What Business Are You In?

In a presentation designed to provoke and inspire, Mr Roberts began with the provocations:

  Newspapers know everything about their business, but seem to know little or even care little about news consumers.

  Newspapers are still declaring what is news, while consumers - who ultimately fund the business - define news on their terms.

  Newspapers want to survive long term, but - by definition and practice - are pathologically focussed on the short term.

Mr Roberts then turned to the inspiration. He is the creator of a concept he calls "lovemarks" - products, people, companies or industries to whom consumers respond with intense passion and loyalty.

Mr Roberts said newspapers must become lovemarks.

"What do you stand for in the hearts and minds of your news consumers? Because believe it, this is all that counts now," he said.

Here are two of his ideas:

"Mystery is created through great storytelling, by tapping into dreams, by being emotional, by being symbolic and by threading past, present and future together. "

"As I told several US intelligence agencies earlier this year when I was invited to address them about how to connect emotionally, reflecting the worse parts of life leaves you with low positive equity. I said redefine the mission from ’the war on terror’ to ’a fight for a better world.’ Move into an emotionally positive and inclusive space, where people can see they have a contribution to make and they’ll love you forever. This doesn’t mean you ignore the bad stuff. It does means you make it part of a powerful story that leads us all to a better place."

"Media Neutral" Planning

When the Japanese advertising agency Dentsu launched a massive ad campaign to promote the basketball comic "Slam Dunk," it put newspapers right at the heart of the campaign.

But that doesn’t mean Dentsu believes that newspapers are superior to other media.

Newspapers played an important role, but they were just part of a larger campaign, using a web site and real events -- a campaign which Dentsu calls "media neutral." "In this approach, every contact point that lies between the brands and target audience will be the object for the planning," he said.

Newspapers were used "because they have strong power to present a sincere message, they can create a powerful buzz, and they are a most effective medium to drive an audience to a web site," said Mr Mori.

"Slam Dunk" is a legendary basketball comic that was serialized from 1990 to 1996. Eight years after the serial ended, readership is still growing -- exceeding 100 million. The newspaper ad campaign was designed to be a thank-you letter from the comic’s artist to his fans. "

The goal was to use the advertisement to drive people to a web site that created a "virtual", interactive re-creation of the comic’s universe, and then to use the web site to drive the audience to real events.

"Convince Our Target Group, Not the World"

Volvo is not interested in telling everyone about their automobiles -- just their target group.

This single strategic priority has a profound effect on the way the company advertises.

"I believe I was invited here today because of all the work and focus we’ve put on the internet," said Mr Ellis. "And it is true, we’ve done a lot of work on the internet. But what is more true is that we’ve had a fundamental shift in the way we use interactive media and traditional media, and how they connect together."

Mr Ellis said this means a better balance between mass and one-to-one communications, delivering highly innovative and highly targeted launches, further integrating marketing and public relations, and focusing on and rewarding loyal customers.

In this mix, mass media is a start -- but the company is more interested in "mass customerization pull," says Mr Ellis, more interested in engaging audiences rather than "interrupting" them with advertising.

Mr Ellis illustrated the approach with a campaign that blurred the lines between reality, fact, fiction and entertainment. The campaign created a seemingly genuine "documentary" about a small Swedish village where 32 people mysteriously bought a Volvo S40 on the same day. A complete fiction -- but one that connects with consumers.

To publicise the mystery, Volvo made unorthodox use of traditional channels -- front page teasers and announcements in major newspapers to encourage viewing of the "mockumentary", 30-second trailers on main TV stations, and even placing the eight-minute film in the programming schedule of mystery movie cable channels.

"We try to drive people into our website with all our media," Mr Ellis said.