PepperDigital

London's Newspaper Wars

By Carl Foster, PepperDigital

I picked up my first copy of the free London Evening Standard today. As the editorial page proudly declares, it was established in 1827, but, since 11 October 2009, it has dropped its 50 pence cover price and has been handed out for free. 

It was a sad turn of events for those associated with the paper, but realistically one of few ways forward. Earlier this year, The Evening Standard was bought for £1 by a Russian billionaire, who also secured all its debts. After a smart advertising campaign, a revamped design and, most interestingly, an apology to its readers for being too right wing, The Standard relaunched. However, it was only when The London Paper, one of the two lightweight evening commuter newspapers, closed its doors in September did The Standard announce it would become a freesheet.  

So, The Standard is just going to fill the space left by The London Paper, capture its readers, retain its old readers and pick up some new ones along the way? And this increased circulation means more eyes on newspaper adverts and, bingo, we have a solution to the crisis gripping newspapers everywhere? I don't think so. I think The Standard has dealt itself a fatal blow from which it will be difficult to recover. How many people want to read a full newspaper in the evening? For me, at least, it has taken two weeks to see what the free version looks like.

I think a more long-term solution would have been to leverage the historic brand of The London Evening Standard to create a true website for Londoners. This could be modelled on websites like www.boston.com, which is the homepage of many people I know in Beantown. Meanwhile, the print newspaper could have been turned into a high-end weekly news magazine for London. Unfortunately, with the value of the brand devalued by making The Standard free, this will now be a difficult strategy to follow.

Meanwhile, over at News International, owner (or should that be closer) of The London Paper Rupert Murdoch plans to charge for online access for the content of all its newspapers (The Times, The Sun, etc).

Two very different paths then. Which one will succeed remains to be seen.

Media Should Pop the Balloon Boy Story

By Jackie Kolek, PepperDigital

I am totally sick of the Balloon Boy.  I am sick of news about him. I am sick of discussion over what should happen to his parents. And I am sick of seeing him get sick on the “Today Show.” So, it pains me to focus on the antics of him and his vile family in this blog.  Yet, despite their potentially criminal activity, I can’t help but think the Balloon Boy’s family is not the only ones culpable in this situation.

In today’s media environment, news outlets are clamoring to be first. The overall significance of the story is irrelevant, as long as an outlet can report it before their competitors. It doesn’t even matter if the news is accurate.  When word of the Balloon Boy first broke last Thursday, my in-box was inundated with breaking news alerts – “6-year-old climbed into a balloon-like experimental aircraft built by his parents and floated into the Colorado sky.” “Police say no one was found inside a balloon that was thought to be carrying a 6-year-old Colorado boy.” “A balloon-like experimental aircraft thought be carrying a 6-year-old Colorado boy has landed.”  How is this news?  There was a breaking news alert to report that there actually was no news.  Why didn’t they just release an alert saying “Just Kidding?”  The same thing happened when Michael Jackson died; alerts ranged from dead, to coma, to heart attack, back to dead all in the matter of minutes. 

Balloon Boy Vomits On Today Show - Watch more Funny Videos

So while I think the Heene family is a bunch of disgusting freaks, I can’t help but admire their entrepreneurism.  They took a story they knew the media would latch on to, and they played it well.  None of the outlets covering this story looked into their backgrounds (An appearance of Wife Swap should have been the first clue.), and no one verified the boy was actually missing (Did the police even search the house?).   The Heenes wanted to be on a reality show, and the media played right into their hands.  I believe the Heenes should be charged with some criminal charges.  But so should the media -- wasting of valuable in-box space, false reporting and firing off a story that wasn’t.

Will The Olympics "Get The Best Of Them"?

By Brooke Winebrenner, PepperDigital

Recently, I was not surprised to hear that Obama’s Chicago based, 2016 Olympic dream was shot down by the International Olympic Committee, but I was surprised to learn that the committee could face being shot down by its youth target audience. According to an article from The New York Times, the IOC has come to the realization that many teens are simply overwhelmed with a number of distractions and have far more interests today, and those interests may no longer include the Olympic Games. The IOC fears that these distractions will hinder the number of participants for future Olympics Games, will cause the loss of interest in viewers to watch athlete’s at their best on television, or even buy the products sold by Olympic sponsors. 

