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Wednesday, March 06, 2013
67 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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Yo.
ReplyDeleteI know this sounds insane, but can someone on a Gannett pension return to work at a Gannett property?
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of when Capt. Ramius in The Hunt for Red October tells the officers that he notified Moscow he was going to defect with their new sub.
DeleteOne of the officers says: "In the name of God, why?"
Murcko's Advertising Upfront in NYC yesterday: all the photos now up on Gannett Facebook.
ReplyDeleteOy. None of them have captions to identify the people photographed.
DeleteCaptions? we don't need no stinkin' captions
ReplyDeleteRight. Who would expect someone who has been blogging about the company for six years to know who the top officers and division chiefs are?
ReplyDelete5 and a half. He took a few months off to write about island raves.
Deletehttp://www.editorandpublisher.com/TopStories/Features/10-Newspapers-That-Do-It-Right-2013
ReplyDeleteHuh. No Gannett papers made the list?!
Hey, that's what we're doing. Haven't you been reading the Travelocity memos from Miss Blue Balls?
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
-G
How many employees does Gannett have? They only have 2200 facebook followers in a company of thousands of employees.
ReplyDeleteAbout 31,000.
DeleteThat's because we're ashamed to identify ourselves.
DeleteDeal Chicken lay offs today!
ReplyDeleteWhich properties took a hatchet to their chicken?
DeleteApparently ALL off the "area managers" are gone done in 60 days if not asked to pack their bags by the end of the week!
DeleteOnce again you don't know what you are talking about. Jobs are being moved. Some don't want to move. That's different than business is bad and people are getting fired.
DeletePlease enlighten us...I myself have heard many rumors today of layoffs today about that bastard chicken.
DeleteClucked Up.
DeleteLayoffs ARE happening... It's not like everyone has a position in VA if they want to move at all. AT. ALL. Some were told if they wanted to go to VA a spot would be there, others were told they could apply and interview for the position if they wanted to go to VA. While the product itself is doing well, clearly, the bitchin' chicken is on its last legs. How long do they plan to succeed without the hometown aspect? Surely everyone wants to purchase a wine bottle umbrella, right? I mean, it's so much better than a local deal...
DeleteLee moving headfirst into RDCs. Must be jealous of all the cost savings and quality gains Gannett has produced. (ha)
ReplyDeleteRdC' s ?
DeleteRegional Design Centers - like Gannett's design studios. Sorry for lack of explanation.
Delete"Jobs are being moved"? Why? How many? More consolidation? Business may not be bad, as 8:17 indicates, but restructuring is usually a sign of cost-cutting.
ReplyDeleteAfter May 10, only 17 positions are currently filled by existing AMs.
DeleteIf it indeed is all of the area managers that's at least 50 people
ReplyDeleteMaryam Banikarim's "Gannett Front" extravaganza at the Axa Equitable Center made us all so proud. And when she hit the spotlight and took center stage while "This Girl is on Fire" played, she really brought the house down.
ReplyDeleteToo bad she wasn't actually on fire.
DeleteWho gives a bleep if she made us proud and danced around with a stupid entrance them? We care about results. And she hasn't produced anything.
DeleteGANNETT FRONT 2013 is the company's first-ever upfront-style event designed to showcase the power and reach of its portfolio to the advertising community.
ReplyDeleteThe event, conceived and launched by Chief Marketing Officer Maryam Banikarim in New York City on Monday, highlighted that Gannett is more than a media company: today's Gannett is focused on connecting and activating its audiences to help advertisers create deeper connections and drive greater sales.
"We have transformed our portfolio of assets and for the first time ever, all of our properties and products are working together," said Banikarim. "With our national reach, deep local connections and data driven tools, we know we can connect and engage audiences like no other media company."
I am perplexed as to how this can be said with a straight face. We have lived in a lot of different communities through the years and the biggest complaint we heard was that there wasn't enough local news creating a major disconnect with the local paper. Until Gannett starts listening to their customers and stops spoon feeding the crap they want to sell, this company will not be successful in the long run.
Delete"We don't clearly fit in any category," said Maryam Banikarim, the company's chief marketing officer. "We wanted to go as early as possible to claim dollars, so decided not to be part of NewFronts."
