Remember Tigger from Winnie the Pooh? You know, the tiger whose
back is made of rubber, and whose legs are made of spring. Well that’s
who Stephen Grabiner, the ONdigital chief, reminds me of.
Yes, yes, he might be 40 with an impressive background in newspaper
marketing.
As marketing director he helped transform the face and fortunes of that
most grown-up of newspapers, The Daily Telegraph.
And yes, he is charged with establishing a new media business from
scratch against Rupert Murdoch, the toughest fighter in the game. But
still he bounds around the room and from subject to subject like the
cartoon tiger on too much caffeine. ’Look, this is a perfect
example ... ,’ he shows off the idiot-proof handset.
Boing. ’This is great,’ he says, demonstrating the on screen/split
screen programme guide designed to allow men and children to find out
what is on other channels without zapping every three seconds and
driving the women of the house mad.
Bound. ’Look at our games,’ he grins, insisting we play a modern version
of Connect Four with Tom and Jerry.
Bounce. ’The biggest interactive driver will be e-mail.’ He fizzes with
excitement. He is enormously enthusiastic, tremendously energetic and
very, very good.
Behind the charm and Grabiner’s childlike carriage is a shrewd operator
who has once before seen off Murdoch and his nigh-on bottomless
pockets.
Grabiner steered The Telegraph through the minefield of price promotions
laid by News International. However, he resists the notion that he is
once again squaring up to the media tycoon.
’I saw a piece the other day that had a cartoon of me and Rupert Murdoch
and it is just not right. I am a manager of a business for my
shareholders, I am not the owner; it is not me squaring up to him,’ he
says. ’It is not even a fight between ONdigital and Sky. They are
different businesses.
The media chooses - because it likes doing it - to say it’s either me or
Michael (Green of joint owner Carlton) or Charles (Allen of Granada)
squaring up to Rupert. But that’s just the way they turn something into
a battle of personalities. It isn’t the case here.
’Sky subscribers are not the core target for us. Sky has been hugely
successful for ten years and it and cable have got a third of the
marketplace.
That means that 70% don’t have multi-channel TV. We cannot possibly win
by splitting the 30% that Sky has got, we have to build from the 70%,’
he pauses almost imperceptibly for breath. ’You have to say there are
different marketplaces: one group of people is used to multi-channel
television, another group is not and what they want is to be taken
gently into it but in a completely different way.’
It is at this point that Grabiner’s efforts to sit still fail altogether
and he gives in to the need to show just how fab he thinks his product
is. Grabiner argues ONdigital offers a user-friendly, non-techie,
non-nerdie way into the multi-channel experience. Everything about the
system is designed to seduce multi-channel virgins. Take the channel
changer: if you press one you get BBC1, two gets you BBC2 - just like on
a traditional system.
According to the latest CIA Sensor research, which has tracked consumer
attitudes to digital for the past year, resistance is actually growing
in some quarters. The percentage of people saying they will never go
digital rose from 23% at the beginning of the year to 28% at the end of
May.
According to figures released last week, Grabiner has much to be pleased
about. In the fortnight since ONdigital began giving away set-top boxes
free (instead of charging pounds 199) it has achieved new subscriptions
of over 8000 a day. That means it will comfortably reach its year end
target of 350,000 subs and its break-even point of two million will be
reached ahead of its 2001 target.
If Grabiner is under pressure, he doesn’t show it - he looks like he is
loving every minute of his job.
And Grabiner has been here before. He made his name in the marketing
business by leading The Telegraph’s defence against Murdoch’s
price-cutting tactics on The Times in the early 90s. His entry into
media management came when he was working as a management consultant for
Coopers & Lybrand on The Telegraph. The paper’s then chief executive,
Andrew Knight, spotted his talent and recruited him as marketing
director. He later became managing director before moving to United News
& Media, overseeing the group’s local newspaper business.
But you get the distinct impression that Grabiner is glad to be back in
the thick of the action at ONdigital.
Many of those who have worked with him in the past speak highly of his
sharp intellect and man management skills. Paul Woolfenden, marketing
chief at Express Newspapers, says: ’Apart from his intellect and quick
business brain he has an infectious personality, which is highly
motivating.
He is the Kevin Keegan of business.’ But as with Keegan, the jury is
still out on whether this inspirational manager will be able to use his
natural enthusiasm to create a winning team.
1983 - 1986
Management consultant
Coopers & Lybrand
1986 - 1994
Marketing director
Telegraph Group
1994 - 1996
Managing director
Telegraph Group
1996 - 1998
Executive director,
UK planning
United News & Media
1998-present
Chief executive
ONdigital
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