Putting the spotlight on The Californian's e-edition

The Bakersfield Californian has kicked off a substantial months-long multimedia campaign to market the iPad and laptop/desktop versions of our e-edition, which is a digital replica of the printed newspaper. 

One of four billboard designs promoting The Bakersfield Californian's iPad app features popular regional destination Morro Rock as a backdrop. The campaign features print and online display ads, TV commercials (watch them above and below), digital billboards and bus wraps. The messages promote the idea of escaping with The Californian -- anywhere, anytime. I won't spill the beans on all the creative until it's all ready for prime time, but I will say there's a neat trick we'll be doing with the digital billboard. And the bus wraps will turn heads. 

I've written previously about our highly rated iPad app and how it's a perfect match for The Californian's tabloid format. We're finding that our e-edition subscribers are extremely loyal in reading daily and spending a sizable amount of time with each edition. 

Click to read more ...

Terrific 'Capture Kern' book powered by the people

Jonathan Walker photo showing off some of Kern's diverse landscape ended up on the cover of "Capture Kern County." "Capture Kern County" the book was officially released Thursday night and it's as good a portrait our region that's ever been published.

Why?

Because it was shaped through 21,993 submissions from 1,084 amateur and professional photographers sharing their images on CaptureKernCounty.com. The best of those images made the final cut for the book, filling 128 pages with often breath-taking photos on a wide variety of subjects. It's a document as diverse as the county in which we live.

The project, sponsored by The Bakersfield Californian and Tejon Ranch, launched in May and gave amateur and professional photographers a chance to share their visions of Kern in more

Click to read more ...

'The Tablet Revolution' offers mixed prospects for news organizations

The Pew Research Center tonight released a wonderful study that uncovers all kinds of surprises related to 1,159 tablet users, and more specifically, 894 who read news on their tablets at least weekly. 

The study, officially titled "The Tablet Revolution and What It Means for the Future of News," was conducted in conjunction with Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism and The Economist Group, the British publishers who have been at the vanguard of paid-digital content initiatives. I think they got their money's worth. 

Tablet owners represent an affluent, educated demographic (Graphic: Pew Research Center).Some takeaways from tablet users:

• 11 percent of U.S. adults own "a tablet computer of some kind," this just 18 months after Apple launched the iPad. The study isn't specific on what brands make up tablets but indicates iPads are owned by the large majority of Brand is a factor in generating app downloads, but no necessarily for paying for news (Graphic: Pew Research Center).respondents, and questions how next month's launch of the Amazon Kindle will change usage and behavior by bringing a lower-cost alternative to the masses. 
• 77 percent use their tablets daily, and for an average of 90 minutes. Wow. 

Click to read more ...