The People: A story of decline and zero marketing investment

The future of Trinity Mirror's less loved Sunday tabloid The People is being raked over again. In 2007 the paper has seemingly done no advertising. Is it any wonder that sales are down almost 13% and an editor has gone?

There is a long piece in the Press Gazette today (doesn't seem to be online) on the future of the People, sister title to the much better performing Sunday Mirror, where former editors and writers discuss the paper's future.

It is a story of true newspaper decline. Five years ago the paper was selling 1,202,315 copies. Today the paper's circulation fell below the 700,000 copy barrier with a monthly average sale of 696,901, down 3.61% on September. Its six-month average circulation figure is 727,248, down 12.17% from the previous year. That's more than half a million copies. Poof. Gone in smoke.

What is Trinity Mirror chief executive Sly Bailey doing?

During those years of sales decline the paper has suffered another kind of decline as well. One of marketing/advertising support. The paper seems to have run no TV ads during 2007, just a single 20 second TV spot in 2006 (promoting its Football Season Handbook) and just two in 2005.

Look further back and in 2004 the paper once known for investigations and particularly for its sport coverage ran as many as a dozen TV spots. Further still and in 2003 marketing activity was busier than ever with TV spots, press and radio.

No one is saying advertising will save you, but it does appear that the lack of marketing support for the paper has only exacerbated its decline.

The cuts to marketing spend have mirrored cuts in editorial at the paper. Between September 2004 and the following October 30 journalists were cut.

Two weeks ago Mark Thomas stepped down as editor to "pursue other career opportunities" to be replaced by a couple of Daily Mirror hacks Lloyd Embley, assistant editor of the Daily Mirror, and Gary Jones, head of news at the Mirror.

Trinity Mirror still maintains that the departure and the appointments are about "the future" of the paper, but it is difficult to see this for a paper, which has so many sales, lacks investment and has several times in recent years been linked to sell-off rumours.

In 2003 Trinity Mirror rejected claims that it was looking to sell the struggling red-top (back then it was still selling 1.1m), which it had relaunched the previous year.

Many in the industry believe it would make sense for Trinity Mirror to sell the paper off and concentrate on its other Sunday tabloid, the Sunday Mirror. At least that way it could generate cash for the group, but would it now get enough to make it worth while? Something not.

Others see the paper's future as being merged with sister title the Sunday Mirror.

Phil Hall, a former People staffer and News of the World editor, told Press Gazette this is the option he sees as most likely.

The Sunday Mirror would get a sales pick up with Hall estimating it at around 300,000 to 350,000 or around half of the People's sales.

He sees no point carrying on without investment to buy stories, get staff and market the paper. He puts the investment figure at around £3m- to £4m. Another tabloid executive turned PR man, Jack Irvine, ex of News International puts the figure much higher. He says you need £25m to £30m to reverse the cuts and get the stories.

Whatever figure is needed (and you know it will closer to the higher one than the lower) Trinity Mirror is simply not going to suddenly do that. If it was going to do so it would have done it already.

It all appears that someone at Trinity Mirror can not decide which way to jump. Whether to go this way or that? In the meantime a once major British tabloid newspaper has gone down the toilet. Its sales will not stop falling on their own. I worked out for myself.

Of course, as Trinity Mirror points out, and they should be allowed to do so, this could all just be crappola. Nick Fullagar, Trinity Mirror's director of communications says that the company does not run loss making titles and that it is not about to start.

"The People is a huge player in the marketplace and makes money. People who sit there in their armchairs, who have never run a newspaper business, don't have a foot in the real world in terms of understanding what the challenges are for newspaper's in today's market."

That isn't strictly true. Everyone knows the challenges in this digital world are huge, but it is a challenge that needs to be faced and that just doesn't seem to be the case.

