Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

A few days back the New York Times online and LinkedIn (a very popular social network for professionals) joined together in a substantial content deal that will mutually benefit the giants. Its like Web content's Panama Canal joining two oceans of users with a cleverly-placed shortcut.

This is significant for the two sites. LinkedIn is seen as a network reference-only site that is infrequently sourced by an enourmous based of members. The New York Times is a news giant who's seeing their numbers decline like all other news orgs. This is a marriage of convenience that is significant for many reasons.

First, the New York Times is in a unique position to help LinkedIn with catch-of-the-day content relevant to sectors suiting their members' interestes. LinkedIn has seen fresh subscribable content as their Achilles heel. People only visit when they have a specific networking need. The New York Times can address LinkedIn's content freshness with little additional cost or effort. 

Second, this is significant because LinkedIn boasts millions of members who aren't currently visitng the New York Times. Ad revenues will likely increase as a result right out of the gate.

The question is, will people who happen to be confirming the occasional Link request use LinkedIn as their news portal? And will the New York Times online drive more people to LinkedIn? It remains to be seen. I predict this marriage will favor the New York Times as their merely opening another channel for incoming traffic which will boost the money they can make on advertising. LinkedIn, at least in the beginning, will not likely see reciprocal traffic from their new partner because people who are quickly accessing their daily news fix are less likely to jump into relationship building. 

John McCain’s presidential campaign was a study in effective crisis management last week.  On Monday, the New York Times and the Washington Post published stories alleging that McCain, who had nurtured the reputation as an independent political maverick, did senatorial favors for a lobbyist with whom his staff thought he might be having a romantic relationship.  
 
If you have trouble following the garbled syntax of the previous sentence, you see why McCain was able to effectively deny the charges.
 
Here’s what McCain did right:
He denied the charge at 9 a.m. the morning the stories were published.  He responded firmly and quickly.
He got his wife – frozen smile and all – to knock down the stories, too.
He counter-attacked the Post and the Times for waging liberal jihad against him.
He enrolled other conservatives who were lukewarm toward his candidacy but unstinting in their suspicion of mainstream media.
 
More important, behind the scenes, McCain loyalists were knocking down the story with such ferocity that by Sunday, six days later, even the Times’ ombudsman wrote that the newspaper should not have published the charge that staff were concerned about the alleged romantic relationship.  The Times and the Post had NO hard evidence of a romantic relationship.  Only one McCain source admitted on the record that the staff was “concerned” about the possibility of a romantic relationship.  That further endeared McCain to conservatives who had been slow to support McCain.
 
We learned in 1992 that voters can overcome their uneasiness about a presidential candidate’s martial fidelity (remember Bill Clinton and Jennifer Flowers?) But they at least expect their candidates to be forceful and unequivocal in their denials.  It endears a candidate to his or her base voters.  And that, more than anything else, is what John McCain needs right now.
 

Hallelujah. Programming still matters.
 
With all the YouTube and streaming video hype, it’s easy to lose focus on content and get distracted by the delivery channel. It’s especially easy to forget about cable television, yesterday’s new media.
 
Cable’s performance this summer shows that the medium still has sizzle. It’s more than 24/7 news and Law and Order re-runs. Cable networks have always had a reputation for edgier programming and that’s ideal for competing in today’s consumer-driven media environment.
 
The broadcast networks bet on bottom of the barrel reality shows this summer. Maybe, as pointed out by The New York Times, this was designed to save production costs. Or maybe, the networks thought reality would help them compete with online consumer-generated reality content.
 
Whatever, the rationale, traditional network’s summer fare is coming up dismally short and cable execs are looking smart with drama programming like TNT’s Saving Grace, AMC’s Mad Men and Lifetime’s Army Wives. TNT is offering past episodes online. I believe this is a strategy that’ll help their dramas capitalize on buzz and build audiences over time.
 
Will the traditional networks rush to copy cable? Will cable be able to sustain this momentum into the fall when favorites return from summer re-runs? We’ll know more as the fall schedules are released.
 
No matter the outcome, it’s good to know that drama isn’t dead.
 
FYI, the Triangle Ad Club is hosting their annual fall premiere party next Thursday at 5:30 at the Matthews House in Cary. If any of you would like to go as our guests, please let us know.