BBC Cutbacks and the demise of 6Music et al

There have been many televisual highlights in the month since my last column but none as sweet as the sight of Mark Thompson, BBC Director General, being grilled by Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight. I might have been wrong but within the usual laconic look that Paxman adorns while tearing strips from his interviewees I felt there was a definite backdrop of enjoyment to this interview. Mark Thompson was there to be interviewed regarding the results of the recent BBC strategic review which concluded that severe costs need to be stripped from its operations.


The proposed cull is wide and varied and across all the Beeb’s current media output. It includes the potential closure of the digital radio stations 6 Music and Asian Network. Some of the teenage output will be closed as well as spend on buying in overseas shows such as Heroes. The big hit is to its online division where web output could be halved, backed by a 25% cut in staff numbers. The web operation's £112m budget, yes you did read that right, will also be cut by 25%. It was not all cuts though with additional investment earmarked for BBC2.

Importantly for the Regional press, Thomson also announced that its local websites will be refocused to carry only news, sport, weather, travel and "local knowledge content". He also stated a commitment to never to increase the BBC's number of local services on television, radio and online or to make any existing services more local.

For many years now dear old Aunty has walked a fine line between King Canute and Emperor Augustus. On one hand it has tried to hold back the tide of media expansion from other channels against its position. On the other, expanding hell for leather in all ways especially digital, both radio and web. When your annual spend budget is over £3bn, i.e. the amount of money they get from our license fees, they have been able to do that quite happily. Now in these recession times with a general election in a couple of months and a need to reposition for the “how can you justify the license fee” debate, they have to be seen to be doing something.

By announcing the results of this review, like Hadrian with his wall, the beeb has effectively stated that the expansion era is over and it will now work within defined boundaries. However in doing this it has created a backlash and debate about what the role and output should be of a public service broadcaster. This has not just come from the usual media columns but from the public as well. The most interesting reading has been the comments left on websites against stories linked to the cuts. Time and time again the question comes up as to what is the license fee for. This review on cost and focus was a starting point to answering that question but the wrath it has unleashed would indicate they have a lot more explaining to do.

The iPad - a masterclass in PR

There’s hype, there’s big hype and then there was the launch of the iPad. The new piece of must have technology from Apple was launched with massive worldwide media coverage. Every newspaper covered its launch; it had worldwide prime time news coverage. The internet went into meltdown not only on news sites but the blogosphere and social sites also went mad.


I could spend this column talking about what it does and bemoaning the fact that something that is primarily designed to access the web does not support Flash. That’s actually because Apple and Adobe are currently in the middle of a handbags at dawn fight. However if you sit back and look at all this coverage you have to reflect that its quite a lot for something that can double as a touch sensitive tea tray.

Apple got all this coverage for a number of reasons, the biggest being that its last few launches have radically changed the markets they targeted. Think what the iPod has done for the music industry and the iPhone to the mobile market. Apple also benefits from a customer base who loves their products. Talk to an Apple user and most will eulogise about the product they have, they are real brand advocates. This passion comes from a focus on the design and ease of use of the product, Apple truly focuses on how people will use its products. It also designs them so they are items of desire not just bits of kit and then markets them as such. Would we all want an iPod or an iPhone if they did not look, well simply cool? No, of course not. There was real hype surrounding this launch because of what the rumours of what this new toy will be and will it have the same effect on using the internet as Apple has had on phones and listening to music.

There were of course other things happening in the world on Jan 27th. Other businesses were trying to survive these troubled times and you have to feel sorry for those who were trying to launch new products on the same day and desperately trying to get some media attention. For example on the same day as the iPad launched, Ultimo launched a new underwear collection fronted by Peaches Geldof. Costa Coffee unfortunately launched its new beverage the flat white (something very familiar to anyone who has travelled around America or Australia) with Peter Andre holding a cup of the stuff. You can insert your own gag on both launches here.

Whether the iPad will live up to the hype remains to be seen but it took three incarnations of the iPhone before everybody got it and wanted one or something like it. I suspect that the iPad will have the same effect in a few years when it seems natural that we sit watching TV surfing the web using something that can double as an expensive chopping board. So do I want one? Of course, but purely for testing our new mobile sites on it, not because it’s cool or anything! So while I wait for the UK launch I will keep listening to music on my iPod while taking calls on the iPhone, perhaps I’ll also have a flat white while I wait.

New Year Predictions

So here we are dear readers, a new decade starts but this time without all the bangs and whistles of the start of the last 10 years. For my first column of the new decade I thought I would provide you with my own musings on things that may or may not happen in the media 2010.


