Digital Storm

In today's media landscape, change is inevitable.

Actually, it's necessary. The audience demands it, and survival requires it.

But one media company has a head start in the race. It's not just now beginning to scramble and restructure to meet the needs of a shifting society. It's not just now beginning to react to catch up with changing habits. It’s already well into the transformation process.

While other media companies are at a standstill, OPUBCO Communications Group is embracing change and rewriting the rules with strategic plans to meet the needs of today’s consumers and advertisers.

It is blazing a path on the information highway and is positioned like a crossing guard directing traffic at America's communications crossroads.

“We are re-inventing the model for what a local media company will look like in the future,” says president David Thompson.

OPUBCO Communications Group is not just surviving the stormy climate. It’s creating a digital storm of its own.

Aggressiveness: Attacking the dark clouds

OPUBCO Communications Group is aggressive.

It’s what made the company strong for more than 100 years, beginning with the entrepreneurial spirit of E.K. Gaylord, growing with his son Edward L. Gaylord and continuing into its third generation behind Christy Gaylord Everest.

That entrepreneurial spirit is alive today, but it goes far beyond the passion of the reporters and editors or the relentlessness of the sales and marketing division.

OPUBCO Communications Group has moved quickly, making swift and strategic decisions that have placed the company at the hub of all communications in Oklahoma.

That mindset can be seen in the two state-of-the art video production studios and two sound studios built on site since 2006.

“We are always seeking new ways to reach new audiences with new technology,” says vice president of Audience Development Rob Wescott. “Video delivery is a space we’ve targeted by investing in infrastructure and resources.”

The first set of studios set the stage for everything the company is currently producing. But it dove head first into this space when it built larger studios just one year later, giving the OPUBCO Communications Group space for numerous set designs and options for styles of videography. It also built a studio inside the Washington D.C. bureau for reporters and guests to interact with the studio in Oklahoma City.

Adding to the mix is a growing team of experts to facilitate the new direction – videographers, producers and on-air talent.

“With two studios and a full staff, we are able to serve news consumers and business clients at the same time,” says vice president of news and information Kelly Fry.

The studios are just one sign of OPUBCO Communications Group aggressively investing in new technologies to strengthen the future.

You can also look to the depth of expertise on the programming and development staff in the company. With recent additions of some of the brightest technology minds in the state, OPUBCO Communications Group has grown to become one of the largest digital innovation firms in the region.

New brands, new technologies and new partnerships are the result, evidenced by the development and expansion of new web sites like bedlamnation.com, thundermadness.com and wimgo.com, which has developed a network of satellite partners throughout Oklahoma.

“We are moving forward into new frontiers at an extremely fast pace,” says executive vice president Chris Reen. “Every day, we create more options on more platforms for our users and customers.”

Tour the OPUBCO campus.

OPUBCO Communications Group
core values:

Integrity of our brand and ethics
Respect for both employees and customers, who are trusted partners
Service to the community as agents for the greater good through professional journalism, information, advertising, and both individual and corporate leadership.

Innovation: Creating a storm

OPUBCO Communications Group is innovative.

The company has a long history of innovation, from television and radio in the 1950s to electronic production of newspapers in the 1980s to a Web site in the early 1990s.

The mission has always been the same: To make a difference in the lives of Oklahomans.

Today, reporters are trained to make a difference in far more ways than simple text and pictures on a printed page.

“Our reporters blog, Twitter, shoot video, conduct live chats and leverage all new delivery channels to get information to readers around the world as fast as they can,” says Fry.

Today, readers expect to see a high-quality printed publication every day in the form of The Oklahoman, but they also expect immediate information on demand on NewsOK.com, through their e-mail inbox, their Blackberry, iPhone or their alternative reading device like the Amazon Kindle.

“The tools are expanding,” says Wescott. “We have a staff of some of the best developers in the region that analyze new technology and find ways we can improve our products or create new ones.”

There’s no doubt that innovations are moving at a much faster pace than they did in the first 100 years of the company. That’s why OPUBCO Communications Group has invested in new resources to strengthen the staff of developers, turning it from a traditional newspaper company into a dynamic, multi-platform communications company.

Pick a platform ... any platform. OPUBCO Communications Group can deliver.

Digital Delivery

OPUBCO Communications Group has an array of media, technologies, platforms, formats and frequencies to serve consumers how, when and where they want us.

Power: The eye of the storm

OPUBCO Communications Group is powerful.

It’s strong enough to sustain a struggling economy and bold enough to create a digital storm.

That strength comes from its core assets: journalists, marketers, audience and advertisers.

The company boasts the largest news-gathering team in Oklahoma, covering everything that makes news in Oklahoma — from local civic government to state politics; from local film festivals to blockbuster releases; from high school wrestling to Big 12 football to the NBA.

Adding to the reporting and information-gathering muscle is the largest sales and marketing team in Oklahoma, with a long list of available solutions — from niche publications to The Oklahoman; from customized video production to traditional commercials; from web development to digital advertising on NewsOK.com; from e-mail marketing to targeted direct mail through The Oklahoman DIRECT; from mobile sponsorships to custom digital packages.

And at the center of the digital storm lies the largest audience in Oklahoma. The reach of The Oklahoman and NewsOK.com, combined with the long list of other information-delivery options, prove that the company is fulfilling its goal of making a difference in the lives of Oklahomans.

Among all the clouds surrounding the transitioning media industry, one fact goes undisputed: The audience has never been larger. Each month, the combination of The Oklahoman and NewsOK.com reaches 2.4 million people.

That power and muscle of OPUBCO Communications Group is unmatched, except, perhaps, by the ever-growing audience.

“The demand for news has never been stronger,” says editor Ed Kelley. “We’ve proven that we can supply information swiftly to a powerful audience.”

OPUBCO's vision:

To be Oklahoma's marketplace for information in a manner superior to anyone else in the world.