What does Bauer Media need to do to become a real force again?

I mean you didn’t have to be the world’s greatest business analyst, or one sacked for incompetence for that matter to know a) ACP got ripped off when they bought Emap and b) Bauer got literally bent over double buying ACP!

Its a toxic, fear based archaic culture that doesn’t innovate and value talent. Its management team – including its most senior HR leader – has not a clue about “people or culture”.
Sad but all true.

Miranda….Great insights shared in a very well written article.

If I read this article in 2007 it would have made sense where Bauer Media is currently. However, it is 2016. It is hard to believe a company of this size could be in this position. It all boils down to poor leadership that could not make big decisions 10 years ago that would have impacted revenue negatively at the point of time, but the results would have been better return in the medium (2010) to long term.

Only one company can save them, the same one that everyone’s jumping on – Flowmode.

Thanks Miranda…great overview and WOW didn’t realise it was that bad at Bauer…I wonder why their digital strategy hasn’t been more successful given they have some good people with digital in their title…perhaps they never got the full backing…also surely there are learnings etc from other Bauer territories and how successful there digital strategy has been there…all seems very odd and quite sad actually as they should be doing much better.

Are you telling me that wearing a short skirt and doing “agency runs” to drop off baskets of muffins is not, in reality a business model?

Young audiences are demanding video and shareable content. The fact that an iconic local brand like Cleo, with it’s decades-won reputation for boundary pushing content and cheeky tone, was allowed to fail without making the transition to digital, is a strategic blunder of epic scale. All the right elements existed, but obviously, not the vision. Very sad.

Hey Mumbrella/Miranda
Mid way thru reading this – had a thought – this is stupendous journalism. Researched, relevant facts that support the argument, and an excellent writing style.
AND
No typos- that I noticed. So often, for me, an otherwise excellent Mumbrella piece has been ruined by a jarring, silly, sloppy typo.
Congrats.

Doesn’t Bauer need to reanalyse their business? 3rd party publishing is getting / has been torn apart. Multi channels and even brands themselves (Bauer’s revenue) are publishing themselves. Do Red Bull need to advertise in ZOO? Have you seen Red Bull’s social channels and the engagement that they produce?

Could buyer use their publishing reach to sell their own brands? Do they need to diversify? They need to workshop this and remove any leaders that are resistant to change.

Surfstitch started out as an online surf shop. They now own publishing channels and products that surfers buy. They were able to move fast and have done very well.

Could Bauer utilise their reach to build their own product brands? Again though; they need a purpose.

3rd party publishing, on it’s own, is dead.

In the film industry the mantra and accepted wisdom is that ‘nobody knows anything’. Looks like it’s the same for the publishing industry.

Agree with @Whatif. How does a media company not have a digital strategy in 2016? ACP, then Bauer, have had their heads in the sand for so long. Not in the least surprised they’re in the shit now.

You cannot separate print and digital.

Their most valuable asset is their brands.

Their new business model should be affiliate marketing e.g. readers click through and buy products showcased by their brands – fashion, furniture, food etc.

They should look to creditcardfinder, iselect and realestate.com.au for inspiration.

Yvonne Bauer’s father is Heinz – not Hans – Bauer. Why is an insider calling David Goodchild a German. He is English.

Nice article. I worked at ACP in the 90’s, great days indeed. If you submitted an ad booking from a client that had money outstanding, it would be sent back from accounts stamped “Rejected”. Then you’d take it to Nick Chan and you’d get about 10 seconds to try and convince him that the advertiser would pay and that we should accept another booking. If he agreed he’d sign it, and the ad would run. He signed them just about every time, but he’d say “Get them to pay, otherwise I’ll come and see you”

Good and thorough article, and very interesting. Did spot one small typo … but in the scheme of things barely worth mentioning 🙂

“The role of events and other revenue streams needs to be focused on, and creating bigger and better brands from the magazine’s that do exist”

Ouch! I’ve worked closely with Bauer over the years and agree, the lack of leadership from a strong CEO and cutting of budgets has had a major impact on the business success. That place has some of the best people in the business from Content to Digital – and as per your recent updates over last week or two it’s very clear that all the top talent is walking out of the door.

Not sure it is Miranda. They did call Bauer publisher Sebastian Kadas a German even though he is an ethnic Hungarian from Romania because he worked in Germany. Goodchild is very English, hence the David Brent tag.

