Life and Times in “The Cronk”
“There are million stories in the city that never sleeps”
– “The Naked City”
Privately each media outlet in Cronkite City concedes if something doesn’t change, the legacy media business is in trouble.
Observers familiar with each of the media players in the Cronkite City market all agree there appears to be a greater willingness by each of the players to consider options to engage the market. Nobody can say exactly what those options are.
Coffee shop/Tavern conversation around Cronkite City suggests a growing disenchantment with the CCNN.com website by the owners. Some question its future without some kind of change. Not much said about KCCA-TV beyond what appears to be far less advertising on the station. And their long time anchor team has moved to another market.
What might this mean for your advice for the Chronicle?
Cronkite City isn’t a city that never sleeps. Folks in “The Cronk” sleep pretty good. All, except Livingston Grim. This is his story. And ours…
Liv Grim is publisher of the Cronkite City Chronicle. The Chronicle, like most newspapers in America, is facing daunting change. Shifting advertising revenues, increasing content options for consumers and no know solutions make for sleepless nights.
Once Grim realized his plight, he set about finding options. He’d lost a significant portion of his classified advertising and with it an even greater percentage of his profit. Retail advertisers too, are seeking alternate means of reaching their customers. For the most part, everyone in “The Cronk” is trying to figure out how best to engage the made possible in the digital space.
For Grim it had come down to three options; continue to print the daily, develop an online product and/or create an entirely new business entity dedicated to finding additional revenue streams of any variety. Didn’t need to be advertising supported, it could be event marketing or a strawberry patch. Along the way he is giving thought to alliances and collaboration he would never have considered five years ago.
Grim is determined to find a way to meet the challenges of today’s media challenges; either by creating an even better product or developing an entirely new one. To do this he’s “going back to school” to review the basics of business. What exactly are the basics?
Here’s where you and your team come in. As you read the case consider topics discussed in class. Note any issue that relates as a potential problem to be solved. Think of it as a business Finding Waldo
Grim has asked you to be his advisors (more)