My presentation, and the key innovative aspect of the i

On Monday we presented an example of innovation in the media, and for my presentation I chose to focus on the 'i', a cheap quality paper from the Independent Group.

Below are the slides used for my presentation.

The innovation I was keen to point out in particular was the way the i avoided the expected routes of being a free paper or going digital, and instead managing to make a profit from print format - which was and still is considered a dying format. The i did this by focusing instead on a gap in the market and examining what customers really wanted from print papers that was causing them to leave the current crop in favour of online or free alternatives. The reason was a combination of not enough time for quality papers and not enough quality in tabloid papers - yet this had not been addressed in any real way by the current market.

The innovation behind the i therefore is in many ways depressing - it is the way that customer wants and needs haven't been fully explored and examined, and the i's willingness to make this happen allowed it to take the lead where many other newspapers had simply not bothered.

A Case Study of Unbound

For this case study , I chose to analyse Unbound, an innovative publishing company that "... puts the power of publishing in the hands of authors and readers." Unbound use the pledges of customers to fund book projects and when 100% of the funding has been made Unbound take the cut for their service.

The main innovation that I found was that Unbound have found a cost effective way to cut out the traditional use of the publishing house and still give the customer what they want. There is still clearly a need and a want for books but Unbound have just found a way to cut out the costs of advances, staffing and print runs. 

Although there have been more failures than successes, this company is still in its early stages. I find it to be incrementally innovative and find that publishers should be looking to companies like Unbound to find new strategies to survive.

The Atavist

For my case study I looked at The Atavist; an innovative, digital publisher.  They have created their own genre (‘longer than a novel, shorter than a book’) within publishing, and have also introduced various forms of multimedia into their digital content.  A key issue that I have noticed during my research is the potential pitfall of disruptive innovation.  By creating a completely new genre, they are making more work for themselves than the average start-up business.  This is because their potential customers will not necessarily be aware of the type of content they are supplying.  Unfortunately, The Atavist also relies on attracting a much wider range of customers than the average start-up business, due to their varied content.  It does not matter how innovative The Atavist are, or how good their idea is; if the customer cannot find their content, they cannot pay for it, and therefore the business is not likely to succeed.  The Atavist needs to concentrate on raising their profile, and on building a lasting relationship with their customer, to ensure that they make enough profit to stay afloat and continue innovating.

The Blizzard case study

The Blizzard

I was asked at the end of my presentation on Monday whether I thought that The Blizzard could provide a business model the future for print magazines and newspapers. For newspapers I don't think so, the reason the The Blizzard does well in print is because it is collectible, which in turn is due to the high standard of writing in it. Newspapers are brief and disposable, the opposite of what The Blizzard represents. The collectible and book-like nature of the publication is what drives fans to by the hard copy. Which is why it works so well as a magazine. I believe it could offer an alternative to print magazines that are struggling to maintain their sales as there is a sense of desire created around owning a hard copy. It's something they can put on their bookshelf and be proud to say they're a fan of. The Blizzard is so highly regarded by its fans that they are willing to pay more than the minimum spend in the pay-what-you-want basis, on both the hard and digital copy, making it a profitable business innovation. 

Inkling: A Case Study in Innovation

For my case study, I looked at an innovative digital publishing start-up called Inkling. The company primarily works with educational publishers to convert their paper textbooks into a digital format. However, rather than simply scanning a copy of the textbook to achieve this aim, Inkling instead re-builds the books specifically for use on an iPad. The result is that the textbooks are transformed into multimedia-enriched interactive experiences complete with graphics, 3D diagrams, audio clips, videos and a variety of interactive features. It is undoubtedly an incredible product which has the ability to engage students and change the entire learning experience. Students no longer just simply read the book, but instead play a part in creating its content.

What I found particularly interesting about Inkling, however, is that despite being confident in the quality of its product, the company realises that it does not matter how good it is if no one knows about it. That is why the company has developed a strategy to use Google as a storefront for its titles in the hope that it can get to customers before they get to Amazon. It is a lesson that companies always must look at the big picture and constantly strive to achieve new ways of improving, promoting, distributing and ultimately selling their products in order to be successful.