A reader forwards the following, which they say is a just-distributed memo from Chairman and CEO Craig Dubow; it comes on the heels of a memo yesterday about a companywide meeting set for Friday.
I want to share with you an important next step in our company’s transformation. We have accomplished a great deal over the last several years, including expanding our portfolio and improving the many platforms on which we deliver our product.
With today’s fundamentally changed, and rapidly changing, media landscape, we need to build on and accelerate the progress we have already made. Over the last several months, Gracia Martore, president and chief operating officer, each of the division presidents and I held a series of sessions to assess the changes taking place in our industry, take stock of our own business and competitive advantages, and plan the next steps of Gannett’s ongoing transformational strategy. An outcome of these meetings was an agreed-upon set of initiatives which, together, will help us identify opportunities to continue to grow our business now and in the future. We created a team of leaders from across all divisions and Corporate to pursue each of these initiatives. And, we agreed that any strategy, if it is to be successful, must be developed as one company, and driven as one company.
We recently launched the next phase of this effort. Cross-divisional leaders and team members met to plan the work around a number of strategic areas of inquiry under the direction of Gracia, our division presidents Bob Dickey, Dave Hunke, Dave Lougee, Jack Williams, our CFO Paul Saleh and me. Our intent is to pursue them in an integrated fashion. This team will focus primarily on strategic, company-wide initiatives, but also on some specific divisional efforts. Each initiative is aimed at a particular opportunity such as content monetization and local ad opportunities. When combined, we believe these efforts will create for Gannett the agility and flexibility to act on opportunities as they arise and help define the future of our company.
We hope to have an ongoing dialogue with you about this process, and you will hear more about our progress in the coming months. The changes in our sector are exciting and signal a new operating environment. We must be capable of moving forward strategically and yet quickly to pursue the right opportunities. This effort is geared towards both.
As always, thank you for your continued support and commitment to our company.
And speaking of buzzwords!
Way back in 2004, News Department Vice President Phil Currie famously asked the following question: "What ways can a story in an 'outer circle' of the Circles of Life better relate to the inner circles, especially the core circle involving an individual or the family/friends circle in which the individual will be very interested?"
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| Dubow |
With today’s fundamentally changed, and rapidly changing, media landscape, we need to build on and accelerate the progress we have already made. Over the last several months, Gracia Martore, president and chief operating officer, each of the division presidents and I held a series of sessions to assess the changes taking place in our industry, take stock of our own business and competitive advantages, and plan the next steps of Gannett’s ongoing transformational strategy. An outcome of these meetings was an agreed-upon set of initiatives which, together, will help us identify opportunities to continue to grow our business now and in the future. We created a team of leaders from across all divisions and Corporate to pursue each of these initiatives. And, we agreed that any strategy, if it is to be successful, must be developed as one company, and driven as one company.
We recently launched the next phase of this effort. Cross-divisional leaders and team members met to plan the work around a number of strategic areas of inquiry under the direction of Gracia, our division presidents Bob Dickey, Dave Hunke, Dave Lougee, Jack Williams, our CFO Paul Saleh and me. Our intent is to pursue them in an integrated fashion. This team will focus primarily on strategic, company-wide initiatives, but also on some specific divisional efforts. Each initiative is aimed at a particular opportunity such as content monetization and local ad opportunities. When combined, we believe these efforts will create for Gannett the agility and flexibility to act on opportunities as they arise and help define the future of our company.
We hope to have an ongoing dialogue with you about this process, and you will hear more about our progress in the coming months. The changes in our sector are exciting and signal a new operating environment. We must be capable of moving forward strategically and yet quickly to pursue the right opportunities. This effort is geared towards both.
As always, thank you for your continued support and commitment to our company.
And speaking of buzzwords!
Way back in 2004, News Department Vice President Phil Currie famously asked the following question: "What ways can a story in an 'outer circle' of the Circles of Life better relate to the inner circles, especially the core circle involving an individual or the family/friends circle in which the individual will be very interested?"
Wow. This is totally "look over here it's shiny"
ReplyDeleteSo what the heck is it?
ReplyDeleteThis should not be surprising, given current market conditions:
ReplyDeleteThe mergers-and-acquisitions market is heating up, including around media. Freedom Communications is up for sale, and Gannett could be a bidder. Huffington Post just got sold. Wall Street and venture capitalists are pouring money into Facebook, Twitter and other digital companies.
The world economy is recovering. Credit is once more available. Gannett's finances have stabilized, with debt getting reduced, and layoffs reducing costs. The stock is stabilizing, which gives Corporate capital to make deals.
Bottom line: Corporate sees opportunities shaping up out there, and doesn't want to be left out in the cold.
