THE LOS ANGELES TIMES IS CHANGING

Today the Los Angeles Times, part of the newspaper establishment, announced several significant changes to its newspaper. It's fair to say this is another 'sign' of the changes afoot.

The press release states: The shifts come on the heels of recent new content launches and redesigned editorial offerings and emphasize integration across print and online to better position The Times as a dynamic, round-the-clock destination for indispensable and differentiated news and information for Southern Californians. "Our customers are changing how they live, work and play in Southern California -- including how, when and where they get their news and information," said The Times Publisher, David D. Hiller. "We are changing with them, adding in some areas and going in a new direction in others, and always sustaining the world class content our readers and users expect."

Reminds me of another great writer:
"Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.
(by Bob Dylan)

With these sorts of seismic shifts, we are encouraged as marketers to think in fresh, more effective ways which challenge the status quo. In this time, new models of agency, like StrawberryFrog, AKQA, newly formed Persuasion Arts & Sciences, Anomoly, Creature and a select group of others give dynamism to the industry and the economy.

The change in the way new agencies deploy ideas seems to fit perfectly with a shift in the way clients think about themselves and their consumers, and the way media brands, in this case the LA Times, makes it's product. It's as if a whole new marketing value system has emerged in the last 6 months. The digital age has unleashed pent-up entrepreneurial energy and creative excellence. The most promising trends--the rapidly expanding digital sector, a broader, more fluid talent pool, a more balanced deployment of a generative concept--are all being fueled from below by consumers instead of being orchestrated by corporations.

'May you live in interesting times' as the proverb says.

Comments

[Dino]

well put scott.
the focus is often on the technololgy that is changing, but it's becoming apparent that the important stuff going on is a result of the creative and entrepreneurial energy that is being released.
brands are having a hard time accepting this i think.