Let’s start with television and unfortunately this will not be the year that reality television dies. This is the year that will see the mother of reality shows finish in the UK as the last Big Brother will screen over the summer months. BB started out as a genuine genius of a programme idea. An experiment to see how strangers would cope living together for a long time in a confined environment. It is now just a way to get on the front cover of Nuts so will not be missed. However this year the celebrity talent show will continue unabridged.

The big question will be who replaces Jonathan Ross once he leaves the BBC in July. My predictions are for Mark Kermode for Film 2010 and watch this space to see if Chris Evans returns to TV for the chat show. Simon Cowell will continue his dominance having now agreed the deal to take X Factor to the US as both presenter and producer, thus moving him closer to becoming a modern day King Midas. The real story of this year however will be 3D television. Just as you thought you had got your heads around HD TV along comes 3D TV and having seen a set, trust me you will want one.

On the airwaves radio will continue to be dominated by the BBC. It will be interesting to see if whether Radio 1 actually gives Chris Moyles his cards as it is reminded of its remit as a youth music radio station not a speech station. On Radio 2 Chris Evans has allegedly been told he can loose up to a million Wogan diehards but what his audience will be will be the source of many columns in the Daily Mail.

So finally to newspapers. Last year was an annus horribilus for all sectors of the press both national and regional. However throughout last year there were some highs as well as the lows. Yes London lost its two main free evenings but now the Evening Standard is both free and still currently exactly the same quality as the old paid for no one is complaining. We also now have Russian oligarchs owning papers in the way they do Premiership football clubs. So don’t be surprised if Alexander Lebedev extends the Standard empire and buys the Independent.

I am sure that 2010 will bring many twists and turns for the world of media and as consumers you will have more choice and more say on what you choose to consume with the little spare time you have. Oh and lets not forget we have a general election to look forward to as well so I know how much you are all looking forward to all that political advertising. Happy New Year readers.

X Factor, ITV and Simon Cowell

So the winner of the X Factor, Joe McElderry, is now filling the tabloids with headlines and suprisingly fighting this year for the Christmas no 1. However he is not the real winner of the X Factor, no he should not fool himself. On current X Factor run rate he will have as much chance of playing in butlins holiday camps in two years time as he does playing Las Vegas. There are two real winners from this yeas X Factor the first being ITV themselves.


ITV has had a terrible time of it over the last few years. It has seen revenues decline and decline and it took over 7 months to find a new chairman with many drop outs despite an astronomical salary on offer. However its new Chairman, ex Asda boss Archie Norman, must be now looking forward to his Christmas turkey thanks to the success of this year’s X Factor. The reason behind all of this, as with everything, is money and in this case advertising revenue.

The final of the X Factor in the UK this year was expected to generate £20 million of ad revenues for ITV, yes £20 million just for the final. Spot rates for the final were an alleged £250,000. Overall the X Factor is expected to have generated over £100 million for ITV this year.

However whichever way you look at it the overall winner always has been and always will be the man on the end with the waxed chest. Yes the big winner is always Simon Cowell. Cowell’s appearance fee’s alone for the series are estimated around the £5m mark. He is also the major owner of the format and gets paid for that and through his production company Syco he is also paid for production fees. This adds another estimated £2million. So his personal take home from this year’s X Factor is estimated at £7million. However this is small potatoes compared to his US deal where he is lead judge on American Idol. This is a reputed $125 million (£75m) for the next two series.

This of course is just part of the his total incomes, add in Britain’s Got Talent and the little matter of all the revenue from the acts now signed to his record label and I start to get lost at the potential income. All I do know is that the other day the entire top 10 were either acts that were signed to Cowell or had appeared on X Factor within the last few weeks. With that sort of power it looks like X Factor will be here for a long while yet. So have a good Christmas dear readers, Mr Cowell definitely will.

Who owns the brand?

This week i was asked by one of Archant's divisions to give a presentation to the some of the marketing team of a major printer manufaturer. They were looking at how they could use digital marketing methods to increase customer contact and response.  During the debate a theme that has become very prominant across many industries came to light, that being giving your consumers a voice in your business.

In recent months we have seen both British Gas and Eon create customer panels to help them seem more open and to put custmers needs at the heart of the business. Asda in October extended its customer panel and gave members direct influence on buying decisions which is a brave move.

Letting customers tell you more about what they think about your business is never easy from an internal point of view as you might hear things you and your board may not want to. However, as i pointed out the the print company, if a person has stuck their neck out and gained approval for spend, often in the hundred of thousands mark, they are already a beliver, These people  have already put their respective necks on the line with your products and so could become valuable brand evangelists in their own right and should be seen as an asset not a liability.

