While Internet companies such as Google use baked goods as names for their key strategic initiatives–recent ones related to its Android mobile operating system were called Donut and Eclair, for example–aggressive media giant News Corp. is definitely not going for sweetness in its unusual selection of a codename for its high-profile digital content effort.
That would be Project Alesia, a moniker which comes from a vicious siege from ancient times and which is widely considered to be one of the more decisive battle of all time.
And, that is apparently how top News Corp. (NWS) execs think is the best way to describe their plans to stop the decimation of premium content in the digital age and transform their business to take advantage of new means of distribution, according to numerous sources BoomTown spoke to this week about the unusual name.
“It takes a lot of determination to succeed in what is the biggest challenge newspaper and all media has ever faced,” explained one source. “So, the real path to success will require ingenuity and staying on course over time–perseverance, really, which was critical to that military victory.”
Interestingly, said several sources, the Project Alesia name was picked by James Murdoch, the chairman and CEO of Europe and Asia for News Corp.
Widely considered to be heir apparent to the company’s Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch, his father, James Murdoch is apparently a dedicated reader and student of Roman history.
But it’s actually been the elder Murdoch who been cast as the obvious general so far, conducting a recent series of public verbal attacks on Internet targets, especially Google (GOOG).
He has accused the search giant of “stealing” content, for example, while other News Corp. execs have echoed his jibes in various high-profile forums.
But James Murdoch has been a key player behind the scenes in the digital strategy, several sources said, an effort which also includes News Corp. Chief Digital Officer Jon Miller and Dow Jones CEO Les Hinton.
(Full disclosure: News Corp. unit Dow Jones owns this site.)
Of this top group, it was James Murdoch–who has slowly been emerging as a more high-profile player, especially internationally–who found inspiration in the past.
To get why, you’ll first need a short and truncated history lesson, which I culled from a variety of sources online and off:
Taking place in September 52 BC in what is now modern-day France, the Siege of Alesia (also referred to as the Battle of Alesia) pitted Rome’s famed leader Julius Caesar against the Gallic tribes under the command of Vercingetorix.
More importantly–besides being cited as one of the best uses of siege warfare and “circumvallation” (see more on that below)–the battle of Alesia was considered a turning point in bitter wars conducted by the Roman Republic to tame the Gauls, which had finally united as a single force in opposition to the Roman invasion.
The hard-fought win–in a battle where the Roman army was outnumbered five-to-one, outside a hill-top fort in Alesia–is often credited with reinvigorating Rome’s power over Gaul. After the loss, Gaul became a province of the Roman empire and was pretty much subdued for the next 500 years.
Alesia is often cited as one of Caesar’s greatest military victories and the fallout from it later led to his ascension to ultimate power in Rome (which was soon followed by his infamous assassination).
That’s not the ultimate end News Corp. is envisioning, of course, sticking with Alesia’s main themes of perseverance and innovation, said several people with knowledge of the digital content efforts.
And, no surprise, in the digital battles between traditional media and interlopers from the Web, guess who has been cast as noble Caesar and who plays the role of marauding heathens?
You know, the ones who even cast their women and children out of the fort into the middle of the siege when food started to run out? That would apparently be the Googlers, although if it were them, the food would be organic!
Not all comparisons are the same, said a source. For example, consider circumvallation, which is essentially the building of a series of encircling fortified walls around the enemy. Contravallation is also also part of the strategy, to protect from attacks by enemy reinforcements attacking from the outside.
One could easily imagine that means creating pay walls around premium content or de-indexing it from search sites like Google, both of which News Corp. has publicly talked about doing.
Not so!
“Traditional media companies are interested in investing in innovation too, so the idea of just putting up walls around content is a red herring,” said the source. “The idea is to find new ways of distributing media that also makes money, because why should journalism in [digital] ones and zeros be any different?”
Of course, with new stats showing sites like Google News and Yahoo News as the place consumers are going to be more and more of their news, that is a big issue in a longer fight, which will grind on for a very long time and well before any side can ever declare victory.
[The 1899 painting at the top is by Lionel-Noël Royer.]
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