1. What opportunities in the marketing environment did Gannett seize in launching USA Today?
How did the company learn about and respond to these opportunities?
USA Today has provided consumers with what they need and have progressively changed along with their evolution in daily living with its innovation in fulfilling customer needs. With the launch of USA Today in the early 1980s, the market research resulted in two very important consumer needs – a need for short spans, and an increasing demand for information.
USA Today started providing more news about more subjects in less time. National News Papers initially missed the market of young, well educated people who were on the move and cared about current events. Gannet was
Distribution in more than 60 countries
Variety of products available for different segments
Strong position among competitors
Established presence of 30 years
Weaknesses:
Monthly subscription vs free news content
Lack of local news

Opportunities:
Adapting to evolving technology
Increasing numbers in worldwide business travelers
Large number of local newspaper readers
Threats:
Internet news sources
Increase in printing costs
Decrease of hard copy buyers

USA Today needs to continue to adapt and innovate to remain successful. Carefully observing consumer feedback along with market research may enable a marketing team at USA Today to adjust their strategies. Targeting a younger generation through technology may be the answer, one way of turning a threat into an opportunity.
4. Based on USA Today’s experiences with print and online news, evaluate the long-term potential of printed news and the newspaper publishing industry. Do you believe printed newspapers will continue to survive despite digital competition?
Research and consumer action shows that demand for printed newspapers is declining. Despite this decline and the shift towards online news sources, there will always be a demand for printed newspapers – mainly in other countries but also to older generations as well as people who may be trying to cut back on technology exposure. Newspaper has some advantages over