1、http:/ Thought Leader Interview: Bob Carrigan Thought Leadershttp:/www.strategy- pioneer Bob Carrigan, of IDG Communications and the Interactive Advertising Bureau, explains why new media is the most optimistic part of the economy.by Art KleinerPhotograph by Peter GregoireWhat is the Internets role
2、in revitalizing economic growth? In some circles, it is considered a disruptive destroyer of value. In others, new media is seen as a specialized industry, with little relevance to other sectors. But to people like Bob Carrigan, CEO of IDG Communications (the publishing, media, and events division o
3、f the International Data Group), the Internet is now a major source of business innovation for every sector. Thanks to the continued growth of the marketing and media ecosystem the confluence of broadband, social media, online advertising, mobile Internet, cloud computing, online lead generation, an
4、d e-commerce we are all media companies now.Carrigan is one of the leading proponents of change in this sector, both as a spokesperson on new media, and as a decision maker at IDG, putting into practice new ideas about online publication and marketing innovation. He began his career at IDG in publis
5、hing and sales in the 1980s, when the company was primarily known for its technology magazines (CIO, Computerworld, PCWorld, InfoWorld, Macworld, and GamePro were some of its main titles). During the early dot-com era, he moved to a popular music startup, S; then moved to AOL, which purchased it; th
6、en moved back to IDG in 2005, taking a series of executive positions. By that time, IDG had begun to evolve into its current form, as a new media pioneer, producer of events and expositions (including the well-known Macworld expo, where Apple has announced new products over the years), innovator in
7、mobile Internet publishing, and developer of new forms of advertising and lead generation. Carrigan has been chief executive of IDG Communications since 2008, with a particular focus on innovation.http:/ was also the 2011 elected chair of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). The IAB is a consor
8、tium of more than 500 media and technology companies that sets standards for online advertising formats, produces research on online and interactive media, and plays an active role in developing guidelines related to such issues as privacy and the measurement of online advertising effectiveness. (Di
9、sclosure: IAB president and CEO Randall Rothenberg is a former editor-in-chief of strategy+business.)We became interested in Carrigans perspective when he began speaking and writing about innovation, including in the pages of this magazine. (See Carrigans short piece, “A New Model for Generating Lea
10、ds,” in “Reinventing Print Media,” by Matthew Egol, Harry Hawkes, and Greg Springs, s+b, Autumn 2009.) Of particular interest to us have been Carrigans thoughts on revenue and business models; too many companies, he argues, are still thinking of media as an enterprise supported by subscriptions and
11、ad revenues. The electronic media of the next 20 years will instead be supported by a variety of forms of sponsorship, reader revenue, and lead generation, all grounded in the ongoing relationships that consumers build with the media they trust. This interview was conducted in two conversations, bot
12、h in New York, in May and October 2011.S+B: Amid anxiety about the economy, youve referred to media and online retail entrepreneurs as “unabashed optimists.” Where do you see optimism?CARRIGAN: The Interactive Advertising Bureau conferences are sold out. Companies that are part of the Internet and o
13、nline ecosystem not just Facebook and Twitter, but everything from data providers to analytics firms are doing very well. Theres an incredible amount of activity, including a lot of venture capital. For the first six months of 2011, the online advertising industry was up 23 percent in revenues, to U
14、S$15 billion.This represents a big change from the somber years of 2009 and 2010. Companies in this industry are actively looking for talent: “I need a CMO, a CFO, a software developer.” Media companies are putting people to work in meaningful, sustaining, fulfilling jobs in a growth business that i
15、s just beginning to hit its stride. And although I dont have exact figures, the number of marketing employees is clearly way up from the 1.2 million people that it was in 2009, when the IAB last surveyed the industry.S+B: Do you think this growth will have a major impact on the rest of the economy?C
16、ARRIGAN: Yes, I think it will. That 2009 study conducted for the IAB by Hamilton Consultants and John Deighton and John Quelch of Harvard Business School estimated that the advertising-supported Internet creates economic value of $444 billion per year. And then theres the echo effect. Facebook signe
17、d up its 800 millionth user in mid-2011; Coca-Cola has 35 million “likes” right now on its fan page, and Starbucks has 25 million. Statistics show that people who “like” a company or interact with it are more likely to purchase from it. How much economic activity does that generate? I think its hard
18、 to quantify, but theres no question that its huge and growing.And this industry is not an island. The tools and solutions being developed real-time bidding, automated exchanges, reputation systems, and so on could be used more throughout the economy: to drive more commerce, connect more directly wi
19、th consumers, reduce supply chain friction, and connect with international customers.S+B: How much of a difference does it make that the cost of online investment is going down?http:/ There are much lower barriers to entry for online media than there were even a year ago. The cost of technology is n
20、ot a barrier; the hardest part is finding good developers for original ideas. With the cloud not just storage in the cloud, but all the publishing apps, templates, formats, and software solutions available there you can provision media in a much more efficient way, and I think thats going to change
21、the industry further.S+B: But when barriers to entry come down, doesnt that lead to a rush of competitors coming up?CARRIGAN: Well, its head-spinning how many competitors are emerging. In IDGs segment, for example technology, media, events, and research the field is more competitive than it ever was
22、. But its also bigger than it ever was, particularly as people come to our offerings globally. Its one thing to enter the business with a digital platform; its another to execute, get the right audience, develop a good relationship with that audience, and build the content and the trust needed to ke
23、ep them coming back. I would like to think that in every segment related to digital media, some companies will have top-quality offerings, content, and solutions, and theyre going to win.When Im with IAB members who are IDGs competitors as well as its collaborators and customers, and sometimes the s
24、ame companies are all three I see them as entrepreneurs in the best sense of the word. Theyre investing, taking risks, creating a global marketplace; theyre developing alternative sources of power generation and energy efficiency. Theyre focused on creating value. And thats why theyre optimists.The
