Newspaper & Mailroom

WAN-IFRA asks: Are you experienced?

Wednesday 04. July 2012 - Most companies have chief officers with various terms in the middle of their titles - "executive," "financial," "information," and so on - but chief "experience" officer? The Washington Post Company's new top-level position might sound as if management has been listening to too much psychedelic rock music, but it's an indication of how seriously the renowned newspaper takes its audience research.

In her new post, Laura Evans is “executive owner of the customer experience,” according to her portfolio, and all new products and major changes to existing products at the Post require her approval. For most of the past nine years, she has been the Post’s chief researcher, and has been responsible for creating company goals and dashboards that have helped lead to year-over-year traffic increases of 25 percent.
Evans will join the session on audience development entitled, “Reeling in readers and advertisers” at the 64th World Newspaper Congress, 19th World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo 2012, to be held in Kiev, Ukraine, from 2 to 5 September next. The session will also feature John Cruickshank, Publisher of the Toronto Star, Canada.
The Congress and Forum, organized by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), annually bring together more than 1,000 newspaper publishers, chief editors and other senior executives from more than 100 countries.
WAN-IFRA has also launched a Congress and Forum blog, in the run-up to the events, with background information about speakers, the venue, and some of the hot topics to be examined
Other Congress sessions include:
– Around the world in 60 minutes, a tour of the latest media trends emerging world-wide, featuring Tomas Brunegård, CEO of Stampen Group in Sweden, Carlos Fernando Lindenberg Neto, CEO of Rede Gazeta in Brazil, Mohamad Alayyan, Publishers and Chairman, United Jordan Press, Pichai Chuensuksawadi, Editor in Chief of The Bangkok Post in Thailand, Trevor Ncube, Deputy Executive Chairman of South Africa’s Mail & Guardian, and Maxim Melnikov, CEO, Media3, Russia.
– Winners shaping the future, a look at some of the more successful new business models, technology and forms of journalism emerging today, featuring Michael Golden, Vice Chairman of the New York Times Company, Greg Hywood, Chief Executive Officer of Australia-based Fairfax Media, Gwen Lister, founder and Editor-in-chief of The Namibian, and Vidar Herre, a photojournalist with Avisa Hordaland in Norway.
– Leadership: Steering the new news organisation, featuring Anna Kirah, Senior Design and Innovation Anthropologist with Steria in Norway, Earl Wilkinson, Executive Director and CEO of the International Newsmedia Marketing Association (INMA), Bill McDonald, President and Publisher of Metro English in Canada, and John Filippaki, Publisher of Dimokratia in Greece.
– New revenue strategies, which will examine new – and more importantly, sustainable – growth strategies, featuring Jacob Møller, Head of Mergers & Acquisitions for Schibsted in Sweden, Florian Bauer, Board member of Vocatus in Germany, and other speakers to be announced.
– The future of print, which continues to provide the primary source of revenue for newspaper publishers, featuring Rainer Esser, CEO of Die Zeit in Germany, Johan Malmsten, Co-founder and CEO of Netherlands-based European Daily, and other speakers to be announced.
– Digital evolution, which will examine the latest developments in paid content, tablet, mobile and video and the industry’s best paid-for apps, featuring Annelies van den Belt, CEO, SUP, Russia, Simon Regan-Edwards, Head of Technology for The Times and Sunday Times in the UK, Tor Jacobsen, Managing Director of Verdens Gang in Norway, and other speakers to be announced.
– Innovations in Newspapers 2012, the annual Congress and Editors Forum session on the most interesting developments in the newspaper industry, by the Innovations International Media Consulting Group and presented by Innovations Partner Juan Señor.
– World Press Trends, the annual “State of the Industry” presentation, with a look at global and regional figures on trends in circulation, readership, revenue and advertising, in both digital and print, presented by Larry Kilman, Deputy CEO of WAN-IFRA.
– Plus much more!
Alongside the World Newspaper Congress and the World Editors Forum, Info Services Expo 2012 will present innovative solutions from the international suppliers’ community. The exhibition offers visitors the opportunity to meet the leading suppliers to the newspaper industry and discover cutting-edge products, services and technologies.
As always, the events are accompanied by an array of social events, gala dinners and lunches and are considered to be the premier opportunity to meet colleagues from around the world.