See if you don't find this a fascinating juxtaposition?

During the recent NAA Publisher's meeting there was an interesting, well-attended session on classified advertising. It was very well done. No ground breaking news, but it clearly focused all attendees on how much has been lost and how much is at risk (the number $4 Billion was cited) if we fail to embrace the internet as the PRIMARY tool for the aggregation, distribution, and search for all our classified verticals. Digital is in! But, get this!! At just about the same time, a wisp of white smoke wafted out of the Sistine Chapel to let the world know Pope Benedict XVI had been chosen. Guess how the Publisher's of the land learned of this breaking news?

THEIR BLACKBERRY wireless devices!!

Even those Publisher's and newspaper executives who are uncertain how to best manage the internet and all it may become are reliant on it as a communications tool...do you think that's likely to increase? 'Nuff said

While this was probably coincidence, there were two common themes throughout the NAA Publisher's conference:

• Leverage your assets more; and,
• Work harder to understand your reading and advertising customer.

These points were made in a variety of different ways by just about every presenter.

To the first point - in most markets, the newspaper and associated web site represent the #1 and #2 reach medium. Are we acting that way? Are we cross promoting wisely? Are we learning how both assets can work together to better serve advertisers? Are we learning how to segment and target audiences via both platforms? Does the registration database blend seamlessly with others? Have we expanded beyond our comfortable and well understood niches?

Until the answer to all is a resounding "YES!" we have work to do.

And, the second - as you might expect, was music to our ears. A better understanding of those we serve is fundamental to improving our financial futures as well as migrating to any other platforms. The instincts of a century of newspapering are simply not reliable without the compass of research intelligence.

Part of that improved intelligence on the advertising front must mean forging better alliances and working relationships amongst all papers. Valassis, the billion dollar communications company responsible for so many of the inserts we carry described working with newspapers in a way I had not heard before: "Dealing with newspapers is like working with fourteen hundred island nations." Follow up comments bemoaned our poor communication (!!) skills, coordination, pace of change, arrogance and lack of innovation.

And, while many organizations are doing wonderfully on some of these points, it is the coordination across our medium that bedevils our working relationship with key advertiser's like Valassis... especially, when a single call can execute a campaign in ANY geography via television or direct mail.

Speaking of 'innovation', during a recent visit to Southeast Asia, we learned of at least one news"paper" who was well on the way to offering a paperless product...

...in Malaysia, Tim Foong at The Star is slicing and dicing content and selling it to any one who wants any piece of it and delivering it via the internet or even as a text message. At the same time they are "selling" and placing ads online via their "cyber ad rep" in much the same way banks have tried to eliminate tellers where possible. These initiatives have already translated in to several hundred thousand dollars of incremental revenue on top of the largest distribution newspaper in the land.

In several recent conferences there have been presentations or panels of analysts or economists. While most expressed reservations on our sector, all acknowledge that if we can get our collective act together, the future can, indeed, be very bright.

Yes, investments in new technologies are required, but if these investments are communicated well with "The Street" and if there are benchmarks along the way measuring progress towards our ability to serve customers via the internet and all the "coalition of niches" we will eventually publish, then stock price should not be adversely affected.

This is important and encouraging! As a committed newspaper partner we've worried strategic planning and investment have been too short - sighted. However, if there is a wall street communications strategy to best deploy over the next few years, here's hoping all will embrace it now.