What's to learn from the folding of 8020

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What's to learn from the folding of 8020
By Diego Vasquez
Feb 10, 2009 - 1:07:31 AM

Very much in the spirit of the internet age, the publisher 8020 sought to bring together the best of print and the web in two publications, a photography magazine, JPG, and Everywhere, which focused on travel. Readers participated as a community in both, contributing to and voting on what would appear in the print editions. The aim was to blur the lines between professionals and amateurs and contributors and audience. But while 8020 had the backing of a major internet figure, CNET founder Halsey Minor, the venture foundered for lack of support from the media buying community, the very people head of sales Rob A. Kligman felt should have rallied to its innovative approach to publishing. In the early days of the new year, 8020 ran out of money and shut down. Media Life talks to Kligman about what was unique about 8020, why it failed to win the support of media buyers, and what that failure says about the media buying process.

As more players like 8020 come along, how do you see it changing the media buying process? Or will it?

We've already seen agencies begin to consolidate their teams to have cross-media responsibility. This is not due to the 8020 model but more from the web increasingly becoming a key component of the marketing mix.

Platforms like 8020 Media that have co-dependent media components will continue to challenge media teams that are unable to plan across multiple disciplines.

Planning seems to fall apart due to the fact that value needs to be placed appropriately against each platform (versus receiving one medium as added value).

At 8020 we consistently saw digital planners defer to the print planning teams to evaluate our multi-platform proposals.

This was unfortunate since the key opportunity was not in print with JPG and Everywhere. The key opportunity was on the web site, where the advertiser became part of the conversation via the web community and engaged in the inspiration, sharing and voting process that led to pages in a magazine.

All the interactivity and consumer engagement on the web was sacrificed for the sake of whether or not a page ad made sense in the magazine.

Do you sense that buyers are increasingly timid, more than several years ago, perhaps?

Media buyers are in no way timid.

They do not have anything to lose by asking for something crazy. Especially in today's economy, planners and buyers know that the proposal you submitted may make or break your month.

It seems that we have moved from a media environment where some of the fundamentals have been left behind. It used to be you find the most targeted, qualified audience for your advertising message within a contextually relevant environment. These days, especially in the digital world, advertisers are migrating to where the lowest CPMs are found.

What was the idea behind 8020 Media?

8020 Media offered a very unique opportunity for marketers to become part of the conversation through our communities, both online and in print. We were the brand you wanted to be part of when the goals included engagement, integration, beyond the banner, multi-platform.

We offered advertisers the opportunity to inspire and engage with our community unlike any other new media company. Advertisers had the unique opportunity to connect with consumers through their passion points; JPG was for the love of photography and Everywhere focused on travel.

Two additional brands were slated for 2009, including an auto and fashion product.

What response did you get from media planners and buyers?

My experience with 8020 highlighted the fact that while today's media planners and buyers claim to seek innovative and integrated opportunities for their clients, the great majority are skeptical and slow to test new opportunities.

Many agencies that support niche clients tend toward recommending the same properties every planning cycle.

I found it takes a very unique media personality to do their research and uncover what is untapped and unique in an otherwise cluttered media landscape.

What was your pitch to media people on why JPG and Everywhere were good media investments?

Be a part of the conversation, the ability to take a client's campaign objective and create a conversation around it. Allow the community to run with their interpretation, along with the viral nature and footsteps that occurred outside of the two brands (JPG and Everywhere).

There's obviously an outlet for user-generated content over the internet. What's the reasoning behind an actual print product featuring this approach?

There are no print media outlets in existence today that hand over 100 percent ownership of the content to its community members.

We created an opportunity for exactly that.

We empowered our community, provided them the tools to upload articles and photos, vote a favorite, pass to a friend, Digg and Facebook their submissions, with the hope that their product would be seen in a beautifully produced, nationally distributed magazine.

We ultimately created a reward for the community's work, tangible evidence of the creativity, experiences and community they were part of.

This was one of the most active and engaged audiences available within a passion group.

Why, ultimately, did 8020 Media fail?

An idea before its time.

In a struggling economy, what's the argument for media people to try new approaches rather than stick with the same old media?

It's important now more than ever for the dollars that are spent to be effective.

There are more and more targeted opportunities available, especially online – and publishers are willing to deal. Media teams should look at properties that really have a connection to their audience, are resourceful and trusted by consumers.

That's where their media dollars will go the farthest.