I’m fascinated by Jeff Bezos’ purchase of the Washington Post and it looks like he’s starting to reveal his vision according to today’s article about his local meetings with staffers. It sounds like he’s taking a lesson from the cable television industry by planning to bundle content together. The trick is always creating bundles that allow some sampling outside the bundle so you can effectively introduce the reader/viewer to new content. That’s just a marketing problem you can easily remedy.
The article says Jeff is “bullish about creating a bundled experience for tablet computers” but, “lukewarm about the prospects of doing so on the Web”. I’m not sure how he plans to separate the two but it will be interesting to watch this unfold.
His ideas are clearly grounded in finding new ways to attract a younger audience and help this business stay young forever. The article notes that he repeatedly commented in meetings that “if your customer base ages with you as a company, you are Woolworth’s”.
That’s one thing the cable television industry didn’t get;-).
