Advertising in Context: The Print Model

Advertising is all about context: Where will an ad be placed? What is the best way to access the most viewers? How will it capture viewers attention? Answering these questions is important to any advertise and marketing campaign. One should understand how their ad fits in media.

Lately, the advertising model is proving more complex. A great deal of this complexity concerns the newer media and maximizing it´s audience (for example, the mobile phone, see previous entry). The internet has always provided an interesting platform for advertising. Google has dominated the search engine with their industry leading system, while there are still corners where no functional model has yet to be realized (facebook, twitter, this blog, haha).

Yet, more complexity surfaces in the model itself. If you consider a general set advertising solutions: ad spaces in the exterior, commercials on TV and radio, and spaces in printed media, one could notice that these models all center around the context of the end product, or context of the media "vehicle" that brings these ads to the masses.

Now, some campaigns in the print model have diverted from just the end-product orientation noted above. The following is an example:

A typical pipe making company wishes to begin a marketing campaign to a national audience, which advertorial solution carries more weight?

1. An independent advertisement in a national daily newspaper with a high circulation.
2. An advertisement in a feature about the various sectors associated with piping (not only for water, but for oil, gas, etc). This report, when published, will be placed as a special advertising section within the same newspaper.

I believe the second option holds more inherent value. Though both solutions consider the context of the media vehicle (the national newspaper´s audience), the second solution further contextualizes the product itself, and articulates the role and position of the company within an informative feature, a Special Advertising Section.

''Special sections have always been around, but now they have gone on steroids,'' said Michael A. Clinton, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Hearst Magazines. ''They have become much more complex and sophisticated.''

They are also less lucrative than regular advertising, leaving some in the industry wondering whether advertisers are being taught that an elaborate, custom editorial package is a better environment for their marketing messages than the magazine. (from David Carr´s article The Media Business: Advertising)

In printed media around the world, more of this is showing up everyday (see an example here). Leading media, such as the Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune, are developing their own "Special Reports" and picking upon the advertorial market.

Third party agencies are even getting into the picture, publishing their reports with The Economist, Forbes and Fortune, and they have some very strong business structures. Ad space is negotiated with the media, but because of the sheer volume of ad space that is negotiated, the prices are significantly discounted. Even with a nominal markup, these agencies end up charging their advertisers less for presence in a featured report than if they were to advertisement independently. Suddenly, people can gain exposure in the world´s leading media for less money. And with the right feature, these third party agencies may target any company. With such volume in business, what media wouldn´t want to work with them?

Though it isn´t without its pit-falls (obviously, it is a fine line between editorial and advertisement), it could be the best value in advertising today. One could call it a mini-revolution in the Advertising Print Model, perhaps it will serve the rest of the media world as an example, though the Internet and the Mobile Phone have a long way to catch up.

More...

• Special Advertising Sections: A Plus for Your Marketing Mix
• The Media Business: Advertising, by David Carr
• Guidelines for SAS