Usa Today: Innovation and Evolution in a Troubled Industry

USA Today debuted in 1982 as America’s first national general-interest daily newspaper by Allen H. Gannett who was Chairman of Gannett Co., Inc., until 1989. Now this company is worth around $4.7billions and Gannett is a global information juggernaut that publishes 82 daily and 700 nondaily newspapers and affiliated websites, operates 23 broadcast television stations reaching 18.2 percent of the U.S. population. Gannett newspapers including USA Today, have combined circulation of 11.6 million readers every weekday and 12 million readers every Sunday and total online audience is roughly 52 million unique visitors per month. Gannett is currently the largest U.S. newspaper group in terms of circulation.

For decades, the Los Angeles Tribune was a driving force behind the news in Los Angeles. The emergence of the internet and of video news blogs and e-commerce have diminished the importance of printed media and greatly increased competition in the newspaper marketplace. Problems such as the rising cost of paper, and an aging customer based have affected the relevance of the Los Angeles Tribune. Also with the decreased advertising revenue, these have caused the paper to revise its goals.

"It is a false assumption of mankind to assume the resilience of outdated practices," said western thinker and philosopher Slavoj Žižek. I agree with Žižek in supporting the statement that it is always necessary to find new solutions to problems. Innovation is paramount to our growth as a civilization, and will perish if not used, which can be exemplified through literature, history, and current world affairs.

Tom and the USA today team faced a new rapidly developing internet information boom. News was not just becoming accessed more by digital sources, but it was being created or changed into digital sources of information. The internet had created, in the context of the news industry, a disruptive outlet to the newspaper production, sales, and distribution. Whole new infrastructures and business strategy focused on web design, rapid information updates, media outlets, and becoming more up to date with the current technological trends in news, information, and communications. With that, Tom realized that the business expand and use its core competencies in content distribution into three formats, which would allow USA today to impact different market segments with one of three particular product/service changes. With the new divisions, the overall strategy would need to become more ambidextrous to guide and coordinate the branches under a single

The roaring twenties was a time of great prosperity and rapid change, as well as a celebration of new technologies. These changes have had a significant impact in transforming the United States into a consumerist society. The philosophies and foundations of advertising strategies created in the 1920s can still be found on occasion in today’s contemporary advertisements and sometimes can work in tandem to strengthen their sales pitch. The 1920s were a time of booming domestic consumerism to the extent that “even products rarely purchased as separate units began to seek a place in consumer conscience” (Marchand, 5). Marchand goes on to say that as result of the changes in marketing strategies, advertising expenditures “rose from 8 percent in 1914 to 14 percent in 1929” (6). Marchand states that advertising is such a crucial part of our life, that one of the first statements he makes in his book is that through advertisements a “...picture of our time (day-by-day) is recorded completely and vividly” (xv). Two popular advertising strategies that came out of the twenties were the Democracy of Goods and the parable of First Impression, both of which tended to work with one another when marketing goods targeted for middle class consumers. The print advertisement for Mercedes-Benz resembles advertising strategies from the 1920s by

In 2005, three controversial reports on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education were published. These reports brought attention to the reality of STEM careers and education. Our nation was told to gravitate towards careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to help boost the morale of Americans and our global economy ranking; however, recent studies reveal that there are not enough jobs available for the amount of STEM graduates the U.S. is producing each year. In May 2005, Innovate America was published addressing a majority of the issues regarding the Global Economy. In July 2005, Tapping America's Potential (TAP) was published by a handful of corporate leaders and presidents of universities;

USA Today is a well-known newspaper company who dominates print news in the United States. Currently reaching nearly three million readers, USA Today has climbed their way to the top by evaluating and consistently re-evaluating their strategies to maintain and grow their consumer base, which consists of businessmen, professionals, and politicians (About USA Today). One of their greatest strengths is the wide range of their distribution. USA Today distributes newspapers in all fifty of the United States as well as parts of Canada and the United Kingdom (About USA Today). Their content is styled in an easy to read and understand way, making it more desirable to their readership versus other competitors’ newspapers. The company has established a well-recognized design for their newspaper, making it stand out among its competitors. USA Today is a “go-to” choice for consumers who daily read the newspaper.

