Why I make no apologies for having a business model
So on Friday, the editor-in-chief of AdNews had something of a pop. Announcing a downsizing of the magazine to cut costs, he took aim at “some trade titles” who organise events and write linkbait stories.
I think he may have been talking about us.
And he hinted to agencies that if they don’t start advertising with his title, it might just disappear.
As it happens, I’ve been thinking about business models lately, so allow me to retort.
Will your business model allow the publishing of this comment?
The issue facing the AdNews and B&T’s is that to add value to someone in a career/profession you ultimately need to understand it intimately and know where it is heading – this allows you to add value through evolving your product and the ancillary activities that exist around it.
Reading AdNews and B&T I’d hazard they have minimal idea of where the ad world is going – look at the hires they make (McIntyre is an exception as he has experience) and the content they pump out. Most don’t drive the debate or discussion, they are extremely low on influence aside at the lowest most easily persuaded levels.
The vanity of the ad world will probably keep the lower standard trade rags in business for a few years (the echo chamber is still highly coveted) but the gap between where mumbrella sits as a business and contributor to the industry and the rest is pretty wide.
Effectively what you’re saying is that it’s much easier to tap into the HR and R&D budgets of marketers and agencies than to tap into their marketing budgets, so you’re re-shaping your model to take advantage of that fact.
It’s the equivalent of the model change that agencies are in the process of undertaking – it’s much easier and cheaper for them to create content of a useful nature to their clients and prospects and connect with them directly via newsletters and social media, than to pay Industry publishers to “advertise” their services.
All industries have to constantly adapt to their changing markets- there’s only so long that you can fight against the changes before you need to move on. We work with a wide variety of clients whose business models are being turned upside down by digital (retail, music, publishing, even pharma) so it’s fascinating to watch and see how those closest to the industry are evolving their own models or fighting against the changes. The joy of the publishing industry is that you guys do it all in public.
The best events I’ve been to recently, in fact for a good year or so, have been organised not by events companies, or publishers, but by tech companies, specifically Nielsen & Google.
Sounds like somebody’s going to have to leave the cosy threesome…
I find this all rather amusing, particularly coming from Yaffa Publishing. One of Adnews’s sister publications, Ragtrader, is desperately trying to get into the events business, starting Ragtrader Live this September. Their twice weekly e-newsletters are currently being supplemented with a stack of unsolicited spam marketing the event and their past two print issues have been loaded (and I mean several pages) with articles promoting the event.
It has been my suspicion that the title has been running at a loss for some time now (it last year moved to monthly from bi-weekly), and despite the launch of an ipad edition, the magazine has shown very little innovation and has failed to adapt to the changes in the fashion/retail market to remain viable. I don’t have an issue with publishers (like you Tim) getting into events, for all the headaches associated with them good luck to you, we have moved in another direction and that is digital (and no I don’t mean digital editions, more content production and design).
And yes happy to disclose that we have a magazine which competes (a small crossover as far as I am concerned) in the same industry.
Loud applause from the lunch table up here in Coffs Harbour Tim, Well put and well put down!
“The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate
knowledge of its ugly side.” – James Baldwin
I know so well the business model you are pursuing and have been heartened to see you rabidly chasing it, losing money in the process which you know as an investment rather than a failure. Diversity is going to be your saviour as it was mine when I went from journalist to music directory publisher (print & online as well as App) to public relations conniver, tech/music business conference producer, industry portal operator and now semi-retiree. Oour parallels are quite remarkable.
Our audience trusted us as ‘data-drug dealers’ whether it was our daily news aggregation service, weekly online magazine, bookseller of industrial titles and scandal tomes or conference producers. We had to earn that trust and had to give away a lot of free stuff to lure them happily into a Freemium economy.
I’ve been following you boys and girls since I met you at my house when you considered buying our assets (at a time you couldn’t afford them) and I truly rejoice not only in your success but also in your wisdom and strategies.
“”Make no little enemies — people with whom you differ for some petty, insignificant personal reason. Instead I would urge you to cultivate ‘mighty opposites’ — people with whom you disagree on big issues, with whom you will fight to the end over fundamental convictions. And that fight, I can assure you, will be good for you and your opponent.” Thomas Watson, founder of IBM who believed we’d only need six or seven of them in the future.