DeleteTranslation: "Look, we clearly don't know what audiences we have or what audiences our products actually reach. We don't know what category we're in because we haven't invested the real resources needed to figuring it out and we never will because we're watching our spreadsheets very closely for Q2 and Q3. So, we've duct-taped some Omniture and some hocus pocus focus group research data together to show you that we sorta-kinda-know what we're talking about when it comes to people browsing the Interwebs and mobile devices. We wanted to go early so we had more time to beg and plead for you to buy our ads. We're a bit slow and it takes us a long time to do things. And we know we can't compete with Google, AOL, Hulu, Yahoo, and others. We're not in the same league with them so showing what we have to offer sibe-by-side with them would make us look utterly stupid. We have no choice but to go as early as possible to minimize how bad we'd look. We know that by the time the NewFronts take place in late April, anyone who's responsible for buying ads for their clients and business will have forgotten all about our (excuse me, I mean - MY) little shindig."
Love it.
DeleteRight out of central public relations.
DeleteLots of show but not a shred of anything tangible that an advertiser can leave with. Bunch of ex TV people led by our favorite Girl on Fire handing out tons of sizzle and no steak. Typical. And how much did we spend on this?
DeleteInstead of Girl on Fire, she should have entered to:
Delete"I'm Bad....I'm Nationwide"
(but local, too)
Well I was movin' down the road in my V-8 Ford, I had a shine on my boots, I had my sideburns lowered.
With my New York brim and my gold tooth displayed,
Nobody give me trouble cause they know I got it made.
I'm bad, I'm nationwide.
(but local, too)
All of this pomp and circumstance means nothing until advertisers start buying and that will continue to NOT happen in print in a major way in 2013 and beyond. And in digital, they may make only pennies and nickels when they need serious dollars.
ReplyDeleteAll the yack yack yacking about national and local and digital this and tablet app that is not going to matter because the advertising ecosystem in media does NOT work. Consumers do NOT click on ads online (and everyone in the industry know it, but is afraid to really say anything about it). What makes anyone think people will all of a sudden start clicking on ads on smaller screen or sitting through ads before or after videos.
I give BBB and crew all the credit in the world for doing the best they can to present the best story they can for their wonderful old traditional newspaper company. They really tried hard and it shows. People were in the seats, the talkers were talking well, and they even had someone sing a tune. They sure did show those advertisers something, didn't they?
Well, let's just see if anyone NEW who buys anything from Gannett. Let's see if anyone OLD puts more dollars on the table to capture that highly desired 65 year old newspaper reader in Jackson, MS or those business travelers who continue to step over the blue dot on their way out of their hotel rooms. Let's just see.
10:05. Is this your First job? First media company?
ReplyDeleteAll this integration is so 2000. Think NBC Universal, Time Warner, Meredith, it's all been done before. The real media innovators will be presenting during the digital outfront in a few weeks. Gannett couldn't compete with them so "spun it" early.
And the media buyers know this. Old school. Old news.
DeleteFortuitous of you to bring up Time Warner. Yesterday that conglomerate announced it would spin off its magazine unit (the Time side) and keep the TV/movies unit (the Warner side). In other words, Time Warner is being split up.
DeleteGannett should have done like Media General and spun off the newspaper division while it had a chance.
9:47 they make kool-aid in a lot of different flavors. Keep drinking.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteA couple weeks ago I suggested that newspapers could accelerate the move to digital by offering tablets the way phone companies use phones - as a come-on to sell their product. Well, here you go . . .
ReplyDeletehttp://jimromenesko.com/2013/03/05/chicago-tribune-finally-offers-tablets-to-new-subscribers/
Philly papers did something similar a few years back but it hasn't been too successful...
Deletehttp://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20105363-93/philly-papers-offering-subscribers-$99-android-tablet/
http://paidcontent.org/2011/11/02/419-fewer-buyers-than-expected-for-philadelphia-newspaper-tablets/
The jobs are being moved around to different divisions. I believe this was intended for years... Gannett often approaches everything in stages with multiple transitions into different divisions of the company.
ReplyDeleteMaryam Banikarim is not old news old school old story. She is young and fresh and new.
ReplyDeleteThis girl is on fire!!!!
