What has the Empty Shops Network got to do with the future of news?

I was asked this question time and again after returning from a Brighton Future of News Group meeting earlier this week.

My best response to date revolves around my thought that the way the Empty Shops Network publicises its work and events has implications for newspapers and for print advertising in general.

That’s because all its advertising is done, using blogs, video and podcasts, through social media.

The network makes good use of websites, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and You Tube to spread the word.

In contrast, the founder said, they did very little newspaper advertising and leaflets and posters didn’t work.

I suspect that as more organisations get to grips with the potential offered by the internet they too will move away from print and put resources into their own online outlets.

Glossy brochures and leaflets could become a thing of the past but online words and website design will be increasingly important.

Dan Thompson set up the Empty Shops Network to help others make use of his experience of organising exhibitions in empty shops and ultimately “restore, revive and reinvent” the High Street.

The network has set up and advised on a whole variety of activities in empty buildings from performance of opera and dance to galleries of art and pop-up shops.

It secured the ear of Government when seeking grants to support its community activity and national organisations are getting involved in its efforts.

Big names involved in one project included the Royal Opera House, the National Portrait Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum and Somerset House.

To weigh up the quality of work produced take a look at this series of films, Seven Days in Seven Dials, made during one temporary exhibition http://www.emptyshopsradio.com.

Dan told the Brighton Future of News Group that people still liked shopping in the High Street as a leisure activity. They enjoyed browsing but when there was something they particularly wanted they would buy online because it was quicker and cheaper.

High Street traders were hit by that and were also having great difficulty in sourcing stock. Dan thought a collapse of supply would lead to more of them going out of business.

He wanted to see the use of empty shops for temporary activities “become normal”. It was good for the community and neighbouring traders because it increased footfall and attracted attention to the High Street.

It was good for shop owners too, he said, because they could gain a reduction on their business rate by allowing others to use the space.

Dan has offered the Brighton Future of News Group the opportunity to organise its own event in a shop in Shoreham which the Empty Shops Network has secured for a period of six months.

It remains to be seen whether the group takes up the challenge.

See also: A blog by John Keenan: I have seen the future of the High Street – and it works. http://thejohnkeenan.wordpress.com/