Newspaper Industry Spending Millions To Reshape The Minds of Advertisers

The Newspaper Association of America announced plans to spend $50 million on an ad campaign targeted at advertisers across the nation.

The campaign is aiming to convince advertisers to use the online and print and newspaper medium for their ads because of their multimedia offerings and the desire of readers to use newspapers as a resource for information.

"Newspapers are aggressively communicating their true strengths by better defining the quality and size of their audiences, proving consumer engagement with newspaper advertising, and highlighting the expanded footprint today's newspapers deliver through their core products along with Internet sites, ethnic and youth publications, and more," said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm.

The campaign's print and online advertising aimed at media planners and buyers will be placed in newspapers across the country beginning next month, as well as targeted trade magazines and online. NAA developed the campaign with The Martin Agency of Richmond, Va., whose recent ad campaigns include GEICO insurance and UPS's "What Can Brown Do for You?"

While it is great that the NAA has decided to do this, but I feel it is too little, too late. This is something they should have done years ago. The newspaper industry has been fighting a losing battle by doing everything they can to protect their print business. For years the trends have shown that the online medium is where more and more people are getting their news and information. The newspaper industry has treated their online medium as an unwanted step-child that they aren't sure how to handle.

Related Links:

1. The Future of Local Newspapers