Love's Labour's Lost

[Warren Toda]

Okay, let's trash a few newspapers for their refusal to enter the 21st century.

As you may have heard, a few newspapers decided not to publish on Monday September 2 (Labour Day holiday) since they couldn't sell enough advertising.

It's too late to change this year but what a huge wasted opportunity!  Why does a lack of resources mean a lack of resourcefulness?

What does it cost to publish one edition? Presumably, even though no print product is published, most staff still work or at least there's a holiday sked of staff. Every newspaper knew well in advance that this holiday edition would be a slow ad sale. There's no excuse.

If I were in charge, I would have:

1) Offered two-for-one "partner" ads. For example, if a company buys a full-page ad, then their favourite charity would get a free full-page ad. If a company buys a quarter-page ad, their charity gets a quarter page. Who benefits? Readers, charities, advertisers, the newspaper.

2) It's Labour Day so celebrate that. Offer ~free ads to companies looking to hire employees. Nothing but job ads. Who benefits? Readers, people looking for jobs, employers, the newspaper.

3)  It's Labour Day so celebrate that. Offer ~free ads to small businesses which otherwise would never advertise in a big daily. Will they become paying advertisers in the future? Probably not. But that's not the point. Who benefits? Readers, small business, the newspaper.

4) Don't have a fourth idea at the moment but it's not difficult to figure this out.


The point is not to chicken out and run away when times get a wee bit tough. The point is to think of your customers. By doing nothing, by not publishing, how exactly does that benefit your customers and your reputation?  The point is that profit and progress are not the same thing. Sometimes the latter can be more "profitable" in the long run than the former. Or to rephrase it: a company can profit without earning a cent.

Most successful businesses (i.e. 21st century businesses) have learned that it's not about them or their shareholders. It's about the customers because they hold the power. For example, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Google, Yahoo, Ben & Jerry's, Tim Hortons and McDonalds all know the value of being talked about by their customers. They understand the importance of  ... (I hate this word but) ... connecting with the public.

Newspapers (i.e. 21st century newspapers) are in the marketing business. The sooner newspapers understand this, the sooner they might return to being relevant to the public. Marketing is not about selling advertising. Marketing is talking to the customer, in the language of the customer, about what's important to the customer.

Sure the news is available online. But again, that's not the point. It's not the medium, it's the message that's important (with apologies to Marshall McLuhan). And the message that newspapers are sending is that only advertisers matter.

Learn to say: It's not business, it's just personal.

[Peter Jones]

Or easier than all that, the publisher could stand on the sidewalk in front of the paper and hand out money to people passing by.

[Warren Toda]

Or easier than all that, the publisher could stand on the sidewalk in front of the paper and hand out money to people passing by.

The publisher could do that but (a) no one benefits, (b) in the long run, it'll cost the paper more than had they published a paper and (c) the handed-out money will have a lower perceived value than its face value. This is why companies don't hand out money.

1a) At Christmas, your kids are each asking for gifts worth about $200. But since you can't afford this, instead you give each child $100 cash. This way you save $100 per kid and they each still get $100. So everyone wins, right?

1b) At Christmas, your kids are each asking for gifts worth about $200. But since you hate shopping, you give each child $200 cash. Everyone still wins, right?

2)  Why doesn't McDonalds, Ben+Jerry's, Starbucks, etc., hand out cash? Instead they give out free french fries, free coffee, free ice cream, etc. Handing out, say, $2 cash to customers has less value to those customers than $2 worth of french fries, coffee or ice cream.

3)  People pay, let's say, $1 for a newspaper. So how much is that paper worth to those people? Let's rephrase the question: how much would I have to pay you to sit and read a newspaper?  The value of a newspaper to a customer is not what it costs. But the value of a newspaper to a publisher is what it costs. And that's why there's a disconnect between readers and newspaper publishers.

[If I may digress for a moment, this is what freelance photographers have to understand when they set their prices - you price for the consumer, not for yourself. The customer buys based on perceived value, not based on the photographer's costs. This is really important to understand.]

The newspapers involved here had the chance do something remarkable. But by cancelling, publishers have said that (a) they failed in their job of selling ads; (b) their papers aren't really necessary; (c) their papers have no real value.

Not necessary + no value = irrelevant

[Ken Gigliotti]

 I am for it , with Warren. BUTTTT ,Publish  on all / most stat holidays has always caused an argument . Circulation can only go up on these days.  The efforts taken to keep  circulation from decling , dismisses a chance to make it rise. In cities with a competitor ,  the competition always publishes . The broadsheet closes up shop and the Tab publishes . Maybe competitor #3 the Free Tab publishes also  , not sure. Someone IS buying ads on stat days .
   I have to guess that the Tab makes a fair amount of their yearly  profit on , non publishing days of the Broadsheet . It is a free day for them . There are a lot of non publishing days .
 Publishing on holidays days maybe the only way to increase paid circulation and creating more jobs . Labour unions may not be as unhappy about it as you might think . They would be smart to start buying ads to support workers and promote the labour movement  on their special day.  It could be a thing , could be called  something , something  to do with the brand . Labour Day sounds good.   That would be smart irony . They could actually own that day .

  Not all stat holidays are equal , the Sept long weekend usually has a CFL game( actually played on Sunday)  people want to hear about. The stat holiday in the fall and winter sells  because people are at home and are more likely to read them .
  Delivering papers to the beaches in the summer was a good idea when we tried it a couple of decades ago , if anyone can remember , our beach report was a pretty good gig , and became the  roving provincial reporter in the winter and all year round to this day.
   The question is , do you deliver to homes or just use box sales and convenience   stores even malls are open for part of that day. Subscribers can't complain because  it would be normally a non publishing day.
When others stopped publishing  on Sunday , we kept publishing but only delivered to boxes and it turned out to be profitable . Small run of papers and limited delivery was the key. We can say we still publish 7 days a week and no humiliating  retreat . A gamble that worked out.
   Box sales could replace home delivery Sunday , Monday and or Tuesday as a compromise if papers are thinking of stopping publication/home delivery  on these days , deferring to the online product till the end of the week. The thinking seems to be , by stopping home delivery , would be the end of the newspaper business soon after.

The other question is , by publishing on every stat day , how does that effect the competion . The Tabs are just hanging on now , if they loose the stat day advantage , how bad does that effect their bottom line . Taking away this slight advantage could push them over the edge . Adv are being sold on those days .

  I think there is some feeling from the far off past that the broadsheets gave up those days to keep competition  fair . There maybe some honour there , Just what I think . The newspaper world without competition would be a world no one will want to live in. That type of thinking might be “”on the table” as competition for selling papers  seems to be now bad for business. Competition from the internet is about all anyone can handle. TV included .