Toronto’s Design Exchange was the site for a discussion on the various platforms available to media companies who want to bring their content to tech-savvy customers. Moderating the panel was Sara Diamond, president of the Ontario College of Art & Design. The speakers included: Candice Faktor, Vice President, Strategy and New Ventures, at Torstar Digital; Angus Frame, Vice President, Digital Media at the Globe and Mail; Marina Glogovac, Chief Marketing Officer, for Kobo eReader; and Matthieu Houle, Director, Mobile & Platforms for Yellow Pages Group.
The session began with Glogovac citing Verizon as a business role model, saying she admired how it transformed from “a sleepy carrier into a 3G powerhouse, unafraid to cannibalize its own business.” Torstar Digital’s Faktor then pointed out how businesses should realize there isn’t one centralized approach to mobile. “Each brand and business should look at the market to see how it’ll define their business,” she said.
She hinted Torstar will soon be offering daily deals for mobile users, a connection that makes sense considering Torstar’s acquisition of group-buying company WagJag. A mobile push requires a multi-pronged approach, she said. “Torstar’s mobile experience is a collaborative effort between the content management system, the content producers and the ventures group making everything work. There are many challenges when you have a big organization such as ours.”
The Globe & Mail’s Angus Frame said the past two years were “intense with lots of experimentation in the digital space.” The Globe views mobile as a “catchpoint” for its customers: users accessed their mobile apps when print readers usually put the paper down, such as in the evening and on the way to work. “It’s not a black and white transition, to engage with customers on different platforms,” Frame noted. He added its apps, such as the iPad app, also attracted traditional national advertisers as well as new Globe readers.
Houle stressed Yellow Pages Group is focused on local search, and they view the smartphone as the ultimate tool for search. “We don’t view phones as a major change to our business model but an extension and acceleration.”
At Kobo, an eReader company, Glogovac found male customers use their apps differently than women: men tend to graze, looking for how-to books. Women prefer longer-form content, such as novels. She also noticed baby boomers are still willing to pay for content, while younger users are more accepting of advertising but not keen on paying for content.
Houle’s free app, Urbanizer, was introduced to the NextMedia crowd: he said the app allows users to search for services nearby based on “mood”, such as looking for “trendy restaurants” or “intimate coffee shops.” He said Urbanizer “satisfies a customer’s basic need to search socially for bars and restaurants that might fit their needs.”
The panel was then asked about the skill sets their companies look for in new hires. Frame said the Globe & Mail has overhauled its “internal communications skills” and has focused on analyzing metrics to help the team better understand its digital potential. “Also, design is no longer a flat experience; we are designing so people can interact with our content and seamlessly move across different platforms.”
The single biggest change in this area is how publishers are talking to customers directly, Glogovac said. She said, as a marketer, she prefers avoiding traditional PR routes and instead would hire journalists and writers “who know how to talk to people directly.”
Houle ended the discussion by pointing out companies should be in control of the conversation between themselves and customers. That idea led Frame to mention how Facebook is both competition and complementary to the Globe & Mail’s interests.
Faktor said media firms should find out where users gather. “Consumers are promiscuous and it is up to us to be there in different media platforms.”
Tomorrow on Nov. 30 Digitaljournal.com will continue its NextMedia coverage by liveblogging a conversation with Facebook Canada starting at 2 p.m. ET