She's been here two years, what has she done that is so fresh and new?
DeleteThe Purpose Project...remember that? Come on...you must remember that! It was an amazing investment of time, energy and resources. They spent a lot of effort and now everyone at the company is on board with it's "purpose." Didn't you know that? Haven't you seen the Purpose Wall? Didn't you go get ice cream and listen to your CEO talk about what a great thing this was? Where have you been?
DeleteKeep signing everyone...
DeleteThis Girl is on Fire!
This Girl is on Fire!
...And we're all getting burned, while she fiddles.
Delete12:28 Have another cocktail and get back to the sorority party, Muffy.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteSadly, the last two comments show what we have become as a company. The managers are sure doing a great job in getting us to work together and creating an atmosphere that is good for production and creativity. Go Gannett, or go away Gannett.
DeleteYou are right, 7:25 AM. The atmosphere created by corporate is not professional and this company has lost all credibility after the Blue Balls email. As much as Corporate wishes that would go away, it will always be there as an indication of how juvenile our leadership is and how juvenile the employees have become. I find it very, very sad.
DeleteRight now Gannett stock price is $21.04! nuff said. That's what MB has done. That's what Murcko has done. That's what Lougee has done. That's what Dickey has done. That's what Kramer has done. That's what Matore has done!!!! Don't you love it????????
DeleteCould the stock go down tomorrow? Sure. But today we are making money!
Riddle me this, Jim. Why is the 12:44 comment still here, but the one that followed is gone? I think it was roughly similar.
Delete10:51 obviously didn't buy 5-8 years ago, if so, he's still down over 70%. Nothing to brag about there.
DeleteIndeed...10:51 obviously wasn't around in '04 at $85. He/she doesn't have a friggin clue. $21 doesn't mean crap. The Wall Street is up as a whole this week. All boats rise, including old newspaper companies. Everyone is trying to make a profit. That's how the game works. Some bad companies benefit as a result. However, the proof is in the pudding and the pudding at the big shiny is stale and Wall Street knows it. They will pull back in the 2nd half of the year when they see Q2 and Q3 numbers. This will all come home to roost. Sell now while you have a chance. $21 will be $10 or less in Q3.
DeleteIn 2004, it was actually closer to $94.
DeleteYeah and the tablet had yet to be invented. It must be tough to be that ignorant about business. We were the ONLY game in town. It was ANCIENT technology. We were the horse before the invention if the car. Of course it was $94. Just because you hate doesn't mean you have to be ignorant.
DeleteNo one's hating 8:04p, just adding a bit of perspective for those who seem to forget the past. There are a lot of people jumping for joy over $21 and singing praises to the chief spreadsheeter and crew. If you received options in 2004 @$94 they are worthless. They will continue to be worthless because there is absolutely no way your wonderful company will ever reach that level again. You know it and all the super smart people trolling the board room in the big shiny on the 11th floor know it as well.
DeleteIt's 2013 and your great company still uses ANCIENT thinking in it's approach to innovation (which there really isn't one), product design, organizational structure (still being very siloed as a result of being grouped by newspapers and tv stations versus job function), and overall sales and business strategy. Now, that's ignorant.
Keep on loving where you and your awesome $21/share. Keep posting your joy when the layoffs happen again later this year and next.
What is sad is that they are making the big bucks for what and draining the company.
ReplyDeleteBack to DealChicken: could someone summarize what's going on? Jim? It sounds like corporate is consolidating that operation by trimming area managers from 50 to 17 (per previous posters)--that's quite a reduction -- and contralizing all jobs at HQ in Virginia, which doesn't bode well for local deals. Is there a memo or email out there detailing the changes, or is everything being done by word of mouth?
ReplyDeleteAgain, I always laugh when people ask Jim to analyze something. STOP ASKING! Well, actually I want you to keep asking because it amuses me.
DeleteThey are centralizing the area manager position. Sales managers have re-aligned territories. Deal Chicken reps will be selling all DMS products within 6 months.
ReplyDeleteIf it indeed is all of the area managers that's at least 50 people
ReplyDeletePresswire
I don't know what the above poster was talking about those not being layoffs. When you have 50 plus people with 17 jobs available wouldn't that be in the lay off category?
ReplyDelete