He would make an excellent used car salesman.
ReplyDeleteOdd that he didn't sign his name.
ReplyDelete"The changes in our sector are exciting and signal a new operating environment."
ReplyDeleteYeah, there'll be a lot of excitement for employees in the next year. More layoffs, furloughs and paycuts.
Except that's not a new operating environment. They've been doing that for the last couple of years. Guess they're just going to give this strategy a new buzzword that be pounded in the heads of the remaining employees for the next six months, then forgotten about.
Agile, flexible and quick hardly describe Gannett to date. Unless bold, significant cultural and leadership changes occur, it’s doubtful those attributes will appear anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteHell, say what all will about Thomson (much of it deserved) but they “transformed” themselves more than a decade ago into strategic marketing groups, a move that Gannett unbelievably wanted to do until now.
Wow. I wonder if he’s developing unique growth models based on customer-centric synergies to bring about exciting transformational opportunities, going forward…
ReplyDeleteI hear the violins playing... same old songs, same old players. Why am I not excited about this?
ReplyDeleteAsk Saradikas how flexible and quick he felt this management team was during his years here. Until Dubow admits that every step he's taken to deal with new technology has been a disastrous mistake, count me a skeptic.
ReplyDeleteJim - Gannett may be paying down debt and their short term financial situation is a little better. However, Gannett's Moody's credit rating is Ba1 which is junk status. They will not get any favorable interest rates with that rating and could hardly afford any additional debt if they could get a loan. They now are only to maintain their income levels by constant cost cutting. As a former business journalist, I'm surprised you did not know this.
ReplyDeleteSo many words to say nothing. Typical Gannett baloney. This is what these clowns are getting paid all this money to produce? Double talk and bs.
ReplyDeleteAnyone take a look at Double Take....smells like another GROUPON
ReplyDeleteContent monetization. Is that code for "hey, you spend X amount of dollars in advertising and we'll write a wonderful story on what a great business you are"?
ReplyDeleteClose, 3:45. But we don't have staff, so it's more like "Pay us X amount of dollars and we'll run whatever you give us."
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for the next election cycle on THAT one.
Wow, that memo completely covered my Buzzword Bingo card. What do I win?
ReplyDeleteThis memo sounds as if it were written by AOL in 1998.
ReplyDelete3:01 You are correct: I should factor in Gannett's debt rating. Where can I find that information in the future?
ReplyDeleteThe man is tone deaf. Utterly, completely tone deaf.
ReplyDeleteThis memo is noteworthy for the rare use of a shorthand -- "Corporate" -- to describe the management team at McLean, Va.:
ReplyDelete"We created a team of leaders from across all divisions and Corporate to pursue each of these initiatives."
Corporate is not a warm 'n' fuzzy.
I think Friday is about quadrantONE. Changes are afoot:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2029537/quadrantone-morphs-private-exchange-shuns-networks
What send the note out. It is a bunch if gibrish that communicates nothing.
ReplyDelete"[holding] a series of sessions to assess the changes taking place in our industry"?
ReplyDeleteIf only this were 2007.
I think "content monetization" may be referring to Ongo. I'm guessing that Friday's videocast will be short on revelations and more of a recap of recent moves. Maybe with a sprinkling of Q2 furloughs (kidding, hopefully).
ReplyDelete>>We have accomplished a great deal over the last several years.<< When he means screwing over the employees I'll bet they have accomplished a great deal.
ReplyDelete>>We created a team of leaders from across all divisions and Corporate to pursue each of these initiatives.<< Geeez, how long did that take? Aren't they already on board for years??? A meeting to figure out who will be the leader of the leaders. LOL! Yeah, a lot of chiefs and whole lot less Indians.
>>We hope to have an ongoing dialogue with you about this process, and you will hear more about our progress in the coming months.<< Enough already! Nobody believes this anymore. Gosh - this whole memo is full of the same BS that is fed for years to the employees to camouflage chit-chat saying nothing.
Gracia, Bob Dickey, Dave Hunke, Dave Lougee, Jack Williams, Paul Saleh and you, Craig: Do us all a favor and do what you all do best: Attend meetings to your heart's content, go to lunch meeting, dinner meetings, travel in opulent style, play golf, self-grandize each other and stuff your pockets with bonuses, lay-off money, and furlough money you gain from the rank and file.
What a farce.......
what a team. what does dickey bring to the table? the old ad sales game isn't working the way it used to. and that is dickey's contribution. loads of b.s.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness he is our CEO. If he were a reporter, he would have been fired for handing in a story without a lede...oh, wait, this is Gannett. Crap like this shows the empty-heads in management.
