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Wednesday, April 13, 2011
50 comments:
Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
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Who reading this dribble can afford the Regent Seven Seas ads that keep popping up? Don't say corporate trolls because what's the use of them reading this shit?
ReplyDeletePS -- can't wait to see the outcome of the pulitzer race and the forthcoming this years' ring winners.
Ciao haters
I took one of those Regent cruises around the Greek islands two years ago for our 10th wedding anniversary. It was great. It works out only to $600 a day, so its very affordable and it is all-meals included as well.
ReplyDeleteCompare that to Las Vegas at $250 a night for hotel room, no free meals, no free tickets for the shows, and $200 a night gambling losses.
4:43 But how much was your airfare to Athens and the onboard booze and Wi-Fi charges?
ReplyDeleteIn ad dept's across the company the AE/ARS relationship varies wildly. At some sites the ARS' are glorified sales assistants and at other they bring in the majority of revenue. That structure has always been left up to the individual sites and the talent they have to work with.
ReplyDeleteGoing forward corporate will no longer dictate the need for the relationship. Sites will now have the choice to allocate resources where they see fit. Some will keep it. Other will terminate it. Check with your site's head of advertising to see where you'll be at.
There should be flexibility to make the AE/ARS/Assist. roles fit the specific needs of the team and territory.
ReplyDeleteI am however curious about the digital specialist role. Is there a need? What do they do that the rep and/or ARS cant do? Wouldn't that just add another level of commissions on ads that commissions were already being paid on?
What is an ARS?
ReplyDeleteARS- Account Relationship Specialist.
ReplyDeleteThe job description varies from site to site. Bascially it's supposed to be an inside sales position that backs up the AE for various reason.
fly business and you don't have to pay for booze or wi fi and the food is so much better
ReplyDelete9:33 By onboard booze and Wi-Fi charges, I meant onboard the cruise ship.
ReplyDeleteStill say the sickout on May 2 and May 3 would help. LOVE the idea of Not.One.Minute.More., but the company needs a bigger kick in the pants than that.
ReplyDeleteuh huh, there are how many newspaper/media people out of work right now? They would LOVE a sick out, so they could get rid of anyone making a living wage and replace them with people willing to work for peanuts just to bring in a pay check. The time to do that is when the economy and job market are healthy, so they have no recourse but to negotiate with their employees. Good idea, but not the right time.
ReplyDeleteWord has leaked out at our site from the No. 2 editor that more layoffs are coming and there's way around it for the newsroom. Not sure on timing.
ReplyDeleteErg, there is "NO way around it", I should have said
ReplyDeleteDigital specialists are experts on digital products and sales. The regular reps have so many things to sell that a digital specialist is needed, especially because we must increase digital revenues quickly. At our site, the digital specialists are very talented and the relationship with the reps works well.
ReplyDeleteThis company always manages to bully employees. I've seen people work unpaid overtime because they had the audacity to take a sick day earlier in the week. Management knows this crap is going on.
ReplyDeleteI have never in my whole life being from a strong union state of pennsylvania never witnessses so many rambling panstys on this website that are stuck in the middle of sucking on this corrupt company's breasts and discussing how much they hate it with the side dish of indecision in this world. When you are a breadwinner of the family you make life changes and quit and change jobs , go to school and let the mexicans take over Gannett. Gannett has proven they want third world countries running their buisness by the perverted and greedy way they treat their employees! But you still have mealy mouthed that say, I am going to talk crap about the company and am a coward,employees who don't have the intestinal fortitude to go to school and seek out something to impower themselves. The rich are winning this let the mexicans invade america and take the middle classes jobs while you sit and suckle the company's breasts for more but complain! You voted for George Bush and his 8 years of companies first-facist goverment! You get what you sow.Lets have another goverment bailout for Gannett! Dubow deserves our money not us! WE are working slobs!
ReplyDeleteAt our location (NJ Group) the Digital Reps "Double DiP" so basically instead of going out and bringing in new revenue of their own, they dote on four-legged calls with a sales rep, which totally does not make sense. We have some digital reps who are totally making money on digital they never sold. I have yet to understand how the company is counting the revenue...something doesn't add up.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the ARS - In a lot of locations the ARS knows more about the accts than the sales executive. If we call to see where an ad is or problems with an acct, we get - you will have to talk to my ARS.