The chilling reality of the writer's strike

Look I'm the first on the picket line. Okay, well the lunch queue at least, but I'm starting to think that while it’s okay for Sean Penn to snarl at the camera in support of the workers (writers work right?) for the rest of us the strike could have terrible consequences. Worse than you ever imagined.

Worse than really bad things? Possible not, but with the TV schedules emptying faster than an Amy Winehouse gig, the US networks have started to turn to their last great hope: reality TV. More of it.

Could there possibly be anymore? Having looked at the schedules, they already have dancing, singing, wife swapping, dating, divorcing and too many property shows for one lifetime (how many times can you say: you're a moron, no one paints their house yellow? Or puts a loo in the kitchen?).

The writer's strike is five months old and those sitcom scribes are not backing down. They are clearly owed a decent deal, but if that deal does not come soon this is what we will get.

According to a report on Reuters, John Langley tried and failed to sell a "cinema verite-style TV series tracking police officers on patrol". He tried for five years (which is frankly very depressing). Then came the 1988 writers strike and now 'Cops' is a reality show institution (at least that's what the press notes say).

That show is 700 episodes in and now the networks are looking around again for more reality ideas to fill the gaps left by shows like '24' being massively delayed.

US networks have as many as 40 reality shows stacked like cans of beans ready to go. Joining the likes of Fox's mega reality hit 'American Idol' and ABC's hit 'Dancing with the Stars' will be CW and 'Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious' and over at NBC 'Celebrity Apprentice'.

That's just the thin end of the quality reality TV doorstopper. ABC's has 'Dancing' spin-off 'Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann' while Fox has 'When Women Rule the World'.

Eventually we will all start to suffer. It is kind of like the scene in 'Studio 60 on the Sunset strip' where the network boss rains down reality on those below. You mean you didn’t see it?

As the Writers Guild of America points out, reality TV is a euphemism for nonunion television. They have a point. Cheap and cheerful (actually mostly no that cheerful, but definitely cheap.

Jeff Hermanson, assistant executive director of the WGA, West, said: "We think networks should be embarrassed to put on shows where people who create them are treated in violation of California labour laws."

Embarrassed is the word.

The very worst part of it is that the one of the best programme on TV (or at least IMHO) is not likely air to something like 2010. Yes, I am talking about the final season of the "reimagined" Battlestar Galactica (and yes I might have done this before), but it is very cool and dark. It is to the very antithesis of reality show TV. Not so cheerful, not so cheap and as dark as a trip through everyone's favourite Joseph Conrad novel, which in part is what the story is about.

One last thing, I just have to show you this. It's partly about how the show embraced the web with its mini webisodes that prequel the coming season, but it is partly about how they brought back the bad guys from the 70s and still managed to make it look cool. The 70s? I know, how hard is that?.

Blogging comes of age

With the rush of interest in social media over the last year, you sometimes forget just how long some blogs and communities have been around. One such place, where I also blog, is five years old this week. So happy birthday Harry's Place.

Many blogs have come and gone during those five years, but that is partly the nature of blogging. Many blogs are one-off issues, addressing a certain point in a person's life or a passing interest.

Few go the distance which is why it is great to see a blog like Harry's with its mix of politics and social comment endure and become a brand and something of note in the blogging landscape, which attracts hundreds and hundreds of comments each week.

This is what Wikipedia has to say:

Harry's Place is a British political weblog. It is a prominent voice of what it calls "the pro-liberation left" (a group more disparagingly referred to as "liberal hawks"). It was first set up in November 2002 and named for the Sham 69 song "Hurry up Harry" and the first name of the founder of the blog, Harry Hatchet. The logo on the front page of the blog is a quote from George Orwell: "Liberty, if it means anything, is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear".

It has been nominated for a number of awards, including a Guardian award for political blogs, the 2005 Weblog awards for UK blogs, as well as the UK section of the Islamic Human Rights Commission's Annual Islamophobia Awards 2006; posts on the site had ridiculed these awards and openly invited nomination.