Problem Statement: The advent of internet brought about both challenges and opportunities for the newspaper industry. On one hand, it required redesigning a new product suited for online customers and on the other it was an opportunity to reach to 123 million potential customers in this category. Thus to keep up with the pace of emerging digitization in every field, like all newspapers, New York Times also added online reading in their product portfolio. However it only worsened the crisis the newspaper was already going through. The operating profit declined by more than 76% from 234Mn$ in 2010 to a mere 57Mn$ in 2011. The circulations were steadily declining and the new online advertising could not compensate for print advertising

On page 2 of the case study it says, “…Big Skinny began advertising billboard style ads in the Boston subway; postcards at restaurants in Boston, New York, and Chicago; half page print ads in motor cycle, car and style magazines.” Which of these mentioned advertising media were good choices ( in terms of marketing strategy) and which were not such good choices and why? State your answer supported by reasons drawn from the case and your knowledge of marketing theory and strategy. Give some more suggestions for advertising the product. (10 marks)

Gannett is a universal media and marketing solutions organization that furnishes millions with access to data through different stages, incorporating Internet, portable, daily papers, magazines and TV. The Gannett Foundation is a corporate establishment supported by Gannett Co., Inc. Through its Community Grant Program, Gannett Foundation underpins non-benefit exercises in the neighborhoods in which Gannett works together. Through its different programs, the Foundation puts resources into what's to come for the media business, heartens representative offering, responds to characteristic and different fiascos, and helps an assortment of altruistic reasons.

There are many modern Day innovations, but this one in particular stands out the most. The cell phone is a modern innovation that has a positive connotation and the negative. The cellular phone has transformed, tremendously over the years. Modern day, innovations are creative and fascinating.

The New York Times has a strong brand presence, name and equity in the United States. According to Michael Hirschorn, contributing editor at the Atlantic, “You really can trace almost any major story these days to something that originally appeared in The Times. The problem is that once it reaches the public, they may not even know it came from The Times.” Readers of The New York Times are extremely loyal as well. A daily issue is priced at $2.50 compared to $2.00 for the Wall Street Journal and $1.00 for USA Today. In addition, within nine months, 390,000 consumers have subscribed to www.nytimes.com for a premium price of approximately $4.00 a week [Table B] and 70% of print subscribers have taken

There are two possible ways for the online newspaper to make money (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014). The first being USA Today can charge a fee for their App (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014). Second, advertising, like USA Today did in the past by offering six months of free advertising with a paid six months of advertising (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014). USA Today could offer content topic providers front page one inch blocks for one day a week advertising (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014). Distribution and promotion are the third and fourth steps, how to market the online newspaper to readers of all ethnicities, and genders (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014). What better way to promote an online newspaper to varies readers than to use social media as an outlet (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014). The website HootSuite can help USA Today manage their social media accounts like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter (Hendrick, 2016). HootSuite can provide insight into which post resonate with target populations (Hendrick, 2016).

The Chronicle Gazette is one of today’s leading newspapers in the United States, with a circulation of 225,000 customers. Over the past few years, it has been facing a steady decline in its customer base and revenues. This is mainly due to the increase of people using the internet as their means of gathering news and information. The

Innovation is one of the top priorities of today’s organizations globally. As they strive to stay competitive in the marketplace, organizations introduce innovative strategies to develop new ideas in product development and customer satisfaction. In an ideal world innovation in an organization would lead to efficient delivery of quality service ensuring customer satisfaction. Some researchers conclude that innovation may be sector or industry specific (Lawson et al, 2001), however what really drives innovation in an organization is a complex combination of leadership, environment, strategy and management style. With these key factors in mind, this research study aims to explore innovation framework in Water Utility