ReplyDeleteWhat a rousing clarion call, an amazing, astonishing series of polysyllabic words, strung together in transformational, strategic sentences and stacks of platform-enhancing paragraphs!
ReplyDeleteWe're making progress! You can tell -- because we're making bonuses! And look at all these empty desks, empty wallets, empty parking spaces! So much progress! So much room to grow and expand and monetize! So much room for cake!
My people are supportive and committed! We have ongoing dialogue, agreed-upon initiatives and strategic areas of inquiry! All my advisors say so and my board loves me and everybody at the top gets bonuses because of their strategic decisions and agreed-upon initiatives and series of sessions!
Follow me! I'm your communications company leader! And we are in a new operating environment!
Yay!
And where is Kate Marymont in all of this? Do the suits even remember she exists? As the supposed chief journalist of the community newspapers, you'd think she would be publicly involved in such a, ahem, momentous project.
ReplyDeleteSounds like Dubow just visited whatthefuckismysocialmediastrategy.com
ReplyDeleteWe're doomed!
ReplyDeleteI agree with 5:24. Friday's meeting will be about Quad1.
ReplyDeleteI think Friday is about quadrantONE. Changes are afoot:
http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2029537/quadrantone-morphs-private-exchange-shuns-networks
If it's truly about the change in ad selling at quadONE, that's going to be one z-z-z-z-z-z-z of a meeting.
ReplyDelete"Gannett’s ongoing transformational strategy"
ReplyDeleteTranslation: screwing the rank and file employees with furloughs and layoffs, even as the corporate buffoons get fat bonuses.
So now it's "QuadOne"? How nice.
ReplyDeleteWhatever happened to "ContentOne"? Remember that little debacle?
so many things to debunk here
ReplyDeletemarymont is not the chief journalist for the company - there hasn't been one of those since john quinn
she is just the newspaper division news chief and no one listens to her, ask john hillkirk of usa today or rob mennie gannett broadcasting or tara connell of gannett content one if they give a crap what she says
saridakis sold the company a piece of shit in ripple6, it was vaporware at best and that is why it was shut down
if jim did ANY real research about saridakis, instead of just listening to sycophants that post here, he would find he was never the person the company needed as digital head
prior to that job he sold us pointroll, making more money from Gannett that dubow ever has made from gannett
saridakis also sold Gannett Ripple6, he wasa major investor, while he was chief digital officer of the company
do you think there is any problem there? he sold Gannett a company he was a major investor in WHILE he was an officer of Gannett? why no questions from you about that?
most digital employees would tell you if you asked that Saridakis was NEVER around (lived in Wilmington) and his chief assistant (looking at you Josh) was always behind closed doors
wonder what employees at his new company would say?
Oh, by they way, huge sales staff turnover at pointroll under Saridakis....the dude was a myth, not the man (ask yourself, if you have fuck you money from DoubleClick, then sell your shit to Gannett, why become the chief digital officer of Gannett? only if you thought you would be CEO) Anyone who actually worked with Saridakis would tell you that he did not want to run a digital division and once he knew he would not be CEO right away, that is why he left
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ReplyDeleteI'm personally glad Dubow sent out this memo as it demonstrates how grossly overpaid and inept he is. When the head of a media company is able to burn that many words without saying a single thing, it speaks volumes.
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ReplyDeleteI recall similar heraldry accompanying deployment of News 2000 - a real winner. But then there was Real Life and then .....
ReplyDeleteIt's just busy work for people with not enough to do.
"Content monetization?" Would someone please wake these clowns up and tell them it's 2011 and not 1999. Geez we're doomed!
ReplyDeleteI'm actually glad e-mails like this go out from time to time. It helps demonstrate what we all are screaming about these days. Zero leadership.
ReplyDeleteIt reminded me of the teacher in those old Charlie Brown cartoons. All I heard was "whaah, whaah, whaah, whaah......
ReplyDeleteI hope it's not to announce another strategic acquisition like Planet Discover. Anyone remember that tenth rate search engine Gannett just had to have?
ReplyDelete"Mommy, mommy, all the other kids in the neighborhood have search engines, I want one too."
"OK Lil Craigy, but all the good ones have been taken by the other kids, the only one left on the shelves is....Plant Discover."
Everyone should bring a flask to work on Friday to at least make this "meeting" semi-entertaining.
What will be the larger waste of time - the conference call or the e-mail?
ReplyDeleteI’ve edited Craig’s letter for jargon, brevity and clarity. Can anyone do better?
ReplyDelete>>>
We’ve expanded our product line-up.
We need to do that more and faster. In recent months, top executives met sometimes to make business plans. We agreed on how to come up with plans. Other executives will pursue the plans. We must all work together.
