Related: check out the super-sized paychecks the board of directors handed Gannett's highest-paid officers last year.
Sunday, July 03, 2011
Indy | Post-layoffs, 'Thanks for making our day!'
Related: check out the super-sized paychecks the board of directors handed Gannett's highest-paid officers last year.
28 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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Well, if any of you needed more proof of this company's black, evil, shriveled heart...
ReplyDeleteCold Hearted....I pray a company with heart will report on what Gannett has done
ReplyDeleteWow, as a reader of the Indianapolis Star and as a community member who knows several of the people who were laid off at the paper last week, I must say I was stunned to see this ad in the paper. This company really is clueless. How sad.
ReplyDeleteNext comes the canceled ad/subscription fallout.
ReplyDeleteYou'd be amazed about how many businesses/people bought ads and/or subscribed to the newspaper based solely on - BECAUSE - they know somebody that works there!
Nothing more than typical G A N N E T T B U L L S H I T.
ReplyDeleteThis is offensive indeed. But let us remember that a house ad is space unsold. Small comfort, I know, but ...
ReplyDeleteNot necessarily space unsold. Just as likely that the particular section had to go up pages for a press configuration...
ReplyDelete... or god forbid, we're using our product to do the same thing our customers try to do with it - get a message out to our audience.
Like the Pepsi guy drinking Pepsi, if you don't use your own product, why should anyone else?
Now if you'll excuse me, it appears I got marketing on me somehow and I need to wash it off.
Don't blame the Indy Marketing Director, they whacked him.
ReplyDeleteHubris. How much of the local spinning is part of Maryam Banikarim's work? Sounds very U.S. governmentese -- "look over here, were doing fine" but off to the side the body bags pile up
ReplyDeleteMore papers sold y/y for June 2010/June 2011?? I'd check and see what the returns were for the last Sunday of the month. I would bet you'll find that there're double the usual percentage of most Sundays.
ReplyDeleteThe old jack up the draw trick on the last Sunday of the month to inflate the sales numbers for the current month. Don't you know that it will come back to bite you in the a_ _ for July? Or do you really belive more people are reading the Sunday paper. Then ask why? Most circulation people know that one, at least the one's who fudge the numbers.
Multiple copy purchases of the Sunday paper for coupons is indeed generating single copy sales increases at many papers nationwide, most of those papers have the coupons pulled and go straight to recycling.
ReplyDeleteNothing but a bunch of haters here. My guess is this is the result of hard work by some talented staff -- not the critics who sit around here all day pontificating.
ReplyDeleteI say congrats to the Star for reminding people it isn't all doom and gloom. Why not share a success story?!
To the person suggesting this is some slight of hand with returns, do you really one week's returns adjustment can show a yoy gain?
What was the Star's Sunday circulation per the March 31 ABC? What was it last year?
ReplyDeleteSorry, but there is one specific word to describe Gannett management from top to bottom..BASTARDS!
ReplyDeleteSpin. Spin. Spin. If The Indy Star's circulation numbers were "super," they would have published the actual figures. If the increase was moderate to poor, they would have used a percentage. Instead, they made a baseless assertion. Draw your own conclusions. An amateurish, ridiculous ad!
ReplyDelete4:15 pm…To the person…if you understood how draw & returns work you would understand that by beefing up the draw for the last Sunday of the month DOES add an increase to the "SALES" numbers for June. As of July 3rd (today) the returns for the last Sunday in June have not been "picked up" yet alone recorded. That will come later in the month of July. The last Sunday's returns for June have not been entered into the "system" as of yet so therefore they have not gone against June's paid circulation. It's an old shell game that management in circulation has done for years. Those returns will "melt" into July because they go against "5" five Sundays in July. Keep in mind we are comparing only one month's circulation not 12 months of the papers circulation. For an accurate account one should be looking at a "quarter" paid circulation numbers not just one month. And that can only be done when "all" the returns have been picked up and recorded.
ReplyDeleteThis is 4:15 again.
ReplyDelete"To the person…if you understood how draw & returns work you would understand that by beefing up the draw for the last Sunday of the month DOES add an increase to the "SALES" numbers for June."
I know more about draw and returns than you on your best day. Proof is below:
"As of July 3rd (today) the returns for the last Sunday in June have not been "picked up" yet alone recorded. That will come later in the month of July. The last Sunday's returns for June have not been entered into the "system" as of yet so therefore they have not gone against June's paid circulation."
Try again. 99% of last Sunday's returns were picked up midweek and added to the system. You think retailers let Sunday papers sit around all week? A few rare retailers may want that, but look around yourself. Are you seeing Sunday papers on Tuesday or Wednesday?
Do any of you really think circulation staff is going to risk their jobs (and potential legal consequences) by falsifying returns? Yes, it has happened before and we have all seen those people get prison sentences. Too many checks and balances are in place now for that to happen.
9:21 Thanks for the explanation. The ad truly was a ridiculous, baseless assertion. But why let the facts get in the way of a SUPER ad!
ReplyDeleteAs a former employee of The Star, I'd love to know who was the brains behind the ad. Anyone?
ReplyDelete9:57, look no further than Karen Crotchfelt. As in Phoenix, visibility, kudos and self promotion was always more important than people.
ReplyDeleteShould be pointed out that the Arizona Republic's been doing these ads for a long time. It was always fun explaining to a grocery or convenience chain who watched sales trends going down while the newspaper was advertising increases. The marketing department under Crotchfelt had all sorts of data supporting substantial gains, page views, exposure... And of course, Karen had no problems throwing people under the bus. Eventually, a community will not support the antics of Gannett.
ReplyDelete11:51 and 12:25 Thanks. Not surprised. Typical Gannett management behavior. Repeat what you did at another property or copy something done at another property that was "wildly successful."
ReplyDeleteThe brains are Crotchfelt. No brains. By the way, her birthday is today. Yea. Happy birthday KC. Keep lyin' to Indy like you did in Phoenix. It sure works for you, doesn't it? So UGLY.
ReplyDeleteThere's really nothing wrong with the ad, if you want the Indy Star to try and pull itself up and market itself. But the timing is very insensitive. If newspapers are integral parts of their communities, then a major layout is something the community would be aware of and saddened by. That is not the time to run this kind of congratulatory ad. Had they waited a month and put some distance between the campaign and the layoffs, it's a good bet no one would have batted an eye. Unfortunately our memories are quite short.
ReplyDeleteBut you can't criticize the company for trying to build some confidence, interest, marketing buzz in it's products, so that hopefully those of you who still have jobs will be able to keep them.
You would hope there are some circulation people around who remember what happened at the Dallas Morning News as far as what can happen when you inflate your numbers. In some ways, they never recovered. (Especially coming on the heels of the CueCat disaster.)
ReplyDeleteHey 4:15 looks like you'll be explaining a few things in the morning to your Publisher. Good luck. Hope you and your department can prove that 99%. That should shut 8:54 up.
ReplyDelete9:05 am If an increase in circulation in June of an undisclosed amount is considered a success worthy of a full-page color ad, then the state of the business must be dismal.
ReplyDelete9:05 Very well said and thank you. The key is lack of sensitivity which those in Indy will come to see in Karen. She's actually very sensitive to anything pertaining to her and cares very little what anybody thinks. A community should expect more from a newspaper and as Publisher, Karen should speak for corporate in her community. Which she did, she said the newspaper's doing great while completely blind to what the community might think at this time.
ReplyDelete