Lucien Dy Tioco @ 60: Leading through liminal space

By Bjorn Biel M. Beltran, Special Features and Content Assistant Editor

In the past two decades, few media executives have had to make harder choices than those leading legacy newspapers into the digital age. Faced with an unknown frontier, many were at a loss.

Some titles doubled down on nostalgia, hoping the loyalty of aging print readers would carry them through. Many others treated digital as an afterthought, walling off online operations from their editorial cores, republishing print content wholesale without adapting them to the digital medium, or outsourcing innovation to agencies with no stake in the paper’s identity.

As part of that era of leaders, Lucien C. Dy Tioco, executive vice-president of the PhilSTAR Media Group (PMG), the multimedia outfit that houses esteemed titles like The Philippine STAR and BusinessWorld, had to brave that transition.

In doing so, he has not only succeeded in adapting the journalistic legacy of Philippine print media to the digital age, helping his organization become the leading print media organization in the country with six titles comprising broadsheets and tabloids circulated nationwide; but he also transformed the brand into a creative platform for advertisers navigating the new media landscape, securing the partnerships and collaborations that ensured the company’s continued success.

Upholding past legacy

After earning a degree in Journalism from the University of Santo Tomas in 1985, Mr. Dy Tioco took a detour into music, working at PolyEast Records (then called OctoArts International) in Artist and Repertoire, where he managed local releases of global labels like Virgin, Chrysalis, and RCA.

It had been his dream. Mr. Dy Tioco had a passion for music, and during his application for that first job, his knowledge of the industry impressed the executives at OctoArts International so much that they created a job opening exclusively for him. But after two years, print called him back.

His family already had ties to the industry. His sister had been an account executive at Business Day, the precursor to BusinessWorld. Meanwhile, his father was an advertising executive at the company now known as McCann and Saatchi.

Mr. Dy Tioco joined The Philippine STAR in 1987 as a branch coordinator for classified ads, cutting his teeth in marketing research, and quickly becoming one of the paper’s standout account managers.

One of his most successful projects was a lockout for Sharp in 1990, a term for when all the advertisement in a particular newspaper issue is from a single advertiser. It was not only the newspaper’s first lockout project; it was considered the first of its kind in the industry. It was so successful that it ran annually for 10 years.

In 2000, Mr. Dy Tioco was named advertising director. A dozen years after that, he was elevated to Senior Vice-President for Sales and Marketing.

When BusinessWorld became part of the PMG portfolio in 2015, Mr. Dy Tioco was given expanded oversight. He worked to modernize the brand’s image while preserving its editorial gravitas introducing online video conferences, digital subscription models, and a more dynamic social media presence that helped the outlet reach a younger generation of professionals without diluting its authority.

In terms of leading the marketing team, he described his management style as more of a coach than an instructor.

“I consider myself a coach with a pride of athletes, and I train them to be tough and No. 1 in the field. I build them like a champion team,” he had previously said of his management style.

“More than meeting targets and group goals, all the qualities and skills to become an effective leader boils down to one thing: It’s all about finding one’s motivation and working on that motivation to achieve success in life,” he added. “The success of the common goal comes easily because everyone is motivated. That to me is the core of leadership. Motivating the human spirit to defy all odds.”

A year later, he was named Executive Vice-President for Sales and Marketing for both titles.

Under Mr. Dy Tioco’s leadership, PMG remade itself into one of the country’s top digital platforms. What began as a post-EDSA broadsheet grew into a multimedia operation spanning mobile, web, live events, television, and outdoor. He applied the same digital-first sensibility to business daily BusinessWorld, Filipino tabloid Pilipino Star Ngayon, Cebu broadsheet The Freeman, and a new slate of digital-native brands.

“It was still early days when The Philippine STAR debuted its newspaper app in 2013. The app, I recall, integrated an early augmented reality feature to the delight of our followers,” he recalled, writing for the STAR in 2022.

