AJC redesign infomercial — OMG
April 23, 2009 at 3:44 pm by Scott Henry in NewsThe AJC’s brand-new look will be unveiled next Tuesday. But for those who cannot wait, the paper has quietly posted an infomercial video featuring Editor Julia Wallace extolling new features to be found in the redesigned daily and Sunday editions.
Apart from noting that the video employs the same soothing tones you’d expect from an ad for incontinence medication, I will bite my tongue and open the forum for commentary, criticism and random observations.
Please, for the love of Christ, if you watch this video, take the time to post a comment.
Note: We’ve removed a comment from the thread below because it violates our comment policy.
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:28 pm
“Ask your doctor if the new AJC is right for you.”
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:37 pm
This is a zesty dipping sauce and boneless chicken delight away from being a Zaxby’s commercial.
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:45 pm
The profound awfulness of this commercial aside, I think the re-design itself looks good.
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Is it me of did that guy on the couch have the same look of satisfaction one gets after taking a big poopie? He probably used the new paper to wipe himself as well…
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Is there a reason she can’t look at us? Will she turn to a pillar of salt?
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:47 pm
May cause nausea, bloating, seizures and, in rare cases, death.
Was this done by the same folks behind Kroger’s latest marketing campaign?
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:48 pm
More Balanced = “We’ve replaced Jim Wooten with three less expensive knock offs.”
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Lots of headlines on front page to tell you what’s inside; color coded guides; comics….oh, so it’s a magazine!
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Wow. I wish this were a parody.I see buzzards circling overhead.
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:52 pm
This paper already exists…it’s called USA Today.
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Heck with the AJC’s new foo foo poor man’s USA Today look, I am still celebrating that Terence Moore took the BUYOUT.
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Maybe they should also rename to Atlanta Today? They’ve already swiped the rest of USA Today’s branding.
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:00 pm
What’s scary is what is glaringly missing from the commercial: any mention of excellent in-depth coverage of important stories, well-known and respected editorial writers or reporters, quality writing, etc. Instead it’s all about superficial bullshit. But hey, at least they have lots of coupons!
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Sweet Jesus. The re-design itself looks a lot like the Guardian in the UK; the commercial makes me want to treat my incontinence.
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:04 pm
I really don’t think it looks like the USA Today at all. Based on that video, it’s much cleaner and more modern than the USA Today.
Besides, the USA Today doesn’t suck because of its appearance. It sucks because of its bite-sized McNews stories and pie graphs.
Although it did used to run Larry King’s awesome column.
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:09 pm
She said she reads “A” newspaper. And she encourages others to read “A” newspaper. Obviously she probably prefers to read something other than the AJC. Don’t blame her.
They said they listened to their readers – that’s a laugh. All I know is now that Cathy Fox is gone I have zero reason to pick this paper up. They can keep their coupons too.
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Totally agree with Andy re:USA Today. That’s just a bad paper. AJC has quality writers. And yes, I like newspapers.
I can’t help but to laugh about the fact that this is the same paper that still does door-to-door sales.
Also that they are asking you to CALL to renew your subscription instead of doing so online (this video is online-only, no?) which would be more intuitive for the bulk of the viewers.
You’re trying so hard but you just don’t get it! You can’t change one thing and expect it to shift everything. A haircut doesn’t change an ugly face. It just masks it.
This sounds like a we’ve-tried-everything-else move to me. Will it foreshadow their ultimate demise?
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:14 pm
I hope they’ll hire the real Tina Fey for their next infomercial.
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Andisheh,
Larry King’s deepest thoughts can now be found here.
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:20 pm
OK so it’s not a great infomercial. But the redesign itself, from the little bit shown there, doesn’t look awful. It actually looks pretty nice and clean. Maybe it’s because I feel sorry for them, but I actually do want to check out the new look now. And I haven’t actually purchased a paper copy of the AJC in a few years, so I guess that’s saying something?
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:21 pm
“A newspaper keeps you informed of what’s going on” … Yesterday .. you know.. that stuff that you’ve already read about on the intertubes or seen on the TV News Broadcast.
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Umm… well,
“Side effects of your AJC will include limited local arts coverage, financial depression, general malaise. In the event these symptoms last for more than one week, please consult the nearest New York Times, Creative Loafing, or any number of blogs that cover Atlanta.”
I understand times are hard, but some of the best talent is leaving and everyone else will have to pick up a lot more slack. This paper has gone downhill for years now, and there is no inherent incentive to read it over others.
BTW, the intensity in Julia “The Undertaker” Wallace’s eyes made this one glad she didn’t look into the camera.
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:47 pm
So they created an *online* commercial to get people to buy the paper instead of reading the paper… online.
brilliant.
