New research from Ketchum and USC Annenberg among Internet users (18+) in the USA shows the mixed media use and the dominant position of TV and local news. The table shows the evolution over the last three years.
Not so often has 'The future of...' been the title of presentations. The economic downturn is accelerating the need to know in which direction industries will move. The UK Institute for Practioners in Advertising (IPA) released a report on the future of advertising titled: 'Social Media Futures - The future of advertising and agencies in a networked society. A 10-year perspective'. The focus of the report is on social networking, and the way this is transforming society. When social media could take the lead in future brand communication, and the ad industry does not react appropriately, the market face a growth of only 1,2% per year in 2016. With social media growing in importance, the paid-for advertising will represent a decreasing share of all advertising activities. The report includes advice for agencies about to benefit from this shift of channels.
Xerox Belgium sent out invitations today to announce the launch of their Lab 1:1 on March 17. Lab 1:1, which already exist in Canada and the USA, assists brand owners in developing innovative and personalised multi-media solutions. With the help of a team of Direct Marketing experts from the Belgian Post results will be analysed.
Today a new initiative was launched in the USA to support the newspaper industry. The Newspaper Project is to present "insightful articles, commentary and research that provide a more balanced perspective on what newspaper companies can do to survive and thrive in the years ahead".
Their first ad makes that point loud and clear.
On January 27 the first issue of The Printed Blog appeared in Chicago, using one of the most popular Internet applications to turn into one of the oldest media. The idea is simple, bring local news provided by free reporters (citizen journalism), attract local advertisers (buy an ad for $15-$25), offer it to local readers, for free and PRINT it. Joshua Karp, founder and publisher, hopes eventually to reach, twice a day, a multitude of neighbourhoods in major US cities. In Chicago for example, there could be 50 local editions. The paper printed on a 27 *43 format, presents news that has been chosen by the readers of The Printed Blog site, selected among articles of 300 bloggers.
The business model is based upon advertising revenues; advertisers can reach a well selected audience and are prepared to pay more for a printed advertisement than an online ad.
Sustainability and CO2 emissions are often related to paper but almost never to Internet search. A Harvard graduate student - Wissner-Gross - recently opened the discussion about how green the web is. He claimed that every web search creates between 5-10 grams of CO2 from the power required to keep the servers going. Google reacted immediately by saying that its emissions are only .02 grams. Gartner, industry analysts, calculated that the global IT industry contributes 2 to 3 % of global carbon emissions, which is as much as the world's airlines. Another calculation indicated that maintaining an avatar in Second Life requires as much electricity as used by an average Brazilian! With growing online use and time spend with the computer this figure will further increase.
Students from the University of Linz (Austria) have designed the news knitter, clothing that integrates the news of the day. Via news feed and a data visualisation programme news from all over the world is integrated in the knitting of sweaters.
Digital natives are changing many habits. One of these habits involves our fingers, the thumb is taking over the role from the index finger as it is used a lot for texting and playing. They are also showing all of us that multi-tasking is perfectly possible given information is presented in bite-size formats and in digital format. The downside of the multi-tasking was shown in a recent study by a British professor. He concluded that multi-taskers who continuously switch between responding emails, phone calls, text messages and chat sessions, have a 10 point lower IQ score (which is the equivalent of missing a night sleep). The compulsion to answer emails immediately was found with 60% of the workers. The stress of multi-tasking is putting a strain on the effectiveness of workers which is why certain companies are installing quiet time, time to think and read offline.
I came across a very interesting list of articles on the Life, Death and Rebirth of Media via Patou Nuytemans. It includes articles from the USA and Europe about the developments in the print media. An excellent read.
After three months of intense meetings, interviews and research the French government published the recommendations to support print media in France. In the context of the growing importance of online news and the economic situation of the print media "Etats Genereaux de la Presse Ecrite" was created. This Conference worked on four aspects of the print media business: the journalist function, the industrial process, print media and Internet and print media and society. Earlier this month the group presented its conclusion in the "Livre Vert". On the basis of these recommandations President Sarkozy decided to give all 18 year old French a free newspaper subsription of one year. The French government is also to double its advertising budgets spent in print media to 40%. Other measures have also been announced. Together with the ban on advertising on public broadcast television, the French have put together robust measures to support the print media.
Dutch research confirms what many fear: the strong position of news provided by news agencies and PR companies. It was estimated that almost 32% of all Dutch news was not written by the journalists of newspapers. The news articles were provided by the news agencies or PR companies. Cost reductions and the time pressure in the print room force journalists to look for easier solutions to produce copy. The research was inspired by a UK study, which was the basis for the book by Nick Davies called Flat Earth News.
In a media landscape with increased interest in news from online consumers, and a reduced interest in printed news, one might question whether this is the right strategy for the printed newspapers. Doesn't this strategy slowly kill the independence of the newspapers, reduce the quality of the news, lessen the interest of readers and minimise the attractiveness of the newspaper for the advertiser? Sounds almost like a self-fulfilling prophesy from Andrew Keen.
