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Interesting to see The Atlantic write such a flattering article about The Economist and the current state of the newsweekly business. The discussion revolves around the recent changes and re-designs at Time and Newsweek, who are both hoping to drag their publications to new found success in an otherwise dying print market.
The Economist is the one shining ray of light that everyone now wants to emulate, but The Atlantic does not believe this is possible because The Economist possess one thing these other titles lack.

"The secret to The Economist’s success is not its brilliance, or its hauteur, or its typeface. The writing in Time and Newsweek may be every bit as smart, as assured, as the writing in The Economist. But neither one feels like the only magazine you need to read. You may like the new Time and Newsweek. But you must—or at least, brilliant marketing has convinced you that you must—subscribe to The Economist. "

In the end, it's all about the brand.


Posted by Ed Cotton Print and billboard ads now need to be alive and be able communicate with mobile devices. Hopefully this will lead to less copy and more art in the ads we see around us. Stuff that lets the art shine through and seduces viewers into using their mobiles to learn more.


Posted by Ed Cotton "By the turn of the century, anyone who didn't understand that the business model for newspapers was a wasting asset was caught up in nothing other than willful ignorance, so secure in their faith in the permanence of their business that they assumed that those glaciers would politely swerve at the last minute, which minute is looking increasingly like now."

Clay Shirky- Boing Boing- December 8th- 2008


Posted by Ed Cotton Doubleclick did an interesting piece of research last year, they asked consumers what forms of advertising (media) they thought worthwhile and what they would  eliminate.

The results are somewhat suprising- despite living in a DVR world, only 7% would prefer to eliminate them, less than 2% would prefer to eliminate magazine or newspaper ads. They also found these traditional forms of media more worthwhile, than Amazon recommendations.

Less worthwhile and in-line for elimination; telemarketing, spam and pop-up ads that were rated more "evil' than spam.



Via Bankwatch

Posted by Ed Cotton