A modest proposal...
That’s what Erick Schonfeld calls his “Tuning Up Big Media,” a collection of five innovative ideas for “saving Time Warner and the entire industry from themselves.” (It’s in the April 2006 Business 2.0; see it here.)
It takes courage to write for a Time Warner publication in a Time Warner publication about how Time Warner can make itself more relevant in today’s changing media world. My favorite among Schonfeld’s ideas? Actually, there are two.
1. “Structure the company around customers, not products.” “Media companies are organized around their product lines (books, magazines, websites) instead of their audience segments.” But the best products have more leverage than that. So put the relationships to work, he says.
2. “Become a content rebundler.” If the company becomes content rather than media focused, then much of that content can be rebundled - even re-sold - when customers need it collected, synthesized and analyzed. “It’s not enough for Time Warner to let consumers loose in its archives. There’s also a profitable role for editors and producers who can take all the newly atomized content and rebundle it in ways that would be difficult for the audience to do on its own.”
This is good stuff. Hope the company pays attention.
Saturday, April 8, 2006
My friend John Huey (r) is the editor-in-chief for all Time Warner publications.