The current economic situation will move advertisers to run more often the same commercial or ad. This despite the increased wear-out of TV commercials. Wear-out refers to a situation that an ad or TV commercial gets unnoticed - because of lack of interest- or even creates irritation because of the high showing frequency. For print advertisements this point is reached after three ads, which proves the effectiveness of print advertising. This figure has been stable over the last 10-15 years. For TV advertising the wear-out figure has plummeted from 15-20 exposures during that same period to only 8 now. Advertising Age has some interesting views on this subject in a recent article.
I recently met Tom Kelley, the General Manager of the design company IDEO, and he mentioned how he wrote his most recent book 'The ten faces of innovation'. He refers to Tom Peters as his mentor for writing books. He taught him to use blank cards to jot down ideas. Kelley used a notebook system from Levenger (comparable to the Belgian Atoma notebooks). Levenger brings the story about how Kelley creates his book on their website. An interesting read for those who use longhand to write books.
I saw this great example of integration of online and offline media in the German press recently. It uses a print ad, 3D software, a webcam and the internet to show a Mini Cabrio on the ad. It looks like the work of David Copperfield! You can be your own illusionist by downloading this pdf and by following the German instructions on this website. By the way this new technology also come with a new name: Augmented Reality.
At the Creativity World Forum I asked Chris Anderson about the future of print media. His answer that some print is dead balances the consumer interest on one hand and the print media characteristics on the other. Newspapers deliver news that is at least 10 hours old, the internet brings it instantaneously. Anderson believes that newspapers will therefore die. Weekly magazines will have a difficult time, monthly magazines have a stronger position. They can exploit the fact that readers are interested in analysis and depth and appreciate the general lay out of magazines. Anderson supported this with his own magazine Wired; stories in Wired are up to 8000 words and the design of graphs and pages add to the depth of the articles. Wired has tried to translate the same reading experience to the web but didn't succeed. Finally books offer a total immersion in the subject and therfore they will continue to exists.
Attention for sustainability is not any longer on top of the agenda of businesses and consumers. During a discussion I had today with Vanessa Biebel (PEFC chapter Belgium) and Evi De Waele (SGS - certification institute) the subject of traceability popped up. The initiatives of FSC and PEFC would be a lot more credible when businesses and consumers could trace the origins of the paper used for brochures, magazines or annual reports. Imagine image conscious companies like Volvo or The Body Shop produce annual reports or brochures that indicate exactly from which forest, in which country it has been produced. What if Apple could indicate from which sources their packaging has been produced? Traceability supports their environmental brand dimension as it signals the importance the company attaches to a sustainable world. Consumers will also get a better perspective on the role the paper industry plays in deforestation. It could counter the idea that the paper industry is the cause of the deforestation in the Amazon.
A quick online scan showed that various initiatives are taken to achieve traceability. The Indisputable Key is an example of an EU-supported initiative that focuses on traceability. Is the industry however motivated? Contrary to the food industry, there is no health issue at stake that moves the industry. I believe it's about the credibility, and at the end of the day the survival of the industry.
Friday I presented to a group of marketers and printers invited by Xerox. Xerox promotes an application that transforms existing invoices and statements to effective and efficient marcom tools. Invoices have our full attention -direct marketers would love to achieve that with their mailings- and consumers spent a couple of minutes checking it each time. However the invoice is "owned by the financial department", not by the marketers. Marketers therefore need to convince financial staff to include marketing messages and to tackle IT hurdles, privacy requirements, customer profile definitions, print production assesments, designer requirements and above all work with all these departments in unison. Xerox recently announced a co-operation with the Belgian Post to evaluate mailings including testing these kind of projects.
Dutch digital natives display an astonishing shift in media consumption based upon time serie data. The data indicate an increase in total time spent with media, but a decrease of print media, radio and music and television. Time spent with internet is almost the same as with television. These data confirm what we probably have guessed to be the situation. And also calls for an industry-wide reaction.
Thursday I was invited by Annita Beysen at the first anniversary of U-sentric. The event included a presentation from well-known designer Justin Knecht from the Centre for Design Innovation . He did an inspiring presentation on usability research. Observing and involving users and becoming yourself a user is a different way of understanding the dynamics of consumer behaviour. Users will do things they will never tell you, therefore observing them provides new insights. Maybe it's time for the print industry to take a closer look at the print consumer experience with the use of usability That might learn us more about how to keep readers on board.
Recommendations are key to consumer choice. Oprah Winfrey has proven so with her Book club. She has most certainly been driving the choice of what Americans are reading. Now she has also said some nice words about the Amazon Kindle - the e-reader. When Oprah says "I'm telling you, it's absolutely my new favourite thing in the world", watch what's happening. Adage provides an overview of what happened after she gave this praise on October 24.
