When the Guardian started giving away its content for free it went completely against accepted industry wisdom.
But it makes complete sense if we look at it through the lens of the ‘customer chain’ thinking of my first book, The Escher Cycle.
You can read an analysis here of how they are applying that thinking, and how deepening their relationships with their customers in this way has taken them from being the seventh biggest newspaper to the third largest news website in the world.
http://theeschercycle.com/guardian-membership-strategy/