The Future of Publishing (Or Is It?) - Last review - 06-04-2010
General discussion - Crystal MacLaren
The following video created by Penguin Group USA was inspired by a video created by Savaglio/TBWA (an Argentinian agency) titled ‘The Truth'. The original video won the 2006 Silver Lion Award at Cannes Film Festival. Watch how the following link discusses the general perception of youth today and then flips it around to provide a very different picture.
What I like about this video is that it debunks some of the notions about young people today while affirms other aspects of their media habits and interests. True, the younger demographic are agents and promoters of brands through social media applications like Facebook and via mobility. But perhaps more important is that they feel their concerns about the environment and other larger social issues are often ignored. No, they do not ingest only sounds bites and, yes, they do like to read. Their attention span isn't too short for big ideas and content is more important than packaging. I think this is an important take-away as often marketers fail to recognize that youth are engaged in their local communities and with the world at large.
Taken from the latest ComBase 2008/2009 readership survey, among 18-34 year olds nearly two-thirds read any of the last 4 editions of a community newspaper. Clearly younger audiences remain engaged in local events and issues and have a desire to be connected to their communities.
That being said, it is clear that newspapers need to remain focused on speaking ‘to' and ‘with' younger audiences rather than ‘at' them. A 2008 study released by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) surveyed 3,500 people between the ages of 15-29 living in the United States, the Netherlands and Finland. In that survey one of the findings shows that newspapers need to look at ways to reach younger readers, while also providing to those readers why their brand of news is relevant, even different from other media. Moreover, findings show that newspapers need to establish multi-platform strategies to engage younger readers. To me that multi-platform engagement will extend beyond newsprint and even the web to truly interact with younger people at the local level. Community media has a rich tradition and history engaging young people in their communities and supporting their social efforts. This, I believe, will continue to be a core competency of local media outlets and a benefit to young people in their respective communities.
I'd be interested to know how your agency has engaged with younger people at the local level and whether it involved community media. If not. What was the barrier to engage younger people at the community media level? The future of publishing while truly a hot topic these days often overlooks how local community content and engagement remain an important conduit to the connectivity and leadership that youth experience within their communities. The face of publishing is in flux but what remains consistent is the importance of hyper-local information in an often dislocated and fragmented information age.
Leave a Comment
(required)
(required) (will not be published)
Comment
