Michelle Dimino

Foundations of Business Strategy

University of Virginia Darden School of Business
Coursera Business Foundations Specialization, November 2015

AtlanticLIVE Competitive Position Analysis

AtlanticLIVE is the live events arm of Atlantic Media’s flagship publication, The Atlantic magazine.
LIVE was founded in 2006 and now produces upward of 150 events per year. The enterprise
doubled its revenues between 2010 and 2014, and as of 2015, profits exceeded $10 million—one-
fifth of The Atlantic’s total revenue stream (Moses 2014). The live events industry in the editorial
space is profitable due to sponsorship from third parties, who primarily pursue event sponsorship
(or underwriting, in The Atlantic’s phraseology), to establish themselves as a “thought leader” in a
particular space and as a secondary marketing tool. The Atlantic’s primary capabilities in the
industry are its brand reputation as a thought leader and links to prominent journalistic and event
management talent. Though The Atlantic is currently well positioned in its sphere, its position is
threatened due to the competitive forces in the industry. In order to maintain its footing, the
company must continue to differentiate itself from other key players through talent retention.

Across the board, traditional print media outlets have expanded and experimented in recent years,
searching to bolster their digital offerings and capitalize on new platforms of media consumption,
as well as a significant millennial audience. The Atlantic was among the first publications to pursue
live events as a dedicated arm of its business strategy, and since then events have become a part of
this for leading publications, with local (Washington, DC, area) competitors like The Washington
Post and POLITICO and national competitors like The New York Times building up event production
and sales teams. The Atlantic maintains some competitive advantage due to its depth of experience
in the field, brand reputation of the magazine and its associated events, and its industry recognition.
However, there is a very low barrier to entry (Moses 2014). Events and event content is very easily
replicable, and the traditional format of panel discussions and interviews moderated by an
experienced journalist is a simple model for any editorial entity with high-profile writers to imitate.
With nearly all major media outlets incorporating live events into their repertoire as well as the
rising popularity of new trends such as branded content and native advertising, market share in the
editorial events space is contentious and the industry is becoming highly competitive. Players must
not maintain the status quo, but continually differentiate in order to succeed in this market.

In evaluating the industry, the major environmental factors to consider are: market size,
demographic trends, and socio-cultural influences, as legal regulations are nonexistent (ethical
regulations, it should be noted, are restrictive but variable) and technology/suppliers do not factor
into play in this industry. An environmental analysis shows that maintaining a strong, powerful,
and respectable brand reputation in the editorial world is linked closely to The Atlantic’s ability to
produce high profile, profit generating events. See Exhibit A for a fuller environmental analysis of
these influential factors in the industry.

A five forces analysis offers a particularly useful lens through which to examine the editorial events
industry. In Exhibit B, I’ve provided a five forces analysis for the industry, considering only
Washington, DC, area competitors for a narrower scope. The biggest challenge for an editorial
events firm in the nation’s capital is the low barrier to entry. Any publisher with the financial
 Michelle Dimino
Foundations of Business Strategy
University of Virginia Darden School of Business
Coursera Business Foundations Specialization, November 2015

capability to execute live events and the reputation to support entry can enter the industry. Rivalry
can be quite intense, especially when the topic of the live events in question falls into the general
interest sphere rather than a specialized area of focus (i.e., infrastructure, healthcare, education).
When the topic of a proposed event is specialized in this way, however, The Atlantic stands to
benefit: its longstanding reputation for covering a wide variety of topics in its print and digital
publications positions AtlanticLIVE well to develop events around a skilled, well-known journalist
in those areas; whereas competitors like POLITICO that focus more exclusively on politics and
government face a higher curve in proving their ability to successfully produce an event on those
topics (POLITICO.com). The depth and breadth of AtlanticLIVE’s most high-profile events—namely,
the Ideas Forum series: the Washington Ideas Forum, Aspen Ideas Festival, and New York Ideas—
also position AtlanticLIVE to capture a large market share of Washington, DC, editorial events. On
the other hand, The Atlantic is known for having a significantly stricter set of editorial guidelines for
its events than some competitors; this translates to higher bargaining power for buyers, who may
benefit from working with a competitor that will give them a larger name presence or executive
participation in an event element, whereas The Atlantic may not (TheAtlantic.com/live).

