Usa Today Case

Case Analysis: USA TODAY

With the visionary input from Alan H. Neuharth, Gannett launched its new version of what a newspaper should be and how it is presented to the readers. After heavy research efforts by Gannett, they determined that traditional newspaper circulations were not being used as much by a growing number of individuals, specifically in the young achievement-oriented professionals who were frequent travelers (Quarrels, 2005). The trends that Gannett noticed was that these individuals in particular had a shorter attention span which was nurtured by television viewing and also by the ever increasing time crunch being felt with so much information becoming available but so little time to absorb it all.

Gannett decided to go to its readers to find out what they would like to see more of and consequently, less of. They communicated with them more on a personal level and began providing news in a more positive, upbeat, and clear way. In early 1982, a team of Gannett's news staff published and tested several prototypes and sent the readers response cards to find out what they liked and disliked with each. Each prototype kept evolving from this input and finally later in 1982, Gannett started circulating USA Today.

This new style of a newspaper was revolutionary in the industry. It was smaller in size than traditional newspapers which made them easier for readers to handle in tight surroundings such as on airlines. Colored graphics were used extensively as well as the use of briefs to keep their short attention span readers engaged. What has made USA Today so successful through the years is its ability to be innovative and being able to change with their audiences tastes (Ferrell & Hartline, 2012).

In 1995, Gannett began its online debut of the USA Today which was seen as a natural companion to the printed version. Mobile devices were becoming more prevalent and being used by people to communicate and receive information at will. Gannett realized that their marketing scheme that launched the printed USA Today could be transformed into a social media sight in which would allow these mobile device individuals to view whenever they wanted to. This online version of USA Today gave up to the minute news, sports, business, weather forecasts, and travel information at the fingertips of online users. It also had an archives section to allow readers free access to paper articles back to 1987 (Paul, N., 1997). USA Today has never stood still in its quest to be the foremost news, sports, business and other social aspects their customers want to read. Gannett is continually being innovative and creative to meet the demands of the readers in an ever changing setting (Ferrell & Hartline, 2012). Since USA Today was the first newspaper to reach out to readers this way, any competition would be fighting an uphill battle to attract many readers in this niche of the market. To enhance their position, USA Today has been able to reengineer itself journalistically by shifting the paper to more serious news oriented products to stay one step ahead of any potential competitors without losing its culture of innovation.

Gannett knew that advertisers were an important asset to the success of the paper USA Today and the online version. Gannett strategy here was to attract advertisers into a partnership plan which provided six months of free space to those who purchased six months of paid advertising, and in