What other blogs out there that people read have gone the distance and really lasted? Be good to hear.

Facebook facing the Future

If you missed yesterday's Marketing Society Annual Conference this is what Facebook commercial director Blake Chandlee had to say about the social media site and brands.

What can other brands learn from Facebook?

If you have a good idea and it meets consumer need this can have an enormous impact. Two years ago, Facebook didn’t really exist but they haven't had to spend advertising budgets, it has virally taken off. Consumers will spend an enormous time with your brand if you provide value for them. Facebook is not the same company as one year ago, it has changed dramatically. It’s no longer just about college students. Facebook has reinvented itself three times in the last year. So just because it’s right today, doesn’t mean it’s right tomorrow.

How can traditional brands tap into the opportunities of social networking?

It takes a totally different mindset. Social networking is not about interruptive marketing because the minute a brand interrupts the consumer's world or imposes itself, there’ll be disappointment. Instead, it’s the concept of facilitating dialogue and conversation – that’s the way brands need to think because this will create value. One example of a brand already doing this is the Trip Advisor campaign on Facebook which lets people plot where they've visited. It's a very popular application and it doesn’t cost anything to do. They’ve created a unique application that's filled a void.

What's the biggest challenge facing you in your new role at Facebook?

First is putting the right team into place. And I can’t tell you how many new friends I’ve got on Facebook enquiring about opportunities! The second is education. There have been lots of conversations, both positive and negative, about how brands interact with social networking and issues like privacy controls and exposing brands. At the moment there's a vacuum in the leadership position around social networking and that’s what I’ll bring in my new role. It's about simplifying and educating. In order to accelerate spending I have to remove some of the concerns. I won't be able to remove them all because that's the nature of the medium, but it is something I plan to address.

In the world of Web 2.0, do marketing directors need a new set of rules to do their job well?

Basic marketing principles still apply. You still have to reach the right audience with the right message at the right time. But there are new tools for marketers at their disposal and better opportunities to narrowcast, rather than broadcast to consumers. The concept of engagement and time spent with a brand is a new variable that has to be considered. If you can find and engage communities of consumers you can do some neat stuff. We're in the age of dialogue and marketers need to consider the quality of the interaction and the impact.

What keeps you awake at night?

I’m the first Facebook employee outside the UK and the first in Europe. I've been inundated with enquiries and I’m ready to go but I can’t at the moment. I've guess I've got gardening leave frustration.

Terminate this

I have been looking at Virgin 1, trying to work out a reason to watch it. It seems to mostly comprise of programming that has appeared elsewhere. Save 'The Riches' (which I wouldn't), but in the 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' looks like there might be a (pretty geeky) reason to watch. Oh and here are some pretty cool looking posters...

It's a nice twist to have good guy terminator as a girl in the shape of Summer Glau, who stars opposite Lena Headey of 'The 300' fame, one of the seemingly ever-expanding list of British actors currently starring in leading roles in US TV shows.

Talking of those Brits, Kevin McKidd, of 'Rome' and 'Trainspotting' is another in 'Journeyman', which has him as a time-travelling San Francisco reporter and it's pretty good. Actually, it's better than pretty good and I'm not just saying that because it's about a reporter (he spends next to no time in the news room), but sadly it is already facing possible cancellation after just a handful of episodes.

I digress, it looks like 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' will arrive earlier, according to a Media Week story, than predicted on Virgin 1 because of the writers strike, which has to be good news.

Virgin Media TV managing director Jonathan Webb certainly thinks so: "Terminator will ignite our schedule." Proof positive of a schedule that is not on fire.

At the moment, the Virgin 1 schedule seems to consist of episodes of the David Mamet created show 'The Unit', which is fine -- except these all previously appeared on another Virgin Media channel Bravo (the one for men), as well as lots of 'Star Trek' (episodes of 'Deep Space Nine' and 'Enterprise').

