Shame Herald Sun
Another dumb headline coverup on the front page of the Herald Sun newspaper today. That said, I guess it is not really a headline – hey have obscured the headline for another of their anti-labor pieces. If only this newspaper would publish fair and balanced coverage of news rather than biased nonsense. Regardless, covering front page headlines with a post-it note type ad is nuts in my view.
Is this the worst front page stuck on newspaper ad ever?
An ad gun shop appeared over the masthead of The Post and Courier in Charleston Thursday, the morning after the church attack in Charleston where nine black people in a bible study were shot dead. Read more about this story at The Huffington Post.
Disrespectful ANZAC cover on the Sunday Age
Fairfax trashed a terrific ANZAC themed cover for The Sunday Age only to ruin it with a post-it note ad promoting subscriptions stuck over part of the image. Shame on them for trashing otherwise good ANZAC coverage.
The only reason to stick these ads on the paper is to convert shoppers to digital and, possibly, home delivery.
To newspaper publishers who want to know how to sell more newspapers
To newspaper publishers who ask how can we help retail newsagents sell more newspapers I say stop using us to switch our customers away from our businesses. The deal stuck on the front page of The Age today is a good and frustrating example.
While I understand the role of discount home deliveries in the mix, stop using my shop to attract these customers. Instead, work with me on driving over the counter sales.
AFR pushing digital
The front page of today’s Australian Financial Review newspaper is a reminder of the importance Fairfax places on digital as a distribution channel for their content. The sticker offering 50% off a six months digital sub is stuck over news on the print edition. While I am not privy to the financials, I expect the daily print edition of the AFR to be replaced by a digital only product soon. Digital distribution of AFR type content makes sense in this faster and more connected world. Newsagents need to factor this into their business planning.
The challenge for Fairfax is that the news in the AFR and the charts are accessible elsewhere. It’s point of difference is analysis and the question is whether that is worth $1 a day.
Disappointing newspaper cover-up
On the front page of the Sunday Herald Sun today News Corp left the its spin piece from the Prime Minister’s office un touched while it covered up part of the heartbreaking story about a child hit by a fork lift. This house ad for cheap home delivery of the newspaper disrespects the news and the retail newsagents who rely on over the counter sales.
Another Herald Sun cover-up
The Herald Sun yesterday took money from Mazda to obscure the photo of page one of the newspaper lauding the North Melbourne victory. !@*&ers is one North Melbourne fan said ripping the sticker off before buying it. I get that News wants the advertising bucks but getting between an AFL fan and their victory is dangerous, especially in Victoria.
Men’s Fitness cover-up
I was disappointed to see the masthead of the latest Men’s Fitness magazine covered with a stuck-on ad for Anytime Fitness. With the Men’s Health and Men’s Fitness mastheads looking similar – red on white – I’d have avoided covering up a key differentiator – the word Fitness. The offer itself is not worth trashing your brand for.
Herald Sun puts itself ahead of the news
The big story of the day in Victoria is the tragic death of three people killed in an accident involving a BP fuel delivery truck. The photo accompanying this front page store in today’s herald Sun newspaper has been obscured by a stuck on ad promoting the BBC earth series which starts with the Herald Sun tomorrow.
The placement of the ad is disrespectful to the families of those killed in the tragedy.
Herald Sun covers up front page drug lab story photo
News Corp. is showing today how little photos on the front page of a newspaper matter to driving newspaper sales. They have suck a post-it note type ad for their unlimited digital and weekend home delivery subscription over the photo for the lead story of the day – and they did not cover up a celebrity photo on the same front page. Nuts!
Like I just wrote about air fax – I don’t want to encourage my customers to switch to home delivery.
If the people leading News wanted to grow sales, they’d engage with proactive retail newsagents.
The Age newspaper covers up lead asylum seeker story
Shame on Fairfax for their cover-up today of a story about asylum seekers on the front page of The Age newspaper.
The placement of a post-it note type ad stuck over part of the lead story on the front page of the newspaper demonstrates a disregard by Fairfax for news.
I don’t want my customers to switch to home delivery. I hope one day Fairfax will realise that retail newsagents can help them increase sales.
Courier Mail cover-up
The front page photo on The Courier Mail today is partly obscured by a house ad promoting a subscription offer. So much for the front page of the newspaper driving over the counter sales. To me, the ad gets in the way of the front page news story. It disappoints me to see editorial content treated in this way.