Tuesday, April 26, 2011

April 25-May 1 | Your News & Comments: Part 1

Can't find the right spot for your comment? Post it here, in this open forum. Real Time Comments: parked here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

44 comments:

  1. Hi. How's your week looking?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just got news that's going to allow me to leave Gannett. So, I can't complain so far.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jim had a tough week. He botched the details about the Palm Springs sign. He also made unfortunate references to the tail wagging the dog and to eating butt.

    ReplyDelete
  4. 4:19am - ease up Craig.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Really, Craig. Try to get some more sleep. It may make you think more clearly. Or at least think. That would be a refreshing change for you.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well this must be the week.
    The layoffs were probably delayed a week because of Easter being so late this year.
    Jim,fire up your new list. Not because of Christ
    really,more like the long holidays that upper
    management always take. They didn't have time to prepare the memos and guild lines for this round.

    ReplyDelete
  7. We are still slow. Never got busy again after the Christmas/New Year's holidays. In fact were dead.

    Anybody else still really, really slow or are things picking up?

    ReplyDelete
  8. 12:52 Summer doldrums began in January here. It is very, very slow to nothing. Does anyone believe these economists who say the economy is growing?

    ReplyDelete
  9. In all the years I've been at my site, I don't remember a day without at least some classifieds. Thursday we did not have one classified page, and on Sunday it was a four page section, with mostly car ads. That ain't good.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Can't wait looking forward furlough and layoffs soon and Gannett is so cheapskate!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. It's dead here too. Several large companies have dropped their newspaper ads along with a bunch of smaller customers.
    Sales Reps. are still going to the tanning salon so don't seem real worried but I am.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Has Yahoo program taken off at any papers?
    Doesn't seem to be doing much for our paper. I have heard several in sales say it's too expensive. I thought the idea of it sounded pretty good for Gannett.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Can't wait to see no one will not buy the APP paper and another 4 newspapers!!!! How that!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I have been unable to access my Gannett webmail during my furlough (OK, I know I'm not really supposed to, but I always was able to before), and now I'm wondering if I actually got laid off during my furlough. That would be a bummer.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Any other "loaner" enjoy that email from corporate? They really know how to boost morale.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I have sat on the sidelines for far too long. I can help the powers to be in Va. to decide upon the next Publisher in Westchester.
    I believe that Krista Mueller is the person to run this paper asap!
    From what I hear they are selling about 20,000 papers a day in 7 counties ( with a population of about 3 million) .
    Stop the presses ( actually they did stop last March and now this magnificent product is being printed by a New Jersey WannaBe--not Gannett owned).

    So I am asking everyone who really cares to call Corporate Gannett and say---KRISTA IS DA ANSA!

    ReplyDelete
  17. An item in today's local paper: "Was your Sunday paper smaller than usual? Here's why: Many advertisers... do not place inserts in the paper on certain holidays like Easter, but they will be back next Sunday."

    Gotta love the spin! "Do not?"

    (1.) If they were interested in conveying anything, one would think they would have run this notice in the self-same Sunday edition involved (Sundays traditionally have by far the most potential exposure), and not in the Monday edition which consistently clocks in as one of the lowest exposures of the week. But that's just me. As a media guy for most of my life, what do I know?

    (2.) In any case, the spin writer succeeded in achieving some irony by unintentionally acknowledging that the newspaper size, instead of being chockfull of all kinds of information, is anymore defined mostly by tons of ads and inserts anyway... and not news content. You know... as in a "newspaper?" Should I laugh, cry or just not buy the paper? I'll take Door Number 3, Monty.

    (3.) Indeed, shouldn't the last sentence read "Many advertisers (not 'do not', but...) NO LONGER spend their scarce advertising dollars in our 'paper' because readership and viewership has plummeted once our decidedly-non-local corporate masters began treating each site's news content as a bastard child?"

    Who knows... maybe they'll run a correction!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Can somebody tell me who is running the Deal Chicken thingy? I've asked around and it sounds like it's not the same people who started it in Arizona.