Virgin 1's only other first-run show has been 'The Riches', which although critically well received and starring more leading Brits (this time Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver), but doesn't seem to have caught the audience's attention.

'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' fills in the gap between the second (good) and third (not so good) 'Terminator' movies. That's right, it's time to get back to saving the human with combat shotguns, car chases and pyrotechnics. What could possibly go wrong?

Wonderbra pulls model drummer

Not sure why but, Wonderbra has pulled its Cadbury Gorilla spoof viral, you know, the one with the model. Maybe irony failed. Maybe Phil Collins complained. If you didn't see it, now's your chance.

This viral was strictly for the boys... but then who are lingerie ads really created for anyway?

News of the viral being pulled, which I wrote about last month, was reported on the Lingerie Director UK blog.

Still, it created a buzz and got people talking. Job done. Quite why it was pulled is unclear. Maybe Phil Collins is upset. Now that would be a shame.

Of course, the upshot is that we won't have to hear that song again. Granted, it was an inspired use first time around, but really there must have been someone other than Phil Collins Cadbury could have chosen? Suggestions? I'm sure the word "irony" was bandied around. Or Maybe it wasn't. Phil Collins isn't ironic unless you happen to be Patrick Bateman from Brett Easton Ellis's 'American Psycho'.

"Do you like Phil Collins? I've been a big Genesis fan ever since the release of their 1980 album, Duke. Before that, I really didn't understand any of their work. Too artsy, too intellectual. It was on Duke where, uh, Phil Collins' presence became more apparent. I think Invisible Touch was the group's undisputed masterpiece. It's an epic meditation on intangibility. At the same time, it deepens and enriches the meaning of the preceding three albums. Christy, take off your robe. Listen to the brilliant ensemble playing of Banks, Collins and Rutherford.

"You can practically hear every nuance of every instrument. Sabrina, remove your dress. In terms of lyrical craftsmanship, the sheer songwriting, this album hits a new peak of professionalism. Sabrina, why don't you, uh, dance a little. Take the lyrics to Land of Confusion. In this song, Phil Collins addresses the problems of abusive political authority. In Too Deep is the most moving pop song of the 1980s, about monogamy and commitment. The song is extremely uplifting. Their lyrics are as positive and affirmative as, uh, anything I've heard in rock. Christy, get down on your knees so Sabrina can see your ass. Phil Collins' solo career seems to be more commercial and therefore more satisfying, in a narrower way. Especially songs like In the Air Tonight and, uh, Against All Odds. Sabrina, don't just stare at it, eat it. But I also think Phil Collins works best within the confines of the group, than as a solo artist, and I stress the word artist. This is Sussudio, a great, great song, a personal favourite."

Norman Mailer from new journalism to blogging

A little after the event, but as Norman Mailer wrote not too long ago "I'm beginning to see why one would want to write a blog".

User generated content takes off

Interesting survey on user generated content in the light of YouTube's moderation problems, says publishers definitely see negative associations with UGC as a challenge - but it's one that can be overcome by policing content.

The survey for Advertising.com's European publishers' network said that 63% of publishers already have UGC with a further 13% saying they will offer it within 18 months.

It represents a spread of UGC from the most basic communities to more advanced blogging tools and user written articles and multimedia.

The most successful part of Brand Republic's foray into UGC has been our blogging network, which has grown fantastically well and would have grown much faster if it weren't for technology limitations (these are being worked on for faster rollout and to really open up our blogging community).

Crucially what the survey does say is that, according to British sites who took part, UGC increases the time audiences spend interacting with their sites and boosts site loyalty because these people who are taking part become seamlessly adopted as part of the community. That's the result we are all looking for (it is the key test of audience engagement) and is one of the reasons why publishers should be embracing UGC more.

The main suggestions among those surveyed was to monitor uploads prior to going live on the web and employ dedicated moderators and automated filtering technologies in order to protect advertisers' brands. YouTube after Finland really should be taking note.