ReplyDeletePanic has gripped our group once again. We can't focus on our work because we are worried about layoffs. I don't know where the layoffs will come from - we are already working on overload. I don't see how we can handle any more layoffs without closing the doors.
ReplyDelete11:32 The death spiral continues. Layoffs and furloughs bring lower revenues, which in turn prompt more layoffs and furloughs. Hit replay. Boring movie. The end.
ReplyDeleteAs more people give up on print in the industry, they are speeding the loss of revenue? Am I the last person who believes a reinvestment in print could provide returns. I mean, how do I go out and sell print advertising when my company appears to have given up on print?
ReplyDelete@New Jersey, digital goes out with Print to help them sell digital. Print has little interest in this product. Double dip is necessary or why would digital ride with Print and loose time on the road to sell for themselves. Most Retail has no interest now or in the past for selling digital this is common knowledge.
ReplyDelete7:52 I think you need to look at what is happening not just as a technology issue, but also a content issue. Could print survive and thrive? Yes. But not as a provider of general news, but a specialist providing unique content. Look at the emerging successes like the WSJ and Barrons, which specialize in financial news and are surviving in print. Local news could be this as well, but it has to zero in on local news and pour resources into it. I frankly don't see a future for USA Today, which is much too general, and is becoming an anchor dragging down the rest of the company. Dare I say it, but the future for this company depends on killing off USA Today.
ReplyDelete@11:32: Give us a clue about your location, without getting yourself in trouble.
ReplyDeleteIt's quiet, maybe too quiet, at my site in the south. Everyone holding their breath.
double dipping is a common industry practice when you have a specialist (digital) working with a general rep. the revenue is only counted once for accounting purposes and twice for commission. It is best done when the general reps don't have the ability to sell the full bandwidth of products available.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with all these solidarity ideas is that management already knows you need this job and will put up with all manner of indignity to keep it, otherwise you would have left already. They know they will win in the end. The only thing they will understand is if people they CAN'T afford to lose are leaving.
ReplyDeletereally, folks, why are there still specialists in our business? if we have sales folks who can't talk / represent the full spectrum of product offerings -- print, digital, etc -- they deserve to be shown the door. this is 2011 and times have changed. get with the products you are selling. you can make a killing in this market if you know what the hell you are doing.
ReplyDeletethe days of comping-up an ROP ad, going to the clip books for artwork or just picking up last week's ad and marking the new price for bananas just isn't going to cut it any more ... come on ...
Did you notice that the branding campaign ad has a missing word: news. I think we see the conflict here of a company that claims to deliver news to customers, but whose real business plan is to provide advertisng services to business across all platforms, as the branding campaign says. The current leadership of this company has no background in newspapers and I hear little to indicate they are interested in news. I think we've forgotten our basic mission, and that is the readers, not the advertisers.
ReplyDeleteTo 12:35am - your comments about Mexicans reveal a bigoted nature. Get some sleep and perhaps you'll be clear-headed enought to communicate without spewing hatred towards an entire culture. In fact, I hope you no longer work at Gannett. The company's got enough problems and people with your character couldn't possibly help salvage the business. Lucky for you, anonymity allows some writers on this blog to hide their true colors but yours my friend are a dirty mix of insecurity and racial animosity. You don't sound very intelligent. Hey, I know several Mexican Americans who could teach you a few things about cogent writing. While I typically refrain from using profanity on this blog I'll make an exception for you: you're an asshat so please spare us your prejudiced opinions.
ReplyDelete8:51 Print can survive and thrive but it is being killed off by the very people it made money for. Just the fact people still buy the paper though it's half the size, and you are right...too general in what is covered...and the money they have to fork out for a half of a product, shows market is still there. I believe most people who say print is dying are the ones whose livelyhoods depend on print dying. Right now, again, high gas prices affect the casual buyer as "extra" money goes into the gas tank.
ReplyDeleteAgain I say...it's a business shooting itself in the foot...and swearing someone else is doing the shooting!
I feel sorry for Gracia and Craig. It must be tough for them to walk through our building everyday knowing everyone has lost all respect for them. I was a supporter but after the accepted their big raises after all the lay offs and terminations I know realize they don't care about me and are only in it for themselves. I don't care what words Robin puts in their mouths their have lost their ability to lead.
