I was in an elevator on my way down to dinner at my Hong Kong hotel tonight and James Packer stepped in. No, I didn’t ask why he has retreated from the old media companies his family name has been connected with for so long and what he felt newsagents ought to take away from this. I didn’t say anything. It wasn’t the place or time – and an elevator ride is so brief.
My questions have answers through the actions of PBL. James Packer sees a brighter future or an easier ride – or a mix of both – in new media; newsagents currently have no role in new media. Like James Packer has done for his own assets, newsagents need to make entrepreneurial business decisions which put their needs ahead of others.
For more than a year I have been contemplating the newsagency of the future. Based on many conversations with newsagents across the country, I know that newsagents are expecting suppliers to guide them to the future. Riding in the lift with James Packer I knew that there was no point in asking the question. I don’t begrudge his decision to sell down his old media interests, not for a second.
Newsagents cannot rely on anyone, including long term suppliers such as the formerly Packer controlled ACP Magazines, to deliver their future. Just as James Packer is doing for his interests, newsagents need to follow their own path.
Some are already pursuing a brighter future over which they have more control, many are not. How does one get that message across, how do we turn newsagents from the process workers many have been for decades into entrepreneurial business people? I have some thoughts and will explore these here soon.
In the meantime, the diversification of the Packer interests including a focus on new media (online) offers some pointers newsagents would do well to consider.