25、Lifetime Value of a NameS+B: How did IDG begin its own moves in online innovation?CARRIGAN: Our magazine category, technology, was like a canary in a coal mine: Our audience moved rapidly to interactive and digital platforms. There werent a lot of other media categories in front of us. We had to exp
26、eriment wildly and create an innovation culture just to keep up.Fortunately, our readers and visitors are digitally savvy and our advertisers are experimental. Wed propose a new idea about lead generation or create some new program, and we could generally find an advertiser who was willing to try it
27、. We built a lot of digital businesses that way. Some of our ventures have been pure play; the old IDG had little to do with them. With other ventures, like lead generation, we repurposed our traditional assets. For example, we used to use magazines to drive databases of customer names; now we use t
28、hose databases to generate sales leads for vendors and all sorts of electronic commerce that has nothing to do with magazines. We were just figuring out what lead generation was nine years ago. The capabilities weve added in “lead gen” have been tremendous.S+B: What is lead generation?CARRIGAN: It m
29、eans earning permission from members of your audience to provide information to them, or offer services and products to them, on a targeted basis, ideally when they need it in the buying process. Any media company that does this is providing a great service, especially on mobile devices. Our audienc
30、e includes a lot of IT and tech professionals, walking around with smartphones and tablets in their workplaces. Theyre looking for content, but their devices are not optimized for viewing in-depth reports. So we place an app called Tech Briefcase on their mobile device; we distribute it through the
31、iTunes store but ask users to register with us when they first open it. We learn their preferences through http:/ registration process, and then the app provides those users abstracts of the types of white papers they want. They can bookmark the ones they like and retrieve the full document later on
32、 their laptop.We went to great expense to create this mobile app; we did focus groups and utility tests. It was more like software development than traditional magazine publishing.If you give people exactly what they want and you respect their preferences, theyre willing to give you information abou
33、t themselves. We progressively capture richer and richer data about them, and then we can reach very specific subsets through highly targeted programs, drawing in material from any of our publications.S+B: In other words, Tech Briefcase is a brand without walls, your own private-label aggregator.CAR
34、RIGAN: Yes, as opposed to a digital replica of a print magazine. Many publishers seem to think that digital replica apps are the future, and they love it. They think they can put the genie of online publication, with all that loss of control, back in the bottle. They may add animation, slide shows,
35、or video.Just to be clear, we publish app replicas of some of our own magazines, and we believe in them. But as a sign of the future, theyre not all that exciting; in fact, theyre somewhat limited. Weve found more substantial opportunity in creating service-oriented software-like applications that b
36、lend our magazine content, conferences, and websites. For example, Macworld is the most successful Apple-oriented computer magazine in print. Instead of creating a digital replica, we created the Macworld Daily Reader app. Its gotten more than 250,000 downloads. It doesnt look anything like the maga
37、zine; its a dynamic, very slick, mini version of our website. These apps, and our mobile device innovations, are all part of our evolution from print media to a more interactive media company.We spend a lot on app development, in part because we have ideals around quality, but largely because we see
38、 our best opportunities with interactivity and name capture. For example, to really use Tech Briefcase or Macworld Daily Reader, you have to register with us outside of iTunes; Apple doesnt share the data it gathers on iTunes, so we do it ourselves. When we capture someones attention this way, we re
39、cognize the lifetime value of his or her name. That is gold to us.S+B: How does capturing a name translate to gold? Whats the transaction at the end of the rainbow?CARRIGAN: First of all, we have relationships with about 12 million audience members around the world and counting. Its a big number. Wh
40、ich is not to say that we have their permission to sell them anything we want. We earn their trust and permission over time. The more we interact with an individual, the better the business opportunity for us and hopefully the richer the IDG experience is for that person.Lets say youre in our databa
41、se because you downloaded an app either Tech Briefcase or something more specific, like the CIO or Computerworld app. You have the right to unsubscribe at any time, but as long as we respect you and send you highly targeted and relevant content, you wont unsubscribe. As we filter material for you, w
42、e capture more and more information about you. Were not taking advantage of you; were earning your trust.http:/ we learn that youre responsible for buying storage systems for your company. Youre interested in cloud computing solutions and virtualization strategies. We know that you need information,
43、 and that you talk to vendors as part of your job. So we introduce you to sponsors that have the exact information that youre looking for, and we charge each sponsor for that introduction. We also have fee-based offerings, such as the CIO Executive Council; IT executives meet there and interact with
44、 peers. As our specific and targeted data about you grows over the years, always with your permission, we can create very focused programs aimed at your particular needs. Wouldnt you expect advertisers like IBM and Citibank to be interested in that?One Jump across the ChasmS+B: How important is the
45、social media aspect of your business putting your users in touch with one another?CARRIGAN: Our programming strategy is based on a three-legged stool: social, editorial, and vendor content. The number one source that users go to for information about what to buy is social: their knowledgeable friend
46、s and colleagues. Editorially driven information ranks second. Our readers have always told us they want to talk with one another. Our readers include many influential end users, as we call them, who give more advice than they receive. So its important to unlock better ways to connect them.Thats why
47、 were aggressive about embracing outside social networks, which have become an important part of audience generation for us. We have the largest CIO community on LinkedIn, with almost 45,000 registered members. Search engines are still by far the most common way that people find IDG media, but socia
48、l media generates 10 percent of our inbound traffic. Were creating a lot of programs around social media, by building sub-communities.Editorial content authoritative and trusted writing is more important than it ever has been. Some of our editors are highly opinionated critics of the industry, whereas others are more focused on reviews, but they are all important for drawing people in. They
