Publishers voted The Age Australian Newspaper of the Year last week in Melbourne. For businesses which value their mastheads highly in their accounts it surprises me that they have awarded a newspaper which regularly allows post it type ads to be stuck across the masthead.
Awards are little more than paper. They mean little in the commercial world. When was the last time you heard of someone purchasing The Age because it was named Australian Newspaper of the Year.
The real measures of how ‘good’ (this word is too ambiguous) a publication is will show in how it deals with changes in print mendia and how successful it is after doing so.
Jarryd;
Thats a bit harsh 🙂
I had several offers when we one Victorian Newsagency of the Year and again when we one it a year later. I also had an offer when we one Australian Newsagency of the Year in 2005. I also didn’t treat my awards as ‘little more than paper’, as you so eloquently put it. 😉
regards
Vaughan Lawrence
Beechworth Newsagency
Vaughan,
To you the awards are obviously not little more than paper. I was speaking from a commercial perspective, in the sense that most awards mean little to the vast majority of customers and consumers.
I would take the view that the important thing for you is not the award, but the business practices you have put in place and cultivated. I am sure that the success of your business speaks for iteslf, with or without an award. 🙂
Hey Jarryd…ever heard of the term “recognition”? Perhaps The Age is proud of “the business practices they have put in place and cultivated”. Easy to sit on the sidelines and snipe at others achievements.
Perhaps The Age is also proud of “the business practices they have put in place and cultivated”. Heard of the term “recognition”? Easy to sit on the sidelines and snipe at other’s achievements.
Ted, There is no doubt that this is about revenue and therefore share price for The Age and as part of a public company that is their only permitted goal. As one who enjoys and respects newspapers and what they stand for outside of share price, the award is not justified because of the damage they are doing to their brand. IMHO mark
Ted,
I don’t snipe. The Age may very well be proud of its achievements (excluding those that damadge their brand of course), but that doesn’t explain why they need an award. Real achievements don’t need to be recognised with an award to be achievements.