Hearst Company's Green Website
Hearst magazines have announced plans to release a new consumer web site based around the idea and rise of environmental consciousness in the
Hearst launched this new website in the middle of an uprising of global awareness among
The Hearst Company is involved in many aspects of the media including newspapers, magazines, broadcasting, entertainment and syndication, and many other business oriented aspects of media. This new website will enable Hearst Company to receive more reach for their company. By reaching out to environmentally friendly individuals the Hearst company is speaking to a new demographic of people. Individuals who gaze through TheDailyGreen.com will now be inclined to look at the rest of what the Hearst Company has to offer which will attain more reach.
The timing is perfect to release this new web site, just as the weather is becoming warmer and the summer months are right around the corner. Individuals tend to become more health conscious and exercise more as the weather gets more pleasant and it is almost time to get into a bathing suite. This site will be great for individuals who are trying to shed some of the winter weight they have attained over the past few months. Geographically, I believe that the Hearst Company will advertise throughout the
The purpose of the launch of TheDailyGreen.com is intended to reach more people and not so much to gain more frequency. To promote the new site, Hearst said it plans to feature select Daily Green editorial in House Beautiful each month as well as on other Hearst magazine Web sites and on top social networking sites MySpace and Facebook, where the company can obtain reach to a younger generation of people. This new website will help the Hearst Company to have a positive appearance in the eyes of both the consumer and the media.
posted by Scott Duffy @ 1:06 PM
3 Comments
3 Comments:
This is a very interesting move for Hearst. I'm anxious to see whether or not the site has any corporate sponsors. With the announcement that titles like ElleGirl are going to online-only formats, I'm sure that Hearst is trying to find a way to make the Internet pay off financially.
I agree with Scott that increasing reach is a good reason for the new website -- but I'd be surprised if there wasn't some kind of traditional magazine tie-in down the road.
It seems as though Hearst has two objectives here. The first, as Scott said, is probably to use green marketing as an opportunity to reach out to a new market segment. However, Hearst may also be scared for their reputation over the long run if they do not do something to appear more socially, environmentally, and ethically responsible. It seems as though we are constantly bombarded with the dangers of global warming, health messages, and news about social situations and conditions in the United States. Hearst is jumping on the green band wagon before a lot of other companies with the power to deliver the message, giving them the edge. “Going green” may be enough to sway consumers to a Hearst publication because it has a more responsible image than a comparable magazine from a different publisher. I am interested to see how the media mix will be implemented with this and if the main target audience for the site will include adults, teens, males, females, or a combination. The media planners will be faced with making sure their advertising for the site is compliant with their message. They may choose to host a variety of outdoor events and it might be neat to see some “environmentally friendly outdoor marketing.” A study by the World Wildlife Fund found that a majority of consumers prefer brands that are environmentally and socially responsible. Hearst is taking full advantage of social responsibility at just the right time in order to both position themselves as an environmentally conscious company as well as gain new readership to their site and publications.
I think Kim made some excellent comments about what promotional events might be effective to really get this website up and running. It's a great way to incorporate the internet as a source of media to expand their reach and potential market. The only thing I'm curious of is what market they will be focusing on. I think it's a great idea to begin promoting the new site on myspace and facebook because the youth are the ones that need to make the changes in the environment. I think targeting the youth market is a good approach to take in order to see environmental results. However, in order to do this I think they need some sort of outdoor promotional event, like Kim said, when the website first kicks off. Perhaps even a promotional tie-in on myspace and facebook would be beneficial as well or something to attract the youth to want to go to the website with an interest in the environmental cause. Scott mentioned they were opening up blog comments to professionals but maybe an additional blog space could be set up for youth and questions they want answered or simple information they can go to to truly understand the environmental concern and the effect it will have on our future. It is an important concern and I feel tying in the youth to get them directly involved and begin asking questions about the environment is a great way to promote the dailygreen website. I also agree that this is a perfect time to release the website and it's up to Hearst to implement their idea and timing to the public in a unique way, particularly through promotions and by taking advantage of their other media sources to expand the reach as much as possible.
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