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Can Print Brands Successfully Transition Online?

Most people would think the key is monetizing content. I think the key is really on the "how", the process in which these content is delivered. In my part of the world, print brands are way behind the curve on the way they function that unless there's a radical transformation on the process, they'll be buried in ink.

Jui Hong Teoh, Managing Director, BRANDTHINK Malaysia | www.brandthinkasia.com - May 31, 2009

I am a hard core ebrander but I always believe that print and online are a complement media. Even there is a mass exodus in term of searching for information toward to online, i still believe print still be needed in another 30 years to the future. Its a matter on how the print can market themself by differentiation and learn on how to create community building which online has the advantage from it. Overall print has to be innovative on offering themself to its reader and its marketers

Danny Wirianto, CEO and Founder, SemutApi Colony - June 1, 2009

It's early days yet but I've been keeping a mental note of my "Paper to Web" activity. By this I mean what instances where I am driven to a home page by and article in a particular publication. Maybe the future lies in a paper "Daily Web guide" which gives you a taste of a particular topic and then sends you in to cyberspace to find out more? I really enjoy reading about something and then watching a video on the subject on-line. There's something all encompassing about bridging the gap between what you're reading in your living room and what's out there on the web. Until we can "read" web pages with the ease of a magazine or newspaper on the train, bus or beach, the convenience of print will still be a plus. How do we monetize this? Same way Sports are charging for live broadcasts on-line. Content needs to be fresh, live and fast and you need to be informed of it as soon as it's available but print will play a role in leading you there. A GUIDE, more the A SOURCE.

Neil Hamp-Adams, Marketing Consultant, Driving Force - June 1, 2009

Total transitions is farce.To maintain visibility,and retain image of "me too brand', paper brand has to be there as complement to the brand positioning and awareness.

Mohd. Rizwan Alam, Assistant Professor, Preston University,UAE - June 1, 2009

mobile internet is likely to define the evolution of this brands. Translating the values that carry online will be tricky where information they usually sell is available freely from hundreds of other sources, their first to deliver attributes will be eroded, their value as offline brands is also likely to be challenged by the fact that information is becoming free every day as news collectors find new ways of making money .i think cnn is a great example of an offline brand well translated online.

frank, consulting media director, saracen omd - June 1, 2009

Those brands will keep themselves powerful online also, as long as they are sincere in what they are having an added value.
No matter the way ..it is the content and it is the message and how it is presented, to whom.

Fatma Noureldeen, Group Brand Manager, SCIB Paints - June 1, 2009

I can't print this. Why?

Rachel S, Web Editor - June 2, 2009

Print brands still have room in developing countries where accessibility to internet is just a small percentage of the population. Thus growth in those who prefer print will still be witnessed. However, it should be appreciated that on-line reading of newspapers is gaining ground and thus the need for print brands to change strategy and seize the opportunity of introducing on-line news reading in this countries as another line of income.uluma, Nairobi-Kenya

uluma ukhevi, coop officer, MOCD - June 2, 2009

there is many space for new technologies yet. I suppose, that classic print will die in some period of time. Mybee they will stay only for some special purposses like exclusive contetnts. In general - new technologies, such is e-ink will replace printed material like newspapers. You will simply buy a subscribe like today, only media will be differenet.

Tomaz Bercic, Art director, ART Design advertising - June 3, 2009

Agreed that most of the things are moving online. But even in this e-era, print media doesnt seem to face any setback or competition from internet publications. How many of us actually read books online? How many of us actually go online to read newpapers/magazines? Very few. Right.

Reading is not a job or merely a daily activity. Its more of a hobby and passion. And customers would like to have that TOUCH feel while reading. Reading before sleeping, while waiting, travelling etx. Its more of an exeprience, rather than just doing some job.

So, according to me, e-publications are not actually a competition for magazines/ newspapaers. Its just a medium to reach those customers who are staying in far flung areas where physical mediums are not accessible.

Mohit Bahri, Consultant, IMS Health, Delhi, India - June 5, 2009

Both the channels have to coexist.It is not about print or online. A company has to be in the business of providing information, wherein both the channels(print as well as internet (mobile internet inclusive)) have to be targeted.In my part of the world print still dominates, most of the newspaper brands are struggling to tap the online media. With mobile interface making a faster inroad in the lives of there customers than the PC, existing newspaperbrands will have to pull up
there socks to treat all the channels(mobile, PC and Paper).In my view, at such stage in addition to doing the grassroot work of putting these channels in place , companies will have to focus on buliding a corporate brand around the values of being fast, fair and full. Building brand loyalty should be a very important focus. We might have hundred sources of information but there are only some that we access and still less that we believe.