That mix isn't for everyone and I personally am a much bigger fan of post-moderation, but employing moderators is absolutely crucial.

Advertising.com has some good advice for advertisers as well as the obvious. UGC is not suited to all brands, but ideal for many. Travel sites for instance are in their element here.

Things that advertisers need to look out when looking for partners include things like strong internal monitoring systems and sites that work with the wider industry to help set guidelines as these are the people who are more likely to take as much care of their customers' brands as they do of their own.

YouTube killers

Google needs to do something about YouTube. It is worth billions and yet it seems to spend very little effort monitoring the user generated content going on the site. It isn't that hard to do. The latest tragic high school killings in Finland only underline that.

The posting on YouTube of the video by the Finnish killer, who went onto murder seven, and kill himself, follows the Virginia Tech case earlier this year where 32 were killed.

In both cases the killers posted their gun toting videos set to a sound track of metal and won global attention for their "message" or in the Finnish case his "massacre manifesto", which boiled down to something about life being overrated.

The deaths in Finland came just eight hours after the clip posted was on the video sharing site predicting a massacre. No one is saying that taking these videos down will save anyone, but it would send out a message and deny warped individuals like Pekka-Eric Auvinen as much notoriety as possible.

People who want to make a message see this as an avenue and they can't be allowed to do that. In the same way that racist or offensive material has to be blocked.

But for any of that to happen YouTube has to actually have some systems in place that monitors what goes on its site. It doesn't or it doesn't appear to. It isn't even very responsive when material is flagged as hateful or offensive.

Earlier this week the case of Councillor Alan Craig was highlighted in the press and on blogs. He has had a death threat posted on YouTube by a member of the Islamic group Tablighi Jamaat, which the FBI has described as "a recruiting ground" for al Qaeda.

Craig has got the threat for his opposition to the sect's plans to build Europe's largest mosque in east London. The "obituary", which includes pictures of Craig and his family has been posted on YouTube and flagged by hundreds of people, but it has not been taken down.

Tablighi Jamaat, which wants the 12,000 capacity mosque built in time for 2012, alumni include shoebomber Richard Reid and 7/7 bombers Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer.

Craig said: "Targeting me is one thing. But to use my wife and children is outrageous. This video obituary is either a threat or a very sick joke. Some people will look at this as an open invitation to take me out because I am opposing the mosque. That is not the way to operate in a democracy."

I'm not sure what it takes for YouTube to do anything. It is a community site, but communities have to be run by someone. A company as large as YouTube and Google clearly has the resources to monitor it. It isn't exactly a new problem for owner-Google. It has had so many problems with copyrighted material being posted it often seems oblivious to what is going up and unresponsive and slow in removing material (granted it got this one down –but an international media storm and a body count will do that).

Google appears to want to takeover the world, but it should start taking a closer a look at what's going on with the businesses it already owns. This isn't just an image problem it is a fundamental one about how these new Web 2.0 business are run. Google is dominating the online world without moderating it.

In the end it comes down to one thing. To the same old thing. Power without responsibility. Everyone has to learn that eventually.

Model with drums

I'm not sure how many Cadbury Gorilla spoof viral ads I've seen on YouTube (a few) and now Wonderbra is at it. You can guess what happens next.

What you mean you can't? OK, I can help you out here. Instead of a gorilla, you have a model sitting behind the drum kit in her Wonderbra and jeans.

What you still can't imagine what happens next? She starts drumming. To Phil Collins turns out she gets quite into it and, well, there is movement all over the place. Good job she has her Wonderbra on. Phew.

According to Gordon Lee, the marketing director at DB Apparel (Wonderbra, Playtex, Shockabsorber), the "new model we discovered is sensational".

While this might be overstating the case a bit he's probably not far wrong (but judge for yourself, please). While this viral will be no doubt watched a lot in offices up and down the country (thereby justifying its creation and being also a meter for its success), with more than 22,000 having already seen it you can't really help thinking that it didn't take a great deal of creativity. Really it proudly bows to the lowest common denominator. I mean let's face it, a model sits there and her breasts bounce around.

