Case Name :      Trome: News for the Base of the Pyramid

Authors :           Guillermo D’Andrea, Javier Jorge Silva, Maricruz Prado

Source :             North American Case Research Association (NACRA)

Case ID :            NA0052

Discipline :        Marketing

Case Length :    28 pages

Solution sample availability : YES

Plagiarism : NO (100% Original work)

In June 2001, Empresa Editora El Comercio (EEEC) had launched a new popular newspaper, Trome, for low-income families. Although several studies had preceded this launch, sales in following months failed to reach expected levels and actually displayed a decreasing trend. Trome embodied the company’s effort to expand its news coverage to new population segments that were not served by its other newspaper, El Comercio, a market leader that had served as the foundation for the company itself. Six months after Trome’s launch and faced with dropping sales, company managers had met to discuss their options. This case describes management team members’ dilemmas at that meeting: “Should the new paper’s style and contents be changed? Should Trome focus more on sex and violence-related issues, as its competitors did? Would it be convenient to replace the silverware promotion chosen to support launching? Was the channel conflict adequately managed? Were intended readers’ needs truly and fully understood? Should the company re-launch Trome or would it be wiser to just give up on this project?