New Business Models For Newspapers

After years of decline, the journalism profession needs to step forward with new models to pay homage to the past and ensure the future. It is time to consider new revenue opportunities that scale so investigative journalists can do what they do best. Learning from successful models in other industries is a reasonable starting place.

A famous business model was initially laughed out of the boardroom. Literally, the CEO said he was going to change a very old established industry, raise the price per unit by 500% and change the distribution method. And he would not invest the standard 10% in advertising, he would invest 1%. People would come to him. The guffaws were from Maxwell House and Howard Shultz of Starbucks was the CEO.

Another famous case involves Dennis Carter. Dennis worked at a manufacturer midway in the supply chain squeezed by channel and distribution costs. Demands for more power at less cost generated a lot of spreadsheets. A marketing manager, Dennis evaluated business models and requested senior management to not only invest the equivalent of one factory's production in their brand, but create a jingle. As one can imagine, it did not go over well at first, but ultimately, Intel Inside was born.