Jaromír Soukup is waging a merciless war. His “Do not buy daily papers; you don’t need them any more” campaign will soon be seen on all nation-wide TV channels
4. ledna 2013, 22:48
In his full strength, media shark Jaromír Soukup is preparing to embark, probably as soon as on the coming Sunday, on a lengthy battle against Czech daily papers and, by this dint, against their publishers. All the Czech nation-wide TV channels will feature, sooner or later, his campaign titled “Do not buy daily papers; you don’t need them any more. Týden and tyden.cz are enough.” Minor changes to this slogan are not to be ruled out, though. The campaign should begin on Nova TV, using time slots close to the main news broadcast.
The campaign is planned to go on unless and until consumer buying behaviour changes. “We are strong enough to do so,” he says.
Besides being a ruthless, but stimulating confrontation, the campaign is meant to promote the weekly Týden (Week). More specifically, its sales figures over the years are to be presented. Soukup is prepared to push Týden’s price down, even below the main local dailies’ price level.
Soukup’s argument is to say that daily news is better reported by electronic media (Internet, TV, radio), while causes and comments are better covered by weekly papers. His portfolio contains both.
In view of Soukup’s advertising strength, the blow to the media market could be considerable. Moreover, his natural ally František Savov, wielding more power and with a larger portfolio that he might seem to have, has been targeting Economia (publisher of the daily Hospodářské noviny), and, first of all and more vigorously, Mafra (MfDNES, Lidové noviny).
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Translated by Lingvus