20 Under 40 - 2004 Profile: John O'Loughlin

PRESSTIME

By Presstime Magazine

First Published: December 2004

General Manager, RedEye | Chicago Tribune

John O'Loughlin is a people watcher. Whether checking out what customers read at a local Starbucks or observing people in different environments, O'Loughlin admits that he's fascinated by consumer behavior.

"It's fun watching what's important [and] what's relevant to readers," says O'Loughlin, general manager of RedEye, the Chicago Tribune's five-day tabloid aimed at 18-to-34-year-olds.

The publication, launched in August 2002, was one of the first targeted to a younger market by a major metro. With no real blueprint to follow, O'Loughlin knew that RedEye's success hinged on providing content young people wanted. To identify that content, he borrowed a research method common to broadcast, but a first for the Tribune—overnight online reader panels.

RedEye solicited panelists through an in-paper ad. Using e-mail, the newspaper received daily input from readers about that day's paper.

Out of more than 1,000 people who responded to the ad, the paper chose 200 for the panels. Panelists received one e-mail a week, but by staggering panelists' delivery days, the paper received daily information. Responses helped to shape RedEye's current mix of entertainment, fashion and pop culture news and features, O'Loughlin says.

Readership results are encouraging. RedEye boasts a weekly cumulative readership of 500,000 and has attracted 400 advertisers who were not previous Chicago Tribune customers.

Richard Malone, senior vice president and general manager of the Tribune, credits much of that success to O'Loughlin for his "hard work, strategic thinking and an unrelenting willingness to embrace and foster change."

O'Loughlin says he sees RedEye as more than just a job and expects the same commitment from the staff. The publication "is a reflection of the people who work for RedEye as much as it is a reflection of who reads it."

Education: 1990, B.A., American studies in marketing and mass communication, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Ind.; 1997, M.B.A, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.
Career: 1990-present, data coordinator and management trainee, circulation; supervisor, call center customer service; division manager, city home delivery department; manager, division of single copy and home delivery; analyst, circulation sales; manager, regional circulation; manager, distribution operations; director, single-copy development; director, circulation group sales and marketing; director, strategic marketing, planning and research; general manager, RedEye, Chicago Tribune.
Personal: Age, 36. Born, Evanston, Ill. Single.
Diversions: Traveling, water sports, boating, skiing, swimming.
Connections: RedEye, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611, (312) 222-5859, joloughlin@tribune.com.