By Alan Upchurch

Recently, I watched with pride as my youngest child walked across the stage and received his high school diploma.  It was a special moment for me, my wife Patty, and our son Trevor.  Trevor was diagnosed with autism when he was about 4 years old.  There have been many obstacles along the way, but Trevor has defeated most of them and grown into a bright, engaging, happy young man.

On graduation day, I also thought a lot about his future.  Trevor always tells his Mom and I that he loves the state of Michigan and can’t imagine leaving.  But as Michigan struggles to rebound from years of economic calamity, I wonder if his best opportunities will come elsewhere.  My eldest daughter has already left the state.  She’s in California. Many of her friends are gone, too.  They’re working in Chicago, Atlanta and other cities around the country.  In the last 10 years Michigan has lost nearly 800,000 private sector jobs.  What frightens and angers me is the lack of outrage, and the lack of urgency from government and business leaders throughout the state. They talk a good game. But where is the action.  The candidates for governor are as unimpressive as I have seen in the past 30 years.  Have you heard any of your friends or neighbors talking about the great ideas and leadership skills of these candidates?   People are apathetic and one of the big reasons for their indifference is the uninspiring candidates.

We need a Marshall Plan, which helped rebuild war-torn Europe, because Michigan is losing one battle after another in this economic war.   And now we are losing our children to other states that are better prepared and, apparently, more willing to fight for their economic future.   Cool cities?  How about a cool jobs creation plan that will give young people like my son a reasonable chance at economic success in a state he loves so much.

By Michael Layne

On Sunday May 16, Rima Fakih, a 24-year old Lebanese immigrant from Dearborn became the newest Miss USA and a beacon of hope for much of southeastern Michigan as well as immigrants across the country.

Fakih’s family is Shiite from a village in the south of Lebanon called Srifa. She came to the United States with her parents in 1993.

Her family eventually settled in Dearborn, Michigan, where Fakih was able to work towards her goal of becoming Miss USA. Dearborn, located in southeastern Michigan, is one of the cities in this area of the United States with the highest concentration of Arab Americans. 25% of the people living in Dearborn are immigrants, many from Arab countries. As a result, Arab cuture has made an impact throughout Metro Detroit. Hummus dip and pita bread is just as commonplace as potato chips and sour cream dip.

In today’s world, where it seems that decades of progress may go unnoticed with movements such as the recent immigration laws in Arizona, Fakih is a reminder of the cultural diversity values that many in this country hold so dear. While many Arab people in the United States face discrimination based upon ethnic ties, Fakih breaks the bonds of stereotypes associated with Arab and Muslim women.

During a time of uncertainty and unrest in the state of Michigan surrounding state budget cuts and a high unemployment rate, Fakih is able to remind the country as a whole that the heart of Michigan is still beating fast.

Beauty knows no cultural bounds.  Fakih is a testament to the fact that our cultural differences should be celebrated. She represents a new generation in which ethnic ties and racial prejudices will be broken down by perseverance, and by people willing to make a difference.

These are clearly perilous times for newspapers nationwide. According to recent figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the average weekday circulation of nearly 400 daily newspapers that reported sales slid 10.6 percent to 30.4 million from April to September, compared with the same six-month period in 2008.

Newspapers have continued to experience declining circulation as readers increasingly have turned to online sources for news. Many metropolitan dailies, including the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press continue to reduce staff; and at the same time, the price of the daily Detroit News and Detroit Free Press doubled from 50 cents to $1. The website Paper Cuts, which tracks layoffs and buyouts at U.S. Newspapers, says that the number of reporters across the nation has been reduced by nearly 30,000 since early 2008.

The only daily newspaper in the top 25 to grow (by .06 percent) is the Wall Street Journal, edging out USA Today as the top-selling newspaper in the nation. USA Today had its worst period ever, falling more than 17 percent. Much of this decline was due to the publication’s reliance on sales in hotels and airports and a corresponding decrease in travel.

In light of declining circulation, many believe that our newspapers’ ability to act as watchdogs of government, corporations and the communities in which we live is being threatened. On the contrary, I believe that we are approaching a golden age of journalism. This is not the first time there has been a change in the way we receive the printed word. The history of moveable type dates back to around 1040 in China. Metal moveable type was first invented in Korea around 1230. Johannes Gutenberg developed the first moveable type printing technique in Germany around 1439, launching the European age of printing.

The Gutenberg Bible, first printed in 1455, established the superiority of moveable type and printing presses rapidly spread across Europe. The invention of lithography in 1796 brought in the age of newspapers as we have come know them. In 1993 the digital press enabled reproduction of digital images, which rapidly changed the newspaper and magazine industry.

As we enter 2010, we are on the verge of the most exciting revolution in newspaper and magazine journalism. During the upcoming holiday sales season, consumers will be bombarded by a plethora of eReading devices. A recent Forrester Research report predicts that 900,000 units of eReaders will fly off the shelves between Black Friday and Christmas.

