company investments in their own media (websites, print products and events), there are many different ways to reach the target audience.
Our industry is spending marketing dollars as though it’s the early 1990s by utilizing two or three design magazines and two or three product publications when engineers are telling us all that this information is increasingly sought online. Problem is, as print budgets are cut to miniscule levels, all of the print products are suffering – time to kick out of the spiral and commit to one or two key products and one or two web entities (Google is a must) – hopefully those that have data showing that they’re reaching the right targets.
Then, carve out some experimental spend for new media – key Bloggers, immersive environments, social networks, custom face-to-face events etc.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
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We've seen it before. Industries and their publications find their level, like water. Remember "The National?" It was a daily sports tabloid in the U.S. that lasted about a year in the 1980s. Very daring. Great writers and coverage. What they failed to grasp is that the audience was watching it on TV. It died. Yet Sports Illustrated lives, Sporting News (100 years and going) and ESPN The Magazine has emerged (really a hybrid in a sense).
It's interesting that in electronics the innovation and marketing of PRODUCTS is in constant churn but the innovation in marketing as it relates to media is not.
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