Gannett will unveil on Monday its first corporate branding campaign, which includes a new logo.
The goal is to communicate that the company — long identified as the nation's largest newspaper publisher and a major owner of TV stations — has evolved into a forward-looking digital power.
"It's a reset" for Gannett's image, says CEO Craig Dubow. Gannett (GCI) is the parent of USA TODAY.
Dubow says he wants advertisers and others to see that Gannett properties attract local and national audiences via different media, including the Internet, smartphones and tablet computers such as Apple's iPad.
To help make that point, the company's properties — including USA TODAY — will begin to prominently identify themselves as part of Gannett.
In addition, the company will launch a national advertising campaign that includes the tagline, "It's all within reach."
Ads will appear in USA TODAY and Gannett's 81 community newspapers and on its 23 TV stations and more than 100 digital properties, including Captivate, which programs TV-like screens in nearly 9,000 elevators and lobbies.
Gannett declined to say how much it will spend on additional ads in national cable news channels, digital, print, and social media.
The promotions will include Gannett's new logo, replacing the long-used image of the letter "G" superimposed on a globe. The new design consists of the company name without illustration in a Verlag typeface.
"We're in a world that is highly complex, and what we want to do is put out something that is very simple and that people can remember," Dubow says.
The message of simplicity should appeal to advertisers who want to deal with a single company to reach a wide variety of people looking for different kinds of news and information on a dizzying array of digital devices, he says.
Gannett also wants to tell consumers that it can serve their needs. Company research has identified the information that people want, as well as how stories should be presented and updated.
Audiences "want to have as much video as possible," Dubow says. "We're going to augment that with text, where appropriate. We are creating an environment of feedback loops so the consumer can talk with us and tell us what it is they would like to see, or not want to see."
Gannett is launching its marketing campaign at an uncertain time for ad-supported businesses. "The economy is fragile," Dubow says.
Still, he says Gannett's balance sheet is strong, with the financial reserves to acquire companies that might strengthen its digital and mobile media portfolio. The company generated $588.2 million in net income last year on $5.44 billion in revenue.
"What we want to do is take a leadership role in getting this (message) out," Dubow says.