As you turn the pages in our March 1, 2016 issue of Country Guide, you’ll notice some changes. The pages look different, the type seems somehow different, the “feel” of the stories is different.
You might even think this is what the changes are all about, i.e. a skin-deep bit of cosmetic surgery rather than real innovation.
I would understand. There was even a time when, with a wink, I used to say that a farm journalist is someone who goes to a meeting where some expert is talking about why farmers absolutely must get more innovative, and then pulls out a pen and paper to write it all down.
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But no more. It is a foundational belief at Country Guide that farmers are a more sophisticated audience than virtually anyone else knows. (I hope you agree, and that you sense it every time you open your new Guide. If you don’t, please give me a blast.)
You might think that of all the changes I’ve seen in my career, the biggest change was from pen to touch screen, or the growth of web-based outlets, or the shrinking and virtual disappearance of ag coverage in the CBC and most other major Canadian media.
All have been significant in their own way, but my vote for the biggest change has been in our attitude toward our readers. There was a time when the role of farm writers was to somehow be protective of them. Now, it’s to say something that might be interesting and helpful to them.
That’s what led us some eight years ago to adopt to our “Strategic. Business. Thinking.” tag line. If, when you put down the issue, you think to yourself, “There’s one or two things in there that I’m going to have to think about some more,” that’s what success looks like to me.
That will still drive what we do, but now we’re ready for the next step. I compare these redesigned pages to a redesigned cab in a new combine.
Appearance is crucial in the same way that operator comfort is crucial. None of us should downplay it.
But the real drive behind this redesign is to put you in greater control. Science proves it. Different readers read in different ways, and our pages will be designed to accommodate this, with more ways to get to the heart of what is being said and discussed.
We’re just beginning the process, and I admit that the design team and I feel the way you do when you get a new vehicle and you open the owner’s manual. We have barely begun to appreciate all the new capabilities that are here.
Country Guide will always be a book about ideas, and how to execute on them. So the test will be, in coming months, are you getting to those ideas faster? Are you understanding them better?
And, as always, are we getting it right? Let me know at [email protected].