April 23rd, 2009 at 6:06 pm
More headlines, more color-coding–while publisher fewer and shorter stories. Sounds like more evidence that the AJC thinks their readers are subliterate and too distracted to actually read a paper.
AJC is also getting rid of more of the bylines that keep people subscribing–I was shocked to see Catherine Fox is leaving. Does that mean even further reduced arts coverage?
The AJC has gutted the quality of its product, which it’s still giving away for free online. Redesign=rearranging deck chairs on Titanic.
I say make the whole thing black and white, with more and longer stories. Cut through all the clutter instead of adding more clutter. And charge online.
April 23rd, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Awful in so many ways.
-”A talk with” or “conversation” usually indicates two-way communication. This was more of a “lecture at”.
-If you’ve slashed your reporters and content production by 2/3 (or whatever it is) then no wonder there are giant mastheads, headlines, and color-coded tabs. It looks like it’s trying to convey the image of a newspaper, without actually producing one.
-Is this a subtle way of telling us that eventually (and maybe sooner than later) there will only be a Sunday paper?
-Who are all these people that they’ve been talking to? Does anyone know anyone who has been approached?
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:29 pm
David Simon said it best. Newspapers made their mistake when they treated copy like it was the decoration for ads and started cutting back on great journalism.
Now they are scrambling.
Good luck with that.
April 23rd, 2009 at 10:19 pm
I spit on Julia Wallace. I learned to read at the age of 4 by poring over the Atlanta Constitution back in the ’50s, and she’s taken the paper I grew up with and subscribed to all these years and turned it into crap. And now she’s decided that we can’t even subscribe to it anymore in the town where I live. I want my Atlanta Constitution back. The one that was proud to be liberal and didn’t have fools like Wooten and all those other idiot conservative white guys on the editorial page every day. The one that had photographers like Louie Favorite. The one that had writers like Eleanor Ringel and a deep bench of reporters and editors who knew the history of the state and where the bodies were buried and reminded me when they wrote their stories. Why does Julia Wallace still have a job when so many real journalists don’t?
April 23rd, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Oh my sweet Christ
April 23rd, 2009 at 11:31 pm
If you need color coding to read the paper, you shouldn’t probably be reading a paper.
Also, was anyone else amused when she said she reads the paper?
April 23rd, 2009 at 11:47 pm
Reminded me of an ad for a fabric softener instead of a newspaper but it does have coupons, lots of coupons. I feel so fresh and bouncy now after absorbing the slow glow of that advertisement.
April 24th, 2009 at 1:38 am
Well, good luck. I love newspapers, but the AJC has always sucked. It’s not the Internet, or blogs, or anything other than a lack of competition. I do not envy Ms. Wallace while she tries to make a newspaper out of coupons and comics.
April 24th, 2009 at 1:55 am
It is just sad. And what can Julia really do? It is like switching seats at the dinner table when there is a tornado outside. Forget about redoing the Sunday paper. The real question is how can the AJC get the advertisers and young people to believe in the paper again. And that commercial will not do it.
April 24th, 2009 at 8:15 am
It won’t matter to me what it looks like since the AJC will no longer be available in my area.
But, looking at this infomercial and the new USA Today clone design, it does help me feel better about the fact that they no longer want my subscription and my recycling bin will be lighter.
My reaction is that it’s kinda like picking out your own new clothes and accessories in which you wish to be buried.
April 24th, 2009 at 8:43 am
The paper is only about 10 pages now; do we really need headlines and color coding to help us through it?
April 24th, 2009 at 9:05 am
Wow. It really did look exactly like a pharmaceutical commercial… “If it takes you longer than 4 hours to read the new color-coded paper, please see your doctor. This could be a sign of a serious problem.”
April 24th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Reading the AJC will “make you a little smarter”…but only if you started with an IQ at room temperature or below.
“I encourage everyone I know to read a newspaper”…too bad the AJC has become a parody of a newspaper instead of a real one.
And what’s with the couple on the couch? Incontinence ad, or erectile dysfunction ad?
Another sad day for journalism…
April 24th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Julia Wallace is proof positive that while cream may rise to the top, turds also float.
April 24th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Hey, Angie Hunt, you want to know what is really unattractive? Your cruel characterization of Julia Wallace’s daughter is the ugliest thing I have seen on this site. Leave the kids out of your peevish rant.
Surely you were an AJC staffer. No one else could have that sort of inside information.
And surely you are not missed.
