With once-great newspapers becoming extinct or, worse, going online in markets across the U.S., we've been given an interesting twist from a long-suffering paper in London: in The Evening Standard has spent the last month telling its readers that it's sorry.
I assume this will be followed by an announcement that it as emptied its last ink well, or broken the final printing press, or whatever. The branding campaign all but amounts to a very public suicide note.
Don't get me wrong, as I'm all for a well-meaning apology. Admitting guilt, even if it was more perceived than deserved, is a key way to resolve a conflict. An apology can right a wrong, or simply grease the mechanism of civility that's under fire in waiting lines, crowded street intersections, and the give-and-take of interpersonal relationships. Residents of Tokyo do it incessantly, as it helps them live closes together without killing one another.
So why is The Evening Standard apologizing to Londoners?
Because it has been negative. Lost touch. Been predictable and complacent. You see, in holding focus groups, its ad agency discovered that younger readers perceive the brand as "right-wing," and feel that it is preoccupied with crime. The first leg of the branding campaign was to admit these faults in stark, explicit terms (see image above), and was followed by a second leg that made promises to listen and to surprise. Part of the surprise will be the appearance of articles by expensive writers, like Tom Wolfe and Tom Stoppard.
What absolute rubbish, as they say over there.
The problem for The Evening Standard is no different, broadly speaking, than the issues facing the Boston Globe, New York Times, or papers that have already evaporated into the ether (like the Rocky Mountain News): people don't feel compelled to read them. No amount of fond feelings or other perceptions will change that. In fact, I think most people like the idea of newspapers, kind of like they like the ideas of public television and diets.
Good things, but honestly, they're not for me.
The London paper's vague apology and promise reveal that it hasn't figured out the problem. Readers don't need reasons to tolerate, like, or even adore the Standard. They need reasons to need the newspaper:
- What would it take to claim, truly, to be the "paper of record" for Londoners?
- How could it consistently deliver meaningful, exclusive perspective on the news?
- Where might it find affirmation of "truth," so its reporting was trusted above all others?
The Evening Standard needs to rethink its offering, and establish new criteria and tools for being indispensably relevant to its readers lives. That's not a branding problem, it's a business challenge, and no marketing strategy can fix it. Newspapers all over the world are broken, but not lost beyond repair, and this paper is no exception.
Unless, of course, it thinks the answer is to try to be another entertainment medium. Then I'd say the ad campaign just served as its suicide note.
