summary of the article: News Publishers Investing in Brand Building Amidst Challenges
This article discusses a recent trend of major news publishers (The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, ABC News, NBC News, Reuters, the Guardian, and News Corp) investing heavily in brand marketing campaigns.These campaigns are happening at a critical time for the news industry, facing declining trust and financial instability, and are driven by a few key factors:
1.Building Trust & Affinity: Many campaigns are specifically designed to rebuild trust with audiences, which is plummeting. They also aim to increase overall audience affinity for the brand.
2. Protecting Against Attacks: with increasing legal challenges from figures like the President, a strong public perception is crucial for defending the media’s reputation.
3. Driving Subscriptions: All these publishers have consumer subscription models (though they vary – donations, paywalls, etc.). Brand building is seen as a crucial “top-of-funnel” activity to attract potential subscribers and ultimately boost recurring revenue. It’s about “preparing the ground” for subscription acquisition.
4.Long-Term Value & Tangible Benefits: While ROI is harder to measure than performance marketing, brand equity has demonstrable value.The article highlights the Hearst acquisition of The Dallas Morning News as a prime example – the paper chose a lower offer from Hearst because of their trust in Hearst’s commitment to the brand and journalism.
5. Enabled by Ownership: These campaigns are largely possible due to the publishers having patient, long-term ownership (family control, trusts, etc.) that allows for investment with a multi-year payoff horizon.
Key Takeaway: The article argues that investing in brand building is no longer a luxury for news publishers, but an essential strategy for survival and success in a challenging media landscape.It hopes these initiatives will inspire smaller publishers to explore similar approaches.
