March 2008

Peter Ashman leads the strategic, commercial and operational development of BMJ Journals and has business responsibility for the Group’s flagship journal, the weekly British Medical Journal (BMJ). He was previously from Nature Publishing Group, where he successfully led the Group's strategic launch into medical publishing. Prior to that, he was publisher of the British Dental Journal and successfully negotiated the acquisition of the British Dental Association's entire journal portfolio. Earlier in his career, Peter worked for The Lancet, both in the UK and North America.

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Read the discussion and post your questions to Digital’s moderator. ]]> http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/thoughtleaders/2008/02/post.php http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/thoughtleaders/2008/02/post.php Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:55:50 +0000 Is the newspaper industry stuck in the wrong advertising model?

January 2008

Newspapers are still fishing for advertising in the wrong place. That’s the conclusion of newspaper veteran Bob Cauthorn in looking at how the advertising model has failed to adapt in spite of the massive leaps in content. His argument is that hyper-local is the way forward.

Peter’s background includes JWT and WPP, but on the day he set up Oystercatchers we asked him about how the marketing and advertising industry is likely to evolve over the next few years with the growth of digital. He’s clear that the models for reward need to change: “It’s not just about paying for the hours people put in, it’s about rewarding them based on the performance they create. Overall its about working with the right talent; that’s what clients want. This doesn’t mean that you necessarily have a roster of agencies all with the same structure of account directors, creatives and planners”. For Peter, the implication is that the scale of change will be personal and internalised as well as a macro re-structure of how the ad industry works. “This probably means more plural lives for individuals, potentially a growth in the freelance market, and a more flexible and fluid marketing industry. Maybe this means a smaller industry, with people paid better, and a greater search for the link between investment and effectiveness.

Talking about the changes in the advertising industry, Matthew Mayes is clear that this “calls for a different form of advertising to populate this new space. People choosing to spend lots more time in this landscape.” On the changes in channels Mays may be a digital evangelist, but is no advocate of analogue rejection: “Newspaper and TV brands have a great future, they’ve just going to be watched and read very differently”. However Mayes is convinced that all is not well in the model of how advertising is created. Is ‘the big idea’ happening in the wrong place? “Why do you try to define the ‘big idea’ in the least important channel? This means you have to force it below the line and the model doesn’t necessarily work?”

October 2007

Digital Thought Leaders | By Danny Meadows-Klue

The Wikipedia model has revolutionised knowledge classification and the linkages between content. Google pretty much anything and chances are that a wiki listing will be bubbling up on the results page. Clearly Wikipedia will remain a permanent fixture of the landscape, and we should all cherish the fact it’s a foundation. “But the problem with Wikipedia is that it only works in practice, in theory it would never work”, explains Alison Wheeler, Wikimedia’s UK chief executive. It’s a conundrum: after all, why should people want to dedicate their time to updating and managing entries on a public encyclopaedia?

www.wikipedia.org

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September 2007

The recent press and debate about what and how we measure in the online landscape have been particularly welcoming to me. The recent furore around the ‘death of the page view’ certainly seems to have put the publishing and ad worlds in a collective spin. The metric that has been held, dearly or not, as the most relevant gauge of the advertising opportunity online has come under threat - and everyone is scrambling to make sense of what happens now. The other issue that has thrust measurement science into the spotlight concerns the debate between the Telegraph and the Guardian about the former’s claim to being “Britain’s number one quality newspaper web site.”

Author and President of Crayon

August 2007

Joseph Jaffe is a passionate digital marketing thinker who puts massive energy into transforming traditional and new businesses. He feels that the whole marketing process needs a rebuild to capture the changes in consumer attitudes and online challenges for brands. In his ten points about the dramatic shift in the relations between consumers and marketers he indicates a path businesses should take.

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CEO Biotics International

July 2007

Joel de Rosnay is the rare visionary who uncloaks the future with the richest of insights. He describes the internet as a relationship technology and is fascinated by the new structures of relationships that are emerging. His books chart the history and the future of our relationships with technology and the Agor Vox online newspaper he helped build in France has pioneered the publishing models of citizen journalism. While the media industry is focussed on Web 2.0, he’s unravelling Web 3.0.

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"It's not established companies that have pioneered the key businesses of the second-generation internet but geeks and customers who scorn the commercial offerings pushed at them by industry leaders and instead create new ones to meet quite different demands of interchange and self-expression."

Head of News Interactive, BBC.co.uk

May 2006

Pete Clifton heads the largest online news operation in the world. BBC News Interactive enjoys the support of a worldwide network of correspondents and the incredible BBC editorial machine. Already the site tops 4 million unique viewers a day, but now they are changing their publishing model to embrace convergence and user generated content. With the BBC's behaviour able to influence the UK online media market, all eyes are on London's White City to see how the new services perform.

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General Manager for Digital Media, Elle.fr

May 2006

For sixty years Elle's magazines have been media icons. With a new enthusiasm they're embracing the web, and they're taking on board the new models of publishing. With 39 editions and 20 websites, Clement's brands have come a long way from a single media proposition. But only continued innovation will let them succeed in an increasingly challenging online market.

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"I personally think that people are trying to build Bubble 2.0 on top of Web 2.0. Instead of becoming a platform for the future of the Web, it's possible that Web 2.0 is becoming the platform for the short-term future of greedy people. However, I do think that it is important to understand that the recent success and surge in innovation on the Web is due to a semi-new set of principles. Part of the principles are a return to fundamental principles. The innovation on the Web and the Internet is driven by what David Weinberger has called "Small Pieces Loosely Joined" - a network created by small groups working together around open standards. It is and was a community of people and projects trying to connect to each other."

Founder, GameSpot.com

May 2006

Vince Broady is a legend in the world of online game playing. He set up the GameSpot.com network ten years ago that unites computer games fans worldwide. We caught up with him in London at the launch of their UK site and discovered how the early adopters in the online games industry are setting a blueprint for much wider digital publishing and marketing.

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CEO Target Marketing

April 2006

Jim Sterne has been exploring online marketing for more than a decade. His new-found passion for web optimization has seen him dubbed "the godfather of web analytics". Now he's on a crusade for effective web marketing that delves into the heart of the firm itself. Analytics unlock the full benefits from all existing website investment, yet many businesses are only scratching the surface, and most are yet to start.

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