Photo courtesy of Wired

It was unofficially announced that the cost for subscription to The Wall Street Journal on Apple’s new “must have” device, the iPad, will run a news hound $18/month. This produced an immediate gasp in the media world as to whether this is too much money for an app, when you consider that a subscription for the print version is only $9.

Still, the argument in favor of the premium price is that this is, after all, The Wall Street Journal – not just “any” news app. Another, is that online version promises to have far more features than found in the print version, Also, it will be the very first newspaper app on the iPad and counts for something.

Whereby at first glance the $18 price tag seems over the top – double, when compared with the print version, I began to wonder what should the cost of newspaper apps be on the iPad, how is it formulated and what will the market bear?

Thinking about the standard price formula, I translated some of the costs involved. If we already know that pricing is generally based upon the sum of variable costs, fixed costs, and profit, then without a degree in Business Economics, I may be able to figure this out.

We can assume that WSJ has priced their print to include all of their costs for producing content and that it costs the WSJ less than $9.92 per month to produce it and still make a profit. So, let’s focus then on the costs involved on an app.

Not really knowing as yet the average costs for developing apps on the iPad, it is safe to assume that it will be similar to developing one for an iPhone. According to this discussion, it takes 200 hours at $50/hour on average to produce an app for the iPhone. If I assume that WSJ hires someone at $50/hour to do this, than one only needs to add the application license fee from Apple of $399.  As to downloads, iPhone applications, on average, are downloaded 25,000 times per year. It is therefore safe to assume that the WSJ iPad application will follow this pattern and be downloaded that many times.

So here is the formula that will figure out the WSJ app’s ideal price:

(Development Hours X Hourly Rate) + License Fee/Average Number of Downloads = Price (Apple’s Commission) + Print Subscription Price

Or, shortened:

If we follow this formula, it will cost The Wall Street Journal $10,399 to produce the app, including the license. If they fall into the average, then approximately 2,083 will be downloaded every month. The total cost then per download is $4.99. When you add Apple’s commission, the cost becomes $6.49. Next, when you add in the current price of the print subscription (which theoretically includes the cost of producing content), the price according to our formula should be $16.41.

If you consider the “prestige” category and that and the fact that the app will contain added features, then $18/month makes perfect sense. Also, if WSJ continues to support and develop the app throughout the year, then the costs would stay relatively the same monthly.

Does that mean the market will bear that price? Time will tell but the sticker price is no longer so shocking.

• Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
• The Televised Car Chase
• September 11, 2001
• The Cola Wars of the 1980s
• US Airways Flight 1549
• Fall of the Berlin Wall
• War Time Coverage
• Demi Moore’s Cover for Vanity Fair
• Real-Time Communication
• Barack Obama’s Social Media Election Campaign of 2008
• Dan Rather Exits As News Anchor
• First Dot Com Web Domain
• Debut of Roger & Me
• Gen-Y Changes the Playing Field
• Demise of Seattle News Institution
• The Rise of Pundits
• The Oprah “Effect”
• Reality Television
• Mosaic Browser Introduction
• Entertainment As News
• Product Craze
• Death of Princess Diana Media Implications
• Faux News Scandal
• First Blog Post
• You!

We introduce our third guest blogger of our monthly series on the 25th of every month, in celebration of our 25th anniversary, Jay Baer,  who writes in the below blog, on forward thinking social media programs and their composition.

Jay Baer is one of the world’s most popular social media strategy consultants and bloggers. His Convince & Convert social media blog is consistently ranked among the top business blogs, and he speaks to tens of thousands of marketers annually at conferences and conventions. Founder of five companies, he’s a digital marketing pioneer that started online in 1994. He’s worked with more than 700 brands since then, including 25 of the Fortune 1000 (Nike, Pepsi, Sony, Cadbury, Conoco/Phillips, Procter & Gamble). He’s a tequila-loving forest dweller with a passion for tequila, and spreads his “strategy first, then tactics” message like a digital dandelion.

I’m sitting in a restaurant in Cincinnati last night, surrounded by televisions with the sound turned down. The bartender approaches, and asks if I’d like to hear the TV. I say “sure” expecting him to saunter over to a monitor, and turn up the volume. Instead, he reaches under the bar, and pulls out a Soundog unit.

The Soundog is an ingenious device – a small, personal speaker with switching capabilities, enabling me to listen to whichever game I prefer without bothering nearby patrons.