Preeti Vaishnavi, Sr. Lecturer, S.Business School - June 9, 2009

This issue isn't "Can Print Brands Successfully Transition Online?" Once an image is on line it is no longer a print ad: A static medium like a magazine, newspaper or other, can be a wow, yes. But the second you move a marketing communication online, it must become something else. Something that reflects it's new dynamic canvas. The issue isn't whether the print ad can transition online, but can a print advertising budget get ROI online.

Cliff Courtney, Chief Strategy Officer, Zimmerman - June 11, 2009

When TV came about, the cinema did not die. It had to re-define itself. This is history repeating itself. Reading on the internet is not quite the same process of enjoying media content as holding a magazine with in-depth info in your hands. Even if the content will be delivered electronically in the end, it needs to have the quality of prime informed source for the reader to deliver real value. The Googles of the world do not deliver content, they deliver audiences, but the audiences are searching for quality content. The new business model for print needs to be based on this understanding.

Hana Hunt, Hana Hunt - June 15, 2009

Stop the presses! Radio was predicted to die 50 years ago after TV came on the scene. The good newspaper brands will re-invent, re-calibrate and re-print. On paper and on-line, we will always need a trusted source to edit the information overload.

Mark Gascoigne, President, Trampoline Branding - June 17, 2009

The successful transition will very much be measured by a successful business model mutation. The question here would be about the ability of these brands to carry the maximum amount of readership from “station paper" to “terminal online". And I know many brands that just do not possess the DNA for that leap.
Then of course the model suggests inevitably a new breed of readers’ acquisition exercise as those left behind in the paper world will no longer justify the ROI.
The risk here is obviously the brand losing some feathers (integrity, values and even equities) during the trip given the totally different and intricate environment that online represents.
One thing is clear though, 10 years down the road, being seen reading a paper in a cafe would look as cute as seeing someone rolling his own cigarettes!

Mazen Mehio, Managing Director, Second Opinion - June 20, 2009

If we're talking about newspaper and magazine, I would say that the brand is not the actual problem, nor the delivery medium, but the fit for awareness. Suddenly they open themselves up for marketing awareness through the search engines, people won't stay faithful to an online brand in the same way as they do the printed matter as they form no real bond to the pixel data on the screen.

Gary George
http://tunicca.wordpress.com

I recently wrote a blog on a possible future for newsprint as I am of the belief that the actual paper product is something people still like and want, they just want it in the same way they can get their content online, therefore the publishers need to rethink how they do that.
Only an idea, but maybe one that has some legs http://tunicca.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/a-possible-future-for-news-print/

Please I welcome peoples feedback as the model could extend across magazines as well and maintain brand that has been established for generations.

Gary George, Premedia Associate Consultant, Tunicca - June 22, 2009

One minor technicality to an on-line only world, it hurts the eyes to read online. After an hour or so you can get a great headache. I know this sounds trivial to some, however the physicality and convenience of the media is as important a factor as the usability. Print on a page reflects light, your laptop is emitting light. My opinion, based on this and other factors, print will be in the media mix forever.

- June 23, 2009

I manage the Plain English brand - a luxury kitchen brand - and I will continue to buy full-page advertisements in glossy magazines which offer better quality image reproduction, have a greater impact because they don't compete with other matter on the same page and are delivered to a more targeted audience. The online equivalents of magazines like Homes

Criona Palmer, Marketing Director, Plain English Cupboardmakers - June 25, 2009

It is fair to say that print media is losing some major advertisers to online, but the number is not yet substantial enough to call print media an anachronism.
Print media is more embedded in the human activity that it seems. Yes, there's abundant information online but we still read newspapers in the morning, flip through magazines for style tips.

Afterall, don't we all print those wordy e-mails because it is so much more convenient to read it on paper? (although it may not be too eco-friendly)

Wonsun Catarina Kim, Seniour Account Executive, Grey Global Group - June 28, 2009

Brands are Likely to be the most effective way to marketing for your business and it's the fuels of your business...!!!http://www.shoptoundraise.org

Joseph Raats, Shoptofundraise a fundraising for non profit organizations by virtual shopping mall, Shop to fundraise - June 29, 2009

I think when people realise how much they are paying to access graphically rich content on their silly little iPhones, they may understand why they still buy magazines that have good design. Newspaper and magazines that are low on design need to work out how to transition.

Andrew Clarke, P101 - July 6, 2009

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