Thursday, November 29, 2012

Nov. 26-Dec. 4 | Your News & Comments: Part 3

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34 comments:

  1. Stealth lay offs continuing at Deal Chicken and USAT.

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  2. Though ever the gentleman and a team player for Martore, Kramer caught us by surprise with the Banikarim and Micek evaluation that they have yet to perform "up to the standards" of usat.

    So who's in charge now? Is Kramer Martore's most recent annointed one doling out performance reviews?

    More of Gannett's spin the bottle finger pointing with its bickering so-called leadership.

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  3. So just how much did this USA Today waste-of-money-turned-(another)-PR-nightmare with Project Runway cost us? Jeff Long's preview of the episode was very telling:

    "The designers gather in the runway and are greeted by Joanna and Sandra Micek, who is the Senior VP of Marketing at USA Today. Ugh. So, during Season 6, which I am still thankful for missing, I was on a theatre tour in the Midwest. Love the Midwest now. Hate their hotels. Every morning, a copy of USA Today would be waiting for me and it was so completely worthless. I would know more about the world if I just read Bill Cosby's Picture Pages.

    Sandra vomits this spiel about how USA Today pioneered visual storytelling. Meaning, you're wasting your time if you try reading the articles. Stick with the pie chart. Joanna repeats the chestnut "Every picture tells a story" and says that's the theme of this week's challenge. The show apparently went to the fans and asked them to tweet inspiring pictures. They will choose a photo and base a runway look on it. Sandra thinks that they should consider the headline that they would want their look to convey."

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  4. Project Runway All Stars Season Two, Episode Four: Project Powww! Eric 3000 recap.

    Last week someone won and Pleather was sent home for being too creative (that'll teach him). This week we are promised the very first "interactive" challenge! Exciting! I'm assuming it will be similar to the very first interactive televised video game from the early 1980s.

    This is how it will work. The fans will call in to the show and scream "Pow!" over and over while the designers shoot flying saucers out of the sky.

    Joanna: "What does that have to do with fashion?"

    Well, when you put it that way I can see that it doesn't make much sense. OK, why don't you explain the challenge?

    Joanna: "This interactive challenge is sponsored by USA Today, the newspaper for people who don't read so good. I'd like to introduce you to USA Today's Senior VP of Marketing, Sandra Micek. Sandra, tell us about the USA Today philosophy."

    Sandra Micek: "Pictures good. Words bad."

    Joanna: "Could you elaborate on that, please?"

    Sandra Micek: "Some newspapers provide information, but we were like, This is hard. So we invented infographics, which are similar to information, but prettier."

    Joanna: "They sure are! I think what Sandra is trying to say is that every picture tells a story. So you are going to be skyping with fans who will tell you their stories and you have to turn their stories into headlines. Also, we have a saying in the publishing industry: Every pair of granny panties is worth a thousand words."

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  5. "UGH"

    Gosh, that's the best review USAT has had in years.

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  6. Marketing continues to make us a joke. What's next? Another memo about balls from Banikarim?

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  7. Three more fired in advertising.

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  8. Michael G. Kane where art thou? How much further will you let Wilmington fall before you do what must be done? Surely Dickey Boy can read a spread sheet? Perhaps not.

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  9. Where were the advertising firings?
    Were they really layoffs or fired?

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  10. Dickey is so nonexistent in the goings on at the sites it's mind baffling. Not that I think he's any good at what he does, I just find it interesting how little of a role he has now. He has lost all control by becoming the yes man that he is. Gannett has lost a lot of important, knowledgable people and people in the communities have noticed and aren't buying the crap we're selling. Dickey just stepped aside and let it happen because standing up for what he knows is right is just too damned difficult.

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  12. Hey corporate! Wanna save a shitload of money? Quit flying everyone all over the county for "sales training"! Haven't you heard of teleconferencing? Also, let's drop the double dipping of digital sales reps. You know, I sell a digital ad, I get credit and somehow they get credit also. For what? Sitting on their asses surfing the web all flipping day! I don't know about other sites, but our digital reps don't do shit. Nor do they bring as much revenue that the so called print reps do.






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  13. Layoffs are coming! The sun is rising! There's war in the middle east! My wife has a headache!

    You're welcome for today's news that isn't.

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  14. Thanks USAT for today's photo 'gallery' of Kate Middleton's new hairdo. If you guys take requests, can we see more of Pippa's butt instead?

