While I watch the Herald Sun Monopoly promotion draw to a close and The Age/Starbucks 50 cent deal override the values of this respected broadsheet, I am enjoying reading the research undertaken by the Readership Institute at Northwestern University.
The Readership Institute at the Media Management Center, part of Northwestern University, partnered with the Minneapolis Star Tribune to create front and inside pages that drew an enthusiastic response from younger adults. News and advertising content were tested with a total of 340 young adults in March 2005. The tests showed that hard news and advertising – handled in this a new (reader-intensive) way gets much stronger (2:1) results than the current approach to telling and selling news and advertising.
You can find a good overview of the study and findings here. Check out the rest of their website and you will find copies of their presentations to two recent major newspaper industry conferences as well as copies of the front and news pages tested as part of the study.
This is smart research by the Readership Institute and smart engagement by the folks at the Star Tribune. They have found a way to engage with the under 30 consumer – a kind of a holy grail for newspapers. They have found this by talking with prospective customers.
As a retail newsagent I would rather be working with a publisher using research to understand audience and build their readership than competitions which provide a short term boost at best.
It is tragic seeing customers buy two or more copies of a newspaper when a competition is running and discard the copies in the bin once they have retrieved the entry coupon.
These are newspapers. If people are not buying them to read them then what’s the point? Sure there are technology challenges. Maybe engagement customers and prospective customers will help publishers, editors and the retail channel find ways to snare sales we’re currently failing to achive.