WAN 2001 Advertising Conference

Daily News

Soren Jacobsen,
Conference Chairman

Here are the summaries of presentations from the 2001 WAN Advertising Conference. These summaries will be posted each day. Please check back later for the most recent updates.

For more information -- including the soon-to-be-published Conference Report -- contact Joanna Jolly, WAN, 25 rue d'Astorg, 75008 Paris France, Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00, Fax +33 1 47 42 49 48. E-mail: joanna@wan.asso.fr

WAN members will receive the report — and all WAN publications — for free. Membership information can be found at www.wan-press.org/membership/index.html

Next event: The 54th World Newspaper Congress and 8th World Editors Forum, the global meetings of the world's press, 3-6 June at the Hong Kong Convention Centre. For programme and registration information, visit www.wan-press.org/congress.forum/

Good Salespeople are Hard to Find

Hugues de Foucauld, Marketing Director, Synergie Media, France

A problem for most newspapers is attracting good sales people. Synergie Media, which provides marketing, human resource and operational support for the advertising departments at regional newspaper groups in France, decided to create them.

Synergie and the Minerve School created a training programme for young recruits who graduate with a state-recognised diploma in ad sales.

"The students who are very talented can count on being hired by a newspaper company. We are able to train good people and hang on to them as well," said Mr de Foucauld.

The programme is one of several major initiatives instituted by Synergie, and described in detail by Mr de Foucauld, to recruit and retain ad sales staff. These fall into three main areas: tools that increase commercial possibilities and make selling easier training programmes; and motivational programmes, such as creating innovative remuneration systems.

The training academy is an example of the importance Synergie places on the human element of these efforts. "We find it very important to focus on the human element, even more so than on the tools," said Mr de Foucauld. "The human element is more important than the technical element."

Attracting Top Staff with a Magnet

Pal Overby, Vice President Advertising, Aftenposten, Norway

The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten had a problem; annual sales personnel turnover of over 30 percent with employee duration averaging less than two years.

"A costly situation that puts pressure both on sales continuity – keeping abreast of the history of each client in order to offer the optimum service and receive optimum results – and on the available time investment needed in constantly training new personnel," says Pal Overby, Vice President for Advertising , who directs a sales force of 135.

Thus the Magnet programme was born. The programme, which became fully operational in October 1999, is designed to reduce turnover by clarifying internal opportunities, increasing competence in sales and media through obligatory training programmes, and establishing a long-term remunerative system that offers unlimited quarterly sales commissions on top of regular salary.

Mr Overby provided an in-depth look at the Magnet programme, which has produced lower personnel turnover, with internal moves instead of resignation, higher standards for sales work and customer relations, and increased advertising results.

Spread the Word: Newspaper Advertising Works

Dianne Newman, Director of Information, Business am, Scotland

Newspapers should always be an integral part of any multimedia advertising campaign, a global review of research on advertising effectiveness has found. Now the job is to convince advertisers and agencies to think newspapers.

"A change in attitude right at the strategic level will not only benefit publishers but will have an impact on overall media campaigns," said Ms Newman, who was asked by WAN to review global research on advertising effectiveness.

Ms Newman presented the findings of five of these studies. The overriding conclusion: "newspapers are an effective medium, especially when used in combination with other media."

The presentation was the first part of a global project by WAN to establish the role of the press in global advertising campaigns, determine the effectiveness of print and provide compelling reasons to consider print at the strategic level.

The research, said Ms Newman, "can not only demonstrate the effect of press advertising, but can also provide you at a local level with valuable information to help present the case for increased advertising revenues in your own publication." Contact Ms Newman for more information about the WAN project: dianne.newman@businessam.co.uk.

More like television

Poul Melbye, QRP Project Manager, Politiken, Denmark

The innovative advertising rate system at Politiken, which resembles television more than traditional newspapers as it bases price on impact, not space, will be tested as the industry standard in Denmark, with the 20 largest newspapers and up to 40 advertisers participating in a common test this year. Mr Melbye has no doubt the test will be a success, and the system will be adopted by newspapers in other countries as well.

Basically, the Quality Ratings Point system, or QRP, integrates quantifiable dimensions known to impact the effect of an advertisement – placement, size, colours, among others – and bases the price on the reach of the ad itself.

Mr Melbye presented the lessons learned since the QRP system was introduced at Politiken, and provided advice for newspapers that are moving in the same direction. Lesson number one: "it is more than a new way of calculating price. It is a move from a production-oriented sale to a customer-driven sale. We're focusing on selling contacts and not space. This strategic shift is more important than the system itself."

More like television II – the Media Agency View

Einer Nicolaisen, Print Director, Initiative Universal Media, Denmark

Media agencies should love the QRP system, says Mr Nicolaisen, who has been buying advertisements at Politiken for a major client.

"The market has been demanding this of newspapers for ten years," he said, as his clients would like to see a "pay per view" system for newspapers, as well as more dynamic readership data and more development in studies that measure essential conditions – clutter, competition, size, colour usage, frequency, etc.

"The point is not to buy space in newspapers, the point is to buy effect," he said.

Mr Nicolaisen said the QRP system showed him his client could get more impact with its target audience for less money in sections of the paper he hadn't considered before because of a lack of data.

The system has benefits for newspapers, agencies and advertisers, he said. For newspapers, "it is a strategy to get back on the agenda of the media agencies." For the agencies, "I'll get benefits from focusing on print in that I'll be able to provide my clients with better service and I'll have more insight into the paper." Advertisers will get better value and more impact.

