The Media Management Center's John Lavine and Bobby Calder offer some straightforward thoughts on what "branding" means.


Q: I've read and heard so much about "brand" in the last few years that I've lost a sense of what it actually is. Define some terms for me - "the brand" and "branding."

Lavine: Let me start by saying what brand isn't in the context of newspapers. It's not the newspaper's name, or its flag, or its tag line, such as "all the news that's fit to print." It's not necessarily what the newspaper thinks or wants its brand to be. It is how the consumer or reader perceives the newspaper, the images and feelings and meanings that are conjured up in people's minds when they think about or look at the paper.

As a newspaper, you want to create a brand that is strong and positive and - this is the important part - relevant to your readers' lives. The readers you have now and the ones you want to cultivate.

Calder: Branding is the activity that goes on inside the newspaper first, to come up with an idea that has great meaning for readers. You have to find out what, in their minds, is a great idea - something that is so linked to their lives and needs that it would make them use the newspaper more. These ideas must be informed by consumers and they have to make sense to consumers.

The newspaper then has to "be" that idea - to translate the idea into the content of the paper and related services.

The third stage is effectively communicating the compelling idea to the group you want to reach, through different sorts of promotion and sales campaigns.



Q: Some of the talk around brand has almost a mystical quality about it - as if brand is a piece of magic that only the initiated can understand and use. Is it really all that complicated and difficult?

Lavine: Creating a strong, positive brand that is relevant to consumers is hard, sometimes inspired, work. Just like writing a story that engages and connects with readers, and makes them feel rewarded in some way for having read it, is difficult and taxing. When done well, both seem simple and effortless. But creating that impression takes a lot of disciplined thought and skilled action.

Calder: Branding is a complex process, but not mysterious. It is not something to be left to the marketing department - it involves the whole package of product and services, and the whole newspaper.



Q: Is brand synonymous with "well-known name" or "successful company"?

Lavine: Not necessarily. Name recognition does not always ensure success, and we can all think of great "brands" that are no longer in business. On the other hand, think of The New York Times, Disney, Cosmopolitan, The New Yorker, the National Enquirer, Coke, the Four Seasons, Neiman Marcus, and BMW. Each of them is a brand, and each of those companies has grown the enterprise in part because they have a deep understanding of their brand perception and, more important, the way their customers experience their brand.



Q: I've heard that all newspapers have a "brand," but it's as likely to be negative as positive. Is that true?

Lavine: Data from the Impact study of readership show that only 6 percent of local daily U.S. newspapers have a strong and positive brand that is relevant to readers' lives. About 50 of the Impact newspapers had indistinct or negative brands. This presents an enormous opportunity to the industry to start to understand how to build a brand and then communicate it effectively.



Q: A couple of years ago we heard lots of industry people saying newspapers could reinvent themselves the way Starbucks reinvented coffee. Do you agree with that? Isn't the experience of reading a newspaper significantly different and more complex than drinking a cup of coffee?

Calder: Yes, reading the newspaper is more complex than drinking a cup of coffee; therefore, all the more need for branding. It is a richer experience, so we need to be sure that we have branded that experience in a way that is relevant to consumers.

It may be desirable for some newspapers to "reinvent" themselves in order to create a new experience for readers. But in all cases, the emphasis should be on identifying ways to improve the experience for the readers whether that results in "reinvention" or not.



Q: Our marketing director said we needed to make the newspaper's brand more prominent. The next thing we knew he had printed up a slew of sweatshirts and mugs with our name and slogan on them. We've also been running house ads and radio ads that prominently feature that slogan. Is this an important part of branding?

Lavine: Slogans can be a tool in reinforcing the brand perception, but notice I said "a" tool. They usually play a much smaller role in creating the brand experience unless - and this is the big point - the newspaper has pinpointed an overwhelming brand experience that can be summarized in a slogan that deeply resonates with consumers. This doesn't happen very often.



Q: What are some of the misconceptions about brand that you encounter with your work with newspapers?

Lavine: Many believe that brand doesn't matter. Or they do not realize that they have a brand whether they want it or not. They also do not realize that their brand is a crucial, powerful force - for good or ill.

