Free for a day
Some of you may have seen that access to the Wall Street Journal online—which normally requires a paid subscription—was free yesterday. At right, see a screenshot I grabbed yesterday.
The free day was subsidized by a sponsorship from Acura, which of course got a nice big banner ad on the front page and more ads elsewhere throughout the site.
I thought this was worth pointing to on the heels of the recent discussion that's been going on here and elsewhere about micropricing and, more broadly, pricing models in general for associations.
This "free for a day" sponsorship is an idea that I could see associations emulating in their products and services, whether it be online content, meetings, books, education, or anything else they normally charge for or keep behind the members-only wall.
Two important thoughts to add about it:
- "Free for a day" (or "week" or "month" or whatever) has a certain buzz-creating ability that "sponsored by" or "brought to you by" just doesn't have. It's worth noting I found out about the WSJ promo yesterday via friends/colleagues on Twitter.
- You can't offer something free for a day if you don't ever charge for it at all.
Curious if any associations have tried this specific type of promo and, if so, how it went. Let us know in the comments.
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Comments
Interesting that it created buzz. As a former WSJ subscriber, I hadn't noticed it this time nor would I have jumped to read it but it IS a clever way to pique interest, if not encourage adoption. When Malcolm heavily advertised his push into paid-only online information, I lost interest & un-favorited his site as a resource. To me in this specific example, the One Free Day reminds me of the corollary We Charge 364 Days Out of the Year for Things Others Offer for Free.
Although it DOES have the pleasant connotation of TV in the Mad Men era when an entire show was 'sponsored by' a company who sort of owned the programming, rather than interspersing their overt advertising messages throughout the program.
Regardless this seems like a nice innovation in reader acquisition: much smarter than the normal subscriber renewal process. To me at least, nothing erodes trust in the business end of these publications like receiving 10 renewal notices starting three months into my subscription. There may indeed be parallels in how we associations charge for content, and try to keep you once we have you...
Posted by: Kevin Whorton | February 5, 2010 7:23 AM
Oops, that's the power of Mr. Gladwell's personal branding. I MEANT Murdoch!
Posted by: Kevin Whorton | February 5, 2010 7:29 AM
Thanks for the heads up. Joe. I could see this as a great potential promo for e-learning offerings. - Jeff
Posted by: Jeff Cobb | February 6, 2010 8:04 AM