Newspaper & Mailroom
Want to Reach Younger Readers? Talk to Parents and Teachers
Tuesday 01. September 2009 - Newspapers that are popular with younger readers know how to reach the "influencers" of young people - not their friends or young celebrities, but their parents and teachers.
The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) will offer an array of strategies for connecting with parents and teachers, on multiple platforms and in ways that bring in new revenues, at “Making New Connections,” the 8th World Young Reader Conference, to be held from 27 to 30 September in Prague, Czech Republic.
“Every shred of recent research tells us that parents and teachers, not friends, are the key to a young person adopting the habit of consuming newspaper content, whether on paper or on the latest devices,” said Aralynn McMane, Director of Young Readership Development at WAN-IFRA. “Making the right connections to these influencers isnt hard and can even be remunerative.”
Full details of the conference, including programme and registration information, can be found at www.wan-press.org/prague2009.
Sessions will include:
How to create a social network targeting mothers that also attracts new advertisers.
How a Dutch newspaper got its community to elect the “coolest” teacher in a contest that increased reader loyalty.
How to persuade prominent local figures to support Newspapers in Education by “adopting” a class.
How to help teachers and families encourage actions that improve the environment.
How Newspapers in Education coordinators have worked with teachers to keep young reader activities alive despite economic hard times.
How the supplement and online forum “Internet in the Family” attracted new sponsors and made an Argentine paper an ally to hundreds of thousands of teachers and parents.
Speakers include:
Anna Homqvist, Chief Editor, and Ylva Hvarfner, Managing Director, of Swedens Familjeliv.com, which became an editorial and commercial success through marketing and partnerships with other newspapers in a concept that can be adopted in other markets.
Huub Paulissen, Chief Editor of Dagblad De Limburger/Limburgs Dagblad, on how the papers contest to elect the “coolest” teacher increased reader loyalty. The paper won this years top WAN-IFRA World Young Reader Prize in the brand category.
Sandy Woodcock, Director of the Newspaper Association of America Foundation, on how some US newspapers have found creative ways to monetise young reader activities involving parents and teachers, even in an economic downturn.
Mark Astley, Chief Editor at Express & Echo in the United Kingdom, on the wide-ranging benefits of helping children take action to help save the environment. Express & Echo is a 2009 World Young Reader Newspaper of the Year.
Roxana Morduchowicz, Media Education Director at the Argentine Education Ministry, on how newspapers can use the “Internet in the Family” guide, which WAN-IFRA will make available to conference participants.
Elisabeth Jessen and Sabine Tesche, Editors at Hamburger Abendblatt in Germany, which has obtained financial support by prominent members of the community for its Newspapers in Education programme.
There is still time to register! The full programme and registration details can be found at www.wan-press.org/prague2009.
The conference is supported by Norske Skog, the Norway-based global paper producer, and the Czech Publishers Association, along with SMART Technologies and Czech distribution company PNS.
Other companies and organizations that work with newspapers, and are interested in youth initiatives, can become supporters and exhibitors for the event