Now even more executives are working on the plans, in an effort to do stuff across the company, and in certain units. We want to sell products and sell ads. This defines our future.
Thanks.
>>>
LOL 1:43.
ReplyDeleteTranslation, from a friend and former Gannett employee:
ReplyDeleteMe and the muck-mucks have had a bunch of meetings to talk about how we're going to stay afloat.
Granted, these are things we should have talking about in...oh, say 1998, but hey, we're serious about it now.
Anyhoo, after several meetings and something chocolaty for dessert, we've decided that all of us have to do better and make more money.
Let's get started.
We have some ideas, but I don't want to share them here.
Now, back to work!
Not discussed in this thread: Jack Williams' inclusion among the division presidents. To me, this shows he is now the company's defacto chief digital officer. In any case, how could Gannett plan this program without a strong digital component? Shouldn't that be the beginning, middle and end of this?
ReplyDelete1:43, you are hilarious! Thanks for the laugh!
ReplyDeleteI'll wait for the English translation, thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said... tony simmons ready to take spotlight as President and Publisher of westchester site.
ReplyDeleteall of these strategic corporate speak emails from the top brass are all the same. it's like they're afraid to say anything meaningful, anything real. They're all empty blather. Where's the soul of this company? Not Dubow or Dickey. Doesn't matter. All the emails are wordy, somewhat arrogant, full of sound and fury - signifying nothing. Dickey's memos are longer on words and appear to be trying really hard to be politically correct. yet equally empty of compelling content. there's no gumption, no leadership, just stale prose that could have been written in any year past. No real urgency. No timelimes. completely lacking in bold leadership. If this company is railroad company is going to survive it needs an infusion of intelligent locomotives - or at least a few leaders who know what to do. not 1950s style managers who only know ad sales for newspapers or tv stations. that was yesterday. today needs new media wizards. not yesterday's advertising sales reps running a complex multi-billion dollar company.
ReplyDeleteC'mon, people -- you're missing the key line hidden among Dubow's corp-speak:
ReplyDelete>> "And, we agreed that any strategy, if it is to be successful, must be developed as one company, and driven as one company."
My guess is that part of what's coming is the thorough consolidation of USA TODAY with the community newspapers. The NewsGate rollout beginning now at USAT and a few big Gannett sites is an obvious harbinger of what they expect us all to do -- pull together a vastly depleted corps of editors, reporters, artists and photogs into a national newsroom. The community papers, already with many functions consolidated into hubs, will become more akin to bureaus. USAT will both provide content and take in content from the community papers, increasing the "correspondents" program already in place. (Noticed lately how much of USAT is now written by USCP reporters getting "a little extra" for the effort?)
That's my guess.
And they'll throw a little branding campaign on top to make it seem like it's a great idea.
9:50 is on target. Gannett needs a soul transplant. Coldest place I ever worked
ReplyDelete9:50 -- I don't think they're afraid to say anything meaningful. I think they're incapable of it. Fools are fools no matter how big their paychecks are. In fact, rich fools are the most insufferable because they believe their status alone makes their banal comments worthy of an audience.
ReplyDeleteI think the memo is a serious warning sign that major unintended disaster is on the horizon.
ReplyDeleteNo CEO would knowingly release such a meaningless memo. That Dubow evidently didn't realize its emptiness suggests that he and his team are in total bunker mode. That no one prevented the memo's release in this form indicates no one in his circle speaks truth to power. Of course they may well all be as deluded as Dubow appears to be.
Certainly, it would appear that top management has no legitimate ideas on how to turn the busness around.
For any shrinking business without an effective turnaround strategy, the value of its assets keep getting shrinking until they're worth less than the debt that holds the assets together. That's what'll happen if Gannett continues on this course.
Perhaps they are going to merge with Dean Singleton's organization and a couple other companies to create a "super-sized newspaper led by USAT?" I suppose they could then suck even more money out of things. And, Singleton wouldn't have to go to the cost of creating hubs.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, when are they going to create Publisher and Executive Editor hubs? It seems as though that -- especially the publisher hubs -- could really take a big bite out of the bottom like and free up a lot of capital to pay down the debt on top of all of the "synergies" they would be able to take advantage of having a reduced staff of publishers sitting in gray cubicles in the CP. Just imagine how MANY ideas they could cook up to turn things around!?!?!?!
Jim: Have you done a recent look at the debt load GCI is carrying and how much of it they are getting paid off? I would be curious to know what the status of that albatross is.
In short, no clue what we're doing, no clue where we're going, but we have a team in place and working hard at it.
ReplyDelete