Happily using this handy new technology, I was struck by its utter usefulness and the fact that it neatly addressed a common (although perhaps not world-changing) problem.

Why can’t your social media program do that?

The difference between “selling” and “helping” is only two letters, but the gap is in reality, much larger.

The best – and most effective – social media programs aren’t based on promotions and message distribution. Instead, they revolve around removing friction and uncertainty for potential or current customers.

Nationwide Insurance has a terrific iPhone app that allows you to document a vehicle crash in real-time, including photos, collection of the other drivers’ insurance information, and other key details. They aren’t trying to sell you more insurance – at least not at that point – they are being helpful.

Geek Squad makes its living providing technology configuration and repair services, via BestBuy stores everywhere. But yet Geek Squad has a YouTube channel that includes hundreds of videos showing people how to do it themselves. They aren’t trying to sell you services – at least not at that point – they are being helpful.

Geek Squad Founder Robert Stephens was asked about the contradiction of a services company providing helpful videos at a conference where I spoke. He said that the reality is, their best customers are those that can do some of it themselves. If they can assist them initially, they’ll appreciate it and turn to the when they need more help.

That’s understanding the difference between selling and helping. That’s understanding that social media success is a long putt, not a tap-in. That’s measuring results on an annual basis, not a weekly basis.

That’s what you should be doing.

Start today by conducting a Helpfulness Audit for your company. Talk to your customer service department, or survey your customers and document the top 10 problems that customers have with your product or service. Then, strategize ways you could make those problems disappear by providing better content (as with Geek Squad), faster response (as with Nationwide), or better access to help (as many companies are doing by launching online customer support communities using Get Satisfaction or other systems).

Our agency opened its doors on March 25^th 1985. It’s been a quarter of a century, today. It’s our day…

We are privileged to have been a witness to some of the most accelerated changes in history — moments that occurred from 1985, the year of our founding, to today — moments in time that have impacted not only history, but the PR consciousness and subsequently changed the ‘way it was’ from that ‘moment’ forward.  Recognizing this, we set out to put it all into some perspective to crystallize these impactful moments.

Our choice of 25 PR Defining Moments, over our 25 years, is capsulated in the video below.

We sought out ideas for our list from our colleagues, PR professionals and journalists, asking them to submit their ideas.  The criteria for inclusion was that the ‘moment in time’ over the last quarter of a century, had to have found its place in history or altered the way we live our lives, and also had to have impacted change within the context of public relations.  The ‘moments’ submitted could have influenced a lifestyle change, unfurled a technology that would change the way we lead our everyday lives, spotlighted a news happening through an inadvertent camera shot, or changed a political order or the societal landscape.

What we got was astounding, way more than 25…

So we chose our moments, from the many, and listed them in random order, so that we would be free to include ‘moments’ that fit our criteria, rather than be limited to the year in which they occurred.

If you wish, please let us know about ‘your moment’ that is not on our list via: Twitter @PollackPRMktg with a #25PR hashtag, comment on the blog, or email to info@ppmgcorp.com.

• Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
• The Televised Car Chase
• September 11, 2001
• The Cola Wars of the 1980s
• US Airways Flight 1549
• Fall of the Berlin Wall
• War Time Coverage
• Demi Moore’s Cover for Vanity Fair
• Real-Time Communication
• Barack Obama’s Social Media Election Campaign of 2008
• Dan Rather Exits As News Anchor
• First Dot Com Web Domain
• Debut of Roger & Me
• Gen-Y Changes the Playing Field
• Demise of Seattle News Institution
• The Rise of Pundits
• The Oprah “Effect”
• Reality Television
• Mosaic Browser Introduction
• Entertainment As News
• Product Craze
• Death of Princess Diana Media Implications
• Faux News Scandal
• First Blog Post
• You!

First aired on September 8, 1986, nationally syndicated talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show (O) became a PR phenomenon, granting anyone who appears on it, instant fame and notoriety. It became known for its “Oprah Effect,” since it could turn the everyday into overnight sensations.

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Princess Diana’s death put the news media on trial as many blamed them for creating the market and incentive that led to her death. Amidst the wall-to-wall coverage, media was put in the dichotomous position of reporting a story of which they had to become a part.

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Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore marked a moment in time where filmmakers leveraged the power of film to expose political, economic and social injustices in American society. Accountability became an inevitability for corporations and government.

