At one larger Gannett newspaper in the Midwest, advertising production artists were told that just 30% of their work would get shipped to India via 2AdPro of Los Angeles. "I heard from someone else that Nashville is sending 75% over to 2AdPro,'' an artist at that paper says. "So my question is, why would one newspaper be different than another? Wouldn't there be a mandate for all newspapers?"Related: Advertisers won't like offshoring
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We're out west. We were told 15% to 2Adpro.
ReplyDeletefrom the following web site, it states: "In many cases, there is no need to keep the process of converting raw copy and pictures into laid-out pages in-house."
ReplyDeleteI think they are talking about ad copy but i'm not entirely sure.. which raises another question: could such a statement apply to news copy eventually ?? what is to keep that from happening ?
here's the link (forget to put it at the above post)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.expresskcs.com/editorial_layout.htm
some from FLA Today says "We've received art back that if far to questionable or bizarre to publish.. "
ReplyDeleteWhat up with that, and do you have an example to show us?
and a very interesting blog you have here - very unique
I need help protecting as many jobs as I can. Please relay any horror stories regarding 2AdPro or other outsourcing.
ReplyDeleteAlso, why aren't we outsourcing internet ad work first? We charge so little for those ads, and they take so much time (relative to print) at least it would make a little more sense to have some shoeless Indian 12 year old do those.
What more is there to say about 2AdPro? Its here now and isnt going to go away anytime soon. It appears to be working good enough for Gannett and is saving them money in the long run. Gannett doesnt care about its employees, the communities they reach or its advertisers. India is laughing at the US of A and taking the money to the bank. 'Nuff said!
ReplyDeleteOne thing that doesn't make sense to me... and I say this not to give Gannett Ideas because I'm sure they've already thought of it... But with the recent transition to Regional Toning Centers... Why were those not also shipped to India... If they're really out to save money, wouldn't that be a more logical choice to ship to India??? I'm not downplaying what Toners do, by any means... I used to do it... but it's something that can be trained... Good Design cannot... You either have it or you don't...I don't know how many toners are at the (2) sites, but surely Gannett can get someone to do the same thing for much less....
ReplyDeleteOn Saturday I attended the funeral of a former coworker whose job was sent to India last fall. Who knows if the stress of the six months previous to her layoff (in which she had to re-apply for her job) contributed to her too early death, but I'd wager it did.
ReplyDeleteLost was a wonderful, kind woman who took great pride in her work and was an excellent proofreader.
Gained? You tell me, Gannett...
whoever is responsible for green-lighting this initiative should be embarrassed...less efficient, lower quality, severe reduction in employee morale across the board, no real monetary savings and an eventual loss in advertising revenue due to goofy ads...yup, good job.
ReplyDeleteJust announced today. Cincinnati Enquirer will be sending some production to 2AdPRo. From what I'm reading on this Blog I do not look forward to it.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeleteHow could anyone let Wanda Sabatino go? She loved her job and working for Florida Today, believe it or not. From what I understand, she was a very dedicated employee. Wasn't she there for 20 years, or so? That's a huge loss for the paper.
5/26/2008 3:38 PM
Anonymous said...
Yes, I worked with Wanda for 15 years and there was nothing she wouldn't help out with to get the paper out. Great disposition and knowledge.
Every department has felt the impact of her being let go so coldly and abruptly. She made many sacrifices to her family, then to just get escorted out the door! What a loss, she needs to be offered her job back before morale falls even lower.
Wake up Brevard.
6/04/2008 12:04 PM
Anonymous said...
I couldn't say it better myself, 6:04 PM. I hope Wanda is holding her head up high knowing there are other companies that will appreciate her for her incredible knowledge and loyalty. I'm still a little fuzzy on whose idea it was to let her go anyway. Could it be they didn't realize what an asset she really is? Then again, who wouldn't know that? You'd meet her and you would just know. This mistake will be felt for years to come if she's not hired back. This one hurt.
6/05/2008 12:22 AM
Anonymous said...
Jim, I just realized that all this talk about Brevard is only in the Pensacola blog. Shouldn't it also be in the Brevard blog?
6/05/2008 12:31 AM
Jim Hopkins said...