Some mistakenly believe that their brand is totally controllable by what the newspaper does instead of it residing in their consumers' experience of what the newspaper does.

Many papers wrongly believe that responsibility for the brand (and marketing) can be delegated to the marketing or advertising or promotion or news department instead of being everyone's responsibility.

Calder: What we see in our work with newspapers is that branding is sometimes equated with communications. Newspapers spent a lot of time on the last stage of branding, the "messaging" part, without having done much in the way of significantly transforming the product and services for the consumers they want to reach. That is the fundamental task.



Q: Does the brand shift with social, economic and political changes, and if so, why bother worrying about it?

Lavine: Brands shift as consumer preferences change, but it usually happens slowly. Although the brand message can and should be modified over time, a good brand is stable and enduring because consumers' basic beliefs and personal values evolve gradually. Strong brands should be attached to deep-seated values, not the passing trends.

With increasing media fragmentation and competition, if you don't understand your brand, your competitors will. And if they do, they will use it against you at the same time as they build their own brand at your expense. Just look at Monster.com, or the Metro, or the free newspapers in many major cities, or strong shoppers in smaller towns.



Q: I was at a seminar recently where someone said, "newspapers have to be the brand before they can effectively market it." In other words, with a product like a newspaper that closely engages people both intellectually and emotionally, consumers can easily see if the emperor has no clothes. Would you agree with that? And does that mean that content - what's in the paper and how it is presented - is the primary determinant of brand?

Calder: It's important to note the difference between what the Readership Institute defines as branding and what is commonly called messaging. Messaging certainly is important because you must be able to effectively communicate your brand to your readers. This aspect of marketing is the one people are most familiar with and usually gets the most attention.

However, before you can effectively communicate your brand, you must identify the "big idea" that has relevance or meaning in a customer's real life experiences, goals, and values. Our most recent work with newspaper brand has identified several such concepts for a select group of readers. These particular concepts are content-related. However, there may also be opportunities in other areas - such as service, for example - around which to develop a relevant and meaningful brand.



Q: It's easy to think of a few strong national newspaper brands, or brands in competitive markets, but they have each carved out a distinct identity and focus that appeal to a large number of similar people. How can you produce a strongly differentiated brand when you are the only newspaper in the community and need to serve a wide variety of audiences? And a related question - is branding only effective or worth doing in a competitive situation?

Calder: First, newspapers are always in a competitive situation. There are a variety of sources for news in every market. And of course you are always fighting against the ever-present option readers have of ignoring news altogether. A newspaper needs to differentiate itself from all competition - not just other newspapers.

Secondly, perhaps the key is to create a distinctive brand, even if there is not a competing paper to differentiate it from. Regardless of the competition in a given market, a newspaper must provide a positive and relevant experience for its readers.



Q: How do I know what my brand is? How do I know if my brand is strong? And how do I know if I have the "right" brand for my market or if a change is needed?

Lavine: You know what your brand is by discussing it with readers. Your brand is whatever your customers think you are. The composite of their experiences with you, their perception of you, their feelings toward you, and what they think about you - that is your brand.

The more passionate your customers are about your newspaper, the stronger your brand is (and a strong brand is not necessarily a positive one.)

Calder: Understanding what your brand is and what it should be requires some specific marketing research. You begin by discussing it with consumers qualitatively and then doing research to measure the brand on a number of key perceptions you identified as being important to consumers. In general you want to look at results to see if your strongest perceptions are the ones you have intended to base your brand upon.



Q: How do "human" factors - an organization's culture, its management practices, and the makeup of its workforce - relate to a newspaper's brand-building?

Lavine: We have no direct data on this from the Impact study. That said, we know that there is the "newspaper way of doing things" and a "newspaper culture" that permeates the industry. The culture tends to be inwardly focused and not reader-oriented. This makes it difficult for newspapers to tackle brand-building, because it requires a really willingness to not just listen to customers, current or desired, but to change the product and services in ways that will have real meaning and relevance to them, the customers.

Impact Study: Overview Page

Brand Perceptions: Overview Page