KNIGHTRIDDER.com BEGINS REAL CITIES PROMOTION

By: Staff reports Branding Required For Newspapers' New Divisions



KnightRidder.com launched a marketing campaign for its Real Cities
network last week.


Two online regional sites, twincities.com and Kentucky.com, are the focus of
KnightRidder.com's initial advertising blitz in television, radio, Web,
print, bus wraps, direct e-mail, and person-to-person marketing. Other
Real Cities sites slotted for the campaign - Miami.com, BayArea.com,
Philly.com, KansasCity.com, and Charlotte.com - will begin June 25.


KnightRidder.com gave the account to EURO RSCG/DSW Partners, an
interactive agency that previously handled Intel's 'Intel Inside'
campaign.


The agency's campaign targets busy families and entertainment seekers,
the demographic groups KnightRidder.com has identified as the two most
important audiences for Real Cities.


'Even though our primary goal for this marketing campaign is to
introduce our city.com regional hubs and strengthen our local brands in
our markets, our research has shown that entertainment, recreation,
events and community happenings are in high demand by consumers,' says
Lisa Romano, vice president of marketing and business development at
KnightRidder.com.


Families and entertainment seekers were targeted after KnightRidder.com
engaged in research and focus groups. The Chicago-based Cambridge
Group, a market strategy consulting firm, was hired to survey
KnightRidder.com's audiences.



The current marketing campaign does not include Knight Ridder's
newspapers nor its newspaper Web sites, which are separate from the
Real Cities guides. The Real Cities network, which has slowly been
expanding beyond Knight Ridder's holdings, now covers 37 regional hubs.
Both the E.W. Scripps Co. and Belo have added their sites to the
network.


Real Cities is actively pursuing other sites to join the network,
Romano adds. And they don't have to be newspaper-affiliated sites.
Sites that do join the network will be marketed by KnightRidder.com.
However, KnightRidder.com does not require these companies to provide
advertising space in their print, television, or radio properties.


The one KnightRidder.com property that has gotten national play is
SiliconValley.com; hence, it gets a button at the top right-hand corner
of every Real Cities site.


'We were able to sell out advertising on that site within two months of
its launch,' Romano says. Demand for the site is both national and
international since people want to know what's happening in technology
these days, she adds.