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Academia CatavencuorThe Catavencu Academy
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What is this 'Academia Catavencu'?- background-

• Romanian satirical magazine foundation started
  in 1991, famous for its investigations.
  Established by a team of humourists and literates
  headed by poet and former dissident Mircea
  Dinescu, it developped its own sterotypes and
  nicknames for local politicians (1)
• It has an 'ironical style, humour elitist and
  objective' (like www.uncyclopedia.org)
• Also sponsors / organizes some cultural/environmen
  tal initiatives (2)
• Used to be a 'source of energy' for the
  transition period Romania was going through.
  (We'll be there, even when times get tough).
  Hard to describe, the times were awful. Believe
  me on that one. The communist regime had just
  fallen 2 years before.

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Not intriguing at all...

• To outsiders it might seem bizarre. So does 'Life
  on the Playstation' seem to us, for that
  matter.(1)
• Ion Iliescu (former president) aka "Nelu
  Cotrocelu" or "Granny" ("Bunicuta") - associated
  with the Cotroceni owl
• Adrian Nastase (former prime minister) aka
  "Candy" ("Bombonel") due to a rumour that he
  might be a homosexual
• Traian Basescu (actual president) aka "Popeye
  the Sailor" (Popeye Marinarul) - from former job
  as a navy captain
• Theodor Stolojan (member of the leading party)
  aka "The robot" or "Frankie" - comic resemblance
  to Frankenstein(2)
• Save the Danube Delta
• Save Vama Veche
• Cu papucii prin desert - a humanitarian
  expedition through Sahara. (The normal
  translation would be 'In slippers through the
  dessert papuci slippers, but papuci is a
  local name for a car model The Dacia Papuc)

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So you see...

• Things aren't and were never really bright.
• After the 1989 revolution, corruption spread,
  some certain few oddly got rich over night, the
  middle class had almost gone. Just very rich and
  very poor. Some made a run for it, others who
  fraternised with the ex-regime decided they
  should rule the country. Why so? Because 'the
  regime made them dumb, so we'll act like the
  good guys.'.
• Lots of libertine actions and mentalities in the
  West were (are) frowned upon here. Not meaning to
  rub it in, but we're somewhere 50 years late
  compared to any other country.
• Being designed by and for the elites (honest,
  hard-working people, who haven't tried dishonest
  ways to get rich, unlike our leaders that I've
  mentioned above), it had a tremendous succes
  among the ones not contaminated with the 'being
  stupid and lazy at the same time' (not only those
  well-off).
• No 'hate something, change something' for us, but
  let's make fun of what we hate. We were always
  humourous (the name is inspired from a satirical
  play written in the 19th century)
• How can you not be funny when strangers think
• Romania is in Asia
• Our capital is Budapest
• 'Dragostea din tei' is cool (We all hate it.
  Catavencu readers do.)
• All romanians are gypsies (Even if we don't want
  that, but it just goes to show how efficient we
  are)
• Romania is the only country in the world with
  absolutely no speed limits

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Where we are

• The front page always has a photoshop-edited
  picture and a popular saying / rhyme /advertising
  slogan to reflect the past week happenings
• Notice on the left 'How to fraud the elections
  and who are the culprits'

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Brief communication history
This was all good and interesting stuff but I
think its way too much information. You need to
summarise more. What are the really key points to
make?

• Had a decrease in sales (18.9 in 3 years)
• Readers no longer had benefit. Too cynical,
  sophisticated and distant to them. No longer
  their friend, but their superior.
• Same old news and politics. Too predictable.
• An advertising campaign revived their sales 2
  years ago
• The main message was 'smarter readers'
• It was a finalist at Golden Drum 2004 (Best TV
  ad, Best Print, Best Campaign)
• Won a Bronze Effie in Media Entertainment
  (2005)

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Relationships

• Who are the customers after all?
• How important is the newspaper to them?
• Why do they buy it?etc.

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Brand overview

• The first, one and only satirical newspaper
• Since 1991, several attempts to copy the format /
  content, unsuccesful (3)
• Strong brand running, no competitors, stable
  market, loyal customers
• The group founded
• 'Tabu', a magazine for emancipated women
• 'Cotidianul'(4) (a daily newspaper)
• 'Superbebe' (for young parents)
• 'Radio Guerrila'(5) (radio station for Bucharest
  and Cluj)(3) The 'Plai cu Boi' magazine
  (Playboy parody) 'Aspirina Saracului' (Poor
  man's aspirin aka sex)(4), (5)
  www.cotidianul.ro http//www.eliberadio.ro/

This seems out of order. Shouldnt this be in the
first section? You just said you were doing the
audience bit.
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Consumers Brand
That first point is great. Absolutely the best
thing so far - a really good way of illustrating
the character of a relationship. That point on
its own is more interesting and useful than
everything up to here.

• A focus group revealed that at 12 o'clock at
  night, lost in the subway, if a girl sees someone
  reading 'Catavencu', she'd rather ask that guy
  directions than anyone else. (Safe - the readers
  you can trust)
• The readers haven't changed in 14 years
• The obvious target
• Young people, both men and women, 20-35 years
  old, urban areas, medium and high income, (at
  least) medium studies.
• Intelligent, highly critical, with a sense of
  humour, appetite for irony, open-minded, that
  understand subtle jokes
• What's in it for them? In a country so bad, it's
  entertaining, distracts your attention from daily
  worries
• Emotionally highly rewarding, boosts your
  morale.
• They're expecting consistency and less politics.
  (No matter how many jokes you tell, everybody is
  sick of politics scandals)
• Most of them highly loyal they were given a
  very good reason to love the brand
• Its strength comes from its content weaknesses
  appear when it tends to be irrelevant or forgets
  where it comes from. And talks too much about
  politics.

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The consumers

• Are aware that it must be read in a certain way
• Are happy because their intelligence isn't
  insulted
• Have huge egos, are sensitive about what they
  read.
• Strikingly oppose the ones satirized in the
  newspaper we're talking to mannered people, who
  don't long for the ex-regime, who have plans for
  the future, the 'expected people', who have the
  chance to change something.
• Are aware of the 'big picture'

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The PROBLEM

• The satire isn't funny anymore, it's becoming
  vulgar (even for the commited and passive loyal
  readers)

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A few thoughts

• Content won't change unless a few changes are
  made among the editors
• Number of (satyrical) blogs is increasing, so
  they might be a source of humour and insights
  even hire some of the best humorous bloggers out
  there or invite them to write columns for the
  newspaper (after all, they readers guided the
  content all along)
• Always avoid distribution gaps (happens
  sometimes, decisive though)
• Once a year organize a meeting with the editors
  the readers will share the relationship with the
  brand with like-minded people.

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Few words...

• Reader-oriented and focused content
• Increasing the competitive spirit among readers
  by putting a great value on the content they
  could generate
• Keeping the other publications in a safe place
  (engulfing them under the same umbrella would
  generate confusion)
• Keeping its 'independent' aspect you read this
  newspaper alone, not likely to share its content
  with others.
• ..and all by maintaining the former 'smarter
  readers' idea previously implemented

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The end.
This was interesting and written with
passion. And your strategic ideas seem
smart. And there was a great illustration of the
relationship. This could have been a lot shorter
and would have been a lot better. This assignment
doesnt have to have been x pages. It could all
have been done in two pages.

• ... of attracting wrong people for the wrong
  reasons.