Newspaper & Mailroom

Priceless advice on setting the right price

Wednesday 15. August 2012 - Pricing strategies are increasingly taking centre stage for newspaper publishers as they seek to maximise revenues in challenging times. The upcoming World Newspaper Congress will offer new concepts and expert guidance on setting the right price in print and online.

“A customer’s willingness to pay, whether it be for a print subscription price increase or even a high price for a new product in e-publishing, is often much different than what a publisher might think,” says Florian Bauer, Board member of Vocatus, one of the world’s leading specialists in pricing and customer loyalty strategies.
“Pricing needs to be based on empirical data, not on a gut feeling, not on a competitor and not on cost,” said Mr Bauer, who will join an international panel of top publishing executives in a Congress session dedicated to generating new revenues.
As newspaper circulation declines in many markets, and publishers have mixed results in generating revenue from digital offerings, pricing strategies play an increasingly important role to ensure that publishers are getting the most return from their products and audiences.
The Congress, to be held from 2 to 5 September in Kiev, Ukraine, focuses on this and other major issues facing newspaper publishers today. More than 1,000 publishers, CEOs, chief editors, managing directors and other senior newspaper executives will be attending the Congress, World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo 2012, the global summit meetings of the world’s press, organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).
In addition to Mr Bauer, the session on new revenue generation will include Jacob Møller, Head of Mergers & Acquisitions for Schibsted in Sweden; Geoff Tan, Senior Vice President, Strategic Marketing Department for Singapore Press Holdings; Leonyd Bershidsky, Editor-in-Chief, of Forbes magazine in Ukraine; and Eduardo Sirotsky Melzer, CEO of RBS Group in Brazil.
Another leading publishing executive who will share his insights into expanding growth strategies is Miguel Forbes, Television and Licensing President for renowned business specialist Forbes Media. Mr Forbes, who supervises the strategy and development of new business opportunities for the company through international partnerships and acquisitions, will close the first day of the Congress speaking about media’s role in the global economy.
Other Congress sessions include:
– 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 and Managing Director of Fairfax Media in Australia; Gwen Lister, founder and Executive Director of The Namibian; and and Vidar Herre, photojournalist with Avisa Hordaland in Norway.
– 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.
– Digital compass: Where are we going, who is leading the way?, which will examine the latest developments in paid content, tablet, mobile and video and the industry’s best paid-for apps, featuring Tor Jacobsen, Managing Director of Verdens Gang in Norway; Marc Challinor, Head of Mobile, The Daily Telegraph, UK; Christoph Keese, Head of Public Relations, Axel Springer, Germany; Annelies van den Belt, CEO, SUP, Russia; Simon Regan-Edwards, Head of Technology for The Times and Sunday Times in the UK; Mikael Pentikainen, Publisher and Senior Editor-in-chief, Helsingin Sanomat, Finland; Morten Henriksen, CIO Berner Gruppen, Norway; and Dietmar Schantin, Founder of the Institute of Media Strategies, Austria.
– Leadership: Steering the new news organization, 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, Rod Banner, founder of the advertising agency Banner Corporation, John Filippakis, Publisher of Dimokratia in Greece, and Constantine Kamaras, Vice Chairman of 24 Media, also from Greece..
– Print plus, which examines innovations in print, the primary source of revenue for newspaper publishers, featuring Rainer Esser, CEO of Die Zeit in Germany; Amandeep Singh Khurana, Chief Operating Officer of Madison Media Plus in India; and Johan Malmsten, Co-founder and CEO of Netherlands-based European Daily.
– 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.
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.
– Welcome cocktail at the garden of the St. Sophia Cathedral (Sunday, 19:30): One of the city’s renowned landmarks and first Ukrainian patrimony to make on the World Heritage list.
– Folk night and dinner at Museum of Folk Architecture and Life (Monday, 18:30): Together we visit the open-air museum that features more than 300 pieces of traditional Ukrainian folk buildings. They are gathered in a collection of villages, each depicting a different region of Ukraine.
– Gala dinner at Mystetskyi Arsenal: Mystetskyi (meaning “art”) houses priceless works of art and showcases modern installations by internationally renowned artists. It represents the bustling artistic and cultural scene that is emerging in Kiev and the community’s desire to be a global player in contemporary artistic expression.