If Ben Edwards lacked confidence, you’d never guess it from his impeccable posture, impassive expression and thoughtful pronunciation. Unsurprisingly, he works for the Economist. “We’re very formal, very British,” Edwards acknowledges. “And we have a certain way of doing things.”
This much is obvious to anyone who picks up the weekly magazine (or as its employees still insist on calling it, a ‘newspaper’). Its dry wit and liberal economic voice attracts a cult-like following among well-educated - and often monied - readers.
Edwards’ joined the publication in 1996 as a finance correspondent, flying through titles such as Tokyo bureau chief and US business editor during his 10-year stint before he felt he had reached his peak in journalism.
“I didn’t see many better jobs after that,” he says. So Edwards ventured into the commercial side, spending nearly two years developing new media opportunities at IBM before an old friend - publisher Andrew Ashbash — asked him to return home.
“It took several months for me to understand it was what I wanted to do, but I came back because I saw a massive opportunity in the digital space,” he says. “The Economist is the strongest media brand in the world at the moment. Not the largest, but the strongest because it knows exactly what it is and what it wants to be.”
But the road ahead is steep. “The site is far from where I want it to be,” he says. “For instance, I’m not religious about it being free.”
Ideally, according to Edwards, the website will adopt a tiered, membership-based model where users can get free generic content but eagerly pay for additional content and online services. “It’s all about providing people with a web environment in which they’re willing to pay to become a so-called platinum member. That might mean access to content or reader networks you wouldn’t have otherwise.”
Until then, Edwards is busy overseeing two upcoming web tools: the first is an auction-styled, online debate platform. “Auction-style is a formal type of debate,” he explains.
“There are a lot of rules with you interact with the floor. It’s very formal, very British as well.”
Another example of extending the Economist’s offline experience online is a revamp of the ‘letters to the editor’ page - a cherished section of the magazine - so followers can write, comment on and sort through all the letters the Economist receives.
As for interfaces, his standards are high. “Google is the ultimate in simplicity,” Edwards says wistfully. “Just a single box where you type in what you want - that’s really appealing to me.”
“Other international papers could learn a thing or two from this aesthetic as well. I was looking at the IHT’s site the other day: the top half is very clean. Big visual with four stories below it. But you scroll down and find massive links below,” he says. “Basically everyone gets to be on the homepage but the links at the bottom get in the way.”
“I also admire NYTimes.com in some ways, though they still have this massive links thing at the bottom which makes my head hurt.”
His advice? Trust the user more. “If you have good navigation and good taxonomy, the user will find what they want to find. You don’t need to put everything on the homepage.”
But like some of its peers, such as the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal, this year saw several distinct changes to its brand identity and sales pitch.
In August the publication eschewed its classic, ‘white out of red’ advertisements for funky graphics and black backgrounds to attract advertisers outside the usual business circles.
Concurrently, it evolved its definition of an Economist reader to a state of mind, rather than an annual income.
“The Economist reader is not defined as someone with a certain amount of wealth or travels a lot,” Edwards says. “What makes an Economist reader is the fact that they’re intellectually curious and interested in the world as a whole. Many of them happen to be wealthy, professional, managerial, travel frequently. It’s the state of mind that defines an Economist reader.”
Perhaps this explains why Edwards appears unconcerned about losing reader integrity ever since the Economist lifted its online pay barrier at the end of last year. “I suspect that what we write about and the brand itself are in themselves very powerful filters. Credit derivates, Zimbabwean politics, nuclear power, whatever we write about act attracts a certain crowd of people.”
But confident as he appears, there is one breed of animal Edwards will never touch: an Economist journalist. “We don’t dare tell our journalists to do anything,” he says, with a smirk.
Ben Edwards’ CV
2007 Online publisher, The Economist
2006 Director of new media communiccations, IBM
2001 Americal business editor, The Economist
1998 Tokyo bureau chief, The Economist
1996 London finance correspondent, The Economist
1993 Reporter, Euromoney