So from consumer panels to simple messgae boards bringing your consumers more into your own business can bring far greater rewards than the oft percieved risks.

The PR Stunt

November is traditionally the time of the year when many of that poor breed we call marketers have to start thinking about next years budgets. In these troubled times, even those fortunate enough to have 7 and even 8 figure marketing budgets are being forced to think of new, innovative and lets face it, cheaper ways to make their brands stand out.


As I have said many times before and in many different forums, this is no bad thing. It is very easy for marketers to rely on the same plans year after year and not really think about what they could do that is new and would create a real buzz and noise in their target marketplaces for their brands. One proven way of doing this is the PR stunt but the problem with such stunts is that they can go spectacularly right and just as easily go spectacularly wrong.

Let’s take one that went right. This year saw the best ever example of the PR stunt from our cousins down under. Tourism Queensland created the “best job in the world”. This was in effect a global tourism campaign disguised as a recruitment drive. The buzz that followed this piece of genius meant that hundreds of media organisations from around the world covered the story generating more than £40m worth of worldwide media coverage. In the end 34,000 people applied and one lucky chap from Hampshire got the job.

Now lets remember one that went wrong, or right depending how mean you are feeling. Richard Branson has spent a lifetime practising the art of the PR stunt and most have been very successful. Admittedly him waterskiing or standing on plane wings have become a little tired in recent years. So I was mildly amused when his attempts in 2007 to promote Virgin America by bungee jumping cum abseiling down a Las Vegas Casino from the roof. Unfortunately for Branson half way down he slammed into the side of the building, ripped his trousers and was gently let down the rest of the way where he quickly removed himself to the hotel without speaking to the press. Of course all of this was in the full glare of press and TV and created lots of the intended coverage but arguably of the wrong kind.

So if you get it right you can get massive amounts of positive brand coverage for little outlay. However if you get it wrong it can go very wrong. This problem has been exacerbated by the rise of social media online with thousands of passionate people happy to tear your brand reputation to shreds via Twitter, Blogs, Facebook et al.

There are few rules for PR stunts but If you are thinking try to think whether what you are planning will entertain and make people talk both online and offline. Most importantly be honest and make sure the brand is remembered as much as the stunt. Oh and try not loose your trousers in the process.

The Guardian, Trafigura and the right to publish

Last week a colleague sent me a link to a story on the media guardian site the likes of which I have never in over 14 years of working in the media. The key extract of which can be read below:

“Today's published Commons order papers contain a question to be answered by a minister later this week. The Guardian is prevented from identifying the MP who has asked the question, what the question is, which minister might answer it, or where the question is to be found.” “Legal obstacles, which cannot be identified, involve proceedings, which cannot be mentioned, on behalf of a client who must remain secret.”

As you can imagine having read that I like thousands of other were intrigued as to what it was all about.

It turns out that British oil trader Trafigura had been hit by a lawsuit by 30,000 Africans claiming that they have been affected by the alleged dumping of toxic waste on the Ivory Coast. Trafigura reacted by hiring libel layers Carter Ruck who slapped injunctions on every media outfit to stop them reporting this.

An MP, Paul Farrelly, then tabled a question in Parliament about this injunction and Carter Rock responded to all threatening with action if anyone covered this question. This goes against hundreds of years of press freedom to report what MP’s say.

Luckily the editor of The Guardian Alan Rusbridger is not only a very clever journalist he also has an excellent understanding of social media. Having signed off the baffling story on the guardian website on the Monday night he personally tweeted on twitter the following: "Now Guardian prevented from reporting parliament for unreportable reasons. Did John Wilkes live in vain?"

Within hours twitter and the blogsphere had gone mental. By the Tuesday morning and a front page lead, the web was in melt down and by lunchtime Carter Ruck and Trafigura had caved in.

Unfortunately for Carter Ruck the internet is a whole new world. Following Rusbringers tweet, a follower of his Richard Wilson put two and two together and searched the parliament website where details of all questions are held. He then saw what it was, did some further web searches and tweeted the whole lot. This was then picked up, passed on and on and the rest is social history.

It was the speed of this that was astonishing. Wilson had made his comments by 9 o’clock and by 10 the well known political blogger Guido Fawkes had blogged on it. By 10am on Tuesday morning even Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg tweeted the following: "Very interested concerned about this #trafigura / Guardian story the LibDems are planning to take action on this."

This is the best example yet of the growing gap between those that understand old and new media and communication. Today the modern consumer is completely empowered by digital and social media with a wealth of knowledge at their fingertips and a desire to know what is being kept from them. Brands and publishers should take note of something that as Rusbridger himself says will no doubt become an MBA case study in the future.