The Slate Group has launched a new business site called The Big Money , The New York Times today. Slate Group chairman Jacob Weisberg is charged with creating new extensions to the Slate brand, and evidently plans to launch a few new sites a year.
The USP for the new title, in a market clearly crowded with full-time business news? Among other things, techie tools offered through the site, such as pre-fabricated slides and charts that users can drop into their own PowerPoint presentations. James Ledbetter, editor of the new site, also says that while other business pubs promise “read us and we’ll make you rich”, the new title says “read us and we’ll make you smart”.
Does the world need another business site? Not necessarily, but there is much to be learned from digital natives like the Slate team. There is a nuance to this approach that I think can be seized by those of us who are still figuring out how to tie print and online together. Use your outlet’s access to senior-level elite, the CEOs who are interviewed, the heads of state who are quoted, to gain access to the eyeballs and data of the more junior demographic - the ones who buy things, share information, and are ostensibly open to forging new loyalties to brands and ideas.