Googlepaper - and other future media scenarios

8/8/2019 Googlepaper - and other future media scenarios

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This print-digital reportincludes a microsite with:

Resources to help you conductyour own scenario planning

Expanded strategy and businessplans for our three scenarios

Contact details for these experts

An opportunity for you to critiqueany of our experts future memosor to submit your own

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March 2007 newspaper techniques Scenario Planning

Using scenario-planning storytelling techniques to gaze into the industrys crystal ball

Memos from the newspapers futurenewspaper techniques asked a group of the indus-

trys most innovative thinkers to put themselves in

the mind of some future executive faced with a

sudden drastic change in how newspapers are

published and do business. What if..., we asked.

And then we told them to write a memo in re-

sponse, to explain how they would deal with a

digital megacompany that expands into newspa-pers, or the sudden popularity of electronic paper,

or being forced to become a freesheet.

www.ifra-nt.com/scenarios


2/7

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What if a digital megacompany expands into print newspapers

promising innovative integration of new and old media?

Scenario

The announcement was not entirely

unexpected. The other newspaper in

your town, your long-time rival in

readership and advertising, has been

sold. It had been known they were

looking for a buyer. The surprise is

who bought them. Google.

Googles press release calls the move

a logical expansion for the informa-

tion powerhouse. It says the acquisi-

tion gives Google access to original

content as well as to a medium that

complements its corporate mission of

making information universally

accessible and useful. It talks about

the important role and the unmatched

positioning of newspapers in gather-

ing and providing local news and

information for the community. It

pledges to continue your rivals

commitment to thoroughly reported,

reliable information. It promises

exciting new services and opportuni-

ties for the public from an innovative

integration of print and digital media.

Your staff already knows what has

happened. What they need from younow is an idea of what you think these

new print-digital services and

opportunities mentioned in the press

release might look like, and what

kinds of changes your newspaper is

going to have to make to compete at

this new level.

Googlepaper:

InternalEm

ail

From:

ManagingD

irector

To:Edito

rinChief

;Advertis

ingManage

r;Circula

tionManag

er;

Production

Manager

Subject:

Practical

steps

ForGooglet

ohavebou

ghtourco

mpetitori

sanadmis

sionthat

theirva

approacht

ocontentisn

otsufficie

nt.Wenee

dtoexplo

itthis.F

orGoo

challenge

isnotthe

integrationof

realcon

tentwith

aggregated

,b

exploitati

onofthei

rbrandwi

ththelocalnewsp

apers.Ou

rbiggest

t

thatwewi

llnotkee

pupwith

change,so

wemustusethi

sastheo

ppo

togetour

organisat

ionmoving

faster.

Somepract

icalsteps

:

Googlei

snttheo

nlysearch

enginein

town,and

theseday

sthere

thataref

asterand

moregranu

lar.Wene

edtofind

apartner

withwh

integrate

immediatel

y.

Theirbu

sinessmod

elwillbe

builtaro

undaggreg

ationtod

rawdo

materialo

nasubjec

tfromdif

ferentsou

rces.Wen

eedtoget

good

ourselves,and

fast.Wen

eedtores

tructurea

ndrecultu

rethenew

thinkabou

taggregationof

allconten

tandnot

justthep

romotion

Weneedto

appointa

senioreditor

todayto

takeonth

eroleof

contentfr

omallsou

rces.

Weneed

toworkha

rderatbu

ildingloc

alrelevan

ce.Thisw

ill

abignews

papergrou

pworking

withabig

gergroup

likeGoogl

e.

control,a

ndweneed

toextend

thistoo

urcommuni

tythrough

gr

readerint

eraction,

andlocal

specialist

knowledge

.Solets

en

pageinth

epaperis

inviting

readersto

participa

te,andev

er

pointingr

eadersat

additional

material.

Weneed

toworkha

rderatbu

ildingdig

italcommu

nitiesof

i

ourwider

community

ofgeograp

hy.Thisi

swhatrea

dersarew

a

alsowhat

advertiser

sareseek

ing.

Weneed

tointroducea

systemtha

tlinksin

terestgro

upto

est.Googl

ecandot

hisglobally.We

canexceed

theirsal

es

levelbeca

usewehav

ethesale

sforce.B

utwemustnot

let

grationbl

untourab

ilitytoc

ompeteacr

osseachi

ndividual

onebenefit

.Digital

another.R

adioanoth

er.Etc.