April 24th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Julia’s little message there sounds exactly to me like about 300,000 subscriptions expiring and advertisers dropping in droves. The “newspaper redesign” has been historically one of the biggest frauds perpetrated on readers. I mean, readers really don’t give a damn if the paper is six columns of words (they may indeed prefer it) as long as there is credible news inside. Too bad Julia canned most of the newsgatherers.
yep, it’s the end for that paper. but faster, please. I truly hope that someone with brains, daring and li’l bit of $$ invests in something that atlantans will pay for to read. but they sure won’t be paying for this tripe. bye, bye!
April 24th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Julia Wallace is to newspapers what Sarah Palin is to astrophysics.
April 24th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
@GP: Ms. Hunt’s repulsive, inappropriately personal comment has been removed.
April 24th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Good man, Scott. Thank you.
April 24th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Well now i want to know what it said.
April 24th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
I agree with the sentiments re: USA Today. We have to realize they are just complying with what they think their general readership desires (and therefore what they think will result in more subscriptions, money, etc.). Given the downsizing, I am pessimistic as to the level of substance and indepth reporting the new paper will provide.
April 24th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
I just threw up in my mouth.
April 25th, 2009 at 8:37 am
the new paper looks like a freaking comic book.
and the infomercial makes me want to go buy some erectile dysfunction drugs….
April 25th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Coupons and comics and color keys! Oh my!
April 27th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
What Wallace didn’t mention in the ad is that she gets the paper to reimburse her for her subscription, albeit at a reduced employee rate, a nifty loophole so the AJC’s circulation department can still count her as a paid subscriber.
What I’d really like to see in the infomercial is some commentary as to how Julie’s “Yes Man” Shawn McIntosh has managed to get demoted all the way down to Public Editor and still rake in a $160K/year annual salary??? And that photo she’s got posted of herself … why not do an infocommercial on how to dye your hair and apply make-up so it doesn’t make you look like you’re 65???
April 27th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Why is she talking to someone off camera? Can’t she look us straight in the eyes when she talks? Oh, wait! Maybe because they’ve redesigned the paper to look like USA Today, and there are no experienced reporters left?
April 28th, 2009 at 10:03 am
I don’t envy anybody the task of presiding over a traditional American newspaper in today’s environment, but for years now the AJC has shown an uncanny knack for hiring the kind of short-sighted, vision-impaired managers and executives usually found mostly in Detroit. If there was a single mountain in the middle of a vast desert, these folks would find a way to fly into the side of it.
The AJC is well known for its reliance on market research to shape its product. Given the results, one can only conclude that they’re either getting really bad data, or don’t have a clue how to use it.
All the makeovers in the world cannot compensate for the systematic dismantling of what was once, and fairly recently, a competent news and editorial operation. The demise of the editorial page has been a very sad thing to watch.
Memo to management: IT’S STILL ABOUT THE CONTENT — NOT THE COMICS, THE COUPONS OR THE DAMN COLOR-CODING!
Ms. Wallace closes her infomercial by saying she “can’t imagine Sunday mornings without [the newspaper].” Sadly, I can. For the first time in probably 30 years, I recently let my subscription lapse.
April 28th, 2009 at 11:13 am
can i have that 2 minutes of my life back?
April 28th, 2009 at 11:48 am
If this newspaper should cause an erection lasting more than four hours, please do not call the executive editor.
April 28th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
The glitz of TV continues to infect the newspaper business. All that color, all those snappy visuals! Did anybody say, “News”? How do you deliver more news at the same time you’re slashing staff?
April 28th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
I really like this video and I am looking forward to seeing the microsite associated with this campaign.
April 28th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Good job making fun of AJC..Creative Loafing is in the same boat they are so poking holes in your peers attempts to save their business reveals how truly out of ideas your own little rag is. At least AJC is trying and newspaper redesigns have been remarkably successful in other places. Google Jacek Utko and you might learn something about your industry.
Anyway, why not spend more time saving your own publication instead of criticizing a small promotional spot.
April 29th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
Found this video after googling “AJC re-design sucks.” I have to say I think the video is fine. And the new website layout is fine. But I disagree with the comments that say the new newspaper layout now looks like USA Today. I wish it was that nice. To me, it looks more like my local Forsyth county newspaper — hopelessly small time, diminishing the content inside it. I’m more than happy to cancel my AJC subscription and cuddle up on the couch with the Sunday New York Times instead.
May 1st, 2009 at 1:06 pm
“I encourage everyone I know to read a newspaper”… says Julia Wallace.
I’m reminded that some years ago the AJC called my sister-in-law trying to get her to subscribe. After she insisted “No” the caller said “Have you ever read a newspaper?” at which point my sister-in-law slammed the phone down.
Julia Wallace’s comment immediately reminded me of that incident.
Perhaps Ms. Wallace isn’t the only person at AJC who thinks Southerners are illiterate?
AJC is in a death spiral.