    Are we looking at the same cast of characters who led Moms, Metromix and Highschoolsports to pilot this too?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Yahoo is doing poorly accross the USCP. I hear the only shining star was cincy who hit 100% to goal.

    It's not failing because it's expensive. It's failing because it's OVERPRICED. And thus not worth it.

    Leave it to the think tank in VA to be two years too late, and then compound the problem with typical greed. Married to their usual ignorance of local markets..... It was going to fail.

    ReplyDelete
  20. "Are we looking at the same cast of characters who led Moms, Metromix and Highschoolsports to pilot this too?"

    Yep.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Today as I busted my ass trying to come up with last minute sales to hit my goal, a RE "account executive" came in with leggings on and a long sweater. This is the salesteam we are sending out to sell in our affluent market...and they wonder where some of the problem is...

    ReplyDelete
  22. @3:37pm - Todd? That you?

    ReplyDelete
  23. "Are we looking at the same cast of characters who led Moms, Metromix and Highschoolsports to pilot this too?"

    God save us if that's the case, because the motley crew running Moms and HighSchoolSports couldn't organize a two-car parade.

    HighSchoolSports COULD have potential, but the wiring behind it all makes it so totally stupid that no one wants anything to do with it. It's a TOTAL CLUSTER!!!

    And Moms...well, once corporate swooped in and lifted it several years back thinking they could "scale it", they took it into the ditch and it's never recovered. I'm sure the bright, bright people who created the whole moms concept in Indy could dig their own eyes out with an ice pick every time they see what the corporate "experts" did to it. In concept...great idea. In corporate's execution...a total freakin' disaster!!!

    ReplyDelete
  24. @7:14 we have the same problem at our site. The account reps dress like they are going to a picnic or selling themselves.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Explain something to me: why do Dubow and Martore keep green lighting business plans like the Deal Chicken that don't actually have any people attached to them? A business plan is only as good as the folks executing it.

    Do you think any VC or PE firms would buy into a plan that had zero talent backing it? Course not. You invest in the people and experience, not in some prettified hockey puck p&l.

    What's a shame here is that it sounds like the people who created the Deal Chicken in the first place, and made it competitive, are getting pushed aside and replaced with middle managers in Virginia who have no experience building or running a site like this.

    ReplyDelete
  26. We used to refer to our reps as "Ad Whores"

    ReplyDelete
  27. ... back when they sold ads.

    Is it 'impression whores' now? 'Yahoo! hookers'? 'Pageview prostitutes'? 'DealChickadees'? 'MomsLickMe madams'?

    Credit where it's due: the people selling radio, TV and outdoor in our market dress a lot more casual than our reps.

    ReplyDelete
  28. @10:28 PM Aren't some of the people in Indy now among those corporate "experts"?

    ReplyDelete
  29. Our Ad Reps are like a revolving door I don't even ask their names anymore....they don't last a month anyway...If I was an advertiser and had to deal with a new Rep every month I would say screw it and find a new venue in which to place ads.

    ReplyDelete
  30. A message from the publisher

    11:00 PM, Apr. 24, 2011 | 1Comments
    TwitterFacebookShare
    Del.icio.us Digg Reddit Facebook Twitter Newsvine FarkIt EmailPrintAAA
    Filed Under
    News
    Local News
    Today kicks off an exciting new period in The Advertiser's evolvement, and one I think you'll be excited about, too. Beginning today, we have a partner in bringing you the information you want and need: KATC-TV 3.

    I can't think of a better situation for the well informed residents of Lafayette than to have the two news leaders in our market join together to bring you the best of both of our efforts.

    You will notice a difference in big ways and small ones. We'll partner with each other on big stories, covering issues from all angles using our different expertise. Today you'll notice two small examples of added benefits you'll get every day. When you turn to our weather page, you'll find we're now running KATC's highly respected eight-day forecast. And if you watch KATC tonight, you'll get a peek ahead at the top stories we'll be bringing you the next morning.