Amazon first introduced the Kindle reading device two years and recently updated it with a larger screen, soon to be in color. After nearly a decade and of millions of dollars of research and development, Plastic Logic will launch its electronic reader made entirely of plastic electronics. Plastic Logic will release an 8.5 by 11-inch notepad that’s less than a third-inch in thickness, based on plastic rather than silicon and glass. The company promises flexibility and durability – a shatterproof eReader with a battery that can last for days and a device that can download books and newspapers through either a 3G network or a Wi-Fi connection.

Competition in this new world of eReaders will be fierce. Kindle, for example, dropped the price of its device to $259 and just introduced a larger Kindle DX. Sony will soon have three variations of its device: pocket, large touch screen and wireless versions. A company called Spring Design will soon market a device that runs on Google’s Android operating system. Industry trendsetter Apple Computer will soon launch its highly anticipated tablet. There have been rumors that the New York Times is working with Apple Computer on its tablet to enhance the device’s eReading capabilities.
IREX Technologies has introduced a sleek, 8.1-inch, touchscreen eReader that offers multi-mode 3G wireless capabilities. The IREX device is supported by key partners Barnes & Noble, Inc., Best Buy, Qualcomm and Verizon Wireless, which together provide content, a powerful retail presence and the most reliable wireless network in the country.

It is interesting to note that while U.S. newspapers continue to lose subscribers, they are beginning to understand, enhance and reach out to their online readership instead of fighting the transition. Look for online newspapers and magazines to become more user-friendly, to feature better integration of multimedia and to be more adaptable to the imminent world of eReaders Adobe is busy creating a publishing tool for the new format which will be offered to publishers.

While print circulation may be declining, Nielsen research shows that year-over-year traffic to the top online newspaper websites has grown 16 percent. Nielsen notes that in December 2007, just over 3.5 million unique visitors daily came to newspaper hubs; that number increased in December 2008 to just over 40 million unique visitors. Nielsen Online goes on to report that nine of the 10 top newspaper websites experienced positive year-over-year growth.

With nearly a million eReaders getting ready to hit the shelves this holiday season, newspapers and magazines are gearing up to adapt to new eReaders, new smart phones and other formats. And, as with all electronics, prices will continue to drop after companies begin mass marketing. It is conceivable that the cost of receiving a new eReading device may be included in the cost of subscribing to your favorite newspaper or magazine.

While newspapers and magazines adapt to the world of lightweight, unbreakable, flexible eReaders, look for readers to expect brilliant multimedia presentations. In today’s high-tech, razzle-dazzle computer-animated graphics world, people are going to want to experience unlimited content, lights, color and action on their eReaders. The point, however, is this. People will still want to read. In fact, it’s much faster to consume information by reading than being distracted by a multimedia presentation. We are in the early stages of another tectonic shift in information technology. Instead of mere printed words captured on a static piece of paper, words now will be floating in the ether, simply waiting for someone to download them onto a an e-device – and still packing a punch, ready to stimulate, inform and entertain!

This will extend to corporate research findings, exceptional testimonials and other areas. Could pose significant technical challenges as well as completely change word-of-mouth marketing…

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20091006-709182.html

http://www.elitefts.com/news-room/Press-Releases/press-release-liftstrong2.htm

Great job to everyone here!

http://www.pr-inside.com/marx-layne-company-named-one-r1092593.htm

A good read: http://thecodist.com/article/how_a_web_newspaper_should_be_built

It will be interesting not only how news will change, but how agencies will change (the ones that survive).

When seeking future employees, we continue to go well beyond the traditional newsroom and have demanded (in addition to fundamental journalism skills) technological know-how (how do search engines work? What web tools are available and how are they used?  Etc.); Ability to discover conversations and think how you might be able to engage people in ways that provide value to both them and a brand; Power to seek and observe what people are talking about and then define keywords that help you and the public find these dialogues; The skill to tell a story in three dimensions; And, a strong understanding business and revenue models.

As the Detroit Mayoral race heats up, as well as the topic of light rail in the city, we took the opportunity to ask the candidates their opinions on the topic of light rail in Detroit. You can watch their comments here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcUrpd3LohA

And, you can see them here:

http://flickr.com/photos/marxlayne/

Congratulations to our client on the recent Shorty Awards. www.twittter.com/underthebar

We’ve been working together for three years and he was a finalist in the Sports Category, finishing just behind Lance Armstrong.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123435724633872715.html

Remember, at the end of the day, social media’s success is only determined and judged by the communities in which you participate–your friends, customers, peers, and others.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/17/twitter.surgery/index.html

Above is a great story from today’s CNN.com that spotlights a prime example of online communication and using technology to tell a story.
In the past it would have taken weeks to “publicize” this procedure (removal of a tumor without removing entire kidney); press release; calling reporters; etc etc.

They pretty much accomplished this on-the-fly and to most likely a much more targeted audience.  Moreover, an additional outgrowth of this was all the traditional media that then wrote about it (as referenced in the CNN story above).

On a related note (speaking of online communication), I just came from Ohio last week in which we reviewed the past 24 months PR and marketing communication activities.  In the last 18 months we moved 100 percent to online-only activities and increased site traffic, lead generation and sales by 39 percent.

For our other “longtail” online retailers, we seeing a tremendous amount of success as well.