A reader this morning asks about the origin of the ad at the bottom of Page A-1 this morning in the print edition.
It's an ad sold by the McClatchy Company, The Star's parent, in all its papers with a Super Target in the area. The campaign will run for several weeks, and there may be other advertisers in that spot as well. It's currently planned to run on Sundays only.
Sounds like Donovan is almost apologizing for the ad.
Not sure why Donovan wants to downplay the ad; front page ads are being used in a lot of newspapers. Below is an ad that appeared on the front page of today's Sacramento Bee.
The ad is a sticker that can be pulled off the paper. Not sure why you'd want to pull it off but you can. (Hat tip: email).
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23 comments:
It would have been a good idea to place the sticker over Obama's face to prevent vomiting.
Star-Telegram has been using front page stickers for a few years now.
you guys talking about the post-it notes?
our paper has been using them as well for few years too. I aways thought defacing the front page of your primary product was a bad move. I am suprised that other papers have not done this yet, i thought it was he new wave of advertising.
P:
The Star has had post it's for 5-6 years. This is not the ad that is in question. On the bottom of the page(below the fold) is a 3 inch ad the width of the page.
This is nothing new.
It's probably more collectable then their Trinket version that really never sold all too well
2:00 heh
I'm still waiting for McClatchy to announce how the trinket sales went.
I am surprised that you guys are not thinking about boycotting Target for being "stupid" enough to advertise in newspapers.
~byon~
The Sac Bee has bee doing "Post-its" for years. Even after the previous Editor said that Post-its "cheapened" the paper and stopped it for a while. Money talked and the stupid things came back.
Now it's done by machine but in the past it was done by the carriers who where paid a penny for each post it. 1 cent ! I was hell for all those involved in the Circulation Centers.
We too are in our second full year of front page stickers. There is nothing sacred about the front page, it is just the first thing we see, and therefore it commands higher value for the advertisers. Some days the sticker is more interesting than what it is covering.
When I worked at the paper we put them on alot. The post it notes made ALOT of revenue for us.. If you get the right post it notes they have dots of glue on them and it doesn't mess up the papers.
If Warren Buffett wouldn't buy a newspaper at any price, even though he reads five a day, isn't the writing on the wall for almost all newspapers?
"I am surprised that you guys are not thinking about boycotting Target for being "stupid" enough to advertise in newspapers."
How much daily time do you invest in pondering the behavioral habits of a group of anonymous internet strangers that don't care what you think of them?
Just curious.
"How much daily time do you invest in pondering the behavioral habits of a group of anonymous internet strangers that don't care what you think of them?"
Just enough to point out the stupidity of this newsworthy article.
I mean how many "bought" stories have appeared on the front page yet no one seems to have commented on them?
The "reader's rep" explained why there is an ad on the front page, yet for some reason people on this site don't seem to believe him. You think a "local" Target is going to advertise in anything?
Nope, advertising is handled at the corporate level. So that would mean that someone at corporate Target talked with someone corporate McClatchy to do an advertising deal.
So unless you have other information how about giving the guy the benefit of the doubt for why the ad is there.
~byon~
"It's an ad sold by the McClatchy Company, The Star's parent, in all its papers with a Super Target in the area. The campaign will run for several weeks...."
Since when did it become ok to give out confidential information such as "the campaign will run for several weeks"? If I was Target I would not be happy...
"The "reader's rep" explained why there is an ad on the front page, yet for some reason people on this site don't seem to believe him."
Mr. Donovan's reputation precedes him. In just the short time he's been "Readers" Rep his penchant for playing fast and loose with the truth has become almost legendary. So widespread was the knowledge that around the turn of the year his main activity was deleting the posts on his blog that confronted him on a variety of issues.
It all came to a head when Derek lost it, had a meltdown and started attacking people on both his blog and his column (I've published a link on here occasionally to a voice mail he left me). To say that he was less than truthful in his comments would be one of the understatements of the year.
After that he really sort of became symbolic of everything that was wrong with The Star. Rather than being part of the solution, he was clearly just another part of the problem, in essence the Baghdad Bob of Kansas City.
Just yesterday he wrote a blog entry on one of Yael Abouhalkah's Stalinist revisions of his blog in which he rationalized the many revisions The Star now makes to its online publications.
"So unless you have other information how about giving the guy the benefit of the doubt for why the ad is there."
I don't recall critizing any explanation for why the ad is there.
I mean how many "bought" stories have appeared on the front page yet no one seems to have commented on them?
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You'd have to be blind, deaf or willfully ignorant not to notice the massive numbers of complaints about their passing off advertising as news.
John, Your 7:35 post was really good! I wish you did more of this type of posting when resonding to trolls like myself. If folks do not have something usefull to contribute, ignore it, and do what you do best.
P:
how much is an ad on the front page like that cost?
P: Let's clear something up, I read some of your stuff yesterday, and I don't care if people disagree with me, or not. I just find it boring when the responses aren't interesting.
People who submit logical, well thought out responses, regardless their opinion are not trolls. But I do grow weary of the snide comments that are only meant to disrupt and degrade the quality of interaction here and I have absolutely no respect for those who come here solely for that reason.
Thank you for your comments and I look forward to seeing more of yours.
As a former ad sales rep for McClatchy, I can tell you I'm not surprised that they've finally added advertising to the front page. It was just a matter of time. What was once verboten is now being offered because its premium position can command a premium price. The charge would not only be ad size x rate per inch, but would have at least a 10% premium (probably more) tacked on or the spot would be sold at a flat rate, well above standard. As ad revenues fell, management was very willing to entertain placing ads anywhere if someone was willing to pay their price.
I just have to add, as a carrier, I hate these post it stickers. It is very hard to roll papers sometimes because these stickers were not put on correctly by the machine. You can have four or five papers stuck together with them. Then you end up ripping the front page to seperate them. They are a pain in the a** when your trying to roll, drive, and throw papers. Just wanted to vent.
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