It is so good to experience this quality investigative journalism. When it come to the future success of our magazines and websites its all about content like this. Congratulations Miranda you have done the B2B magazine industry proud.

Great article and well written. Very insightful.
There was a stand out typo though – Woman’s Day not Women’s Day.

Oz Bauer insiders refer to the rest of the conglomerate as the Germans.
And yes staff have dropped like Morteined flies–no sooner is a digital person employed they are gone. Perhaps its because they get a sniff of how frustrating their task is working for an organisation with an inflated image but who are so seriously out of touch and behind in every way—technical,systemic,legal and moral. And then there’s the poor pay.
Staff in general are treated like commodities and dispensable and there is a culture of ‘you should feel privileged to even be working’. It is a message delivered down by all those old-school dead wood door knobs who bluff their way through meetings and disguise their overwhelm with talks about digital and operational progress by using just such a strategy-keeping you small, limited and in your box.
Bauer have been unwilling to supply their technical teams with the resources they need—, they have limited experts in the modern world of technology—so they buck-pass, stall ideas, and miss small common-day opportunities. They operate by employing overly aggressive tactics enforced by people with neither the skill to manage or the expertise to direct. [Edited under Mumbrella’s moderation policy]. Bauer are not behind the 8-ball. They are the 8-ball. And just like Hitler, smiling assassins always end up destroying themselves in the end.
And now that this article is spreading, more and more will exit stage left. It’s the inevitable demise of a ridiculously run outfit—flagged by incompetents.
If the reigns are handed to [Edited under Mumbrella’s moderation policy], what is left of Bauer Oz will no doubt be destroyed in 12 months.

Very interesting read especially on the CEO contenders but some facts aren’t all there. Namely the fact that Nine sold ACP to CVC a couple of years before Bauer bought it (for billions) and the holding pattern of being with a hedge fund for 3 years and not an invested publisher put the magazines on the back foot and in denial that the digital age was coming for them. Not sure who would take on Bauer at this point, it’s sadly a hot mess.

Packer didn’t sell ACP to Bauer, it was sold to ptivate equity firm cv can first and then 2 years later sold to Bauer.

#22, wow, they must have really done a number on you!

I rarely see anybody younger than fifty when visiting my newsagent. The magazines are almost hidden away and most customers seem to be transacting lottery or bus purchases.

Great piece — and right on the money. I think it may be too late for Bauer. In print –a category they once dominated – their brands are becoming less and less relevant to both readers and advertisers. And in digital, their brands have never made any real impact (due to lack of investment, strategy, knowhow). Too late to claw that back methinks. Too many strong — and in most cases digital-only – lifestyle brands now dominate digital.

Well done on Adam (21) for pointing out the Woman’s Day typo. A shame he couldn’t proof-read the management team copy on Bauer’s website. Under publisher Matt Dominello, it lists one of his publications as “The Australian Woman’s Weekly”

Take there car magazines

They don’t see that they have these Magazines which are great portals of research and development. they don’t understand video content and see it as a spend, when in actual fact if they opened up their eyes got the best content makers and started moving into TV and other spaces with their brands they could become like Roadkill in the US. What do they do? Nothing..

Interesting that Matt Stanton gets such a good rap in this piece. As a “Bauer insider” I watched him act as point man for the Germans and spearhead a raft of dubious decisions (getting rid of prepress – since reinstated; buying an extremely average production program – Woodwing; outsourced IT to India; got rid of several publishers who have now formed a company that has nabbed a couple of former Bauer big clients – Qantas/Coles/Foxtel). He introduced managerial mantras such as “nimble” and “agile” and reassured us that no-one’s jobs were at risk.
My sympathies lie with Woolworths

Buy Yahoo

Myriad – unfortunately some newsagents are not retailers and are not progressing with the changing economy. My store gets a broad demographic and a high and growing percentage under the age of 20. This is because I have a store that is relevant to different age groups. The days of sitting on your hands and watching customers stream in is over, as a retailer we have to work hard to make our shop a desirable experience. Traditional products still have their place but they need to interconnect with new products if they are going to work in my store.
As for Bauer-as a retailer I have seen a change over the last 10 years away from Bauer (ACP) titles. They are not relevant anymore and Bauer have not been aggressive in changing. I want to focus on titles that are growing and that will also change the attitude customers have of my store. Growth titles like Frankie, Yen and Womankind plus niche titles are my focus now. Why would I promote magazines that are readily available in supermarkets, petrol stations etc normally at discounted prices.