When it comes to substitutes, branded content is one particular substitute that threatens an
editorial events entity (CopyBlogger.com). It is important to recognize the motivations behind a
private company or nonprofit organization sponsoring or underwriting an editorial event, which
are primarily: a) to position themselves as a thought leader and a knowledgeable player in an
industry, and b) as a marketing tool. Live events are another means through which a company can
gain brand name recognition, enhance their image, and self-promote in an experiential setting.
Branded content, also known as native advertising, is a means of marketing that relies on third-
party generated content designed to share a brand’s story through writing produced by editorial
staff and appearing in the standard format of the publisher (CopyBlogger.com). The Atlantic is,
smartly, combating the threat of this substitute through its own branded content arm, Atlantic
Media Strategies. As an added value proposition, AtlanticLIVE may consider offering live event-
branded content packages in conjunction with Atlantic Media Strategies to allow buyers the
opportunity to pursue both types of marketing from collaboration with just one brand.

A capabilities analysis of AtlanticLIVE (Exhibit C) reveals that the company’s capabilities are highly
dependent on its human resources. Top talent—both on the journalistic end from its counterpart,
The Atlantic, as well as from within the LIVE operations, content, and marketing teams—is essential
to maintaining AtlanticLIVE’s high position in the editorial events industry. In 2015, AtlanticLIVE
took home 5 Folio: FAME awards, including the “Media Event Dream Team” recognition. In an
industry where brand name and reputation carry so much weight, maintenance of a top-quality
team on all fronts is absolutely critical to AtlanticLIVE’s continued success. Just this past week,
AtlanticLIVE hired Rob Hendin of CBS News’ Face the Nation as executive producer for its live
events (TheAtlantic.com). Key hires like this will continue to support LIVE in its quest to obtain
more market share. With the market for editorial events continuing to grow and The Atlantic’s
brand power remaining high, a proactive focus on talent acquisition and retention will position
AtlanticLIVE for dominance in the industry.
 Michelle Dimino
Foundations of Business Strategy
University of Virginia Darden School of Business
Coursera Business Foundations Specialization, November 2015

Exhibit A: Editorial Events Environmental Analysis

Demographic trends ● Readership of print publications in the

industry continues to skew older,
whereas digital subscribers and readers
skew toward the younger generation,
particularly millennials
● Attendees at events produced by
editorial entities skew younger and are
more diverse than print readership

Socio-cultural influences ● Editorial products and coverage of

socio-cultural issues by the publishers
in the industry is a key factor in
determining brand reputation, which
contributes to the reputation of the
events produced
● As more companies venture into the
events space, the public comes to
expect it of all players in the industry

Market size ● Rapidly growing market

● Large market size due to low barriers to
entry and ease of replicability
 Michelle Dimino
Foundations of Business Strategy
University of Virginia Darden School of Business
Coursera Business Foundations Specialization, November 2015

Exhibit B: Five Forces Analysis for the Editorial Events Industry in Washington, DC

Threat of Entry ● High: very few barriers to entry for an

established and well-respected
editorial company (-)
○ Recognition and esteem in the
industry can be achieved
quickly—one highly publicized
successful event is often enough
to solidify a reputation for a
new player (-)

Bargaining Power of Suppliers ● Low: Pricing in the industry is not

tremendously variable, but it is simple
for buyers to obtain quotes and directly
compare suppliers based on price and
offerings (-)
○ Editorial ethics guidelines also
dictate to what extent a
publisher can support or
promote a sponsor’s aims,
which can be a determining
factor for buyers but which
cannot be easily mitigated by
suppliers, leaving them
vulnerable (-)

