Wednesday 28th June: Why the media business could do with more weirdos

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When it comes to engaging Gen Z and young millennial audiences, there is a disconnect between publishers’ tactics and audience preferences— leading to missed opportunities for publishers. That’s the big finding of Digiday's new State of the Industry report, produced in collaboration with Arc XP. Based on surveys of 116 publishers and 114 Gen Z and young millennial consumers, the report maps the current state of publishers’ engagement tactics against the preferences of younger media audiences. Download your copy of the report to learn more.

Why the media business could do with more weirdos

Amy Kean worked in media and advertising for 20 years at some of the world’s leading agencies with some of the biggest brands. She had a lot of fun with it, but now thinks the media world has lost its identity. “It's painful to watch,” she says, “We are run by formulas and the tried-and-tested. People talk about bravery in our industry, but I haven't seen any in the last five years.”

As a self-confessed weirdo, the former Head of Innovation for Publicis thinks the media business could do with more people like her. For companies that want to differentiate themselves, there are clear benefits in encouraging people to be themselves.

Amy says the starting point is to look at your own workforce and let them be a bit weirder. And to be okay with people making mistakes, allowing them to be open about what’s gone wrong and about what they’ve learned. “Everyone makes mistakes all of the time at work, we just don't talk about it. We lie about it. But if you can have that culture of openness, my god it's a game changer.”

The Manchester Evening News has become the first Reach title to launch a paid-for premium membership offering. The ‘premium’ app offers no “adverts, pop-ups or distractions”. The bundle lets users listen to articles and delivers a weekly curation of long reads, a news round-up in the morning and at lunchtime, an evening newsletter, and subscriber-only offers and puzzles.

I’ve included this post for three reasons. 1) I saw this session featuring Reid DeRamus of Substack and former Times digital supremo Alan Hunter at the FIPP World Congress and it was excellent 2) this is a great summary, direct from the horse’s mouth and 3) it’s on a Substack called on Growth Croissant, one of the best B2B newsletter names I think I’ve ever heard.

Hold onto your butts… Meta has fixed a date for launching its Twitter-killer app. Social Media Today is pretty reticent about Project 92’s chances of success, but does think its release next month will trigger the next big social media battle, with Meta seeking to capitalize on the chaos caused by Musk’s changes at Twitter. Instagram distribution is seen as Meta’s secret weapon.

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