Perhaps

wealsone

edtorevi

ewourpri

ntoffer,

toreflec

relevance

andtarget

ing.Digit

alprintin

gisnowe

merging

Perhapswe

shouldha

veaserie

sofcommu

nitymachi

nespro

smallcomm

unitiesor

maybeeve

nindividu

als.

Thethreat

inallth

isisnot

thecombin

edstrengt

hofG

paper,but

ourinabi

litytomo

vefastan

dchangew

ithth

tofollo

wrathert

hanantici

pate.This

isourNo

.1chal

givingustheex

cusetoch

angefort

hebetter.

Editors note: Google is a trademark of Google Inc., which had no involvement in the preparation of this article. The scenario developed inthese fictional memos and the accompanying material represents the opinions of the authors and/or newspaper techniques magazine only.It does not in any way (that we know of) reflect the views or strategy of Google Inc.

Scenario Planning March 2007 newspaper techniques Kerry J. Northrup

Jim Chisholm

Joint Principal

iMedia

Lille, France Direct Link (3399)

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Enter (Article Direct Link) numbers online

Expanded scenario description (3396); expanded evaluation (3406)

Constantine Kamaras expanded memo (3409); Jean-Luc Renauds expanded scenario

memo (3412); Jennifer Carrolls expanded memo (3411)

Comment on this scenario at www.ifra-nt.com/scenarios/yourview

tyouandIisrecom-lesscosthnical.Ineither

tbecauseess,isonecloser

lddisap-

ydifferen-

ndlyaskntwouldseditingnctiveerac-dto

roposerward:Thosee.orthe

movetheed

March 2007 newspaper techniques Kerry J. Northrup Scenario Planning

MEMO

Subject: Changingtoa

freesheet

Thedecisionhasbeentaken

,sincethelastboardmeeti

ng,tochangetoa

freesheet.Inviewofthefa

ctthatourbusinessturnov

erisabout50percent

newspapersalesand50pe

rcentadvertisingrevenue,

ifwedonotchangewe

willlose50percentofourin

come.Consequently,itisvi

taltoexaminethe

organisationandcostsofou

rnewspaperinordertores

toreabalanceas

quicklyaspossible,i.e.with

in2to3years.

Thereareseveralapproac

hestochangethatdonota

llhavethesameorgani-

sationalorfinancialweight,butmustallbe

used:

1)Atproduc

tlevel:

a)Changetotabloidwithou

tincreasingpagecount,if

possiblewithall

pagesincolour(i.e.fullcolo

ur)

2)Atproductionlevel:

a)Inthenewsroom:Elimin

ateintermediaries

(1)Readerscanplaceana

rticleoraphotodirectlyin

thenewspaper

viatheweb(fewerpaidcor

respondents)

(2)Inthesameway,journa

listsfinalisepagesthatare

senttoCTP

bytheproductionmanagem

entsystem.

b)Intheadvertisingdepart

ment:Eliminateintermedia

ries

(1)Advertiserscancreate

theiradsonline

(2)Inthesameway,thedesignersfina

lisedirectlytheiradsthat

automaticallyenterthespacesreservedinthepages

.

(3)Increasesoldspacebyu

singeveryweekday.

c)Intheprintingdivision:R

educenumbersofpersonn

elasfaraspossible

bypolyvalenceandoutsour

cingauxiliarytasks.

(1)Introduceremoteprint

ingatcommercialprinting

plantsordigital

printingforshortprintruns

.

d)Indistribution:Reorgani

sebychangingtostandard

bundlesandlower

transportcosts,alsolower

costsduetothefactthatth

eproductisfree.

3)Atfinanciallevel:

a)Savingsonsalaries

b)Savingsonbasemateria

ls

c)Savingsonmarketingco

sts

Jochen Dieckow

Business and New Media

Ifra

Darmstadt, Germany

Direct Link (3407)

Evaluation

The loss of distribution revenues means that newspapers must save costs and/or in-

crease advertising income. Relying wholly on a system of advertising-based financ-

ing calls for an income strategy aimed at maximising market share. The extended

reach achieved by changing from pay-for to free content must result in higher ad-

vertising revenues. Especially in competitive markets, this can mean that profits take

some time to materialise and financial reserves are required. It is essential to have agood knowledge of the advertising market. The next question is when and where the

desired target audiences can be reached.

Jean-Luc Renaud

Technical Director

Le Rpublicain Lorrain

Metz, France

Direct Link (3478)

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