By: Joe Strupp Citing a need to "strengthen its brand, enhance the reader experience and extend its readership to new local, national and global audiences," The Washington Times has announced deals with five marketing and online development companies that the paper says will improve its image and Web site activities.
?We are constantly looking for innovative partners who share our vision of media working in the public interest,? Times President Thomas P. McDevitt said in a statement, adding that the new partnerships are with firms that ?share our passion for innovation and a commitment to providing consumers of media with the greatest number of choices aligned to their specific interests and beliefs.?
These firms being brought in are: Tocquigny, a marketing firm specializing in leveraging emerging technologies to create business solutions; Landor, an internationally-recognized branding and market positioning strategy firm; Danilo Black, a print and online media consulting firm; Optaros, an assembler of Next Generation Internet (NGI) applications; and The seven26group, designers who specialize in digital business solutions.
"Together, these firms will form two teams," the paper said in a release. "The Tocquigny/Landor partnership will focus on marketing, branding and corporate reputation strategy, and the Black/Optaros team will lead a strategic overhaul of the newspaper?s on-line presence and interactive reader experience."
The paper did not reveal financial details for the agreements or any estimate on how much is being spent on the new project.
As part of the approach, Danilo Black, will re-design the paper's on-line presence and interactive options. That firm's clients have included the Houston Chronicle, The Los Angeles Times, and Excelsior in Mexico City, the Times stated.
?Our continuing competitiveness will emerge from ongoing evolution as an information company, with multiple distribution channels, a diversity of news products, investigative journalism, national political coverage from the nation?s capital and expansive coverage that connects readers to the world, and the world to the U.S.,? said McDevitt. ?This team of leading creative and strategic advisors will help us achieve this vision and sustain us as a vital and viable independent alternative voice to the mainstream press, well into the 21st century.?
The marketing and online transformation comes as the Times is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2007.
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