In a keynote speech at the DNA conference, Peter Vandermeersch, editor of De Standaard, a Belgian newspaper, outlined his ideas about where his – and other papers – are going wrong and right.
The Seven Bees: “We have four bees: brains, brands, big organisations, broad public … but we need to be bright, bold and brave.”
Mobile: “We firmly believe in our third platform, mobile. Mobile is taking off very quickly and we believe in it.”
Advertising split: online ads – 9 per cent / print ads – 91 per cent.
Optimism: “We’re still alive and kicking… but struggling.”
“We reach more people than we ever did.”
“We’re convinced that unique content we can produce is going to save us in next couple of years ahead.”
Editorial and sales relationship:
“Integration of newsrooms, sales and marketing forces is a must.”
His paper musn’t…
“The fear of cannibalisation shouldn’t be within our four walls.”
What it does wrong:
Not good enough at hiring new people and training new people
Not unique enough in the kind of content we produce … re-doing what’s been done yesterday.
Not creative enough.
Not smart enough in using leverage of social networks.
Not quick enough.
“We are not bold enough in reinventing ourselves.”