Making Information Pay Keynote: Buying Local a Growing Trend

Last week's Making Information Pay Conference, sponsored by the Book Industry Study Group, tackled publishing in a world of shrinking markets and increasing digitalization. Keynote speaker Leigh Watson Healy, chief analyst and leader of consulting practice for Outsell, a research and advisory firm focused on the publishing, information, and education industries, gave her take on new publishing models and the structural shifts in the industry.

Watson Healy often speaks about emerging patterns and trends in the information business, as well as Web 2.0 issues and opportunities and new publishing models. Her talk at the Making Information Pay conference centered on understanding issues and opportunities that result from the global transition from the "Industrial Age" to the "Information Age." BTW spoke with Watson Healy via e-mail about her presentation, the Buy Local movement, and her thoughts on an industry in flux.

BTW: You called this an "unprecedented time" for the book industry. Why is it such an unusual era?

Leigh Watson Healy: The current economic downturn is the most far reaching and deep since the Depression and understanding what the macro trends mean to businesses -- book publishers and the entire information industry -- and how to address these changes is beyond the experience of most company leaders today. So industry leaders have a great need to understand how publishing and its sectors are faring and what other industry leaders are doing to manage -- and lead -- in these times.

BTW: You also talked about vast changes within publishing and touched on upcoming ones. How do you think independent retailers can position themselves to capitalize on these?

LWH: Certainly, to the extent independent retailers represent local and community and have a deep understanding of the needs and wants of the consumer, then there is power in that relationship with the customer. But the independent retailers that will be successful will be those that can translate that deep understanding and ability to serve the customer back in a way that makes publishers want to invest in the channel.

BTW: Do you see localism as a force that will continue its growth as the market evolves?

LWH: Yes, we see buying local as part of a macro trend that favors community, contribution, small, conservation, and living within our means, among other trends. We believe that the recession is accelerating change that has been underway for some time. Organizations and industries that have been greedy, unhealthy, focused on conspicuous consumption, or which have lacked accountability are under pressure to restructure, like Wall Street, retail, construction, and lenders. We're seeing a migration from these big firms and industries that helped create mass markets and the industrial age now receding and making way for the infrastructure needed for a fully realized information and knowledge-based economy. These are forces that will mean a return to local manufacturing, food production, and retailers, with sustainability and good citizenship -- and accountability -- rising in importance and in demand.

BTW: How are the packaging and marketing of information changing?

LWH: We see the information industry needing to shift toward more market-centric brand management and product marketing and to more agile product development processes that enable companies to be more nimble and flexible in meeting consumers' needs. With the explosion of sharing and community on the web, and ubiquity of consumer enabling technologies like the iPhone, power has permanently shifted from marketers to users who expect openness, high-touch interaction, and direct influence over product offerings. Simple, agile publishing and development process combined with the use of cross-functional teams that blend technology, marketing, and editorial expertise, are essential for success in the future.

BTW: How does leaving the "Industrial Age" and entering the "Knowledge Age" affect publishing?

LWH: As we noted at the BISG Making Information Pay event, we see the knowledge industries as global, as the transition to digital continues, and a renewed emphasis on local and national (rather than international) sources for physical goods. Many publishers tell us this is the year of the tipping point to digital -- not that all information will be digital this year, but that they are making the key infrastructure and process changes needed to accelerate the shift. --Interviewed by Karen Schechner

More information is available in Watson Healy's Power Point presentation at BISG's Making Information Pay Conference. Comments on the conference can be found on Twitter at #mip.