A newspaper with business acumen -- and a sense of humor

You may have seen this video satire of integrated marketing award entries. It hilariously sends up the type of kitchen-sink, social-media laden program that seems to guarantee a trophy from any ad industry awards show jury.

The perpetrator in this case is a Swedish daily financial paper, Dagens Industri, published by Bonnier AB. After satirizing emerging media frenzy for a couple of minutes, they claim their newspaper is “Still the most effective way to reach your target audience”.

A friend and colleague in Sweden tells me the video is part of a larger print campaign from by Storåkers McCann, which continues the message that Dagens Industri is an effective way to reach business people.

Laughing all the way to the bank

There is a great deal of city-room concern these days about the business side of newspapers. Just this past weekend I met another unemployed editor for a great metropolitan newspaper. A lot of publishers are struggling.

In this case, however, prospects aren’t so dim. The Wikipedia entry for Dagens Industri describes it as “the most profitable daily newspaper in Sweden”. In any case, Bonnier entered the U.S. market three years ago by acquiring several magazine titles from Time Inc. They’re doing well.

Why? They are smart enough marketers to know that advertisers who want to reach their paper’s subscribers may be represented by agencies savvy enough to get the message via social media.

The other reason is very simple: they publish an excellent newspaper. As my colleague told me, “I read Dagens Industri everyday. It’s the best way to follow our business climate in Sweden. They are perceived as very trustworthy and professional.” U.S. publishers of daily fluff, take note.