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Yeah it’s been a while folks! How y’all doing out there?? Did ya miss me?
Today my guest is Robert Cauthorn, CEO of Citytools and longtime digital media practitioner. Robert headed and launched StarNet, the first profitable online daily newspaper, which became the Arizona Daily Star. He was also the third recipient of the Newspaper Association of America’s Digital Pioneer Award. I caught a presentation Bob did at PANPA a few weeks ago and had to get him on the show. We talk about what’s wrong with the newspaper business, what they need to do to survive, and the fallacy of “trusted brands”.
Stuff about this podcast you should know:
Opening Theme Song: “Save Me†by The Napoleon Blown Aparts, America’s baddest rock n’ roll band!
What happened to you old Sponsors?
And to answer the guy, no we don’t need a virtual DBA as Progress Databases barely need a DBA at all. They just work! 😉
Molly
Good interview, Cameron. As always, Bob is well worth listening to. I do think it’s worth emphasising, though, that brand value is entirely dependant on the quality of the product – and the unique value (USP) of the product. If there’s no unique value for a reader, in the case of newspapers, then there’s no real brand, whether or not the product has been around for 150 years or 6 months. In the case of digital businesses, innovation and smart product development can, and will, contribute to a strong brand. Brand and product go hand in hand, which I think Bob agrees with here. Surely, this is the bedrock of a sustainable business?
Hugh I’m sure bob would agree. It’s about products. Brand without products is dead. And if you have the products people care about, you might also have a brand people care about, whether, as you say, you are a 150 year old business or a month old business. Where was Google ten years ago? Where was YouTube a year ago?
Loved the show… Been suffering withdrawal symptoms recently.
Only problem was halfway through listening to the show my earbuds started giving me what I am absolutely convinced were little electric shocks…
So I missed a bit of it whilst violently ripping the earbuds from my ear and trying to figure out what the hell was going on.