What if media behaved more like brands?

I was saddened to hear that Newsweek will end its paper edition on the 31 of December of this year.  Unfortunately, Newsweek’s struggles reflect a reality of many traditional media brands that are trying to survive in today’s landscape.  If we’ve learned one thing over the past decade, it’s that nothing is sacred: media outlets that were once seen as all powerful have had to get lean and agile in order to adapt to today’s environment.  We see television stations scramble to find niche audiences, newspapers experimenting with online pay walls, and fashion magazines trying as best they can to adapt their content to mobiles and tablets.

Ironically, as traditional media has been struggling this past decade, commercial brands have begun acting more and more like media by creating and aggregating content.  Who would have imagined that a retailer like ASOS would be producing music videos with aspiring artists?  Twenty years ago, it would have been inconceivable for the French national railways to create a radio station—now SNCF Radio is not just a resource for train times, but a destination to hear interviews and listen to the newest music.  Likewise, the small business insurance company Hicox has signed on for a second season of their online webseries Leap Year, which celebrates entrepreneurship with humor.  

This may seem like small potatoes compared to major television channels and conventional radio and print outlets—on a larger scale these initiatives force traditional media to answer an existential question: how can I be a media brand when brands are becoming media? 

Although there is no one-size fits all solution to this challenge, if I were to advise media brands on how to adapt, I would offer them 3 ideas:

1)   Think outside of your media.

Internet broke the media divide. This is a huge opportunity for media to experiment with other means of communication.  I am personally impressed by National Public Radio’s media ecosystem, which has allowed them to go beyond radio waves and foray into blogs, podcasts, videos and even photo reporting.  As reported in American Journalism Review, four year’s ago NPR began training their reporters in “digital storytelling skills”—creating content that transcends radio.

 2)   Create Win-Win advertising partnerships

Rethinking advertising is a critical for any media brand’s transition into the online world.  Although banners and pop-ups make up the vast majority of ads we see on the Internet, it pays-off to invest in mutually beneficial partnerships. I was intrigued by the “Desk to Dinner” operation between gourmet food magazine Bon Appétit, clothing retailer Banana Republic, and the restaurant reservation service OpenTable.  Banana Republic created a special collection of pieces that could be dressed up or down for an evening at a restaurant. The campaign was pushed online on Bon Appetit’s site, across social media, in print and with in-store promotions.

Likewise, when Wired launched its beautiful and much-hyped iPad application, the magazine made sure to have ads that were as high-quality as the application itself.  “We want to offer more to our readers and to our advertisers…the advertising is as important as the editorial” remarked Chris Anderson, the magazine’s Editor-in-Chief. 

3)   Do what you do best.

Don’t forget where you come from and what makes you special. It’s safe to say that P&G won’t be winning a Pulitzer Prize anytime soon.  What each media brand needs to do is ask themselves: “what would be missing from the world if I didn’t exist?”  For the New Yorker the answer would be long-form journalism.  People will pay to read a meticulously researched, beautifully written 10,000-word story by Seymour Hirsch.  The New Yorker knows there is an audience for what it does, and they have been exemplary in adapting their content to podcasts, live events, blogs and iPad apps (often using humourous, sophisticated viral videos to promote them).  Every media brand needs to ask this question and depending on the answer, adjust and (price) accordingly.

There is very good reason for traditional media outlets to be afraid of the coming years.  Their business is changing everyday and survival is not guaranteed.  To return to the example of Newsweek, even Tina Brown and her controversial covers couldn’t change the print magazine’s fate.  However, as the above examples have shown, traditional media that successfully transitions its content into online platforms has much to gain in terms of audience, relevance, and even revenue.

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