Intensity of Rivalry ● Average: Washington, DC, area

publications are notable for different
strengths and buyers often self-select.
When event topics are in the
general/public interest space, however,
rivalry can be fierce. (+/-)
● Buyers tend to be repeat customers for
one firm (+/-)

Bargaining Power of Buyers ● Average to high: Buyers can easily

compare prices from competing
publishers (-)
○ Editorial ethics policies can
dictate which publishers may
have more leeway for “direct”
promotion or marketing of the
sponsors; buyers can also use
this to their benefit in
bargaining (-)

Threat of Substitutes ● Variable: an emerging substitute for

 Michelle Dimino
Foundations of Business Strategy
University of Virginia Darden School of Business
Coursera Business Foundations Specialization, November 2015

live events is branded content, which is

an editorial product that tells a brand’s
story through association and is
produced a well-established publisher.
Major players in the editorial events
space have also developed branded
content arms; for example, Atlantic
Media Strategies and the Washington
Post Content Studio, which allow those
companies to capture buyers on
multiple sides of the experiential
marketing market (+/-)
 Michelle Dimino
Foundations of Business Strategy
University of Virginia Darden School of Business
Coursera Business Foundations Specialization, November 2015

Exhibit C: Capabilities Analysis for AtlanticLIVE

Producing high-quality, editorially sound live events,

ranging from 20-person dinner discussions to 2,000-
CAPABILITIES person international conferences, that attract an audience
of value to buyers while enhancing both the buyer's
brand and The Atlantic's historical reputation.

In-house marketing
Contracts that
Processes/Sys assert editorial
and sales teams to
integrate event
capabilities and
tems ethical guidelines
promotion
processes

Recognition for
Strong HR and talent — i.e., Reptutation of
People/Skills hiring system that "Media Event Atlantic Media and
recruits top talent Dream Team" in The Atlantic brands
2015 Folio Awards

Separation of LIVE
Sustainable... with
Alignment & team from Atlantic
editorial team
continued
acquisition of top
Sustainabiliity aligns with
talent
organization ethics
 Michelle Dimino
Foundations of Business Strategy
University of Virginia Darden School of Business
Coursera Business Foundations Specialization, November 2015

References

“About Washington Post Live.” Web page. Retrieved November 7, 2015.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-live/wp/2014/02/10/about-washington-post-live/

“AtlanticLIVE.” Web page. Retrieved November 7, 2015. http://www.theatlantic.com/live/about/

“AtlanticLIVE earns Folio: FAME Award Honors.” Press release. TheAtlantic.com. March 23, 2015.
Retrieved November 7, 2015.
http://www.theatlantic.com/personal/archive/2015/03/atlanticlive-earns-five-honors-in-folio-
fame-awards/388418/

Farnworth, Demian. “12 Examples of Native Ads (And Why They Work).” Copyblogger.com.
Retrieved November 7, 2015. http://www.copyblogger.com/examples-of-native-ads/

Moses, Lucia. “How publishers navigate the ethics of live events.” Digiday.com. May 7, 2014. Retried
November 7, 2015. http://digiday.com/publishers/publishers-navigate-ethics-live-events/

Moses, Lucia. “Inside The Atlantic's events juggernaut.” Digiday.com. July 22, 2014. Retrieved
November 7, 2015. http://digiday.com/publishers/inside-atlantics-events-strategy/

“POLITICO Events.” Web page. Retrieved November 7, 2015. http://www.politico.com/events

“The Atlantic’s Events Division, AtlanticLIVE, Hires Award-Winning Journalist Rob Hendin as
Executive Producer.” Press release. TheAtlantic.com. November 2, 2015. Retrieved November 7,
2015. http://www.theatlantic.com/personal/archive/2015/11/the-atlantics-events-division-
atlanticlive-hires-award-winning-journalist-rob-hendin-as-executive-producer/413635/