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First to register in 1985, was Symbolics, Inc. By 1997, there were 1,000,000 .coms. Still widely used, its speedy early adoption ushered in an era of instant global communications, catapulting the Information Age.

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The world’s largest soda brands face off in a battle for market share and brand loyalty dividing the country into two distinct groups of rival soda drinkers. The cola wars brought consumer engagement to a new level as brand choice was viewed as a lifestyle decision.

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Live car chases would become an international phenomenon after the slow-speed chase of OJ Simpson in 1994, which captivated national viewers. But over the next decade, declining viewer interest resulted in decreased coverage of car chases by local news.

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The Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 is a textbook example of a major PR crisis communication failure. With no effective systems in place to respond responsibly in the face of the environmental disaster that ensued, Exxon’s delayed response damaged their reputation for years to come.

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The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 not only paved the way for German re-unification, but also broke the devastating communication barrier that had been in place since 1961 and led the way for what would soon be the opening up of communications with the entire Eastern bloc.

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Dan Rather, anchor of the CBS Evening News for 24 years, steps down after his report about President Bush’s National Guard service proved to be falsified and erroneous. The network’s failure to verify documents damaged his journalistic credibility.

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"Weblog," was first coined by Jorn Barger on December 17, 1997, and named two years later, as "blog," by Peter Merholz. The form led the way for corporations, individuals and organizations to become content creators and initiated the era of consumer generated media.

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The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 not only paved the way for German re-unification, but also broke the devastating communication barrier that had been in place since 1961 and led the way for what would soon be the opening up of communications with the entire Eastern bloc.

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The most devastating attack on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor, created a massive, immediate, public demand for ‘real time information’ never before seen by modern news organization, triggering the news ticker as a supplement to the on-air broadcast. Social media would eventually fill the ‘real time’ news void.

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An FCC investigation that revealed widespread use of sponsored news segments by broadcast stations nationwide, implicated some corporations, PR firms and even the Bush Administration as culprits in distributing packaged new segments as legitimate news, tightening standards and mandates for full disclosure.

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Time magazine’s choice for Person of the Year in 2006 was – YOU, acknowledging the millions of anonymous contributors of user-generated online content, which marked a shift in how we communicate -- a turning point in what was viewed as trusted information from trusted sources -- our friends, family and influencers.

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CNN’s ongoing live coverage of Desert Storm set a new precedent for war time reporting and news consumption, delivering instantaneous information to the public. More than a decade later, war time journalism evolved to include embedded journalists, who delivered first person accounts of the invasion of Baghdad as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003.

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Numbering over 70 million and spending over 200 billion dollars annually, Gen Y has changed the playing field for marketers. Immune to traditional marketing tactics, marketers had to reinvent themselves in order to reach the Gen-Y target, effectively flipping the marketing equation in just a few years.

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From the fax machine through instant global satellite communication, the velocity of real-time information has made a tremendous impact on consumer consumption of information, historically unparalleled. Distance is no longer a barrier to communication.

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The recent upsurge of entertainment news is changing how viewers consume media. Satirists like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert and comedians such as Bill Maher and Dennis Miller have created new segments of news consumption, based upon engaging audiences through comedy.

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A scantily clad, pregnant Demi Moore on the cover of Vanity Fair was heralded as opening the door for women to feel sexy while pregnant, shepherding in a societal change.

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On October 7, 1996 the Fox News Channel emerged as a news channel different from most, in that its use of graphics and on-screen text summarizing the position of the interviewer or speaker and "bullet points" when a host was giving commentary, paved the way for the rise and increased prominence of “the on-air political pundit” as a source of news.On October 7, 1996 the Fox News Channel emerged as a news channel different from most, in that its use of graphics and on-screen text summarizing the position of the interviewer or speaker and "bullet points" when a host was giving commentary, paved the way for the rise and increased prominence of “the on-air political pundit” as a source of news.

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In the 80s and 90s new tactics for product launches unfurled that ignited consumer’s interest to such a feverish pitch that it resulted in crazed consumer behaviors, elevating such products as Tickle Me Elmo, Windows ’95, Cabbage Patch Dolls and Beanie Babies, to ‘must have or die’ status.

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The advertiser-driven serial comedies and dramas on television have quickly been replaced by soap dramas starring real people, elevating amateur-level entertainment to network entertainment and driving scripted entertainment on a downward trend.

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