Wall Street Journal Report: News Corp. Australia Unit Considers Re-Branding

Wall Street Journal Report: News Corp. Australia Unit Considers Re-Branding

On September 23, 2011, The Wall Street Journal Online featured an article entitled "News Corp. Australia Unit Considers Re-Branding" in which the author discussed the desire of News Corp. Australia to re-vamp their corporate image (Lower, 2011). This article came at a time when the scandal surrounding the phone hacking done by journalists at the News of the World newspaper in the United Kingdom was at the forefront of world media (Lower). Although the company says the re-branding has nothing to do with the scandal, the fact that they are moving to re-brand shows consumers they believe there is room for improvement within the company marketing strategy that is currently employed.

The article itself related to quite a few concepts covered in this week's lecture and reading topics. First, was the building of brand equity for the company (Kotler & Keller, 2012). According to Lower, News Corp. Australia operates a number of major national newspapers, such as the Australian and Daily Telegraph, regional newspapers including the Herald Sun, and local editions of popular magazines such as GQ and Vogue (2011). While many of these large, well-known names will speak for themselves, News Corp. wants to change the way they communicate with their customers externally as well as internally through the concept of internal branding in order to appear as more responsible brand in the print industry (Lower). By reviewing and updating their image, News Corp. will be able create brand equity via the different branding models, such as brand resonance or BrandZ, by more effectively connecting to the consumer and transforming their brand from one of simply being present to being bonded to the customer for guaranteed patronage (Kotler & Keller).

Another concept that stood out from the text in relation to the article was the product life cycle in which Kotler & Keller (2012) discussed the different stages of a products existence. Currently, the print industry as a whole is in a decline stage. Newspapers have been having a particularly difficult time, with Pew Research Center for Excellence in Journalism reporting a 48% decrease in revenue and a 30% decrease in circulation since 1990 (2011). This is due in large part to the rise of the internet. According to the textbook, newspapers are in what is considered a slow decline meaning that profits are declining slowly over a long period of time (Kotler & Keller). While some firms are withdrawing from the industry or being taken over by larger conglomerates, News Corp. should re-brand and market their newspaper but also focus their energy on print items such as magazines that are holding steadier in their product life cycle.

Finally, this week's chapters also discussed the importance of brand positioning in comparison to other products and your competitors.