Getting a Foot in the Global Door

Andrea Brockhaus, Publicitas Promotions Network, Germany

Getting an appointment with an advertising customer is often the clearest sign that he's ready to buy. But how easy is it today for an individual publisher to get an appointment with a global customer located outside your country?

"I can tell you that it is not easy, sometimes even impossible to meet with the top decision makers for media," says Ms Brockhaus, adding that 129 key European customers booked more than four countries, on average, in 1999.

Ms Brockhaus cited numerous examples of what global advertisers are looking for, and how newspapers can reach them. Among his suggestions: simplified sizes and standard formats on all positions, harmonised technical specifications for printing material and delivery procedures, more effort to provide better positions, and more flexible combinations.

The Publicitas Promotion Network — which handles advertising sales for 3000 newspapers and magazines -- is creating a new company to better reach global customers. "The global customer expects a global approach: therefore we have to cross borders and find a way to co-operate with partners from other countries," Ms Brockhaus said.

It started in the newsroom, but the repercussions were felt in the advertising department.

While the reporters for the Tampa Tribune were joining up with their counterparts from local television as well as their web editors in a multimedia newsroom, the advertising staffs "are the people that have to drive the dollars that pay for that kind of operation," said Mr Faulmann.

"Our corporate ownership said, 'you can do this on the news side, you ought to be able to do it on the business side and find new revenue,'" he said.

Mr Faulmann talked about the organisational structure of the "converged" advertising department, compensation issues and how to get sales personnel "to truly embrace and sell converged products." He talked about the new revenue opportunities that were produced by the change, and also the obstacles.

Mr Faulmann said that the even newspaper companies that did not own television stations should think about alliances with other media to increase advertising revenues.

The Telegramme daily in western France has always been an innovator: it was the first

European daily to go to four-colour offset printing, and was the first newspaper in France to open a web site. So it comes as no surprise that it has embraced the integration of internet and print advertising sales.

It was on a study tour of new media operations in the United States organised by WAN that Mr Chalm and his team realised they had to move fast. "Our North American colleagues advised us to make sure the market for classified ads did not pass us by," said Mr Chalm. That led to an alliance among all French dailies except one to create an internet classified site.

The regional press has also come together to create Web 66, which brings together all the web sites of the regional press.

So far the print and internet alliances have not produced large revenues, but Mr Chalm said the newspapers are well placed for the future. "I think it is the 'end of the beginning' of the internet and we are trying to be the "click-in" paper as others are the brick and mortar."

A newspaper's greatest strength is often its greatest weakness, says Mr Gortzis.

"At their best, they have been fearless, informative, even heroic — attacking corruption, following events up front in battlefields or parliaments. Newspapers have authority because they are the written word," he says.

"Unfortunately, like other traditional 'products,' they are reluctant to change because of their ingrained belief that they are the superior, more serious, and trustworthy medium."

Newspapers are engaged in a "war of attention" with many other media, old and new, he says. Speaking for advertisers, Mr Gortzis had some recommendations for newspapers to help them win the war:

More market research. Reliable, and independently audited, circulation figures. Reducing cover price to increase circulation — or go in the other direction, increasing cover price and quality to draw a more specialised audience. Demonstrate more relevance to young readers. Aim for more female readers.

"dotcom.telegraph" might sound like a website, but it is a new newspaper section that is generating a lot of readers and advertising.

The nine-month-old weekly section, which reflects the business and consumer issues surrounding the internet, is just one of several new products launched by The Telegraph in recent months that provides a custom-made environment for niche advertisers.

And, for those who say the dot.com wave is dead, Mr Edgley has a response: the section generated more than 13.6 million pounds in dotcom advertising since its launch.

"The Telegraph is using its own research to develop the product portfolio in order to capitalise on new and existing advertising revenues," he said. Some of that research is generated by a Reader Opinion Panel of 1,500 who are frequently consulted about their attitudes toward the paper.

Just as "dotcom.telegraph" draws internet advertisers, so does the increased fashion coverage in the Telegraph magazine attract fashion advertisers. Fashion advertising in the magazine has increased by 165 percent over the last five years. Mr Edgley discussed a variety of other new product ideas.

"Creative people think that making a newspaper campaign is less sexy and less exciting than making a TV commercial. This is particularly true of young people who grew up in the internet world," says Mr Niewold.

To put "sexy" back into newspaper advertising, Cebuco, the marketing division of the Dutch Newspaper Publishers Association, has been holding workshops where young graphic designers create print advertising campaigns for companies that don't often advertise in newspapers.

Cebuco, along with the Art Directors Club of the Netherlands, invites advertisers and their agencies to present a brief for one of their products at the workshops. The participants, who are advised by senior art directors and copywriters, come up with a concept for a newspaper ad or campaign based on that brief.

The programme has been a complete success and will now be expanded throughout Europe, with the first international workshop to be held in the fall. Newspapers from Denmark, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Norway and France have already signed up.

Such as the Scottish newspaper that printed a football encyclopaedia and generated 150,000 pounds in new annual revenue. Or another that got return on revenue that was ten times what it spent on research. Or the Australian creative team that gave new meaning to "hands-on," coming up with a contest where the contestant who could hold their hand on a new car the longest got to take it home.

Mr Hoath presented six case studies — three driven by publishers, one for multimedia, and two that were advertiser focused — that could be adapted and used in many newspaper markets.

"A good idea will never lose you a sale," said Mr Hoath. "A good idea, in many cases, will make you a sale."