As Gannett's advertising sales continue to slide, a new internal memo has surfaced in this comment thread about one of the latest projects at HQ in Virginia. Here's an excerpt:
"The Gannett/USA Today Purpose Team," the memo says, "is designing a Purpose Wall in our McLean HQ. The Wall will display some of the most compelling words included in the corporate anthem, along with photos that capture the essence of who we are as individuals and as a company. We’re asking all departments on campus to submit photos that reflect you at work or the benefit of your efforts at work or in the community. Or both. It is entirely up to you. The Wall will be a representation of everything that brings us together as a community."
Conceptually, a purpose wall appears to be a sort of visual mission/vision statement. (Gannett's current ones are here.)
Chief Marketing Officer Maryam Banikarim has been down this road at least once before. She told Fast Company magazine late last year about a project celebrating the merger of her employer, NBCUniversal, with Comcast.
"I came up with a purpose line -- that NBCUniversal is in the idea business," she said.
Earlier: USAT counts down to French Riviera conference it's co-sponsoring this month.
Related: In other photos-on-walls, here's Gannett's Pinterest page.
"The Gannett/USA Today Purpose Team," the memo says, "is designing a Purpose Wall in our McLean HQ. The Wall will display some of the most compelling words included in the corporate anthem, along with photos that capture the essence of who we are as individuals and as a company. We’re asking all departments on campus to submit photos that reflect you at work or the benefit of your efforts at work or in the community. Or both. It is entirely up to you. The Wall will be a representation of everything that brings us together as a community."
Conceptually, a purpose wall appears to be a sort of visual mission/vision statement. (Gannett's current ones are here.)
 |
| Banikarim |
"I came up with a purpose line -- that NBCUniversal is in the idea business," she said.
Earlier: USAT counts down to French Riviera conference it's co-sponsoring this month.
Related: In other photos-on-walls, here's Gannett's Pinterest page.
Barf
ReplyDeleteAmazing the things overpaid executives come up with to make themselves feel like they're doing something when they have lost control of a hopeless business
ReplyDeleteCan I suggest a purpose line for Maryam Banikarim? "Go find some revenue."
ReplyDeleteShe sounds like a summer-camp counselor. Gracia needs to get her shit together and hire someone who can perform in a way that's worth the exorbitant salary.
ReplyDeleteAs cynical and sarcastic as Martore is, im surprised she is allowing this folly. she should know better than to keep signing off on MB'S childish ideas.
DeleteJust what does this have to do with marketing,anyway?
I thought NBCUniversal was in the "NCIS" perpetual rerun business.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, Ms. Banikarim? This is what executives at the highest levels of the company are spending time on?
ReplyDeleteAnd when we're done, everyone will get a participation trophy!
ReplyDeleteI'd like a list of sites where people have enough time to stare at the walls so that they can find themselves a purpose. We'd be happy with a coat of paint every 20 years.
Isn’t the ultimate purpose of Gannett, through entities like USAToday, to generate increasing amounts of Benjamins for shareholders?
ReplyDeleteHence, any exclusion of photos depicting layoffs (empty desks, peole leaving buildings with boxes, etc.), furloughs and money as well as snapshots of P&L’s showing improvements as a result of years of those efforts really isn’t capturing the heart of this company’s true purpose – to generate profit.
And, don’t get me wrong as all companies need to but given what Gannett’s done to achieve theirs, and the culture that's resulted, it seems only fair to have representations of those acts, including of the 20,000 plus employees who were involuntarily “dedicated” to helping Gannett achieve it.
Lame would be a vast understatement
ReplyDeletePurpose THIS.
ReplyDeleteThe Gannett Corporate Anthem?
ReplyDelete(to the tune of America the Beautiful)
Oh, Ganneetters, we've wasted years
Turning this shit around.
We're sinking fast, and worthless as
An old dog at the pound.
(chorus)
Oh Gannetteers, Oh Gannetteers,
VP's all need their pay.
So help them out and figure out
Your next days without pay!
Oh Gannetters, your newsrooms now
are empty as can be.
The bosses want to figure out
How you can work for free.
(chorus)
Oh Gannetteers, Oh Gannetteers,
VP's all need their pay.
So help them out and figure out
Your next days without pay!
In Cincinnati, the printing there
Won't even be in town.
In our opinion this old dog
Should likely be put down.
chorus)
Oh Gannetteers, Oh Gannetteers,
VP's all need their pay.
So help them out and figure out
Your next days without pay!
YOUR NEXT
DAYS
WITH
OUT
PAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
Is our corporate anthem "Another One Bites the Dust"?
ReplyDeleteThis is a marketing idea? This company is failing because it's executives are busy wasting time on ideas like this. Is that what were supposed to use the smart phones for?
ReplyDeleteI liked the idea of bringing back the trucks with logos better. the LA Times got rid of their single copy drivers years ago and they are still suffering for that lame move.
Not to make fun of 16 year old girls or anything, but this sounds like something a 16 year girl would come up with.
ReplyDelete"Purpose wall"? WTF?
It's a freakin' "Vision Board" for the originality impaired. This would be laughable if people weren't actually investing time and resources into it. How exactly will solve any of the serious and legitimate problems we have?
They'll pay for it with 3rd quarter furloughs.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteSomebody is going to get stoop shouldered patting themselves on the back--
ReplyDeleteA legend in their own mind!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI was laid off, but now I'm retired how is that for purpose. I think they may be trying to sell off parts of the company. The Wall may show prospective buyers how happy the workers are. How is that for marketing.
ReplyDeleteWell that all good then. Can we have our office hoovered?