“Our foray into apps, digital editions and augmented reality — despite lagging connectivity issues then — emboldened us to produce more multimedia formats, from video documentary series to the creation of TV shows under the brand Philstar TV, which showcased TV shows inspired by our sections. We were the first and only newspaper to produce a miniseries that led to a movie through which we boldly partnered with the country’s leading network.”

It was during those early days that he saw the value in developing in-house creative and production teams that were capable of producing videos and creating events. The choice to create television-styled content was a strategic one. By bringing STAR sections to screens, they created touchpoints for audiences who might never pick up a broadsheet, positioning the brand as a content engine, not just a publisher.

Mr. Dy Tioco also realized then that the key to the digital transition is not the discarding of old conventions in favor of what is new, but the evolution of what made the printed legacy so influential in the first place.

“Our journey to a more digitized world has made us hone our expertise and expand our influence. We are able to do all of this because of a very important strategy: keeping the printed format healthy and sustainable,” Mr. Dy Tioco noted.

Unlike the fragmented attention of scrolling through feeds, print demands and rewards deeper engagement. Mr. Dy Tioco cited analytics from July 2022 that show readers of The Philippine STAR and its sister publications spend an average of over 41 minutes per issue, far exceeding the one to five minutes people spend on most news websites.

Even during the most restrictive months of the pandemic, readers sought out their newspapers, underscoring a level of loyalty and routine digital alone could not replicate. Mr. Dy Tioco saw this as the validation of a hybrid model: one where print and digital complement one another, rather than cannibalizing each other’s growth. The print readership of PMG titles, he pointed out, includes decision-makers and loyal readers who still read from cover to cover.

“Shrinking print ad budgets notwithstanding, The STAR’s share of the market continues to grow, thanks to the trust of our readers and advertisers,” he said.

“We brace ourselves for newer waves of digital transformation that will further shape our world, but we will continue fighting for our place as a credible and trusted source of news and information. For this reason, we at The Philippine STAR look forward to unveil our next pages while keeping our core — truth and nothing but — strong,” he added.

Transitioning into an unknown future

The journey of PMG into the digital frontier was neither seamless nor without risk. Since the advent of the internet, there has been no small number of well-established publications that saw their final issues printed.

Advertising, the lifeblood of newspapers everywhere, was migrating online; and journalism had to function not just as storytelling but as a digital product. Newsrooms had to become competitive advertising platforms, capable of monetizing attention in a digital economy governed by clicks, algorithms, and engagement metrics.

Even today, the Reuters Institute finds that online and social media, mostly Facebook and YouTube, remain the most popular sources of news in the Philippines for the urban population. TV and radio news, while still important for those who are not online, are seeing continued decline over the last five years. Only 18% of Filipinos pay for online news.

Yet, the company pulled it off, and Mr. Dy Tioco came away with quite a few accolades that acknowledge his efforts.

Recognized for his outstanding leadership and dedication to his job, he was named Asia’s Top Outstanding Netizen Marketeer of the Year at the 2023 AMF Asia Youth, Women Netizen Marketing Excellence Awards.

“Every award validates everything that we have been doing as right. This award is really special because of its international recognition,” he had said on receiving the award.

He had also received honors and acclaim from agencies and award-giving bodies like the 37th Agora Awards, where he was named the recipient of the Outstanding Achievement in Marketing Communications award. His alma mater, the University of Santo Tomas, awarded him with the Outstanding Thomasian Alumni (TOTAL) award for his work in the media industry. He was also listed as one of the recipients of the 2016 CEO Excel Award from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). In 2020, he led the Philippine Marketing Association as its president.

“More than the Filipino as a world-class marketer, I am proud of how the Asian community has recognized our efforts to make The STAR thrive amidst the challenges of the print industry and the pandemic,” he said.

Technology continues to evolve, however, and trailblazers like Mr. Dy Tioco are seldom awarded time to rest. Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the landscape once again, and is raising all-new questions regarding the future of journalism and media.

“I have my sights set on how The STAR Group will be by 2030. With a new generation of tech coming in, all I can say there’s a whole lot of exciting possibilities and opportunities poised for The STAR,” Mr. Dy Tioco said.