@6:31 a.m.: Good question! Answer: Probably. Unfortunately, I don't know of any way to easily direct comments to two different posts: They go where readers place them. This is one of the chief downsides to using Blogger's free-but-uncustomizable software.
6/05/2008 4:05 AM
Anonymous said...
Can you copy this segment onto Brevard's page so it shows up in both places? I thought I had seen that done elsewhere.
6/05/2008 9:56 AM
Another bad decision to gain short term savings that will fail. Just like Conseco did.
ReplyDeleteFor 2adpro, each site has a quota to send every week. I believe its a percentage of number of ads done based on some loopy analysis. Sad part is the crap comes back and needs to be rebuilt by the artists that are left. So much for cost/time savings.
ReplyDeleteAs for the online ads - when you aren't selling much online, there aren't ads to send. Thats where the cookie cutter websites come into play for national advertising.
I detest 2adpro. We are in the publishing business. Our promo and advertisers messages should be the best looking ads - whether its a magazine, the daily paper or online. It's our business and now we suck at it without double work.
Some of the ads that come back are such an embarressment, I would never let an advertiser see them.
I suggest we employees & US Citizens help combat this anti-American outsourcing by doing what my clients are doing. When I go out in the field, it seems all my clients are well aware of the 2adpro goings on with their ads they are purchasing (I am not allowed to mention it to them). The vast majority of these clients are requesting that their ads be completed in the U.S. I have had several say if they find out their ads are being done out of the country they will pull their advertising and advertise elsewhere. A few have actually cut back their business with us so they can advertise with a company that is 'home' based. This whole thing is going to backfire for Gannett in a really bad way.
ReplyDeleteGannett's UK arm, Newsquest PLC, is slowly migrating its' design work over to 2adpro and, reading your comments, I fear this is the end of many careers, mine included.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes it worse is that it's all very cloak and dagger; no announcement, no consultation, silence. For a media company, we're not too good at communicating.
I believe some UK sites are already sending a percentage of work over to 2adpro (with extremely negative results - no surprise there) and many redundancies have been made across the UK in its production departments.
This surely seems to be the end of an era and skillset but, if the project is like many other UK businesses who have favored cheaper, overseas workforces, it's certainly set to fail.
My team prides itself on 100% customer care, in-depth product knowledge and professional expertise and I am not convinced that this can be replicated by this new 'slick' and faceless workforce, motivated predominantly by money rather than passion.
I'm an ex-Gannettoid, a graphic designer who worked in ad design in the Westchester offices for six years in the 90s. I thought morale was bad then, but it sounds like things have gone from bad to worse.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine how a some graphic artist in India could possibly understand how to design ads for Gannett's customers in the US. What do they know about how small town American businesses promote themselves, about regional markets, American jargon, etc.? They live in a totally different culture. The concept is utterly bizarre.
I'm not surprised to hear that many of the ads are so badly done that they are unusable. It would probably be funny if it weren't so awful for the designers who've stuck with Gannett loyally. Bravo to the advertisers that are saying no to this slimy outsourcing.
What always struck me about Gannett is that upper management has never gotten the concept that the company's most valuable resource is its employees.
This whole cockamamie, ill-advised outsourcing scheme has all the earmarks of some bean counter trying to justify his own over-inflated salary. It's also a sad commentary on the decision-making process in large companies today. It's always the lowest ones on the corporate ladder that take the biggest hits. You know that the big management guys making big salaries aren't the ones who are going to get pink slips.
Designers have always seemed to be grossly undervalued in the newspaper industry and Gannett's no exception in this regard. They don't seem to get that effective ad designers help generate revenue for the company.
When I was there, they'd give you some ridiculous raise, like 35 cents an hour, and tell you it was the best they could do because times were tough and revenue was down. Then they'd spend tons of time and money on dopey 'team building' exercises and wonder why morale was so awful. It was actually almost funny...
I hope this whole 2AdPro thing blows up in their faces and that the brainiac who came up with this idea gets shown the door.
Hang in there Gannett artists! You deserve a better fate than being outsourced to India.
Good stuff; thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDelete2AdPro is now in Ohio.
ReplyDelete