Print is evolving from an end-all-be-all distribution vehicle for what media companies do best to a situational revenue driver and a tangible brand vehicle. Short-term, print plays a dominant role so long as advertisers see value. Long-term, print becomes a brand package to remind people of digital options. It might become a loss leader. It might become our weekly marketing vehicle for our rainbow of content options on hundreds of platforms. I suspect that if this were our sole brand conveyance vehicle and not just a schlepper of news, we’d make better qualitative choices about paper weight, paper style, paper width, and more.
An excellent analysis from Earl Wilkinson of the International Newsmedia Marketing Association. Regardless of what one thinks about this latest predictor of the end of newspapers, one can’t refute the changing position of traditional newspapers in society. So considering the options is not doomsaying. It’s smart. As Wilkinson says:
“We’ll wring wretched efficiencies out of print. We’ll cut editorial staff through a constant series of prioritisation exercises regarding content on newsprint. We’ll outsource production. We’ll outsource delivery. We’ll slim down the number of pages printed. We’ll cut print frequency from seven days to five days to three days to weekly. We’ll bring in McKinsey or Bain or Boston Consulting to decide the precise angle of the print decline.
None of this really matters. No matter what we do internally, we cannot escape the external factors shaping how information is consumed. We cannot escape the pace of technological change. We cannot escape the nature of consumer behaviour.”