Kerry Katona and Iceland

What is Iceland doing with fag ash Kerry? Can someone explain this to me? I'm not so bright and, really, I'm having trouble seeing how this one works exactly.

I did a quick Google News search and below are the top headlines when searching for information about Kerry Katona, who was once an Atomic Kitten and is now just in permanent meltdown -- that can't be good for a frozen food retailer? Can it? I mean seriously?

No, it can't, but still with a grim determination (and it is grim) the two are wedded to each other. The ads keep running and she is even attached to Iceland's sponsorship of the seventh series of 'I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!'.

Nick Canning, marketing director of Iceland, has some questions to answer -- unless it is just me and the messed-up former popstar is all what Iceland is about.

Here are the headlines:

Pregnant Katona admits to smoking
BBC News, UK - 5 hours ago
Former pop star Kerry Katona has revealed she is still smoking and drinking alcohol despite being four months pregnant.

Poor child, I know giving up smoking is hard, but boozing and drinking while you are pregnant is (OK, this sounds moralising) is not so good. OK, it's wrong.

Strike One.

Kerry Katona voted 'eighth most annoying thing'
Holy Moly, UK - 5 Nov 2007
Congratulations to Kerry Katona, the Warrington Walrus, who came eighth in a poll to find out the most annoying thing in Britain...

She is very annoying. Annoying in those crap Iceland ads, annoying in her lame D-list celebrity lifestyle.

Strike two.

Kerry Katona: My drug war
The Sun, UK - 4 Nov 2007
Kerry Katona yesterday revealed she is crusading to help addicts kick drugs -- spurred on by her own cocaine hell.

She is a former (is that former like Pete "I'm clean" Doherty?) coke addict. The girl is a car crash.

Strike three.

Kerry Katona: 'I'm taking drugs for bipolar disorder'
Daily Mail, UK - 30 Oct 2007
Troubled star Kerry Katona has revealed she takes anti-depressants in an effort to control her bipolar disorder.

It's a sad story. Anti depressants, bipolar? This might be harsh to bring that up, but we are talking about a brand spokeswoman here.

Strike four.

No sorry you don't get a fourth strike moron. Three strikes, batter out.

Heather, how many networks did you run to?

It seems about the right time to quote a line from the brilliantly dark high school movie 'Heathers'. In case you were wondering, Heather Mills has made it on six TV networks in two days. The woman is unstoppable.

After Wednesday's outburst on 'GMTV', ITV1 and BBC News 24, where she laid into the British media who are out to get her or something like that, and having dispensed with the advice of her PR adviser Phil Hall, the Heather Mills show ("Brought to you in association with Heather Mills and nobody else") rolled to the States.

In a day during which she said she wants a "quiet divorce" (but you know, with world media coverage and a spread in Hello!) she managed to appear on NBC, ABC and Fox. CBS, shame on you for not picking up on this woman's story.

In an interview, she continued with the crazies and started to sound like a conspiracy nut (I'm waiting for the "Paul McCartney arranged my alien abduction claims Mills" headlines) as she told 'Good Morning America' on ABC's Diane Sawyer: "He's put me in a situation where I now have to get money for Beatrice and I. If I wanted to put pressure on Paul, I would expose the whole truth."

The whole thing reminded me of the scene in the Winona Ryder and Christian Slater film 'Heathers'. After the pair "accidentally" kill head Heather Chandler they watch local news where the third Heather, played by Shannen Doherty shares her pain with the media -- all of it leading Ryder's character Veronica to make the following remark:

"Heather, how many networks did you run to?"

Please someone stop her for her own sake. I know Stella McCartney has been quoted as saying that "it's Halloween" and "that's when all the evil witches come out", but really Halloween is over.