“It is not the critic who counts; not the person who points out how the strong one stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. “
Over the past decade since I’ve left the publishing business, having learned much from my lifetime mentor, William Ziff, I have used whatever forum I could find to encourage the media business to transform itself. I had witnessed firsthand the dramatic impact that the rise of the interactive medium played upon the industry as publisher of Computer Shopper, arguably the largest monthly publication ever published in terms of folio and ad pages. Selling more newsstand copies each month than Forbes, Fortune and BusinessWeek combined, this magazine carried nearly 8000 annually pages at its height. Today, all that survives of this epic franchise is the interactive shopping service sold to the CNET organization and several print copies that I keep to remind nonbelievers.
Bill Ziff passed on several years ago, a tremendous loss for our industry. Bill was not a romantic; he was an incredible visionary and business person. He dared when others chose to sit on the sidelines. He cared very little of critics and would invest real money in ideas that he believed were leading edge; realizing the analysts and spreadsheet jockeys would labor incessantly over the pros and cons to the point where any potential of leadership would be marginalized. Bill was a bold thinker, and so many times, he was dead on. I am proud to be his disciple.
Anyone who has read past articles of mine knows that I have often talked about the dire need for the media business to shake itself from the legacy world and transform. Hundreds of magazines have been closed down over the past few years, circulation declines continue within the newspaper business. The continuing shift of consumers to digital forms of content is irreversible. Only the foolish believe that we will one day return to pre -digital media consumption patterns.
I have believed always that media companies have an incredible opportunity to shape a new business model in the face of this reality. At their core, publishers have always known a tremendous amount about the power of relevant content to attract and retain audiences. We should all be reminded of the days when we willingly paid for this content. The publisher and its team would spend countless hours with marketers and their agencies providing insight on how their advertising and marketing dollars could be optimized within these environments to drive acquisition, retention and greater sales and prospects. I remember the passion that we had in making our case directly to the marketer. While there were frequently battles between the selling organization and the customer agency around who “owned” the client relationship, the bold among us never let this perceived barrier prevent us from carrying the message. We felt an obligation to our customers to provide this level of insight and direction.
Within the DNA of the publishing giants in our industry is a legacy of leading, informing and educating not only consumer audiences but the marketing community. I have lobbied long and hard for the opportunity available to media companies to build integrated operations that leverage this foundational insight and provide new solutions, platforms and services to their customers in the digital age. I never believed that the legacy agency world; despite appending their core business models with “digital divisions” would really embrace a business model that reduced their production and media fees in such a dramatic way.
This would be a time where bold action would require passionate vision and investment to remake a industry. Heck, I did more than talk and write about this idea, I actually rode the elevators up to corporate offices of more than one publishing empire to plead this case. Many scoffed at the idea of building an integrated digital marketing services agency within their company. They questioned the plausibility of the concept, that they could extend their knowledge and insight as trusted advisor into optimizing the new tools of the trade–email , search, social media, web development etc. I remember several instances of gently being shown the door.
It is why I treat recent news and developments around organizations the likes of Hearst and Meredith with great enthusiasm. Rumors around such acquisitions provide some level of vindication. Of course the critics, pundits, industry analysts are quick to over analyze and nay say much of this activity. Some question whether media companies will get “cold feet,” many being quoted coming from the private equity and business broker business. Some wonder aloud about the relative merits of these transactions. Some point to the fact that “agency holding” companies have looked at various targets and walked away when the bidding got more strategic in nature. Proof positive, they argue, of the poor judgment in these moves.
I greet these developments with childlike enthusiasm. I must admit that at times I felt a bit like that madman camped on the grassy median on Park Avenue vociferously proclaiming to all that would listen about impending doom. “Repent!” he shouts. “There is still time!” he declares. Many pass him and laugh, still others criticize, while some actually stand there and listen for a moment. It appears that within the executive offices at some publishing companies that there are those who are not only listening, but acting. They have mustered the courage, conviction and passion to take bold action.
This is just the beginning. What lies ahead is perhaps the greatest challenge. It is as if we have acquired a collection of puzzle pieces, a Rubik’s cube of sorts. Success will be measured not solely on the financial ability to acquire the tools, what is required is the intuitiveness and insight of integrating and building this new definition as integral to the very fiber of the media company. There is much work to be done from a marketing, positioning and selling standpoint. The cultural issues and interpersonal dynamics are substantial in getting this done. The need to recreate a sales organization that can truly adopt a consultative approach that leverages a new and exciting array of interactive platforms and technologies will be a tremendous hurdle. Conflicts may arise between client agencies concerned with media company invading their turf. (We know times have changed when Meredith is names “Agency of the Year.”) Building a culture that continues to push the envelope from a technology and platform development standpoint will be a new initiative for these organizations.
However, there is no choice. The Brooklyn in me is smiling these days. Amidst the stagnant air of the last 10 years, a gentle breeze is blowing. I for one am excited. There should be no cold feet. FINALLY there is bold movement in the right direction. Let’s hope that it continues and that it gains momentum.
Congratulations to all those who have the guts to remake themselves.
“Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if one fails, at least one fails while daring greatly. So that your place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
Just do it.
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