Problems at Patch.com

You just continue to be wrong.

Of course big media companies don't re-brand the local paper when they buy it. Why would you mess with a brand that's already established itself as a trusted news source.

Gannett Des Moines would have no relevance.

Patch could have gone this way. They could have started news sites in various cities and named/branded them differently. They chose not to. They deliberately chose to brand them together.

There's one logo. The sites look the same. They're named the same.

All of the MLB teams used to have their own sites. MLB took them in house and re-branded them.

I'll give you one more example. Starbucks decided to open some new coffee houses with a real dedication to coffee to compete with the upscale independents that have been taking them on at the high end of the market.

They chose not to brand them with the Starbucks name. They've named each of them for the neighborhood they're in. This way, each has its own brand separate from both Starbucks and each other.

Here's one, it's called Roy St. Coffee & Tea: http://www.roystreetcoffee.com/

It's on -- Roy St. in Seattle.

Patch could have gone this route. They didn't. They created one brand. One that does not stand for journalistic excellence.

 

You don't have the first fucking clue, and you sound like every douchebag I ever meant who thought "marketing" was a field of study.

 

Oh, gosh no. Just surprised you didn't know. The regulars here know my deal, I assumed you did or I would have made it clear to you earlier.

I don't want anyone to be misled to think I am/was a journalist.

But, no contempt. I am a fan of journalism/journalists. Hell, my brother writes for Dow Jones.

I just don't get why journalists don't know the difference between a brand that stands for journalism and one that stands for -- what -- community info. I

Isn't that why the founder started the company in the first place? As a place to find out what events/activities were going on around town.

It can be a terrific community bulletin board. There's nothing wrong with that. It's just not journalism.

See, this is funny.

If I don't hold up each and every employee at Patch as a paragon of journalism, you take it as an insult.

But, the moment you find out what I do, you take a shot at me and try to demean what I do.

Here's some background:

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/70056/

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/80899/

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/80848/

Read up and enjoy.

I don't sell "coffee pots". I sell high end commercial espresso machines that cost more than $10,000.

 

Ha ha.

You sound like every liberal arts major who thinks studying English and staying up all night discussing literature makes you educated.

Just because you don't respect business principles doesn't make them go away.

You should have mixed in a business class or two into all of the liberal arts classes you took (and took, and took). it might make you a little more rounded and allow you to understand how the world works.

 

You really think the readers of the New City Patch or the Plum-Oakmont Patch know what's going on with a Patch site in New Jersey or South Carolina?

I described the ignorance you are displaying on this thread is stunning. I realize now that was a poor choice of words. I hate to dismiss somebody's knowledge of journalism just because he doesn't work in the field, but you are consistently proving that you really have no clue what you are talking about. None.

Point being, I should not be stunned by your ignorance of Patch or journalism in general. The fact that you don't realize it and you keep insisting that you somehow know what you are talking about, however, is getting ridiculous.

Am I saying Patch has a good business model? No. I don't know enough about it and much of what I do see doesn't add up, so that is a very fair question.

But to say what Patch is doing isn't journalism? You really just keep showing your ass on this one, and really, you can cover it up already. We don't want to see it.

 

How the world works? Here's how the world works.

Patch's model, as I understand it, is hyperlocal and driven by covering shit nobody else covers. I don't happen to think it's a good model, but that's beside the damn point.

Their idea is to cover 8th-grade graduations and shit. They don't care about their national "brand" because their audience is highly specific -- homeowners who want to see their names and the names of their children in "print".

The odds of someone giving a shit about more than one hyper-local patch site are pretty fucking rare. It isn't McDonald's, for fuck's sake.

The journalists on this board recognize this strategy because they've seen it in practice in newspapers. But you keep talking about branding. I am sure someone's buying.

And you know fuckall about my education, champ.

 

I'd love for just one successful journalist to come on here and say that, "yes" Patch meets the definition of journalism.

I'm sorry that this hits close to home for some of you. I know you grew up wanting to be journalists, so it's important to define Patch as journalism.

I wanted to be a baseball player when I was a kid. If I go to the batting cages this weekend, I'm not going to go around describing myself as a baseball player on Monday morning.

And, just because somebody in East Bumblefuck isn't aware of the Patch site in West BFE does nothing to dismantle my argument that Patch is a single brand.

They may be aware of the site in North Bumblefuck. Certainly as (if) Patch grows, their name and brand will be more ubiquitous.

Not only is Patch a brand, they surely have people employed for them who are assigned to manage, grow, define, etc., their brand.

 

I don't know what's funner: That you spent your time trying to figure out where I went to college, or that you got it wrong.

 

And as cute as it is to have an internet stalker, I am pretty sure that's not kosher around here.

 

My only contribution: If you don't think brand matters as much in this business as any other -- depending, of course, on the brand -- you're fooling yourself.

 

YF, you may want to step back and have an espresso. You are being a bit creepy