Welcome to the FIMS Lab newsletter

In this edition:

• Sorting through the pros and cons of Press Forward

• 🤠 Why embracing cowboy culture can be good for business

• 🤖 How one company communicates with readers about AI

Total read time: ☕️☕️☕️ Three caffeinated minutes.

(If you’re currently under-caffeinated, close this email and forward to a friend.)

Marketing Examples: What you’re not is sometimes a great way to emphasize what you ARE from, Harry Dry. Your friends at The Gazette proved this by removing national stories from their print editions and readers told them the quality of the paper had improved!

Press Forward Roundup

Since the launch of Press Forward earlier this month, leaders with additional ideas about the types of projects that should be funded, and management of those projects, have emerged.

Press Forward is a national coalition of donors committed to strengthening local news and information organizations with more than $500 million over the next five years.

• From David Grant: Add public, specific commitments to reporting on results of these investments. For every incremental dollar received, the incremental value to the publisher would also be reported. “Reporting does not need to be burdensome, it just needs to be clear,” Grant wrote.

• From Dick Tofel: Tofel echos what others have expressed, that the current funding is like giving a starving person two meals a week — perhaps enough to keep them alive but not enough to restore their health. He covers several additional ideas worth mentioning including resisting the temptation to scale unproven models.

• From Ken Doctor: “This round of money better make some bets on ‘winners,’ whose models prove as replicable examples — and lead to ‘sustainable’ news operations. He also urges the money be used to provide capital, to buy the time needed to gain, or re-gain trust.

One Trending Thing: The Wild West 🤠

“Cowboys ride in and out of popular culture every few years,” the New York Times reported in the midst of a cowgirl-clad Barbie and Beyonce summer. The movement is propelled by, “a hunger for stories that are wild, tumultuous and unvarnished.”

The West is calling not just to the #coastalcowgirl and Glamorous West fashionistas. It’s bigger than the ruggedness of Yellowstone.

“Part of the appeal is the idea you can live a more authentic, exciting, rugged life,” historian Andrew Nelson told the Times. And who wouldn’t fantasize about endless blue skies after COVID lockdowns, the end of remote work and return of commutes?

The good news is nearly every FIMS Lab participant has roots in early cowboy culture, research shows. Durango, Arizona, Alaska and Oregon may not have noticed the rising trend as much as Maine, New Orleans and Napa.

A research session with ChatGPT found that many of the traditions and practices of American cowboys, including cattle drives and rodeos, have roots in the East, especially from Spanish, English and even African sources.

Agriculture, “small town” America and individuality are (unsurprisingly) related themes.

How can you ride this wave? ChatGPT’s suggestions were useless so I recommend keeping ideas focused on individuality, authenticity and adventure rather than sparkly pink cowgirl hats and fringed vests (unless that’s your thing!). While a local business or influencer can sponsor a useful segment on how to pick the right denim jacket for 2023 (long? short? boxy? cropped?) there are also opportunities in history, outdoor adventures, music and cooking.

AI Transparency

We could devote an entire newsletter to this topic but for now, here’s a disclaimer used by Village Media posted with all content created in cooperation with generative AI.

Upcoming:   

• Free workshop to measure and communicate impact by News Philanthropy Network, Tuesday October 10 at 2pm ET.

• Our next FIMS Group call: Subscriber retention strategy with Star Tribune’s Toby Collodora, October 3 at 4pm ET

Your money

LMA needs to finalize the LMA Fest travel expenses, so this note is serving as a LAST CALL to submit your eligible flight receipts for reimbursement. Please complete the link below by Friday, September 29. Thank you so much for your cooperation.

https://lmaonline.wufoo.com/forms/r16pa4wn0yjt1ic/

ab