If you’ve managed to get this lunkhead to Page 1 you, you’ve already won.
Keep it up kids.
” “To sustain hatred is a very difficult thing to do, year after year. It’s exhausting.” Nick Cave
PHIL TRIPP
I’ve always admired the way Mumbrella operates. I think in the wider ad market where we are all walking around chanting “there’s no money”, Mumbrella is actually seeing opportunites and expanding into Hong Kong and Singapore, pretty impressive.
Chin up Sadnews find something your good at doing and do that instead.
Talking about events, which are not run by a publisher or a pure play conference/event company 🙂 I reckon you should come to The Domain http://www.the-domain.org on 23rd July Sydney as Tim Burrowes will be sharing his story with Tim Addington former Editor of B&T and now Communications Director at The Works. You need to register but It’s free and there are no advertisers! I reckon it will be a most interesting evening
Remarkably honest – that is refreshing…
13 years ago (as an intern), I’d always be a little disappointed when it was the latest copy of B&T that had arrived, and not AdNews.
7 years ago, I subscribed to both publications.
5 years ago, I dropped B&T, maintained AdNews, and started viewing Mumbrella and B&T online.
3 years ago, I would check Mumbrella daily, didn’t bother renewing OldNews (just read AdNews online daily), and B&T.
Now, I check Mumbrella, B&T (industry op-ed/commentary seems to be a tad better), then AdNews.
Key words for AdNews here are “relevant” and “interesting”.
We piffed our subscription to AdNews a few years back because of a lack of interesting, relevant content. The whole magazine seemed to devoted to stories about how some new revolving agency head was going to “make things more strategic” or pictures of blond Account Managers tiling their heads toward each other and pretending to look like besties…
It gave me the feeling I was reading porn for narcissists…right up there with Who Weekly…
For some reason, the criticism received reminded me of Gerry Harvey telling Australians to buy from him – and not go offshore for cheaper prices… as he’s the only one allowed to import, and bump up prices 100% before re-selling to Aussies.
Woe is he.
Truth is, through digital the world has changed and for the better. It simply means that we have to find new and innovative ways to do things.. from furniture to marketing, to sales, to well, all of it
Trust is still the no1 agenda item for me. So, reading a trusted publication and from there attending the event associated seems fair and reasonable.
.. and I no longer trust Gerry
we’re with you, stay humble
I too thought this rant by Paul was a little bizarre. It’s fine to be struggling and adjusting the way you do business behind the scenes (isn’t that simply “Doing Business”?) but to openly blame your customers and then send every customer and prospect a note blaming them but asking them to increase their interaction with your business at the same time….
And having been to the Adnews Adsales day in Sydney myself and witnessing a panel of 10 x 40-60yr old males advising on the future of this industry but needing to refer to the female category leader left in the crowd to get their first point correct – I now realise the downsides of low margin conferences.
Surely positivity, proactivity and professionalism should make for a winning recipe?
There’s a bigger picture here too. Not that I’ve seen the Adnews’ editor’s full article, but to publicly implore advertisers to spend with them is indicative of the dire state of many media outlets in this country. And by ‘media” I mean quality news, not a Facebook blog…
Well done Mumbrella for making it work… though the criticism of Adnews is probably a little bit misplaced/ an overreaction.
Anyway, I think the business model you’re hitting is one that most other publishers have recognised and are also targeting. IMO the main difference between Mumbrella and other news/B2B titles is that it can reinvest its profits and improve the product, while other publishers see their cash farmed off to some other region of the giant corporation they are a part of. To me the key is not Mumbrella’s business strategy per se, but its corporate structure. Future-proof publications need to be lean and reinvest in their product. Sounds obvious but I’ve very rarely seen that happen in my travels.
One more point. As a journo I find this new strategy somewhat disheartening for one reason. In the old days/now journos were never forced to juggle writing with selling ads, but these days they seem increasingly forced into working on conference/events production rather than journalism.
It should be noted that James Boston is the editor/publisher of Australasian Textiles & Fashion Magazine, so his comments on Ragtrader, an industry title that has been servicing the fashion sector for the last 40 years, are not without bias.