Online ads will appear on adage.com, adweek.com, brandweek.com, mediaweek.com and CNNMoney.com. Ads also will run on the CNBC business channel, and on Gannett's elevator news and information network, Captivate.
"The campaign," says the statement, "emphasizes USA Today’s signature voice both in its clear and concise format as well as its balanced and unpretentious reporting on the issues that matter the most to Americans, whether that is American foreign policy, last night’s big game or American Idol."As was its "Never Gray" predecessor tagline, I suspect the "unpretentious" jab is aimed at competitors The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. (New York Times Co. Chairman Arthur Sulzberger wasn't too keen on Never Gray, however.)
I still prefer the old tagline: "An economy of words. A wealth of information."
ReplyDeleteOf course, "What America Wants" sounds uncomfortably like the outlaw-esque "America's Most Wanted."
ReplyDeleteStill, it's an improvement over the "we're all in this together" campaign a few years back, right?
They should hire the gekko
ReplyDeleteOr the Aflac duck.
ReplyDeleteThe Taco Bell chihuahua was job hunting. But she died last July.
ReplyDelete¡Yo quiero USA Today! would've had a nice ring. (Plus, it would get points for diversity.)
A marketing company like Gannett is had to hire an outside ad agency to come up with this campaign? Pitiful. Just pitiful.
ReplyDeleteWhat America wants is jobs.
ReplyDeleteThanks Gannett for doing your part, not.
At least USAT is getting in the game with WSJ and NYT and standing up for themselves. "What America Wants" is right on.
ReplyDeleteLet's see, the internet now allows people to search and "pull" the information they want. USA Today thinks that they can "push" through their editorial filter the information they decide America wants.
ReplyDeleteThat's the working definition of pretentious.
I just love all the armchair marketing advice. I'm sure you all have loads of awards and tales of audience and revenue increases to show for your own marketing prowess. Right?
ReplyDeleteThe Gannett name is an abject liability by the usual measures of value in the media industry: robust journalism, public influence, indispensability to customers, value to advertisers, and technological innovation. They should break up the chain, sell the parts to the highest bidder and distribute the money to shareholders as a liquidation dividend.
ReplyDeleteI suppose "Same crap, different day" was too easy and too honest.
ReplyDeleteWell they can have whatever tag line they want, but the new head of sales at USA Today is already contemplating quitting. He hs been heard several times in meetings asking "what am I doing here".
ReplyDeleteThis will not help the bleeding that USA Today is seeing. Their revenues are down this year compared to last year.
Good job Mr. Hunke. Let's give your admin Angela more money and power, while the rest of us watch this brand fall apart.
3:16: You're full of it. You really see an exec in the middle of a meeting -- over & over again -- saying, 'what am i doing here'??? Gimme a break
ReplyDelete3:16 worded that carefully; "has been heard" means it was at least second-hand.
ReplyDeleteBut I thought we were "all in this together." Not any more?
ReplyDeleteIn all seriousness, can someone in the marketing department explain what they are doing to save this brand? Aside from coming up with a new tagline?
I ask because I just do not know. It would be a helpful addition to this blog.
Honesty is the best policy. "Good enough is good enough" would be oh so very non pretentious.
ReplyDeleteGannett execs THOUGHT America wanted more leisure time. They tried it out on us first.
ReplyDeletePerhaps that exec wonders why he's wasting valuable time in those particular meetings. Everybody doesn't have to attend every single meeting...
ReplyDeleteNeuharth will be fried if they adopt a slogan including the word America. I remember him railing that their are two Americas, North and South, and that's why he chose USA for the name of "his" newspaper.
ReplyDeleteQUOTE: 3:16 worded that carefully; "has been heard" means it was at least second-hand.
ReplyDeleteAh! And that's sure good enough for the Internet and the Gannett Blog!
Campaign seems to be everywhere. USA Today is liked outside the walls of Mclean far more than inside the walls, obviously.
ReplyDelete"We're all in this together" sounds like a sinking ship. "What America Wants" sounds optimistic.
ReplyDelete