ReplyDeleteBanikarim's first Purpose Line got her butt fired from NBC Universal. Let's hope the same thing happens with Gannett (and she can take Micek right along with her).
ReplyDeleteI bet Banikarim will have her staff meeting for days over which photo of herself will go front and center on her purposefully useless wall.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThey are enticing everyone with free ice cream. Ill have double purpose chocolate chip.
ReplyDeleteHere's a photo to reflect the company's values, a tattered, empty employees wallet a top a stack of overdue bills and the latest Gannett memo outlining you new and added responsibilities, with another memo announcing the next furloughs/layoffs? Now there is a true representation of the the Gannett employee community, not some shiny happy corporate love fest.
ReplyDeleteMisery loves company (but not this company!)
Remember that old Steve Martin film, "The Jerk," and what his "special purpose" was?
ReplyDelete5:01 - 5:06: I remove comments that make fun of anyone's physical appearance.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a Catch-22 situation. If you refused to participate and they will get rid of you. Participate, and they will get rid of you because you obviously don't have enough real work to do.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how much time and money has been devoted to rah-rah stuff like this and consultants while everything is crumbling all around.
ReplyDeleteBiggest crock of shit ever.
ReplyDeleteLMAO! Sounds like something my kid's daycare would do for a summer project. I am so glad that I am watching this one from the outside.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 6/09/2012 5:21 said...
ReplyDelete"They are enticing everyone with free ice cream. Ill have double purpose chocolate chip."
That sounds like Party!
Word is, there's a new dance craze in the midst called "The Gannett Shuffle." Hey, we've all seen that dance before, when they shuffled the 20,000 out the door! So after you eat your ice cream, better not get too comfortable in that seat! You could be the next one shuffled out the door!
Banikarim paid a ton of money for an ad agency to come up with the Purpose of Gannett and now she has to justify it by spending more money selling it in to employees. All Martore needs to do is read this blog and she will see what the employees want. NOT more marketing condescending spin from Banikarim but raises, job security, and a focus on producing better products.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to send in a picture of myself packing up my office the day I walk out of Gannett for another job in about two weeks. I will have a HUGE smile on my face.
ReplyDeleteMaryam's only purpose at NBC Universal was to become the company's CMO.
ReplyDeleteAt least management there was bright enough to realize what a mistake that would have been.
Sorry Gannett. We all feel your pain.
Word has it that Hunke's plan to appoint a vice president of Purpose Walls was rejected by the management committee.
ReplyDeleteThis woman's sense of purpose seemeps to have peaked in 7th grade. Lets hope she doesnt replace the corporate Gannett sign with Banikarim's Place.
ReplyDeleteTheres s purpose TEAM ?? My God, someone has to stop this insansity.
ReplyDelete11:28 Best post of the week!
ReplyDelete"There's a Purpose Team? My God, someone has to stop this insanity."
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder this company is in the crapper, if this is what Ms Martore's people are spemding their time on.
ReplyDeletePurpose Wall, hm? Can I suggest, in large letters, two words: MAKE MONEY. Not necessarily on a wall, perhaps more suitably on the memo explaining why the person wasting time on this idea is being sacked.
ReplyDeleteI'm cross-posting this from another thread, after a poster said General Electric, Hard Rock Cafe and Zappos all have purpose projects.
ReplyDeleteThe only references I found to purpose projects through a Google search involved non-profits organizations, rather than businesses.
Several posters have mentioned General Electric having a purpose project. (GE owned NBCUniversal, where Banikarim worked prior to coming to Gannett.)
I searched GE's website, but turned up nothing. I also searched GE's most recent 10-K and proxy statements to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, plus the annual report to shareholders. Those documents don't say anything about purpose projects, either.
At the Hard Rock Cafe and Zappos, a search of its website turned up no references to purpose projects.
I also found no references to purpose projects on the websites of two big business consulting firms that typically recommend these sort of things: Accenture and McKinsey.
Still, for the sake of argument, let's say many companies do, indeed, use purpose projects. Without knowing their impact on productivity, sales, employee morale, etc., there's no way to know whether one would be appropriate for Gannett.
Companies engage pricey consultants to do projects like this all the time. In the middle of the last decade, for example, USA Today hired Gallup on a multi-year contract to survey employees on the quality of their work lives; the results were supposed to improve productivity. (USAT employees will remember this as the Q-12 survey that included the question: "Do you have a best friend at work?")
Judging from USAT's deteriorating financial condition since then, it's hard to say Gallup's survey project made a difference.
Jim, 4:19 comment seems outrageous to leave up, even if they were public figures the likes of members of congress, which they are not. You set the tone for this blog, and leaving that up sets a terrible tone in my view, regardless of what I think of them. And trust me, I'm no fan of Evan Ray.
ReplyDeleteLove to hear her explain the business reason for the "purpose Wall" to Wall Street investors during the next conference call.
ReplyDelete11:11 Agreed.
ReplyDeleteWow. What a relief! Amazing to have a new purpose without the word 'solutions' in it.
ReplyDeleteJim, the general term is "vision board," and it's been around for awhile. It's been used by everybody from small business owners to new graduates to sports teams. Google "vision board" and you'll see a ton of examples.
ReplyDeleteI know I am late to the party.....but, um......I went to see this "purpose board" Do you guys realize it's basically a corkboard with poorly printed out pictures tacked to it? I was expecting a WALL. Something professional - with, like, chrome letters spelling out our purpose (which is 13 words long, but manages to have the same word twice.) It is not so greatly removed from the big bulletin boards you see in middle schools. Swear to God.
ReplyDelete