AAN News

Local Paid Search a Threat to Local Newspapers?new

Six months after it began benchmarking the fledgling business of local search, The Kelsey Group says it has emerged as one of the hottest new online advertising categories. While the marketplace does face some unique challenges, the Kelsey analysts say the cost effectiveness of local search is so powerful that it ultimately could compete with other forms of advertising used by local businesses and services, including local yellow pages, direct mail, newspapers and radio.
MediaDailyNews  |  12-23-2003  9:35 am  |  Industry News

Presstime Publishes 2004 Outlooknew

The amount of money marketers spend on newspaper advertising is expected to increase by about 4.1 percent in the coming year, according to the 2004 forecast for the newspaper business, published in the January issue of Presstime magazine. Presstime is the flagship publication of the Newspaper Association of America.
NAA Press Release  |  12-23-2003  9:28 am  |  Industry News

Please Return Your Ad Vehicles to Their Upright and Locked Positionsnew

Already a fixture in venues as diverse as urinals, baggage carousels and beach trash cans, commercial pitches are proliferating in alternative places as consumers tune out messages in more traditional media, notes Los Angeles marketing consultant Larry Londre.
USA Today  |  12-22-2003  9:04 am  |  Industry News

More Retailers Using Coupons to Attract Biggest Spendersnew

In a subtle shift of marketing tactics, some retailers have stepped up coupon offers directed at their most loyal customers in a bid to attract repeat visits from big spenders during the holiday selling season. The coupons are not the type clipped from newspaper circulars -- though there are plenty of those to go around. They're the ones crammed into mailboxes or handed out with a purchase. Eager to wean themselves from discounts for the masses, retailers hope more targeted coupons will limit big bargains to a pool of their best customers
Washington Post  |  12-22-2003  9:01 am  |  Industry News

Holiday Guides Can Be Naughty or Nice

"When you talk about holiday gift guides, it sounds very un-alternative," Baltimore City Paper Publisher Don Farley says. Maybe so, but while some AAN papers publish gift guides devoted solely to advertising, others season the ads with sex and satire and the kind of edgy content that would never make it past mainstream-media gatekeepeers. (FULL STORY)
Ann Hinch  |  12-22-2003  5:43 pm  |  Industry News

Monster Launches Brand Campaign, New Taglinenew

In anticipation of its upcoming 10-year anniversary, Monster is launching a brand campaign and new tagline, "Today's the Day." In addition, the company unveiled details about its 2004 marketing strategy. As part of its planned $125 million global marketing budget, the U.S. program includes TV, radio, print and online advertising, along with sponsorship and other non-traditional activities. The first 30-second spot, titled "Today," debuts on December 26th during the College Bowl Championship Series. The campaign's next 30-second spot will debut during Super Bowl XXXVIII on February 1st, 2004.
MediaDailyNews  |  12-19-2003  9:31 am  |  Industry News

City Newspaper Analyzes What to Expect from New Gannett Weeklynew

Chad Oliveiri, managing editor of the Rochester, N.Y., AAN member publication, talks to editors of other alternative newsweeklies to anticipate how a new Gannett weekly, tentatively named The InsideR, could affect his market. Free weeklies the media giant has already launched in Boise and Cincinnati compete with AAN papers for advertising and promotional opportunities. The silver lining is that Gannett is selling large mainstream advertisers on the concept of appearing in free weeklies, Cincinnati CityBeat Editor John Fox says.
City Newspaper  |  12-18-2003  3:45 pm  |  Industry News

Coast Weekly Reporter Embedded in Iraq

A reporter known for his environmental coverage expressed concern in an article last March that alternative newsweeklies were criticizing mainstream press coverage of the war but hadn't sent their own reporters to Iraq. "If you want to go, go," Coast Weekly Editor Eric Johnson told his reporter, Andrew Scutro. Scutro left for Iraq on Dec. 15. (FULL STORY)
Ruth Hammond  |  12-18-2003  11:18 am  |  Industry News

Sex Patch to Get $100 Million Ad Pushnew

Procter & Gamble Co. has tapped Publicis Groupe for what could be a $100 million campaign to get women more interested in sex.
Advertising Age  |  12-18-2003  9:23 am  |  Industry News

New York City News Rack Owners Accumulate Fines for "Aesthetic" Violationsnew

Most publishers would like to soften New York's Local Law 23, which imposes fines for "dirty" news racks, and some contend the law is unconstitutional. Since last April, when enforcement began, the city's Department of Transportation has assessed more than 2,000 fines, totaling almost $1 million, Cynthia Cotts of the Village Voice reports. The burden is greatest for smaller businesses. New York Press publisher Charles Colletti says the weekly has received fines of almost $100,000 and has hired a cleaning contractor to comply with the law.
Village Voice  |  12-16-2003  2:36 pm  |  Industry News

Dailies Say Classifieds Back on the Jobnew

Are we finally beginning to recover from the slump in employment advertising, which has cost each daily newspaper company tens of millions of dollars in lost ads? The industry hopes so, and several larger companies were optimistic that 2004 would bring renewed growth in this area.
MediaDailyNews  |  12-16-2003  5:40 am  |  Industry News

Youth-Oriented Tabs Too Shallow for Gen-Xers, Says Columnistnew

Offering no substance and playing it safe aren't the way to win over the most educated generation of readers in the country, writes Scripps Howard News Service columnist Joe Donatelli. He was disappointed when he saw one of his columns reprinted in the Chicago Sun-Times' Red Streak at half its length and with all the humor expunged.
Evansville Courier & Press  |  12-15-2003  11:23 am  |  Industry News

CareerBuilder to Launch New Campaignnew

CareerBuilder.com, the popular online career site, will shift its focus from people who are out of work to those who are gainfully employed, but disgruntled, with a $17 million campaign breaking next month. Three humorous 30-second TV spots, via Cramer-Kressalt, Chicago, will make their debut Jan. 5 nationwide on network and cable. The spots show employees fantasizing about dramatic ways to escape their current, miserable jobs. Radio, print and outdoor will support.
Brandweek via E&P  |  12-15-2003  9:14 am  |  Industry News

AOL to Introduce "Real Time" Personalsnew

America Online said Wednesday that it launched a preview of its upcoming Love.com Web personals service, which aims to ride the company's success with instant-messaging software into the lucrative Internet dating sector.
C|Net News  |  12-12-2003  11:47 am  |  Industry News

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