    KATC and the Advertiser come out winners in this content-sharing partnership, no doubt about it. But the biggest winner, we believe, is the news consumer. No matter whether you prefer getting your news on television, in print or online, we'll have a wider and more in-depth variety of information available to you.

    I am truly excited about the potential and opportunities that can develop as we move forward. I hope you are, too.

    Bottom line: This is good for Lafayette.

    Publisher Ali Zoibi can be reached at publisher
    @theadvertiser.com or at 289-6302
    Jim, Is anyone else doing this?

    ReplyDelete
  31. I'm tired. Tired off busting my butt to help put out a product Gannett could give a sh*t about. Seeing the potential in a capital city and the paper I work for is content with the schlock it overcharges for only to turn around and wonder why readership is down. No pay raises, no overtime, yet they want the work done. But don't seem to understand or care that work can't get done when over half of the newsroom was given the boot. I'm tired of looking over my shoulder wondering when the hammer will drop on what's left of our newsroom. I'm tired of dealing with the arrogant, yet incompetence people who dictate what I do. I just hope the check I do get doesn't bounce.

    Yes, the economy is horrid. But don't use that as an excuse to get rid of great people when Dubow and his cronies always seem to find ways to line their pockets. WHY don't these people understand that they're killing us... the very source of their millions?!

    This is so wrong. I know life isn't fair and there are no guarantees. But what Dubow (Mr. 9.4 Million Dollar Raise Himself) and his Gannett partners in crime are doing to the staffers who produce their papers around this world is a shameful, sinful thing.

    ReplyDelete
  32. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Today, I saw an ad for a Deal Chicken marketing rep in my town.
    Yesterday, Living Social began advertising for sales rep in my town.
    Groupon is our front sending out daily deal coupons in my town.
    Facebook just launched its daily deals offering -- coming soon to my town.
    Getting crowded over here...

    ReplyDelete
  34. Don't forget...

    "Spurned by daily-deal site Groupon, Google is now testing Google Offers, its own service for sending users deeply discounted offers for local businesses."

    ReplyDelete
  35. If you go on the Web, you can download your very own Groupon clone so you can start your own site. Then all you need is a salesman, a willing restauranteur, and you can sit back and pocked all that ad money yourself.

    ReplyDelete
  36. what is "evolvement"?

    ReplyDelete
  37. Facebook launches Facebook Deals. Damn. Gannett cannot catch a break.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Get out while you still can!!!

    ReplyDelete
  39. Just a note to the whole Groupon debate, I find it significant that this is a very clever method to get small operations involved in marketing instead of traditional advertising. Look at those "social media" ads closely and you will see they they are more about marketing rather than advertising. There's a lesson there for traditional advertisers who used only to buy an ad in a newspaper and leave the rest to fortune. It is so powerful in bringing people to stores that I also think it means the death of traditional advertising forms.

    ReplyDelete
  40. "what is 'evolvement'?"

    The reason copy editors should be loved.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Wondering about the (anti)design studios?

    Here's a memo from the top:

    From: Towns, Hollis
    Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2011 1:12 PM
    To: ASB-APPNEWSROOM
    Subject: Template memo



    Folks,

    Templated pages in CCI NewsGate are intended as final designs, not starting points. They are a key tool for efficiency and productivity.

    All of the templates we designed and built are based on a careful study of a month’s worth of our pages. They look the way they do because this is how we build our pages day in and day out.

    Of course we can adjust if we really, really need to. But assume that you don’t really need to.

    As we go through all the challenges of rolling out CCI in the next couple of months, stick to the templates.

    Hollis

    Anyone want a wooden bar of soap?

    ReplyDelete
  42. So now Facebook has disclosed it is getting into the Groupon action, where are all those nay-sayers who criticized Gannett for being too late with the chicken? Looks to me that others are following Gannett's lead on this one.

    ReplyDelete
  43. 9:10 I think these local TV-local newspaper content sharing agreements have been standard operating procedure for many years.

    ReplyDelete
  44. 5:20 No, Jim, there are elements of this deal that are new. One key new element is that publisher Ali Zoibi is claiming credit for the concept.

    ReplyDelete

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."

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.