Zeno Group Blog

A “whole new day” dawned in Chicago this morning. At least that’s the take of the Chicago Tribune, which launched a significantly redesigned paper with Monday’s edition. The changes are quite jarring: more color, more pictures and fewer sections. This is not your father’s Chicago Tribune.

While a wrap-around guide to the new Tribune touts an “expanded main section,” it’s really just three sections in one. The former Metro and Business sections have been folded into the main section, leaving the Monday and Tuesday editions with only three sections, not including the classifieds. The features section has changed its name from Tempo to Live! I’d love to know how much time was spent in the newsroom debating the inclusion of the exclamation point. Someone whose opinion matters clearly thought “Live!” is far more eye-catching than just “Live.” The main section also includes a “You are Here” navigation bar across the top of several pages, as if readers were stumbling through an outlet mall. Hopefully that’s just for day one and not a permanent fixture.

None of these changes matter if they don’t spark increased readership. With the future of newspaper revenue tied to online advertising, the Trib is aggressive in directing readers to their Web site. There are three references on the front page alone to chicagotribune.com. I personally don’t like the look of the new Tribune, and I’m eager to see what veteran journalism observers will have to say. While I don’t see the changes driving any longtime readers away, I also wouldn’t expect a flood of new subscribers.  For now, put the redesigned Tribune down for a push.

Microsoft launched its new “I’m a PC” ad campaign this week, a long awaited counter attack to Apple’s brilliant campaign featuring a classic PC using nerd who can’t compete with the hyper hipness of the Mac guy.  That ubiquitous Apple campaign has been running for a couple of years now, and it does a great job promoting all the positive aspects of Apple’s lifestyle appeal while affirming the differentiating features of the Mac platform versus the PC.

Now Microsoft is firing back with a mimicking approach that strikes at Mac where it is perhaps most vulnerable – its own smugness.  The campaign was teased over the last few weeks with a puzzling spot featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld buying shoes.  If the teaser strategy was to get people scratching their heads and talking, it worked (at least around our office water cooler).

The new spots depict real people around the world stating “I’m a PC” and reflecting on who they are and what they do – reinforcing the fact that 90% of the world is using the Windows platform and doing some pretty important (and pretty cool) things with it.  They may or may not be as cool and hip as the Mac spokesman, but really, who is? 

As a dual Mac user (at home) and a PC user (at the office) I can recite the pros and cons of both, and I endure daily the challenges of working cross platform.  But based on the images projected by these two campaigns I guess I fall more in the PC camp.  It will be fun to watch if people self-identify with the PC users in the new campaign, and if the campaign actually moves the reputation and sales needle for Microsoft.

Never one to hold back his opinion, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has taken a bold step by exposing the identities and e-mail addresses of dozens of people who sent hate-filled e-mails to his blog.

Earlier this week, news broke of a YouTube video in which Dallas Mavericks forward Josh Howard, attending a charity flag football event in July, says: “The Star-Spangled Banner is going on. I don’t celebrate this [expletive]. I’m black.” 

Cuban has gained cult hero status because of his open relationship with the fans.  Have a comment for Mark?  Just visit Blog Maverick and let him know what you think; he’ll often respond.  Not surprisingly, Howard’s remarks struck a chord with many, and those individuals sent their thoughts to Cuban.  The sample of e-mails Cuban posted last night regarding the Howard situation range from pathetic to offensive to just plain sad.  For those who supplied names and e-mail addresses, Cuban did not conceal their identities.

I applaud Cuban for exposing those who wrote in regarding Howard.  Just as Josh Howard must stand up and face the consequences of his ill-advised remarks, Cuban is making sure the “fans” must do the same.

Opining on politics is big business on cable television, and most cable pundits have a point of view that is rather obvious. Projecting that opinion to viewers is big part of their shtick, and a big part of their appeal. From Bill Maher to Bill O’Reilly, there is something for everyone no matter what your political preferences.

But when the accepted cable prosthletyzing is put front and center on the national networks (who own those cable properties) the reputation of the mother ship can suffer. That’s why NBC was right in moving Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann out of the lead chairs in the anchor booth back to their own platforms on cable, or in a limited role as “color” commentators.

The lines are pretty blurred between the content delivered through over-the-air broadcast, cable, online, satellite and mobile channels. But the national networks run a big reputational risk if they are viewed – by consumers and advertisers – as having lost their political objectivity. The stakes are too high, and American television viewers have too many other choices for getting their news and opinion.

Running a network is a business, after all, and the news departments are a big driver of network reputations. Moving Matthews and Olbermann back into commentary and out of play-by-play was both good business, and good PR.

Like many of us with money in the market, I tuned into CNBC this morning to assess the damage after reading about all the turmoil over the weekend. Jim Cramer said something that caught my attention. When asked what brought about the current environment of a bankrupt Lehman Brothers, the problems at AIG and the impending sale of Merrill Lynch, he did not say is was a failure of regulation or oversight or law.

He said it was a failure of disclosure.

The primary reason that Lehman was unable to find a buyer, said Cramer, was that it had massive amounts of debt and other obligations that the market did not know about. And once this information came out they were cooked.

From a public trust point of view it does not matter what business you are in or what size you are. What matters is that you are transparent in all your actions and that you effectively communicate them to all stakeholders.

It ought not take the demise of a major American financial institution to remind us in the business of communication how critical this is, but it certainly makes the point.

If you thought sending out a press release with a typo was bad, imagine creating a financial panic at the world’s second-largest airline by erroneously sending a six-year old news story out on the wires. The series of events that lead to a 75 percent drop in United Airlines’ stock Monday underscore how critical it is for news services and wires to independently verify information that they send to subscribers. In this instance, Bloomberg received a six-year old story from reading service Income Securities regarding United Airlines filing for Chapter 11. Neither Bloomberg nor Income Securities independently verified the story’s timeliness after it was apparently miscoded by a Google News bot.

The Tribune Company (the source of the original story), Google, Income Securities and Bloomberg all had a hand in this and the investigation into who is most at fault is ongoing. The end result could be increased checks and procedures when wires send out critical financial information.

When news emerged of the LPGA Tour’s new policy requiring that all its members learn English within two years or face a ban from the tour, my first thought was “Oh, this will go over well.” The LPGA Tour may have had good intentions, but it’s hard to understand how anyone within the organization’s leadership thought this action would be well-received by the general public.

The concept was born out of the fact that many of the Tour’s rising stars are Korean, and Tour leadership thinks that the inability of many of those players to speak English hurts the marketability of the Tour in the U.S. While there is some validity to that point (the National Hockey League has faced a similar issue with European-born talent), there were much better ways to address the issue than instituting a “Learn English or Hit the Road!” ultimatum. For starters, the LPGA Tour could have taken a pro-active approach in teaching its foreign-born stars basic English skills, rather than placing the burden on the players.
Within two weeks, the policy was rescinded, although LPGA Tour commissioner Carolyn Bivens said that a revised plan is on the way. The LPGA Tour now must deal with a much more difficult marketing issue: how to overcome the PR nightmare created by the offensive policy.