New York Times Brews Deal with Dunkin Donuts
Having a cup of coffee and enjoying the Sunday newspaper is a long standing tradition in homes around the world.
However, the popularity of online media and social networking has replaced the paper with a computer screen and mouse. The results, as most know, have been devastating for the news business and have forced major news conglomerates to look at nontraditional ways to get traditional advertising dollars.
Take the news of the New York Times partnering with Dunkin Donuts for example.
The publisher, New York Times Co., will distribute its news to 850 television screens in Dunkin’ Donuts coffee shops and other locations in five U.S. cities to promote its brand and help sell subscriptions to the newspaper.
According to reports, the publisher will stream short news blurbs to TV screens (business, movie, technology and health news, among other New York Times content) operated by San Francisco-based RMG Networks starting today. Twenty percent of the content will advertising New York Times subscriptions or other products.
“It’s a branding play to a large degree,” Murray Gaylord, NYTimes.com vice president for marketing, told Businessweek. “We’re getting the value of our content to millions of people in a new venue that’s very important for us.”
This move, along with others, is an attempt to make up for lagging paper sales and dwindling circulation. Earlier this year, the company said it would start changing for web content.
These types of consumer integration ideas aren't new.
Go into just about any elevator and riders will be entertained by mini-screens flashing the same type of content that the Times plans for Dunkin Donuts.
Despite the Times being a day late and a dollar short on their advertising strategy (just like other other news outlets), consumers don't want messaging with their large regular coffee mostly due in part to the social web.
When are media companies going to learn that push messaging strategies don't work in today's socially-minded world?
Unless these mini-screens are providing exclusive content that consumers can't get anywhere else, they are pretty much temporary eye distractions while waiting in line.
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