With this challenge, the IOC has thought of a way to bring both the youth and Olympic athletes together through the use of online digital and social media. They are sponsoring a global campaign they have dubbed “The Best of Us Challenge,” where young people ages 12 to 19 will be encouraged to create video clips that illustrate them responding to challenges from various Olympic athletes. Some of the athlete’s participating in this campaign effort include, beach volleyball player Natalie Cook, swimmer Michael Phelps, gymnast Shawn Johnson, tennis player Rafael Nadal, snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis, pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva and skier Lindsey Vonn.

These athletes will ask teens to complete simple challenges like, how many tennis balls can you pick up in 30 seconds? How many clapping push-ups can you do in 30 seconds? Playful yet challenging dares for them to complete. These videos will be hosted by YouTube and placed on the Olympic website, as well as a YouTube channel for the challenge. The campaign will have a presence on both Facebook and Twitter to create a cohesive presence through various outlets of digital media. The IOC is also asking the athlete’s to blog about the challenge in hopes to create interest as well.

Creating a connection through the use of technologies between the young target audience and Olympic athletes is genius. This consumer-generated campaign may bring out a new generation of star athletes in the future and could potentially increase youth viewership of the Olympic Games. Olympic athletes are a brand in themselves and the IOC is hopeful teens will desire to be just like them and sport their products.

I think it’s important to point out that the IOC’s tactful plan of placing the Olympic brand right in the middle of one of a younger generation's greatest distractions (digital and social media) is very smart. I can’t imagine a world without the Olympics, and I am sure many people share my feelings. So let’s hope this campaign does "get the best of them"; otherwise, many teens won’t be eating their Wheaties, and we won’t be seeing them in the Olympics.

Moving from "Sticky" to "Spreadable"

By: Sam Ford, PepperDigital

Recently, I brought up my opinion on "viral campaigns" here on the PepperDigital blog. I previously concluded, "Truth is, if you want something to be spread, it has to resonate with an audience to the point that they'll want to share it.  And that's not ultimately up to the producer of the message."

On that note, early next month, Peppercom will be hosting a free Webinar on this subject. Entitled "Moving from 'Sticky' to 'Spreadable': The Antidote to 'Viral Marketing' and the Broadcast Mentality" the panel will be from noon to 1 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6.

The subject is "spreadable media," based on a research project from the Convergence Culture Consortium and a book I am currently working on with Henry Jenkins at USC and Joshua Green at MIT. The three of us will be presenting the concept together on the Webinar.

For the past two years, the Convergence Culture Consortium team (where I formerly served as project manager) has been examining some of the issues with brands and entertainment properties basing success completely off the concept of stickiness, which measures based on how many people click onto a page, how much time they spend on the page, etc. 

Similarly, we've been looking at how communication professionals have adopted the language of "viral marketing" and how that concept has framed how companies build their online presence, in our minds in a way that is ultimately less helpful for brands and their audiences alike.

Peppercom's own Steve Cody will be joining us to moderate the conversation, and we'll also be taking some questions from those listening. To register or find out all the details, click here.

Hope you'll be able to join us

Social Media Without Borders?

By Mike Blankenship, PepperDigital

I am a huge proponent of social media. Technology has undoubtedly changed the world in which we communicate. From Facebook and MySpace, to blogging and Twitter, to iPhones and YouTube, social media continues to evolve at a lighting speed pace, especially those platforms that exist on open source networks to allow developers to expand functionalities with “can’t live without” applications .

No longer just another way to talk to friends; we use it to connect with customers, debate political issues such as healthcare and organize protests such as in Iran earlier this year. It seems that social media has no borders. My experience this past weekend, though, urges the need for boundary lines to be drawn and enforced.

While waiting to board a flight over the weekend at DFW airport, I ducked into the men’s room to take care of business to avoid having to use the aircraft lavatory. I was immediately greeted by two voices coming from two separate stalls. I quickly ascertained from the dialogue that two separate phone conversations were happening. Not such a big surprise these days. Cell phone conversations in public restrooms have become commonplace. The big surprise was the guy standing at the urinal to my left texting (the phone was held above his head for all to see) while doing what one normally does at a urinal. Not to be outdone, a guy two urinals to my right was dictating a Twitter update into his Blackberry. I don’t think the developers at Vlingo intended for their product to be used at urinals, and I hope they don’t launch a marketing campaign using that scenario.

Plain and simple, social media is great, but it needs borders. It doesn’t belong in the men’s room—or women’s room for that matter. And, while I am on the soapbox, the “no social media zone” should also include gyms (come on, really?), places of worship (any deities on Twitter?), in the car (just drive, folks) and the floor of Congress (maybe Congressman Wilson was reacting to a Tweet last week instead of voicing his opinion to the Commander in Chief?).