The Philadelphia Inquirer declared bankruptcy.
Ten years ago, our agency was hired to launch what was to be America’s first National African-American weekly newspaper. It was called “Our World News”. A brilliant idea, conceived by a great newspaper man by the name of Don Miller.
When we launched the paper, subscriptions were good, not great, but good. We also created a website called “OurWorldNews.com”. And a strange thing started to happen.
Slowly, over the next year the website traffic climbed while the subscriptions slowed down.
When I went to Mr. Miller and pointed out that there was something happening with the newspaper’s website that we might want to take advantage of, he told me to focus on marketing the printed newspaper. That was understandable, since Mr. Miller was a solid newspaper man. Sadly, Our World News ran out of funding and had to close its doors. I often think about what might have happened if we had focused on the Internet. Our World News might have become the premier on-line news source for African-Americans.
That was ten years ago, when no one could imagine that the internet would bring on the collapse of America’s newspapers over the next decade.
That’s why I was very surprised when I heard that Brian Tierney was putting together a group of investors to purchase the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Why would anybody want to buy a newspaper,” I wondered. “Mr. Tierney is a smart cookie. He must have the big idea,” I told my friends.
Wrong.
He tried to make the Philadelphia Inquirer better and probably did in an incremental sort of way. Big deal. Trying to improve a printed newspaper is like trying to improve a steamboat.
It’s all about the business model.
What if Mr. Tierney and his team moved the Philadelphia Inquirer to the Web? 100% lock, stock and barrel. Just imagine what a team of top interactive developers, designers and writers can do with a national flagship brand like the Philadelphia Inquirer. Instead of chasing a declining local revenue base, they could become a leader in the reengineering of the American newspaper and reap the rewards of a growing national revenue base.
It’s all about the business model.
Jon
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Jon -great illustration of changes in advertising. I pitched Tierney the day after he bought the Inquirer on a meeting to discuss leveraging his web asset(Philly.com) for this very reason.
ReplyDeleteI was so excited about the opportunity I drove to his house and stuffed a personal letter of invitation in his mail box to talk-signed by me and Chuck Andes ...
Have not heard from Brian yet...
Steve Emory
Jon, I received an email to add the e-Inquirer to my home delivery subscription last week and thought of your blog post. You can subscribe to the digital edition for $2.25/wk (8 weeks for $18) at http://epaper.philly.com/. Unlike the Inquirer and Daily News editions available at Philly.com, the e-Inquirer looks like a print newspaper -- a format proven by the NY Times and Wall Street Journal online. I think that familiar newspaper format resonates with people. Wouldn't it be fun if someone created an app for Wii so you could sit in your favorite chair, turn the pages of your e-newspaper and read it on your big plasma screen?
ReplyDeleteChuck McLeester