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Topic: Memos Sent to Romenesko
Date/Time: 12/1/2008 10:01:27 AM
Title: Lee Abrams' Dec. 1 dispatch
Posted By: Jim Romenesko
 
His comments will likely get twisted, as our approach seems to make some people angry, so it was refreshing to see some honest coverage of what he said.

.... Revolutionizing media isn't about dumbing it down...it's about re-thinking it so more people will embrace it. Integrity and Quality are timeless concepts---but the execution requirements have changed since the days of Cronkite. I see where some try to "bring back" quality and integrity, but fail to do it on 21st Century terms. It's timeless in definition, but getting through to the public requires an open-ness to new thinking.

Every aspect of Radio, Local TV and Newspaper content can be dramatically improved and updated if we let it. That's not always easy to do as there's always resistance to change. ... If Weather is BETTER on the Internet...Business News is BETTER on Bloomberg...etc... Time to get in the "better" game by identifying what we can do brilliantly...and doing it. NOTICABLY and consistently..

Cell phones re-invent themselves every six months. While that re- invention is often technology driven, Joe Citizen doesn't care. All he knows is that these things in their lives keep improving. Maybe Local TV and Newspapers haven't noticeably improved in decades. Time idea of "ongoing improvement" shouldn't be taken lightly. Usually it is. we all talk about it, but too often we sit on things. Compared to the power days of newspapers or 4 a local channel TV when things changed on a slow basis...things today change practically daily. To stay in sync, the SWAT
mentality needs to be engrained in terms of fast, fearless and noticeable.

Revolutions are about "we". The leaders need to engage EVERYone. And EVERYone needs to engage the cause. You are either WITH the revolution or AGAINST it. You will either be embraced by the company and win or the company will beat you. No middle ground. If you are IN-cool-Bear down for battle. If you are OUT---Cool-Good luck with your future. Just figure out where you want to be... Middle ground wastes
EVERONES time.

Need to create FANS not just users. Fandom isn't necessarily a sports or music thing. It's people who are passionate about a product...beyond 'users'. We need to touch nerves...work at breaking out of the ordinary. Become important to the mainstream on today's terms. The more a TV station looks like everyone else, or the more a newspaper fails to touch nerves, the higher the probability we'll have users instead of fans. Fox news sure has fans. (I'll get letters from Fox haters, but they are dominant in TV news, so probably worth accepting and understanding that) So does the New York Times. Whatever our M.O. is in creating fans, we need to work at it. It's too competitive to succeed by simply being reliable. That's a given. Creating fans out of users is probably a pretty foreign concept open to gross misinterpretation. But it's really all about connecting beyond utility. REALLY connecting to the new mainstream.
A way of thinking: What can we do to electrify ourselves? Get people talking about
our content. Arguing about it. Supporting it or trashing it...but talking about
it. No one is immune:

TV Stations: Do they all look the same?
Newspapers: Can't I just get it online?
Websites: Do the big name aggregators do it best?

These are things we need to aggressively THINK about. In fact, We absolutely need
to address. There's no doubt the talent is within the company to win these battles...we
just need to get in there and do it. A bad time to be culturally conservative. A
good time to liberate ourselves and WORK at the kinds of changes that'll keep
us around and successful for a long time. If there are roadblocks, culturally, internally
or personally, remove them. We can talk all we want about evolving and prevailing,
it's up to us to have the courage to do it.

The opportunity is so strong because it seems there are many fear driven, complainers
or folks simply imprisoned by traditional, the "if it ain't broke"
excuse, and/or old school corporate committee thinking instead positive, adventurous,
interesting and smart actions will give us a tremendous edge. We just need to be
courageous enough to make the moves we need to make

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