New media publication, both digital and print, created with partnership with IBM.
Top polish tech and science journalist joined to try put some life into digital legacy media.
At that time Agora group, publisher of Gazeta.pl web portal, was looking for developing new brands and online visibility to change fundamentals of the group business model. On the other hand legacy publication and journalists were trying to accomodate to changing readers behaviour. Next goal was to get the best out two worlds, proving that online publication can be both highly popular, while maintaining top quality standard and high margins.
So the idea was to invite the best Polish science and technology journalists from various media outlets to the project—people with diverse knowledge and conceptual frameworks, those who had interesting topics that didn’t always fit within the confines of traditional print media but could find space in digital media. The idea was also that the best materials would make it to the main section, the most prestigious place in Polish media at the time. On the other hand, I also wanted to invite native digital creators to the project—bloggers, opinionated individuals, but also entrepreneurs, people who were already operating exclusively in the digital sphere and didn’t necessarily have access to the so-called old media, which still carried the most prestige back then.
The publications were both in print and digital formats. We worked at a pace designed to allow us to respond to current events—not necessarily in a news format, but still in a timely, digital manner that reflected the rhythm of contemporary audiences. On the other hand, we also created content in a magazine-style model, at a slower pace. This allowed us to produce things like reports, visits to interesting companies, or interviews with people from various fields. We also experimented with formats—at the time, creating videos for the web was trendy. It might seem amusing now, but back then, it was something of an event. I think we even considered—or maybe actually created, though I don’t fully remember—an iPad app.
The thing I am most proud of over time, which at the time seemed, and perhaps was, groundbreaking but is now the norm, is the fact that we did all of this in partnership with IBM. IBM was the patron of the project, which could be described as a form of modern content marketing. It wasn’t about forcing IBM into these publications; rather, it was about IBM being able to present itself as a sponsor of projects in a subtle, ambient way, around topics that were most important to IBM at the time.
Yes, it was about defining the future, identifying trends, and connecting issues important to society and business with how the next step in the modern world would look. IBM paid quite a good amount for this project, and in my opinion, they received fantastic exposure. From what I see among the people who participated in this project, they are still proud of it and showcase it on their social media profiles. That means we managed to achieve something significant.
Hiring top journalists.
Online and offline editions.
Collaboration with top polish digital creators at that time.
Investing new in formats, that were break through at that time.
Content marketing platform with IBM - ambient visibility.