You Are the Brand

Newsweek: Times They Are a-Changing

Sometimes even the strongest brands just run their course. No matter how successful a brand is, sometimes demographics, technology , market forces, and the inability and/or unwillingness to respond to sweeping changes can erode a brand. Consider the case of Newsweek magazine. For decades, being on the cover of Newsweek or TIME magazine was a very big deal in American culture. These two media giants competed head to head, week by week, for the best, most compelling news stories. Personally, Newsweek was my magazine of choice. I found it to be thoughtful, easy-to-read, fair, balanced, and nicely packaged. Then, after seventy-seven years of publication, in the spring of 2010 the Washington Post Company announced that it was selling Newsweek because it just couldn’t make enough money with what once was one of the greatest American media brands. This brand and case study of Newsweek is not unique. It happens to other highly successful organizations all the time. Let’s consider how the Newsweek brand was weakened by several powerful forces and factors, by a thousand small cuts—one at a time. Changing Demographics For years, Newsweek was seen as a countervailing force to what was perceived to be a more right-leaning, conservative TIME magazine. Newsweek was trying to appeal to a younger, hipper audience that would be as interested in pop culture and music entertainment as they would be in a detailed analytical piece about the Middle East. But successful branding is about effectively matching up your product to the marketplace demands. 176 Newsweek Times They Are a-Changing Adubato_(Brand)_final 4/11/11 11:29 AM Page 176 For many of these younger, hipper consumers, magazines like Newsweek seemed archaic, obsolete, and increasingly irrelevant. My own eighteen-year-old son consumes news and information on a regular basis, and he knows that there is a magazine called Newsweek . However, I doubt he has ever read it. Why would he? Why deal with a not so cheap, cumbersome magazine with messy newsprint when you can get convenient, real-time information on your iPhone in the palm of your hand? FREE! What happens when you lose the niche group you’ve targeted to sustain your brand? Advertising dollars drop. As Newsweek lost readers, it became increasingly difficult for its sales team to sell the magazine. Over time, like many other print publications (including several that publish my columns), there were fewer and fewer ads, and the publication became thinner and thinner. It’s a matter of simple mathematics and economics. If fewer people are reading your content, how are you going to convince other companies who want to promote their own brands via print ads that you are the place to be? It’s a very tough sell. And so the numbers dropped. According to the NewYork Times, Newsweek had operating losses of $28.1 million in 2009, and $15.4 million the previous year. Its revenue declined from $227.4 million in 2008 to $165.5 million in 2009, a decline of 27.2 percent.1 Its targeted readers were fleeing in droves and there was no one lined up to take their place. Encroaching Technology Sometimes, brands succeed or fail because of the times they live in. Edward Costner, who created Newsweek in 1963 and was later its editor, said, “Those magazines [Newsweek and TIME] had much more stature in those days. . . . It was really important what was on the cover of Newsweek and what was on the cover of TIME because it was what passed for the national press. They helped set the agenda; they helped make reputations.”2 Unfortunately, according to Charles Whitaker, research chairman in magazine journalism at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism: “The era of mass media is over, in some respect . . . the NEWSWEEK 177 Adubato_(Brand)_final 4/11/11 11:29 AM Page 177 newsweeklies, for so long, have tried to be all things to all people, and that’s just not going to cut it in this highly niched, politically polarized, media-stratified environment that we live in today.”3 This new world, of course, includes the Internet, which has played a major role in hurting Newsweek’s brand and its market share. Before the Worldwide Web, Newsweek was a must-read for many who wanted to be in the know. But in the age of instant information and analysis (no...