newspaper masthead desecration

The masthead of The Age newspaper today has another post-it type ad stuck over editorial content promoting a good story about phone bills.  I feel sorry for those who worked on the phone bill story – that promotion of their report is covered up in this way.

The masthead of The Age newspaper is partially obscured today with a post-it type ad covering not only the crest of the newspaper as well as editorial promotion of a story of Bernard Tomic’s win at Wimbledon.  My frustration was further piqued by the fact that this trash generating ad is for Officeworks, the expensive place to shop for stationery.

The Age has again taken money from an advertiser to cover up the promotion of an AFL story on the front page of today’s newspaper.  The ad also covers a bit of the newspaper crest.  Talk about damaging your brand.

The masthead of The Age newspaper today is again, unfortunately, partially covered by a post-it note type ad.  This advertisement for Skinny Cow and Woolworths is more important to Fairfax than promoting their exclusive investigation about Patriots & Traitors.

The newspaper has invested in fresh and original content and then takes money to cover the promotion of this on page one.

Sometime in the future, marketing experts will look at this type of behaviour and its role in the newspaper brand.

Related – I am told that The Sydney Morning Herald today has a folded corner as part of a promotion and that this is confusing shoppers – they are looking for an undamaged copy.

So much for the story selling the newspaper.  Today’s Australian Financial Review covers the face of the new chief executive for Fortescue Metals and part of the lead story about the economy with a post-it note type ad from the Bank of Cyprus.

I feel for the editorial people who worked on both news items.  The ad placement shows that ad dollars trump editorial in the hierarchy of the publisher of the AFR.

Obscuring part of the story about Gina Rinehart topping the BRW Rich List on the front page of today’s Australian Financial Review is a stuck on ad for the Bank of Cypress.

I noticed the stuck on ad because I watched as a person behind the counter at a convenience store in Sydney removed the ad from their copies of the newspaper this morning.  I silently cheered their protest.

I bought my copy from a nearby newsagency where the stickers were in tact, covering news on the front page of the newspaper.

Frustrated with your bank?  That’s the heading on The Australian newspaper here at Sydney airport this morning.  Actually, it is not the headline.  It is an ad. A four page wrap around ad which one has to remove and discard to get to the newspaper.  So much for the front page of the newspaper selling the news.  Those were the days … when news mattered.

The Age newspaper, on its front page yesterday, was promoting a story about privacy and the media.  They thought the story so worthy that they accepted money from Australia Post for an ad stuck over the top of the editorial promotion.  Just nuts.

Groan. An ad covered the word AGE on the masthead for The AGE newspaper today.

The  newspaper brand is: for sale, not important, expendable … dead?

I like newspapers and I like good brands.  The AGE is a good newspaper and it had a good brand.

The Saturday Age has another ad stuck on the masthead again today. This time it is for cheap milk at Woolworths.  the ad is stuck over editorial content.  What is the point of riting a headline to promote a story if the advertising department will trump you with an ad stuck over the top?

A coupon for Ski Yogurt redeemable at Woolworths covers part of the masthead of The Sunday Age newspaper today.  The advertising department trumps editorial yet again, proving that news is not as important as ads at the newspaper.

I was shocked at Sydney airport this morning to see this ad from Staples offering copy paper for $1.99 a ream covering the masthead of The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.  The Fairfax advertising department have once again accepted payment for the trashing of what was a venerable brand.  I feel for the editorial people in Fairfax.

I have been banging on here about these masthead covering ads for a few years and generating little interest from newsagents.  Today, I have received more than 25 emails and text messages from newsagents about this Staples ad.  It has hit a nerve.

Staples is the old Corporate Express.  The US stationery giant purchased Corporate Express last year.  Staples is, in my view, the best stationery retailer I have ever seen.  I have been in more than 30 of their US stores and have been impressed almost every time.  Check out their website, it’s brilliant.  In fact, while Corporate Express still trades in Australia under that name, they are using the Staples name for their renewed onlne push – hence this ad.

Staples has excellent strategies for connecting with big businesses and small businesses.  It is in the small business space where they could do some damage to newsagent stationery sales.  Again, check out their website.

Newsagents – the stationery business you thought you had is not guaranteed … now more than ever. 

Copy paper for $1.99 is a shock and awe price.  Hopefully, newsagents will now take notice of Staples and of these insidious post-it type ads which are damaging newspaper brands.

I bet that newsagents are ripping the Staples ad off their newspapers.

The GIO has paid to partially cover the masthead of The Age newspaper in Victoria today.  The ad also partially covers editorial content promoting a story in the newspaper. As I have mentioned previously – if the publisher wants to make money from this space they should reconfigure the masthead so that there is room for these ads.  This would be better than sticking something over the top.  That’s what a business which respected its own brand would do.

The advertising department at The Age newspaper is on a roll with yet another ad covering editorial content yesterday.  This time they have a post-it type note covering up promotion of an AFL football story.  So much for their support for the AFL and for Caroline Wilson’s excellent story about Richmond.  It you want to sell ad space, sell ad space.  If you want to run editorial above the masthead on page 1 of the newspaper, do that. You can’t do both and be true to yourself.

An AFL tipping competition is more important that the lead news stories of the day accounting to The Age newspaper this morning.  Half the front page of the newspaper is covered with a wrap around advertisement for the Pro-Tipping competition for this year’s AFL season.

After a sizable advertising campaign, media interviews, plenty of commentary and a ton of hype, The Saturday Age newspaper finally launched last weekend.  The new design, the new masthead and other changes were going to staunch the financial bleeding of the newspaper.  Victorians were told this was a new newspaper, a newspaper we had to try. They want to get old readers back.

This week, a week later, the new newspaper is so important to the folks at Fairfax that they were prepared to take money from an advertiser to cover up their new masthead.  Yes, some bucks promoting Coon cheese is more important than the new name, The Saturday Age. I was shocked to see this, even for Fairfax and their penchant for these nasty post-it type ads which are all too often stuck on the front page of the newspaper, over editorial coverage or over the newspaper masthead itself – as they did yesterday.

Where is the pride and trust in their rebranding of the newspaper?  Given their treatment of the new name yesterday I wonder at the money spent promoting it all around Melbourne in the weeks leading up to the launch.

The front page of The Age newspaper yesterday was again half covered by an ad, meaning that the lead story of the day was obscured.  This is okay for shoppers who purchase the newspaper based on their belief in the masthead.  What about those who purchase the newspaper based on the front page.  there must be plenty of those as publishers want newsagents to display the front page to drive sales.

The Age newspaper yesterday had an ad for Coon cheese stuck over editorial content on the front page.  Click on the image for a larger version. A couple of years on since they started this type of advertising, customers still complain … as they should.

No, fganistan is not a new country, despite what this newspaper headline looks like.

For the second time this week, The Age newspaper has covered its page one lead store with an ad, this time a house ad for subscriptions.  I feel sorry for the journalists and editors having their good work covered in this way.

While US newspaper publishers continue to debate the merits or otherwise of ads on the front page of the newspaper, The Age has another ad stuck over editorial content – on this morning’s newspaper.  Click on the image for a larger version.

Check out the front page of the two copies of yesterday’s edition of The Age newspaper from in the photo.  One is a newspaper as I’d expect it to be.  The other is an ad with a half a front cover showing.

Which cover sells the newspaper?  I reckon it’s the one showing the front cover without the advertising cover-up.

I feel for the journalists and editorial people who are now having their work covered up in this way.