How much longer do you give the printed word? When Sir Tim Berners-Lee suggested in 1989 that people around the planet might be linked together via a communal ‘world-wide web’ his boss wrote on the top of his (paper) memo, “Vague but exciting...”  You could say the same thing about digital media. Right now people are either writing for it or viewing it. But few, if any, are making any money from it.

Now Mr Murdoch says we should pay for on-line journalism. Well good luck to any publisher who plans to start charging for previously free-to-view content. Forget the horse…the entire bloomin’ stable has bolted! And if anyone thinks that ‘e-readers’, having become used to unlimited access to free data, will be queuing up to pay for their daily on-line fix they’d better think again. Of course it IS possible to charge for e-content, but only if it’s a) highly-specialised b) sufficiently ‘must-have’ to justify the price and c) unavailable anywhere else. There’s not much that fits that bill. And there aren’t too many obvious ‘payer-users’ either, apart perhaps from the odd lawyer, scientists or analyst. Not exactly your average audience for most ‘automotive editorial’. Indeed, the current proliferation of free on-line magazines, websites and blogs – not forgetting the vast amount of material produced on the vehicle manufacturers’ own websites – make it nigh-on impossible to re-write the rule book.

The other day I heard some media guru saying that the reason why people should pay for on-line content is because good journalism is expensive – the inference being that people value deeply-analytical, independent and above all factually-correct content. Funny, most journalists I know click on Wikipedia when they want to research something…go figure that one.

Whatever the philosophical argument, I can’t see too many publishers being able to charge for on-line content. So the reported imminent death of hard-copy publishing (which can and does still make money) is somewhat exaggerated. Meanwhile, if you’ve been wondering where the world of print and on-line journalism is ultimately going click on this (free) link http://epic.makingithappen.co.uk/new-masterfs1.html where you’ll find a truly fascinating bit of future–gazing from Robin Sloan for the Museum of Media History. His ‘Epic 2014’ and recently-updated ‘Epic 2015’ flash-animations are the most thought-provoking glimpse into the next phase of journalism I’ve ever encountered. The future for publishing might be vague – but it’s also undeniably exciting.  Just like the worldwide web really.

I had a very interesting conversation with one of my colleagues the other day, looking at the question - what kind of cars do the BRIC nations prefer? According to some recent research, global auto sales will increase from last year’s 62 million units to between 78 million and 87 million in 2014, in which potentially 31% will come from the BRIC countries, with China set to take the lead with a 23% share of the market.  So, for both carmakers and suppliers, it is now crucial to enter these markets, armed with right products.
Conventional wisdom is that consumers in Brazil, Russia, India and China – all alike – favour low cost cars. If we take a closer look at the four markets, we find that this view is only partly right.
What is particularly unique about the BRIC markets is that buyers have diverse preferences for cars, and it requires insights from global automakers in terms of marketing localisation.
Traditionally, the Indian market has been dominated by ultra low-cost minicars the Brazilian population is fond of hatchbacks and in the case of Russia, the market welcomes affordable Western sedans, and to a lesser extent, cheap SUVs.
The Chinese market has two distinguishing features. The majority of the cars sold in China are at the medium and low end, and they are mainly affordable ‘luxury-style’ sedans, which means, compact cars are not welcome at all. On the other hand, China has become the world’s second largest market for luxury goods and the sales volume of luxury cars has been increasing. For instance, in 2009 VW sold 158,941 Audis, 484 Bentleys and 118 Lamborghinis in China.
I understand the significance of economy of scale in the automotive industry, and think the logic behind Henry Ford’s Model T still stands. However, it is important that such strategies for volume production do not become single-minded, but accommodate those markets that have different tastes.

In the current economic climate there are new ways of measuring business success. Survival is right up there as one of them so we at APR are feeling quite smug at the moment because 2010 is our 10th Anniversary year.

To have managed to keep our heads above water in the face of the tremendous storms which have beset our industry – particularly during the last two years – is a remarkable achievement. And of course we’ve done much better than merely survive  - as far as our clients are concerned, we’ve gone on servicing them effectively, making their messages stand out amongst the information overload which is a factor of modern life.

Our service – public relations – is often derided as a ‘discretionary’ part of the business mix, something which can be turned off when times get tough. Nothing is further from the truth as our many long term clients (many of who we have looked after for well over ten years, thanks to our precursor businesses) well recognise. 

In fact, when times are hard then that is the time to get your messages heard. PR, cheaper and more effective than advertising, really comes into its own at this time. It is the companies which are judged to be resilient and competent in the downturn that will win the rewards in the upturn.

We’re going to be marking our first decade in a number of ways during 2010 but we kicked off with a glittering lunch for the Chairmen and CEOs of many of our major clients at London’s prestigious RAC Club. We were honoured to be joined as our principal guest by HRH Prince Michael of Kent. HRH, as well as being President of the RAC, has a legion of automotive facing roles, not the least in looking after the ‘greening’ of the Royal Household’s vehicle fleet. We have worked with him on a number of campaigns relating to road safety, something very close to his heart.

As the Prince himself put it in his address to our audience: “Good communication is vital to the health of any organisation and its relationships – with staff, with suppliers and of course with customers. If you can’t get your messages across effectively, clearly and positively then you will never make any headway. We rely on professional firms like APR to get the right messages out, and often their role is unsung and unjustly decried”.