The advertising industry and its battle against the economy
By Flickr user audreyjm529
Newsroom denizens aren’t supposed to worry about ad revenue, but it’s been difficult over the past decade not to notice how small and thin our publications have become. And it’s not for lack of news.
Advertising has been a casualty of the recession, leading not just to lean newspapers but to bare billboards, skimpy shoppers and dwindling direct mail.
With the calendar flipping forward to the advertising grail of the year – Super Bowl Sunday, on Feb. 7 – you might want to look at the local advertising scene to complement the ubiquitous ‘zillion-dollar-per-second’ ad stories that will be cropping up in a couple of weeks.
There are so many niches from which to choose. Take a look at how larger, traditional agencies are being affected by business downsizing; one large firm is shuttering in Detroit after losing Chrysler’s business, as Jim Edwards reports in his BNET Advertising Analysis blog. That means more than 400 people may be adrift in an already-tough ad climate.
Edwards’ blog, by the way, offers lots of other timely and informative observations that might touch on major industries in your area.
One the flip side, the Pennysaver Inc. company, celebrating its 30th year, notes in an online blog message to customers that its “stimulus rate package” has rolled back prices by 10 years.
Like many advertisers; Pennysaver is going online; here’s a link to its Facebook page which touts online editions and other news. You can find similar publishers in your area through the Independent Free Papers of America trade group and its Web site also has an idea-sharing section that will give you insight about the challenges facing small local publishers.
Talk with area businesses about their business-to-business advertising. That’s a story in itself.
And check with retailers, service providers and others about how they are reaching out to consumers these days. I know of several boutique owners who cut advertising and are relying on frequent-customer e-mail lists instead, for example. One area pizza shop has even resorted back to the old sandwich-board technique; paying some person to stand on the corner waving a giant cardboard pizza to tout the $5 special. What other shoestring techniques are at work in your backyard? And what’s not? My mailbox is a lot emptier of direct mail these days, and many roadside billboards are blank.
Grocers and other retailers are getting into the Internet; I get almost all local and national weekly circulars via e-mail now. Even my local hardware chain, tire retailer and meat market are in on the act, and offer extra coupons and savings in exchange for e-mail sign-up. Meanwhile, in newspapers, I’ve notice many advertisers have cut back from weekly print sales flyers to every other week by just extending the term of the markdowns.
Of course Advertising Age is a go-to resource for industry news; try also the Interactive Advertising Bureau for online stats and news.
