Lisa Snedeker reports on Media Life Magazine:
For years newspapers have fretted over the young, as anxious moms might, trying every new way to court the 18-24 non-reader, including high-profile launches of toss-away tabloids dumbed down with celeb newsbits.
Largely, it’s been an exercise in frustration.
But wait, there’s a new trend afoot at newspapers across America, a new focus of publishers’ attention.
It’s about going after readers they’ve long had, just simply doing a better job of it. Those readers are America’s moms.
America’s moms make so much sense because they make most of the buying decisions in most households, and certainly the bulk of the everyday purchases most important to retail advertisers.Much of the buzz over the new mom focus has come with the rise of the Examiner chain, whose free dailies in San Francisco, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., all made a point early on of targeting young mothers, to the extent of offering home delivery in target neighborhoods.
But actually the new thinking was catching on even before at the Charleston, S.C., Post and Courier, which began shifting its focus to mothers and families three years ago.
“It’s so funny that all these newspapers are just starting to realize the value and power of families with kids,” said Craig Rogers, director of marketing for the Post and Courier.
Which raises an interesting question: Why didn’t someone think of moms before?
Well, my wife, Deborah Withey, during her tenure as Design Director for Knight-Ridder a few years ago, did a full prototype of a great supplement with content segmented according to children’s ages.
But the bosses of Knight-Ridder in Miami were too busy with other business at the time and the project never came together.
So, yes, there have been great projects and brilliant ideas on this matter, but many US newspapers haven’t had the time and money to invest in new products that, now, look necessary for their survival.
The problem today, is that projects like these must be Web-centric.
