I was brand manager at the Guardian when the "Guardian Unlimited" websites were launched in the 90s. As part of the launch, I was tasked with creating a CD-ROM called Get The Net. It had starter ISP software on it, to get readers online in the first place, and this video of the editor, Alan Rusbridger, giving his thoughts on the internet revolution.
I think his thoughts stand up pretty well.
What it taught me
It's easy to forget how much had to be explained back then. Before anyone could read the Guardian online, they needed a modem, an internet account and a reason to bother. That's why a newspaper ended up handing out software just to get people connected. The product was only as good as the reader's ability to reach it.
A few things from that launch I still come back to:
- Build the on-ramp, not just the destination. Get The Net existed because the audience wasn't online yet. Sometimes the marketing job is getting people to the starting line.
- Let the person with conviction make the case. The editor explaining why it mattered carried a weight no ad could.
- It's the same fight, on a new front. The Guardian was already working hard to modernise and see off the price-cutting Times and the newly launched Independent (more on that in The Guardian TV ads 1980s/1990s). Going online wasn't a side project. It was the next step in staying relevant.
I see the same pattern now with AI. Most organisations I work with are where publishers were then: everyone agrees something big is happening, nobody is sure what it means for them, and the temptation is to either ignore it or bolt it on. The ones that do well treat it the way the Guardian treated the web: as a new way to deliver what they already stand for, not a replacement for it.