Gannett Blog has reporting the heck out of a new strategy the company is launching with the Obama inauguration, a strategy aimed at uniting all of its local newspapers, including the Asheville Citizen-Times, into one Web platform which would then be sold to national advertisers. The strategy is called ContentOne.
The Citizen-Times has yet to unveil it’s version of the national site, which is customizable and designed to look like the individual newspapers. But if Gannett Blog is correct, this could be the Citizen-Times’ version of the site.
Over the past week, the Citizen-Times has been urging people to send in letters to the president. It’s been asking people to tell them if they’re going to the inauguration, tell them if they’re holding an inauguration party. That’s because, on top of the Web site, individual newspapers will also produce special newspaper sections for print.
Newspapers are looking to cash in on the Obama inauguration. If you’ll remember from last year, one lonely bright spot for newspaper was the day after Election Day. Millions went out and actually bought copies of the newspaper as keepsakes.