ReplyDeleteCommentary on USA Today grad Cathie Black's flame-out as attempted head of NYC public schools:
ReplyDeletehttp://dayriffer.com/category/1/l/1969/you-don-t-get-to-tell-us-you-re-awesome-when-you-just-did-something-so-dumb
10:19, are you just waking up now? No one should feel sorry for them - it's been a fact for years that they are spineless.
ReplyDelete10:17 What amazes me is that we are making money from selling newspaper readers what I believe is pure pablum and largely crap. Think of the money you could make just by improving the copy and broadening the audience. One way of doing this is to narrow the focus of the news we are covering. Forget about national and international news which everyone can now find on the Internet. And, as we see with this recent government showdown, the cuts were so picayne that readers (and me) are left wondering what all the furore was about if they were only able to come up with these cuts. Our credibility is at stake when we get drawn into frauds, whether it is a local bunko schemes or political theater. So ignore it, and do something we know and stories we know are true and accurate. Make stories compelling for readers, on whom our future depends. If we have readers, advertisers will follow.
ReplyDeleteAnymore news on layoffs or furloughs? Everyone waiting for the next shoe to drop except of course for the exec. team their just waiting to fill their wallets again!
ReplyDeleteMost recent Newsweek issue has 6 ads. Unless Newsweek is going out of its way to shun advertisers, it appears confidence is being lost when it comes to news. And a day after that announcement, Sydney Harman dies. Coincidence or Nostradamusicide?
ReplyDeleteAt our location (NJ Group) the Digital Reps "Double DiP" so basically instead of going out and bringing in new revenue of their own, they dote on four-legged calls with a sales rep, which totally does not make sense. We have some digital reps who are totally making money on digital they never sold. I have yet to understand how the company is counting the revenue...something doesn't add up.
ReplyDelete4/13/2011 6:40 AM
The exact same thing is done in Phoenix at the Arizona Republic, and in all actuality it is more than double dipping, because on the one sale, the 1) rep gets paid 2) the digital rep gets paid 3) the rep's supervisor gets paid 4) the digital rep's supervisor gets paid 5) the rep's supervisor's manager gets paid 6) the digital rep's supervisor's manager gets paid. This is the whole problem with the commission structure (trust me I know I was a supervisor) is that the further you move up the ladder you do less work but still get paid commission on work that you never did.
Everything sucks. The company. The product. This blog. Everyone we work with. All the bosses.
ReplyDeleteStir, serve chilled.
Gee, 2:20, you're a regular "glass is half full" kinda person, huh?
ReplyDelete11:04 Nicely put. Newspapers all over the world are doing fine...except here, and a lot of those places are more tech savvy now than we are. Newspapers helped make this country, and they are needed now more than ever...that is if they ever got back to being the force they once were instead of being big corporate's lackeys.
ReplyDelete2:20 p.m. Shaken, not stirred.
ReplyDeleteIs this Friday the day for layoff annoucements
ReplyDeleteor is it next Friday? I guess in the past ,
the Friday after quarter budget shortfalls were
were known is the day.
So,that being said ,do you feel lucky ?
This may be your last week and two 2 days as a Gannett employee!
With the big pow wow going on in Mcclean right now. I'm guessing layoffs will be Fri. or early next week.
ReplyDeleteMake mine dirty!!!
ReplyDeleteSlow tonight
ReplyDeleteMay 2 and 3 sounds like a good idea to me. I understand the need for prudence, but I feel a cold coming on. may go ahead and schedule my doctor's appt to fight off the infection.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the double dipping issue. That is the most stupid thing I have ever heard. In these tight money times, no one should be paid commission on the same ad - be it digital or otherwise. If the digital team is so great, let them sell digital. Let them take the commission. Double dipping is not the issue - whitewasing, snowballing or whatever is the issue.
ReplyDeleteThank you 2:03. You said what so many of us have been saying all along. Stop the gravy train. If I have our digital person inject himself on one more of my sales calls, I am going to scream. And no, it doesn't benefit both of us.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete7:50 You are making completely unsubstantiated claims. That is why I am removing these posts.
ReplyDelete