Thursday, March 21, 2013

Vatican circulates news about new Pope Francis I via Millennial-friendly print-digital-mobile mix


The Vatican doesn’t only have a new pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a.k.a. His Holiness Francis I.  The Vatican’s in-plant printing operation, known as Tipografia Vaticana, has also installed a new Meteor DP8700 XL press (right).  

The installation (of the press, not the pope) was handled by MGI’s Italian distribution partner, Agfa Graphics.  Pope Sixtus V established the Vatican’s historic printing operation in 1587.  Its equipment now comprises sheetfed and web-offset, and its products now include a weekly newsletter, magazines, brochures, stationery, and envelopes for the Vatican, as well as several magazines and art publications for the Vatican Library and museums.

Vatican newshounds with a digital preference can also get their news via Internet and social-media sources, thanks to Irish priest Monsignor Paul Tighe.  For the past five years, Monsignor Tighe has headed the Pope’s 30-person social-media office, formally called Pontificium Consilium de Communicationibus Socialibus, situated on the Via della Conciliazione leading into St. Peter’s Square.  The operation produces:
*  Tweets for two Twitter addresses:  @Pontifex (the Pope) and @news_va_en (the Vatican) 
*  Content for the news portal www.news.va
*  Content for Facebook at facebook.com/news.va
*  Photographs on Flickr at flickr.com/photos/newsva

It also developed the (free) Pope App for Android and Apple iPhone devices.  

Clearly, just like the major newspapers I detailed in my recent cover story for PrintAction (entitled Reinventing the Newspaper https://www.box.com/shared/hw23k5hg1lb309jd34r8) the Vatican is discovering ways to deliver news and attract a younger demographic via a flexible, user-friendly, print-digital-mobile mix.


http://www.news.va/thepopeapp/index.html


Update on 22 March 2013:

Coincidentally, the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Cross-Media Innovation Center Industry Portal reports recent statistics showing that printed newspapers and magazines remain effective at reaching all ages of U.S. consumers, including early-adopter Millenials (young adults ages 18-34).  (However, television ties with mobile for maximum reach with this demographic; both media reach 94 percent of these consumers in a given week.)  

The statistics also verify that U.S. consumers move between multiple devices and media platforms many times each day.

http://printinthemix.com/fastfacts/show/702

I am indebted to my LinkedIn contact George F. Sittlinger for bringing these statistics to my attention.

2 comments:

  1. Sincere thanks for your very kind compliments, Markrowan. I'm trying my best to keep the content interesting for all of us. Please don't hesitate to provide further suggestion or feedback (even if it's bad.)

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  2. Sorry, Markrowan--yesterday in haste I replied to you by writing a new post above yours, instead of posting my comments down here where they belong.

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