    Or are we going to be subjected to endless shots from Project Runway now? Next up, a Honey Boo-Boo On The Road from Maryam?

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  16. USAT Marketing: Land of the Lost.

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  18. I am not sure I have seen a company suffer such self-inflicted wounds like the ones at USA TODAY in the last five years. The bad karma alone, from all the dishonesty, betrayals, etc., have diminished the brand. Add in just awful personnel decisions and the constant waste of money and you have the recipe for a complete collapses. If we had a Steve Jobs-like character to bring back to restore some order provide some vision, we would. But we don't. Past leaders were adequate at best. Of course, compared with the current group at the top and in some key mid-level managers who make a living spinning the truth, the old gang at least kept the trains running on time.

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  19. Just watched the Project Runway video featuring USAT's CMO. Doubt it did anything useful for our brand, but I'm sure it will look good on her highlight reel when it's needed in a few months. More fluff...no substance.

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  21. Numbers handed down to the design hub in Nashville say two managers have to go. Volunteers have been sought in the ranks to step aside. Includes middle and upper managers. Has to be done by end of quarter.

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  22. 8:27 AM Where were the advertising firings? Were they really layoffs or fired?

    ----

    Lay-offs in USAT advertising. They were gone as of Tuesday. You'll have to ask Murcko or Banikarim who is next for the chopping block.

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  23. Former Detroit Free Press CEO and publisher and retired USA Today president and publisher Dave Hunke announced as Digerati CSO, returning to Detroit ... and not a peep here?

    (@Freep): http://www.freep.com/article/20121129/BUSINESS06/311290124/Hunke-to-join-engineering-firm-Digerati

    (@DetNews):
    http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121129/BIZ/211290336

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  24. Almost no comments yesterday.
    Everyone have been layed off.
    Or else to busy making sure unemployment paperwork is ready to be filed.
    Denials will get you nowhere.
    Iy's coming.

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  25. USAT Investigation: Deadly 'superbugs' invade U.S. health care facilities http://usat.ly/X3xbmO

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  26. Charles Everett11/29/2012 10:14 AM

    David Hunke didn't stay out of work for long. The former president/publisher of USA Today is now chief strategy officer for software engineering firm Digerati.

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  27. How much clearer does it have to become before people will understand that USAT is done? It's running on the fumes of its prior reputation. But you can only fool readers for so long.

    And with the parade of losers who have destroyed the place in the last few years, well, it won't be long before a lot more people are ruthlessly laid off.

    I fully expect USAT to become some sort of niche publication in the future. One that runs on half the staff and a quarter of the current budget. It will most likely target a lesser educated audience and be produced by people who know more about celebrity breast size than the national deficit.

    You can't put out a sophisticated news product using the strategies USAT has been using in the last five years. Just can't be done. USAT will have to change course in a much more dramatic way. Essentially, it needs to give up on pursuing affluent readers and advertisers and try to build a junk-food type audience.

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  28. 1:16. Blah blah. This is the same banter we heard 30 years ago. By the way USAT has always has been "niche.". Give it a rest!

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  29. Gannett's television station 12 in Phoenix announces to audience. We can't negotiate with Direct TV. So you our viewers should log on to web portal. (no doubt to collect information) and say I don't like it. Because the plug might be pulled. Just like they do in all their negotiations.

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  30. Anonymous said...
    Stealth lay offs continuing at Deal Chicken and USAT.

    who left deal chicken?

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  31. USA Today Publisher Larry Kramer: We're Not 'Unique Enough' to Charge for Web Access:
    http://www.thewrap.com/media/article/usa-today-publisher-larry-kramer-were-not-unique-enough-charge-web-access-66791

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  32. Could we see channing tatums but instead of pipas

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  33. Indianapolis Star "accepting offers on Downtown property":
    http://www.indystar.com/article/20121128/BUSINESS/121128038/The-Star-accepting-offers-Downtown-property?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|IndyStar.com|s

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  34. 4:36 Not a lot of meat there, but I somewhat agree. I think I would change this to "we aren't good enough to charge for web access" nationally or locally. We produce mediocre products that suck money out of brand names. The products basically suck and should be built around a free model. None of of this is NYTimes caliber, local or national. It is trash and we should should just admit it and embrace it. If huffpost and the local tv station's website are free, we have to be priced at or below that or we have not reached a real bottom.

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