Online Branding: Kill Your Call Letters?
Fun! Wait. Who Are You, Again?
Michael Malone at Broadcasting and Cable has an interesting quote from Steve Safran at AR&D regarding local television websites and the use of call letters in the URL: "By using your call letters, you're automatically limiting yourself to those who follow your newscasts," Safran said. "Why not open it up, make it more inclusive and pull in a whole new audience online."
Okay. I have many thoughts on this.
First, let's look at the example B&C offers as a success story, WCWJ in Jacksonville, which switched up its domain name to the jazzy and vague "YourJax.com" and saw its traffic spike. According to B&C, the rebranded website with its "fresh content like celebrity-focused weekly webisodes and interactive radar" saw its pageviews jump 150% and clicks on banner ads were up 44%.
The problem with this is that "YourJax" didn't replace call letters. The WCWJ website had the equally dorky and generic URL "MyCW17.com" as its online identity. (Go try and type that on a keyboard and you'll see just how awful that really was) So I can see how going from a disastrous domain to a boring/dorky one could improve your hopes of getting some clicks. (And add to that this equally key fact: WCWJ has exactly three years of brand equity in its call letters, which were changed to herald the arrival of the CW network)
I still believe call letters have value, and that value can be transfered from broadcast online, just as a name like The New York Times carries weight at the newsstand and even more weight on my computer.
NBC Local Media's on a call killing campaign with its generic (but NBC-boosting) "NBC New York" and "NBC Bay Area" web identities (which the network has certainly given thought to spreading far and wide, well beyond the O&Os; buying up NBC [CityNameHere] domains in most cities from coast to coast, whether the NBC station's owned by NBC or not) and that serves NBC, but not local stations.
Back to Basics at BZ
There's equity in call letters that have been around for decades. Heard of WBZ? The effort to run away from that local identity in favor of CBS4 was ultimately abandoned. Why? Because folks in Boston know WBZ. It triggers something. "MyClikBoston.com" may be catchy, but it doesn't resonate news. (Oh, damn. There I go again thinking this all has to do with news, instead of entertainment webisodes)
And it's not just me. Robb Lichter, senior VP of new media for LIN stations, told B&C: "The best way to get people to go to the sites is to take the brand they already know." LIN's stations use call letter branding online, and have associated microsites with original branding. "We don't want users to have to go to Google to find us."
Twitter Resisters of the Local News World, Sit Down. Breathe. Read This.
Don't Panic. Be Like Capt. Sully.
There's a sense in local newsrooms around the country that the economy's so bad and jobs are so vulnerable that "now's not the time to try new things!" This stubborn, panic-fueled sense of shock reminds me of the refreshing calm that radiated from US Airways Capt. Sully Sullenberger in his gripping 60 Minutes interview. It all happened in 90 seconds. The mighty bird that just can't be simply knocked out of the sky, suddenly was, and the crew had two options--soil themselves or try something new.
It sounds a lot like local news managers and GMs. The bird that was so strong--the local affiliate that reliably printed money since the dawn of time--is suddenly falling out of the sky at an alarming rate. Passengers are screaming "we're all going to die" back there, and it feels like a lot of managers are just staring at the cockpit controls repeating a mantra: "the car dealers will advertise again...the car dealers will advertise again." But even when they do, things will have changed. The financial model, the way consumers get their info, it's all changing, mighty bird or no mighty bird.
Some are trying new things. In DC, Lane Michelsen and Patrick O'Brien are crafting an Information Center out of what was one of the most old-school of old-school stations, WUSA. Reporters provide for multiple platforms, Channel 9 hits its followers with Tweets, and you get the sense these guys stay at work late thinking, "what else? what are we not thinking of?"
Steve Safran/Media Reinvent
So for those of you who still aren't even sure about Facebook (don't get me started, In mentioning to a friend that my engagement pictures were up on Facebook, and he should have a look, he told me he didn't have time for Facebook, couldn't I just show him the pictures? Huh? Like I carry them around in a paper envelope like it's 1978?) and for those of you who twitter at the mere mention of Twitter, Steve Safran at AR&D has assembled a gentle, it-won't-get-in-your-eyes-Mommy-loves-you post on "10 things to try right now that are cheap or free." He writes: "Here are ten things you can implement in your newsroom right now, cheap or free, that will improve workflow, Website performance or both."
What's the harm in just reading it? So sit down, take a breath. Take another. And click the link. Oh, sorry. You know the words that have lines underneath them? If you put your cursor (the think on the screen that moves around when you touch the mouse) over those words and click, you see the article. It's like magic! Anyway, click through and read. And don't freak when you see that Twitter is idea number 1: "Get several staffers on this."
A good, sensible read. You might learn something.
News 2.0: Can Traditional Newsers Reinvent Reporting Online?
If you wonder where, aside from the local tv station and the cable network, you might find yourself working in the next few years, look no further than Boston-based GlobalPost, the new international news site that officially launches tomorrow, but since you know me, I can get you in for a look around during the pre-launch party: Just click here and tell 'em standupkid sent ya. (And see if you don't agree the site looks clean, visually arresting, and unique)
The site's run by Phil Balboni, a guy who knows a lot about seeing the "next news idea" a few steps before the rest of us know what's happening. The former head of traditional Boston news station WCVB, Balboni created NECN (New England Cable News) when few would give a snowball's chance to a 24 hour regional news channel. Now he thinks he's got a winning idea online with GlobalPost, which has attracted nearly 70top-name journalists, and placed them in 45 countries around the world.
Phil Balboni/Global Post
Balboni describes GP this way in an interview with PBS's MediaShift: "In my previous venture, we launched NECN.com as the first all-video website in 1997, and [it remained] an all-video website for the last 11 years," Balboni said. "We were way ahead of our time, but it's still evolving. [At GlobalPost] we can provide a full suite of content -- well-told stories in text that are not too long, use of video. We want to do a lot of great photography and narrated slide shows. We will invite comments and interaction with our users."
You won't get rich working for GlobalPost, at least not right now, with correspondents signing long-term contracts (and in many cases keeping their day jobs) for a monthly stipend of about $1,000.00, according to Forbes. Reporters are expected to file 800 word text stories, with photos and/or video, and to blog.
But Balboni's had no shortage of blue chippers signing up. Steve Safran, a VP at AR&D, told MediaShift, "(Balboni) founded NECN when the idea of a 24-hour local cable news channel was unproven and even derided. He showed that he was willing to ride it out until it became a profitable venture."
If it means more places for talented journalists to tell stories, I say Rock On, Phil.
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